[AAR] Spartan's In Space

[vizi]

This was thought up in my head after serious problems with Crusader Kings and a thread about the greatest strategy games of all time. After totally forgetting to mention Alpha Centauri in my first post...I quickly rectified that mistake in a later post and other people mentioned the game as well. So I dug my copy out of the dusty confines of the bottom of my CD pile. I hadn't played the game since Diablo 2 consumed my soul so I had to relearn the whole game for the most part. And then I had an impromptu fun discussion where the phrase Madness? This is Sparta! Came up on this site. And then my friend came over on Saturday and wanted to watch 300.

So I decided I would do a sometimes serious...sometimes madness AAR based on this amazing game from 1999. That is right!

A little background on Alpha Centauri. The game is set in the future. You have landed on a planet near the star. You terraform the planet to your needs. The planet spawns mind worms that will attack you to defend the planet. You can capture these minds worms after awhile. You customize your units to fit your overall strategic needs.

I am playing SMACX Which is Alpha Centauri: Alien Crossfire and I am playing Classic. The planet is Huge with 50% to 70% water coverage. The cloud cover is set to average, the erosive forces are set to average and the native life is set to average. The research is set to Blind research, which means I only pick tech categories to focus on. I do not actually control what advances my scientists develop and I am playing with tech stagnation on which slows the rate of advancements.

I think that is all.

[vizi]

This is Sparta! (In space!)

Starting with the attacks on the World Trade Center in the USA, Earth began to crumble with social disorder and war. Following the attack on the World Trade Center the USA invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. As those wars began more and more violent and uncontrollable the world began to turn against the USA. Then Georgia and Russia went to war. The USA supported Georgia and demanded that the Russians leave Georgia. However the USA was too taxed and the Russian annexed Georgia. Sensing that the USA was in no position to defend it's allies Russia began retaking old Soviet states. The World was spinning out of control. This coupled with a rising energy crisis over oil and the subsequent surge of biofuels fed a global famine that was made worse by years of flooding on the US breadbasket states and droughts in Eastern Europe. This famine led to even more unrest in Africa and the whole continent was soon engulfed in low level tribal warfare for meager supplies. Soon China and India over burdened by people began to feel the need for food and began squabbling over resources. Before the world realized what was happening World War III was a full-blown conflict. The UN was incapable of stopping these wars and began prepping a special project. Project Unity.

Right before we went into stasis on the UNS Unity we watched the massive explosions across the Earth. Nuclear strikes occurred over London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Tel Aviv, Tehran, Islamabad, New Delhi, Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney, New Los Angeles, New York City and Washington D.C.. World War III was ending. We doubted that much was left. Such a wasteful war. Captain Garland merely shook his head as he punched in the coordinates for Alpha Centauri and the planet, Chiron. We went into stasis pods for our long journey.

We were awoken several days before we were suppose to come out of stasis. There had been a reactor malfunction on the UNS Unity and it tripped the emergency fail safes and started our awakening process. As we were assessing the problem Captain Garland was assassinated by someone. We couldn't find any evidence as to who the assailant was. Typically arguments broke out between the officers of the ship; Lady Deirdre Skye, Academician Prokhor Zakharov, Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang, Sister Miriam Godwinson, Nwabudike Morgan and myself, Colonel Corazon Santiago. The arguments were unable to reach a compromise. Chairman Yang was the second in command but no one recognized him as a leader as his ideas on government were far too radical. As a result we split into 7 different factions.

My faction was called the Spartan Federation. We were all warriors of the highest order and my life experiences had led me to believe the Spartan way of life was the purest.



This is what I pulled from the UNS Unity computers before we ejected the pods to land on Chiron. My permanent record. A glowing review. I have the records of the other leaders but I will highlight them in later accounts.

Name:Corazon Santiago
Rank: Colonel
Position: Security
Country of Origin: Puerto Rico
DOB: 11-05-2026
Height: 171.8 cm
Weight: 56.8 kg

Service Record:
Born 2026, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Family emigrated to Mexico City; orphaned during East Side Riots of 2034. Joined survivalist gang known as Jade Falcons; remained in city with younger siblings for several years more (exact whereabouts unknown). Later appeared in Boyce Heights, New Los Angeles, alone. Joined NLA Red Panthers (community security force), then moved on to join City Guard; distinguished self as Battalion Commander as city imposed martial law in 2050. Joined U.N. Security Force in 2053; excellent discipline, physical agility and ability to thrive in any environment led to selection as part of security force, U.N. Alpha Centauri Mission.

