Alright, I know it's a little late, but extensively playing the game again - thanks to a slightly different AC discussion two days ago - for the better part of the day today reminded me of how great Alpha Centauri still is. It and MoO 2 are, without a doubt, still my favorite 4X games. Yup, AC is still the best Civ game as far as I'm concerned. So here I am simply trying to spread some more TBS joy.

I know that some people here lament the fact it didn't come with the expansion, but, seeing as I've never played that one - nope, never did bother chasing that one down - and repeatedly hearing how unbalanced it can be, it may not be a bad thing. As it is, the base game itself is terrific fun in its own right and more than enough to keep fellow TBS gamers enthralled. Well, if it doesn't there's something very wrong with you! =P

In any case, I'll be gifting copies of the game to ten (randomly selected) lucky sods. There's only one requirement I ask for: tell me of one of your more memorable experiences with one of your favorite strategy games (it doesn't necessarily need to be 4X). I'm always interested in hearing about these things. Besides, I rather see people put in a little more effort into drawings other than just saying "Gimme!"

The deadline for entries will be about two hours before the sale ends, which is around 7PM PST my time.

I beat Civilization 5 as the Romans on Chieftain Difficulty!

I got into some pretty tough moments, like when the Egyptians decided to invade but I pulled through!

Edit: I have already bought Alpha Centauri so don't worry gifting it to me, let someone else have it.

One day I started a game of Civilization (the first game in the series), as Napoleon, on an Earth map. I hadn't planned anything special, so I just kept playing. And playing. And playing. I may have left my room three or four times to go to the bathroom and/or to put a frozen pizza into the microwave. When I had finally achieved total world domination, with every space on Earth claimed by my cities, Megalopolises around the globe, and Siberia completely deforested in a 200-year development plan, I looked at my clock and found out that I had played for 35 hours non-stop. "One more turn" indeed. :)

I beat Civ3 with cheats! On easiest difficulty!!!

Conquering Europe in Rome Total War, with 9999999999 denarii. Good old days.

I think one of battle scene in Battle Realms. The AI was more like cheating AI where they always regroup and rebuild their base faster than you. Battle Realms was memorable to me because i never seen any real time strategy game that was gory and edgy like that before. Another one is Impossible Creatures. Never beat the game because i'm sucks at RTS at that time.

My most memerable moments tend to be related to the story than to anything I've ever done. For example, when I was playing on PS1, Legend of Dragoon, near the end of the first disk when my companion who seemed near invicible at the time was cut down easily. Legend of Zelda on N64, the first time I ever beat the game, that last farewell to not just Zelda but to Navi. Have to be PC related? Alright, then my brothers and sisters in Oblivion, the Dark Brotherhood sect. I was told I had to kill them all, each one unique and each one like a friend, only to be told that for me to move on, they must die. And then to get to work, to see them all fall in front of me, questioning how I could betray them. Or in Starcraft: Brood War, learning what exactly the protoss and zerg really were but manufactured creatures, and the betrayal of ghost Duran. I finally managed to get Real Myst running without too many glitches and crashes, and to just go through the library, the story of the people who existed before you is incredible. A tiny island in the middle of no where, and somewhere beyond the oceans and skies are places and people that exist nowhere else but in these books, and the hope that they do exist somewhere out there.

Maybe something more recent then. There was Skyrim, being witness to betrayals and the deaths of leaders and mentors among the guilds, and to be forced to cause some of those myself in the cities. There's our more recent game, Spacechem, listening and reading along to the struggles of a chemical manufacturing plant that can't cope with allegations of negligence and inability to cope with faults of their own systems and the universe against it. Gemeni Rue, learning about the people in the prison systems and the people struggling to reach it, and the truth of what you're really after. Or perhaps thinking into the series by Ben Yahtzee, the trilogy completed to show the world as an endless cycle of struggle and rebirth of souls that exist only to destroy, and sacrificing everything of yourself for the sake of people you can never have back, and people you will never know.


