Stick to the factions in the original game, until you finish a complete playthrough (that is, until you win... not by force). Avoid the factions from the expansion, they will feel better as a change, once you have unravelled the full story of the original game.

Also, I would suggest you to play with the Planet map with all the original factions (it is a large map), at least in your first games (that is, not in random maps). Feel free to enjoy the landmarking tools at your disposal (you can name features int he map: seas, gulfs, mountains, sites where something important for you happened...)

I liked playing as the UNO faction at first (the ones who carried on with the original spirit of the mission).

The short story in the manual is a must. Read it it and you will understand better.

I would recommend trying it out. It is probably the only 4X game that I really like and get on with. It is maybe because of the setting, but I just found it much better (and easier) to play than Civ 2 or 3. The factions and their bonuses and handicaps works nicely, and the leaders have "personality" - you know the gun nuts will attack you after a while, the Hive will expand on your lands and you know that Morgan will double-cross you given half a chance :)

(I do not remember the names of the factions...)

No kidding! I LOVE this story (and Herbert generally) and never had a clue the creators of Alpha Centauri drew from it. Oddly enough, I had a brief conversation about this book on this very forum not too long ago. I will be incredibly embarassed if it was with you and I've already forgotten ;)

Along with Strijkbout's advice, I'd personally not recommend setting the Formers to autoimprove. Mainly because you won't learn exactly what you're getting from the improvements they're building, which I think really helps to understand the game as in Civ titles.

Regardless, if you want to take babysteps, go for it and examine the improvements to try to figure out what you're getting from them.

Generally, my main focus is getting Formers researched and Recycling Tanks. The first are, as you may already know, your Workers in Alpha Centauri, whereas your Recycling Tanks are a boost to all your resource income excluding credits (money) income. (Edit: On second thought, I guess they do indirectly boost your credit income, I often forget energy also influences that.)

Nutrients are food, they help your population grow.
Minerals are akin to production resources in Civ V, they aid in the construction of facilities and units.
Energy is both related to currency and like beakers in Civ V, it's used to maintain base facilities, speed unit production or research and handle the psyche of your people (akin to happiness in Civ V).

What you choose to focus on is really dependent on what your aim is, and to this day, I haven't really found what I consider to be my preferred setup. Nevertheless, what you need to know in addition to all this is how the tiles operate.

Each tile has, I believe, around ten or so different states.
Arid, moist, rainy=each determine the nutrient output, from lowest to highest. These can be altered according through research and improvements built by your formers.
Flat, rolling, rocky=same as the above, but for minerals. They can likewise be adjusted to varying degrees by research and improvements (I'd say not as much as nutrients, but I may be wrong).
0-1,000m, 1,000-2,000m, and 2,000-3,000m above sealevel=same as above, but for energy. Same last line as above, even this can be adjusted by your formers.

Farms and mines are pretty easy to figure out at first based off this, but solar collectors may seem a little odd at first until you know that last tile state. Once you do, they're like all the other improvements though, and easy to figure out. What has to be remembered, and something it took me awhile to learn having never played a Civ game before (Alpha Centauri was my trial by fire intro to Civ style gameplay), is that civilians must be assigned to tiles to draw from the improvements, and improvements should be made within range of your bases.

I know that may seem stupidly silly for anyone with extensive Civ experience, but I had no idea in my first forays into the game, even after the tutorial, I think. Probably because I didn't understand how population growth worked, but anywho.

I think that's a pretty decent basic overview to aid in getting into it...Um...Remove fungus unless you intend to use it (it can act as cover, but slows movement, and also natural fauna live in there that can be a major pain), build roads until you can build magtubes to improve movement speed in your territory, but know it can be used by the enemy (I think), and beware of probe teams jacking your data, inciting riots, and/or stealing your money (though I don't think AI uses them too much which is a shame).

I don't know what it is about Sid Meier games, but they completely change my playstyle. Normally, I'd do tutorials, study the pros and cons of races, research basic build orders, play it safe and slow. With Civ and AC, I just start clicking left and right, and macro, macro, macro! It's like I'm playing StarCraft, not Civ. In the end, it's 4 in the morning and I've somehow bungled my way to a respectable size. Or lost twice over :P

So, my advice would be to just let everything go and start doing what seems like a good idea for the foreseeable minute or so. Remember, these games are popular for a reason ;)

Alright, thank you guys for all the tips ;)

I'll give Alpha Centauri another chance in a few months, after clearing some games from my backlog like Rogue Legacy, Deadly Premonition and Legend of Grimrock. I know I probably won't regret it.

First, its a great game. But complex. Start on easy, without the expansion, Gaians will do nicely. You want moist and rocky tiles for food and minerals. Rivers are always great. If you build near a mountain, take the rainy west side, the east sides tend to be arid. Build solar array over 1000+m for extra energy. Plant forests on arid and plain tiles. They get better through the game. Build 1-2 mine on full rock tiles. Farms for the rest.

Extra resources and obelisks (early-midgame) are great city tiles too.

Scout the map, look for pods. Activate 'new seed ever turn' in the options and quick save before opening a pod. This way you can reload and get other (better) stuff. Its a bit like a cheat, but helps at the start. Free units (Rovers/Scouts/Worms) are great, no mineral upkeep.

Defend with infantry with armor. Attack with Worms, Rovers with guns or guns+armor if you can afford them.

Start spreading fast (Colony Pods with 1 defending Infantry), but don't drop your cities pop under 3.

Don't forget unit morale. Or worms will eat your brains... ahh, fresh, juicy brains... Build units in cities with barrack and high mineral output. After production use an obelisk for one extra morale+, move the unit in a small/new city AND bind/station it there. This way the unit uses the upkeep minerals of this city and you producing city will not go stale because of minerals upkeep costs. First two units of every city are free of upkeep (without any special social choices).

I use few, elite, high-tec forces. But I play mostly with the science guys. Free, grown Worms are alway great too.

Have fun, start easy :)

In case you are blinded by the big amount of packs and offers, Alpha Centauri is on flash again. Those who get it, follow the good advices given by veterans in this thread. :)

I have had friday nights that I regret more than getting this game.