The Alpha Centauri Game of the Month (GotM) is a SMAC / SMAX scenario made for your entertainment, featuring often custom factions, graphics and also fanfiction.
It is also a single player contest to see who can beat a scenario in the most effective way.
Scenario objectives can vary from building a facility to conquering some bases or reaching one of the standard Alpha Centauri victory conditions.
The July 2011 GotM is called: Drones secession wars - part 1 "First Strikes" and it's a SMAC scenario (no need for the expanssion pack - SMAX)
Estimated time of play: 45-60 minutes
The Free Drones were founded very early in Planet's history, only 60 years after Planetfall. During the early years after Planetfall, the Human Hive was even more restrictive than it is currently, as Chairman Yang had much more direct control over his subjects. Nevertheless, there were rebellions.
Domai was a young man, born to drone parents. He grew up in the Hive, indoctrinated into Yang's beliefs, pursuing the Hive ideal of each person contributing to the glory of humanity as a whole. His defense of Hive ideology and his natural intelligence and strength drew attention to him. He soon became part of the Hive leadership cadre, and slowly began to rise through the ranks.
However, as Domai matured, he found himself drifting away from some of the Hive's basic concepts. In particular, he began to reject Yang's contention that humans were valueless except when they contributed to the whole. Domai asked himself "If humans are valueless except when they contribute to society, why then does society have value?" He came to the conclusion that all humans have value, but they only fulfill that value when they help others achieve their potential, through their contributions to human society. Domai also began to question the nihilism of Yang's philosophy. As he experienced more and more of life outside the education creche, he saw many things that suggested that it was not only will that gave humans purpose and meaning.
Indeed, Domai was struck by the simple power of those who resisted attempts to break them down. They gained meaning through resistance, not through imposing their will on others. In his private thoughts, Domai questioned Yang's leadership more and more.
Domai kept these reflections private, but some hint of them began to be noticed by his superiors. His rise in the hiearchy slowed, and he began to get more unpleasant tasks assigned to him. He was often involved in supressing drone dissent, activities that only added fuel to the fire of his doubt...
Domai had been noticed by Chairman Yang himself, who recognized the young man's idealism. Yang appreciated Domai's belief in the importance of cooperation, but he felt that Domai's faith in human nature had to be broken. As part of this program, he sent Domai to Struggle's Respite, one of the main Hive bases, where major drone riots had broken out, with instuctions to subdue the rioters at any cost. Yang hoped that seeing humanity at its most violent and irrational would crush Domai's idealism, leaving him an ideal Hive administrator. The effect on Domai, however, was quite the opposite.
When Domai arrived at the base, he instituted some stopgap measures to contain the rioting drones. However, instead of then attempting to crush the dissent, as his superiors expected him to do, he began to investigate the source of the riots. What he found disgusted him: widespread exploitation of the drones, including what was essentially private slaves for high ranking Hive members, arbitrary and unjust punishments, and extremely inferior living conditions. Domai attempted to remedy these issues, but he was blocked at every turn by the base's command, who resisted all attempts to remove their priviledges. However, as Domai worked, he gained a major rapport with the drones and middle class of the base, who respected him for his fairness and unwillingness to give up. Finally, the last straw arrived: Yang sent orders for mass nerve staplings to quell the rioters, and instructed that no change in conditions, aside from removal of corruption, be instituted. Domai rebelled.
Working quickly, he organized the drones and sympathetic talents in the base. Using his high level security clearances, he was able to allow drone forces into the administrative and military sections of the base, where the high officials were captured before any warning could be sent. The drones were in control of the base. Unfortunately, they realized, they would be no match for the full military might of the Hive, who would surely descend on the base as soon as the revolt was discovered. The drones grimly prepared for a heroic last stand, declaring that they would rather die free than return to slavery. However, Domai proposed a daring alternative: an exodus. The base's production facilities were quickly retooled to vehicle production, and the population willing to leave began to gather all the equipment they could easily transport. Meanwhile, captive administrators were forced to send messages saying all was well.
Finally, after 3 months of backbreaking effort, everything was ready. The population of the base, almost 10,000 people, were loaded into massive transports, defended by a mobile rover squadron, and the journey began. The rover was equiped with a large industrial laser adapted for combat. This was their only defense against the Planet's hazards.
The Drone Exodus, as it was later called, was an epic tale. Domai led the drones for over ten years. At first, they were forced to travel as stealthily as possible, to avoid Hive patrols. Once out of Hive territory, they still had to contend with hostile native life and unexplored terrain. Domai pushed the people south as far as possible, to escape the Hive's reach. The worst section of the trek was when they passed through Planet's major desert, the Great Dunes. Finally, the drones reached the isthmus known as Planetneck, and they encountered their future great benefactors, the Spartans.
