Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

[The Romulan Republic]

I dunno, IS Yang's ideology wrong? I mean from the pure practicality of it all. Because centralized planning and "group before individual' is gaining a lot of traction around the globe right now.

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few..."

"Group before individuals" can be a necessary approach in economics, particularly if their are insufficient resources to go around. Provided its not taken to an extreme (pretty much every ideology sucks when you take it to the point of fanaticism).

Its a very dubious proposition to build, for example, a criminal Justice system on that ideology, however.

But its less a question of Yang's basic ideology, and more the fact that he seems to be rather murder-happy. Centralized planning does not necessarily require the brutal killing of everyone who disagrees with you.

[SuccubusYuri]

I dunno, IS Yang's ideology wrong? I mean from the pure practicality of it all. Because centralized planning and "group before individual' is gaining a lot of traction around the globe right now.

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few..."

"Group before individuals" can be a necessary approach in economics, particularly if their are insufficient resources to go around. Provided its not taken to an extreme (pretty much every ideology sucks when you take it to the point of fanaticism).

Its a very dubious proposition to build, for example, a criminal Justice system on that ideology, however.

But its less a question of Yang's basic ideology, and more the fact that he seems to be rather murder-happy. Centralized planning does not necessarily require the brutal killing of everyone who disagrees with you.

Well I mean, like the immortal leaders thing, I always tended to think of that bit as explaining away the game AI xD And it's tendency to just HATE EVERYTHING no matter how much tribute you pay, concessions you offer, or votes you support. =P

[StrangeDevice]

I dunno, IS Yang's ideology wrong? I mean from the pure practicality of it all. Because centralised planning and "group before individual' is gaining a lot of traction around the globe right now.

Well, certain parts of the world anyway. There are more than a few countries where that was already the case like China and Japan. Ironically, it's only very recently that groupthink as an ideology has started being critically questioned. Everyone's started borrowing a bit from everyone else.

Kipling had a nice bit of poetry for what's going on right now actually:

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgement Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth!

Yang's Legalism is very much "government beyond good and evil" with a heavy emphasis on pragmatism, which certainly has its merits in expediency and durability. What makes it an issue is that police state aspect of it and the idea that any dissenting viewpoint will be purged by Orwellian means rather than assimilated. In this case, the individual exists to be bonsaied.

[DisgruntleFairy]

I dunno, IS Yang's ideology wrong? I mean from the pure practicality of it all. Because centralized planning and "group before individual' is gaining a lot of traction around the globe right now.

Well as others have said Yang isn't necessarily horrible because of the central planning and group focus. its the fact that hes willing to do ANYTHING in pursuit of those goals. He's also seemingly rather murder happy.

Now if you want to talk about a group that is focused on practicality and central planning the Cybernetic Consciousness is the group that you really want to go with.

[Wargriffin]

Nothing Inherently wrong with the ideas in concept... its the execution that leaves much to be desired


Skye is the classic example of what happens when you give the Idealist the power to make their Ideals real... Worm Orgies!

Hypocrisy is nothing new... cause MOST people don't fully submit to the extreme of their beliefs.... I mean Santiago pulls strings for her own child strictly cause She knows he doesn't measure up to the standards she's set... but as his mother can't just have him thrown to the wolves and reduced to a second class citizen.

I mean even Miriam has sound bites where she seems to question just how far she's gone down the pit for the sake of survival

[J!!]

Ok, show of hands: who reinstalled Alpha Centauri after watching this review?



There really is so much to this game that Chuck wasn't able to cover in the video.

One of my favorite aspects was always being able to design custom units. Like adding airdrop capability to my colony-pods so that I can build on all those stupid little islands that are usually to much trouble to bother with. Then get the space-elevator and suddenly I'm everywhere. Not to mention using transport crawlers to collect every alien artifact on the map.

[Crowley]

And as the game progresses it just keeps getting darker. hell my favorite secret project is The Singularity Inductor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB46XpnwhrA). In Civ the grand projects inspired you, made you feel like you've accomplished something. With this game, some of them just feel like "Just what the hell did I just unleash here".

Here's a couple more that are proper nightmare fuel:

Self-Aware Colony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwqN3Ur-wP0
Dream Twister https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lva8L-J8x04

Makes you think that Miriam had some good points about being careful with technology.

[Robovski]

I always figured that The Dream Twister was just taking the imagery of The Hive and spreading it around a bit

And I didn't need to re-install, I still had it on my PC from the last time I wanted to play. I spent so much time on this game back when it came out; but when you come back you discover how UI has evolved over the last 20 years. Still a great game once I get back into the groove of the interface and keyboard controls though.

[Antiboyscout]

Makes you think that Miriam had some good points about being careful with technology.

We Must Dissent

[Rothide]

And as the game progresses it just keeps getting darker. hell my favorite secret project is The Singularity Inductor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB46XpnwhrA). In Civ the grand projects inspired you, made you feel like you've accomplished something. With this game, some of them just feel like "Just what the hell did I just unleash here".

Here's a couple more that are proper nightmare fuel:

Self-Aware Colony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwqN3Ur-wP0
Dream Twister https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lva8L-J8x04

Makes you think that Miriam had some good points about being careful with technology.

Heck even some of the non-horrifying ones are just as dark though. That scene with the baby chicks that are shown at the beginning. That whole secret project is The Cloning Vats, talking about how by cloning the best people of the colony, they can create more of these best people, leading to more productive society. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGCaACqy1Ro) The darkness comes from the realization that those chicks represent one of two things, 1. Those chicks are how lives are now calculated in the colony, just being mass produced and shipped off to wherever is needed, or 2. those are the rejected clones, who much like male chicks, are sent to be repurposed into a more 'useful material'.