I'm sorry if this doesn't seem all that interesting, but for me they are moments and memories that are going to stick with me. That's part of what makes games more than just an art form, is that they combine every art form that comes before it, from art to literature to music, and if you want to call it that animation and interaction. I can make as many experiences as I want in them, but sometimes it only takes the very minimum to hook someone.

First of all. Thanks a lot for this contest! Spreading the love on a serious scale I see ;).
I have to admit, I never got around to play this game before, but have always wanted to give it a serious go.

Well, I guess my most enjoyable strategy times were back in the days. Playing Dune2 with my best mate and his brother, stuck in a stuffy attic for days on end. Beyond achievements, that was definitely the best time spent playing strategy games. And playing Warcraft(RTS) in the same attic on a token ring network with 3 pc's.. Ahhh the good old days :)

Not entering the giveaway, since I already have AC (Thanks wpegg), but just posting my most memorable experience.
Playing Master of Magic, going the ultra-super-beefed halfling slingers route, and finding Crusade on a Tower. Combined with Lionheart, Eldritch Weapon, Warlord, Adamantium Weapons and a few more buffs, it meant that non-missile immune creatures were killed with one shot (yes, even sky drakes), and missile immune creatures were killed in 3 or 4 shots. Talk about steamrolling, one halfling could conquer almost everything by itself.

While I also prefer playing TBS games, there is really no explicit situation I remember. Maybe after a while situations repeat, like in Civ when you search the last enemy city, which is hidden on a little island somewhere in the wide oecaen. Talking about the "one more turn" situation isn't necessary, I think most of us felt shocked when recognizing it's getting bright again outside.

What I really remember though is playing HistoryLine against my friend in hotseat mode. It's a complete different feeling, because you can see how your enemy makes his move and sometimes gives comments about it. You also can see and enjoy his pain when you destroy his beloved canon train ;-)


Btw, I also not enter the contest - I'm waiting for the expansion. But it's really a nice generous gesture, especially in this case I share your preferences.

My most memorable experience with strategy games would be our LAN sessions, playing Age of Wonders litterally for days.

Back in the days i prefered using a hero strong melee hero with vampirism, who melted enemie armys consisting of t1/t2 units solo and leveling up pretty fast. Hell, it was so much fun seeing my friends rage about my solo hero, killing off one army after another.
I assume i was pretty lucky back then.

And i freaking hated waiting for my friends to end their turns...especially one guy always needed large amounts of time to do so. On the other hand it gave us enough time to finish our meals and to drink our beer.

One of my memorable experiences comes from JA2, not 4X but my favorite turn based game. I play this game every year at least once. So I was playing it for the 4th or 5th time I think, when i finally hired Gus Tarballs and he quickly became the merc that opened the way for the rest. So it was him that encountered Mike in this particular playthrough. He goes something like this: "Dang Woody! That's Mike!.... Please Woody let me kill Mike!"
It completely took me by surprise, I couldn't stop laughing and many years later I still remember his begging tone :))
He got his wish...

Well, playing Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty was an incredible experience. To me, it was still the best adaptation of Frank Herbert books in any medium (Lynch's movie has its brilliant moments, but overall it's a disappointment). The whole atmosphere (music, units, even the Ordos that have never been mentioned in the novels) created a unique experience. It's also followed by countless RTS followers (like C&C or WarCraft games).

One of my most memorable experiences was playing red alert generals with a couple of friend and VS people we didn't really know, in a local network cafe.

I used to play GLA toxin at the time (Global liberation army), and kept convincing my friend who also played GLA, to remain in the center and control the petrolium ressources while our allies (whom had flying unites) fought the other 4 opponents.
The ennemies kept trying to take the center, we kept repelling them, I kept arguing with my friend wether we had to remain in the center or launch in attack.
Before we knew it, we had one, and my friend and I ranked 1st and 2nd in the game, without even launching an invasion and just maintaining a strategic position,


Another souvenir comes in mind, with I playing against a friend red alert aftermath. I vanquish him, but he still has a dog somewhere on the map, and I have to find him if I want to win the game. I end up launching a nuclear missile on his dog. Just a vague memory, it was pretty fun.