The Spartans were surprised to see the drones, but not totally unaware of their existence. Sparta had been skirmishing with the Hive for several years, and word of the great escape had caused much amusment in Spartan headquarters. However, the Spartans had expected that the Drones would quickly perish in such a mad attempt. But now, the drones were here, on the Spartan doorstep. The first thought was to simply integrate the drones into the Spartan's own society. However, this idea was quickly rejected: the drones were too independent and egalitarian-minded to fit easily into the Spartan ideal of military dominance. Instead, Sparta Command decided that the drones should be given aid and assistance to establish bases of their own. Arrogantly, Sparta assumed that drones such as these would never make a serious military threat, and would provide valuable industrial services to Sparta. So, they granted the Drones the right to colonize the peninsula to the south of their territory down to Cape Storm.
fanfiction by K.Pedersen
YOUR MISSIONForeman Domai of the Drones,
In order to qualify for the prizes of the GotM competition you will have to successfully incite drone riots, simultaneously, in at least 2 of the following Hiverian bases:
- Chairman's Burrow
- Social Artery
- People's Endeavor
For a
'Bronze victory' you need to successfully incite drone riots in 2 of the 3 bases simultaneously;
For a
'Silver victory' you need to successfully incite drone riots in all the 3 bases simultaneously;
For a
'Gold victory' you need to successfully incite drone riots in all the 3 bases simultaneously
by MY2210;
The respective bases must be rioting at the moment of the save.
You can submit saves with only one city rioting but that will not guarantee any prizes.
OTHER REQUIREMENTSBesides the above objectives, your save has to meet the following requirements:
Your base count must be 6 (six).
As per your treaty with Santiago, you are not allowed to settle within Spartan borders, the way they were at the end of MY2160.
RESTRICTIONSNo colony pods can be built. Your people are thinking of their brothers and sisters who are still suffering all over the Hive homeland. You should do something about them first.
No secret projects can be built. You should concentrate on your mission instead.
You are not allowed in the Planetary Council (you are still the leader of a minor faction).
You are not allowed to conquer any bases of the Hive. Your brothers and sisters are working in these bases. You must help them overthrow the Regime not kill them. However you are allowed to fight the Hive's army as well as engage the base's garrison (you have no mercy for those fighting for the Regime).
PRIZESThe standings will be calculated using the following criteria (in this exact order):
- number of bases simultaneously rioting;
- Mission Year;
- Alpha Centauri score.
Meaning:
On the same number of bases simultaneously rioting, the Mission Year will be the tie-breaker. outweigh the others
If we have the same number of bases simultaneously rioting in the same amount of turns, the Alpha Centauri score will decide the winner.
The best submission by the end of August 2011 will bring you a special badge visible in your profile as well as on your post bits.
The best AAR (After Action Report) about the July 2011 GotM, posted at alphacentauri2.info, by the end of August 2011, will receive a special prize consisting of a downloadable game from gog.com.
A
'Bronze victory' will bring you 1 point in the 2011 Game of the Month Competition.
A
'Silver victory' will bring you 2 point in the 2011 Game of the Month Competition.
A
'Gold victory' will bring you 4 points in the 2011 Game of the Month Competition.
The winners of the 2011 GotM Competition will receive prizes consisting of downloadable games from gog.com, as well as a special badge visible in your profile as well as on your post bits.
All gog.com prizes are courtesy of alphacentauri2.info.DIRECTIONS1) Download the zip file (at the bottom of this post) and place it into your main game directory. usually this is: C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
2) Unzip it there. Confirm overwrite if asked (ONLY FOR WINDOWS USERS)!
3) Start up SMAC, then select "Scenario", "Play Scenario", and then go to the subdirectory "1107 First Strikes" and choose the scenario.
4) The game will automatically load with the Drones and you will see a briefing. You can bring back the briefing at any time during the game by pressing the '=' key.
GOOD LUCK!*Note: the scenario is made for Transcend difficulty level. If you feel it's too hard for you, I can post easier versions of the same scenario on request.
Download link:
http://alphacentauri2.info/downloads/?sa=downfile&id=28For everything concerning submissions, AARs, prizes please use
this thread.
*Important: please use the [ spoiler ] [ /spoiler ] tags if you want to talk about strategies. some players want to give it a try before reading the others' experiences.
New SMAC quizzes available.