Psych Profile: Survivalist
Subject possesses strong discipline and ability to suppress own needs and comforts for greater goal. Physical skills and abilities top-notch; subject shows great pride in physical conditioning and disdains weakness. Mental agility and will to survive are superior; highly tenacious. Possible danger of explosive physical violence with subject due to deep wounds suffered as a child, but subject's exemplary ability to control and channel these responses has made her a model soldier. In spite of reservations, subject comes with exemplary references, and subject's unshakable will to survive could prove beneficial in difficult missions. Recommend subordinate position in security force

Reading the record makes me smile. They did not know everything that I did when I was in Mexico City. We always thought that the government had tabs on us at all times. Apparently we were able to remain under the radar. And as the record says, I have a strong will to survive. Nothing on this planet will kill me or my men.



We made landfall on Chiron in 2100 C.E. We named our first colony Lacedaemon, to honor the culture we we had based our code upon. The planet seems quite capable of supporting human life with a little bit of work. There are some strange fungal growths but nothing else out of the ordinary. Our SITREP is unacceptable at the moment. We have little to report and little knowledge of the surrounding area. All we have is one reconnaissance vehicle that has been ordered to reconnoiter the area so we can establish a much better perimeter and prepare our defenses. We have no contact with the other factions and that is fine with me. We are survivalists, I doubt any of the other factions will be able to survive the first few years on this planet. Only time will tell, and we Spartans will not sit about and wait for time to determine the future. We shall mold time like a blacksmith forges a sword.

Man has killed man from the beginning of time, and each new frontier has brought new ways and new places to die. Why should the future be different?

-Col. Corazon Santiago
"Planet: A Survivalist Guide"

[The Sundance Kid]

GO VIZI GO, WE HAZ A INTERESTED.

[TheTrueGreek]

interesting, it looks a lot like civilization in space

[vizi]

interesting, it looks a lot like civilization in space

It is. Made by the same people. After Civilization 2. Only better.



Edit: Also...my Colony Pod will be completed in 4 turns. Anyone have suggestions for the name of the next base?

[The Sundance Kid]

SPARTONIA

SPARTALAND

SPARTOPOLIS

CORAZOPOLIS

But on a serious note, your men could dedicate it to you or something. As their glorious leader and commander, as a point of morale, etc. Do you fight aliens or other humans then?

[vizi]

Other humans. There are 6 other factions. The only aliens in Classic Alpha Centauri are the mind worms. Which our glorious leader has not yet encountered.

[Keravnos]

It is too long since I played this game.
All the best in your endeavours.

[vizi]

Thanks. I haven't even decided what to do. I might just poll people. I have all the options available for the end game.

• Cooperative: A Cooperative victory allows multiple allied factions to win the game if one of the factions achieves one of the following methods.

• Conquest: A victory by conquest occurs when all factions are annihilated or have surrendered to one player. If cooperative victory is enabled then there may be up to three pact siblings who can share the victory (excluding those who have surrendered).

• Economic: When a player has enough energy reserves (roughly equal to what it would take to mind-control all the remaining cities on Planet), he or she can win the game through economic victory by cornering the global energy market. This takes 20 turns to achieve, and can be prevented if during this time the faction's headquarters falls to an enemy.

• Diplomatic: A player achieves diplomatic victory by uniting the Planetary Council behind him or her. To do this, the player must get a certain percentage of the votes, by population, at Planetary Council. If the vote succeeds but remaining factions oppose the decision, they must be eliminated by force to achieve a victory by conquest.

• Transcendence: The transcendence victory is achieved by building the Ascent to Transcendence secret project, which becomes available after the Voice of Planet secret project has been built (by any faction). This concept of a post-human era is very closely related to the idea of the technological singularity. After this project is built the human inhabitants of Chiron leave their material bodies to merge with the emerged planet intelligence.

[The Sundance Kid]

Last one sounds spooky. I'm a bit scared of that one. My AoE brain is forcing me to say Conquest, though, the ol' favourite

[vizi]

That is the beauty of having multiple victory options! I can achieve whatever spooky mission objective I want.

[TheTrueGreek]

pick whatever style you like to play, i suck at civilization militarily so i usually go for the build spaceship or un win, and they appear to be in here, but conquest would make for a more entertaining aar, its all up to you, im not familiar with that game but ive played civilization 2 and 3 with limited success, so ill advise you based on that

[Aldgarkalaughskel]

Thanks, Vizigothe for establishing your homeworld, here!
Nice start, and I'm eager to see a Conquest-Trascendence campaign unfold (first conquest, than transcendence ).
For the next colony I'd suggest the name: KYLOTETON. (A bit Greek-ish, a bit sci-fi-ish).
For more names, try this generator: http://www.dilloscape.com/generatorz/cng.htm . I had great fun with it just pushing the buttons for minutes!

[vizi]

I was kinda of thinking about doing a slow conquest followed by ending with transcendence. Pretty much anyone that gets a little bit too powerful gets their head knocked in by a dose of Spartan warriors!

Edit: I'll check that link with some other paces I usually use. Thanks!

