Customer Reviews

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri: Prima's Official Strategy Guide

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

There is some useful information about the game in here, but mainly if you want information about techs, facilities, and projects. What is really wanting are useful tips about tactics and campaign strategies. This book's format does make the information it gives easy to find, though. Still, it's a disappointment, and could have been so much better.

The manual contains much more useful information...and it's free! Since it was too late to return it, I put the guide in the recycle bin so it would cease taking up any space in my room, despite the fact that I'm still regularly playing the game.

The paper this guide used was truly wasted and would have been better spent and more valuable if it had been used to insulate the inside of a cooler. It didn't say anything that you couldn't find in the manual, was poorly laid out[ Index wasn't even correct]and was unclear in its explanations.Bottom Line: Wait for a better guide and save your money.

While it's generally agreed that Prima's guides are often letdowns, the Civilization-type games have usually been a noteworthy exception to the trend. Until now.

There are 28 pages (out of 320) of straight strategy. There's a useful section in the back on customizing 'modpacks'. The bulk of the rest of the book is a description of the base enhancements, techs, secret projects, and so on--all of which is available in the game with a mouseclick. (They do at least offer some suggestions on the relative values of the items.) They deemed it worth their time to include an index.

What's missing is: an in-depth look at play as each faction; some hints on designing your own units (and how to get the most out of the fairly clunky unit design interface, about the only clunky part of the game's UI); and a meaningful sense of the diplomatic aspect of the game (which can be important).

Mileage will vary, but compared to what Civ fans are used to this guide doesn't measure up.

This was a waste of money...got more information from the manual...usually these books are better than the manual and explain things better...completely useless...

I love the game, but am luke warm about this guide. While there is a fair amount of good advice early in the book, and some useful discussion of different strategic approaches to winning, most of the book is devoted to providing a catalogue of the units, facilities, technologies, and secret projects that are already adequately described in the manual that came with the game and the game's on-line help system. However, contained within this seemingly redundant exercise is a smattering of useful discussion about the strategic value of these items. Overall, the book is not excellent, but can aid game play somewhat.

This guide isn't helpful to mastering Alpha Centauri's complex worlds. I've found better strategy articles posted around the Internet, including Gameguides.com's Alpha Centauri guide which measures in at almost 340 pages.

Save your money and check out the one at Gameguides.com

Go to ZDNet: GameSpot: Game Guides for a free, downloadable and far superior guide to SMAC. We're (the reviewers) mostly in agreement here that this guide doesn't do enough "right" (like faction strategies, unit design, etc.) and does too much "wrong" (like trivial descriptions of already available game info with little or no explanations of how a player might best make use of the info). I would have appreciated a book half as thick but with opinions on the how and why for designing well-equipped armed forces, choosing government types, allocating research, and so on.

awful--do not buy--simply rewrites the info in the manual. The index is worthless--it gives incorrect page numbers. Pretty fold-out map is next to useless.

This SG's maps are hard too read, and the stratageys are dumb. it is not good at all, although it does have cool discriptions of the techs. bottom line; unless you are a billionair, dont buy this