Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri: original 7 factions... who's your favorite?

[Blue3]

Intro/Premise video, and factions overview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZxKDaOBMKc


Written summary of the 7 original factions:
http://civilization.wikia.com/wiki/Factions_(SMAC)#Original_Alpha_Centauri_factions





Overview:



A UN spaceship leaves with tens of thousands of colonists in 2060, to escape the ravages of Earth, to colonize a newly-discovered habitable planet in the nearby Alpha Centauri system. As they approach in the year 2100, a reactor malfunction damages the ship, and the captain is assassinated. 7 leaders rise in the aftermath. They are divided not by nationality but by ideology, and their vision for the new world and the future of humanity. People split according to their ideology, and the game begins.




-the Gaians emphasize Green economics, democracy, and (ideally) pacifism, cooperating with and taming the native alien life



-the University emphasizes the value of Knowledge, focuses on research, but sometimes lacks an ethical compass



-the Peacekeepers try to stick to the original UN charter, focus on Democratic government, diplomacy, human rights, and interventions based on those principals to restore order, and not repeat the mistakes of democracies and UN on Earth
I especially like this quote:

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-the Hive are ultra-collectivist, focus on Planned economics and even thought control
some quotes to better explain his perspective, the most different from current ideology:

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-the Morganites are ultra-capitalists, focused on the value of Wealth, enjoy living in luxury, exploit resources, not much welfare and try to monopolize



-the Spartans believe being combat-ready is key, only the strong will survive on the new planet, value Might above all else, universal mandatory lifelong military service, and don't limit themselves to defense



-the Believers are extreme Christian fundamentalists, value Theocratic government, wary of technology

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[ilikeverin]

Goodness, I loved this game so much.  As far as how well they were written, I loved the Believers, tbh.  Miriam may seem like a standard issue fundamentalist at the beginning of the game, but by the end, her premonitions seem positively prophetic, and she's suddenly sounding like the voice of reason.  To play, I was almost always the Gaians, Peacekeepers, or University.  I think the Gaians were most fun to play in order to grab mind worms from the start.

[MasterJedi]

Lady Deirdre was the hottest, but also IIRC had an advantage with the worm creatures which, if you got enough of them, you basically could build the most powerful army for very cheap.

Bingo, always played as her faction and loved them worm armies!

[Badger]

Goodness, I loved this game so much.  As far as how well they were written, I loved the Believers, tbh.  Miriam may seem like a standard issue fundamentalist at the beginning of the game, but by the end, her premonitions seem positively prophetic, and she's suddenly sounding like the voice of reason.  To play, I was almost always the Gaians, Peacekeepers, or University.  I think the Gaians were most fun to play in order to grab mind worms from the start.

Wow. I never played the Believers, so that's a real unexpected POV for their truly turning out "prophetic".

I almost (entirely?) chose those three factions as well, but primarily preferred Lal and the UN for their fundamentally humanitarian and democratic mission, even with the bureaucracy.

I always wondered how the Gaians would be different in this regard, as their pacifist nature wouldn't combine well with a strong(wo)man regime. Perhaps enviro-absolutism would make the Takings Clause and Due Process on such issues basically non-existent, even if the rest of their domestic society was a liberal democracy?

[Blue3]

I loved playing as the Gaians the most, and then the University or Peacekeepers.

My favorite enemies were definitely the Believers, then the Hive. The Morganites could be entertaining sometimes, especially in all the quotes and movies.

Spartans were the most "meh.'

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Zakharov was my go-to.

[Blue3]

No one likes the Santiago's Spartans!