[vizi]

The First Few Years

In the first few years on Chiron we had the lone Scout Rover scout out the region around Lacedaemon. It yielded some interesting discoveries. There were some supply pods from the UNS Unity that crash landed on the surface of Chiron. Plundering them has aided the build up of our base. The situation is still grim as we have meager resources but that doesn't matter. We have the will to survive and that is all we need. We shall stamp this planet into submission. In 2106 we completed our first colony pod and are going to send it out and establish a second base. Our scientists and engineers also asked me to provide funding to certain areas of development. I decided to devote our research efforts towards direct military applications and the advance of pure thought. I also ordered the construction of a second scout rover.



Beyond that we have had an uneventful few years. Mostly training and marching and constant PT. My soldiers are in top shape and I myself am in prime physical condition. The other day we had martial arts contest at the main barracks. A PFC. Derick Kyloteton was in a semi-final match against the hand-to-hand trainer, SGM Geral Tanado, and was getting soundly beaten. Kyloteton was tossed into the crowd that had gathered and smartly grabbed someone's cup of coffee and tossed it into Tanado's face. Tanado went down and Kyloteton finished the match as the victory. Tanado was furious and demanded that Kyloteton be punished. I cuffed Tanado sharply after he said that. He was yelling about how, “Tossing coffee into the faces of your superiors was against Spartan military protocol and was showing lack of respect for the chain of command.” I just laughed heartily and addressed the crowd with this; “In combat it is not the one that fights honorably that wins honorably, he is the man that dies honorably. During combat use whatever means necessary to achieve victory, this is the way of things.”

Strangely in 2109 we received a communique from our Scout Rover. The Report is as follows:

SRA: Come in Command. Come in Command this is Scout Rover Alpha. Over.
HQ: Alpha is is Command we copy. Over.
SRA: Command we have discovered something strange. Over.
HQ: Alpha please describe 'strange.' Over,
SRA: Command it appears to be some Alien artifact. Over
HQ: We did not copy. Can you repeat. Over.
SRA: Command it is an Alien artifact. Over.
HQ: Alpha, are you certain it is an Alien artifact. Over.
SRA: God dammit Command it is not human! Over.

This really sparked much commotion among the Command Staff. I ordered the artifact be brought to Lacedaemon and investigated by our scientists.

At the same time Scout Rover Bravo was commissioned and put into the field to aid in the reconnaissance of Planet. In 2110 both SRA and SRB encountered hostile alien life. The comms were not recorded at the time. However the reports were very disturbing. The alien life is about a 10cm that attack en masse and seem to project hallucinations in the minds of their enemies in an attempt to destroy morale. Thankfully our soldiers have great morale and our the best soldiers on this planet. Apparently these worms kill their targets by boring a hole in the heads of humans and implanting larvae into the brains that then painfully consume the brain. I received a sketch from one of our soldiers that encountered these mind worms.



SRB encountered one 'swarm' of mind worms and SRA encountered two 'swarms' of mind worms. They are often found near the xenofungus, as out scientists have postulated and our soldiers have seen, they come from the xenofungus. We shall have to do something about this problem.

Finally in 2112 we firmly established our second base on Chiron. I named the colony Kyloteton and placed Derick Kyloteton in charge of security of the colony. He was a PFC during his famous fight and has now been given a commission as a Lieutenant within the Spartan Federation.



All seems to be going well. We have not yet encountered the other humans that left the UNS Unity and the mind worms have not been encountered since 2109.

Superior training and superior weaponry have, when taken together, a geometric effect on overall military strength. Well-trained, well-equipped troops can stand up to many more times their lesser brethren than linear arithmetic would seem to indicate.

Spartan Battle Manual

[molls]

:O I can't believe my eyes! Alpha Centauri: Total War
wow that people actually still play this game is new to me, great!

[vizi]

Haven't really touched it since I got addicted to Diablo II. And I realized it still existed. So I decided to pick it up again.

[Aldgarkalaughskel]

He was yelling about how, “Tossing coffee into the faces of your superiors was against Spartan military protocol and was showing lack of respect for the chain of command.”

Written in good style, keeps me reading.
Never played with this game, but it really looks like Civ in the space as somebody posted it earlier. Is there a tech tree btw?
Old school games rock!

[vizi]

Thanks

As for the tech tree

http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Sid_Mei...echnology_tree

I am playing with Blind Research. Which is more realistic as it means I am dependent on putting focus on certain areas and waiting for my scientist to come up with breakthroughs.

Edit: And Old School for life!

[TheTrueGreek]

Written in good style, keeps me reading.
Never played with this game, but it really looks like Civ in the space as somebody posted it earlier. Is there a tech tree btw?
Old school games rock!

the someone was me

it is really well written, and your tying it into the total war series nicely