What is Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri? Space-race victories in the Civilization series conclude with a journey to Alpha Centauri. Beginning with that premise the Alpha Centauri narrative starts in the 22nd century, after the United Nations sends 'Unity', a colonization mission, to Alpha Centauri's planet Chiron ('Planet').

Unbeknownst to humans, advanced extraterrestrials ('Progenitors') had been conducting experiments in vast distributed nervous systems, culminating in planetary biosphere-sized presentient nervous system ('Manifold') on Chiron, leaving behind monoliths and artifacts on Planet to guide and examine the system's growth. Immediately prior to the start of the game, a reactor malfunction on the Unity spacecraft wakes the crew and colonists early and irreparably severs communications with Earth. After the captain is assassinated, the most powerful leaders on board build ideological factions with dedicated followers, conflicting agendas for the future of mankind, and 'desperately serious' commitments. As the ship breaks up, seven escape pods, each containing a faction, are scattered across Planet. Download Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri for Mac.

Playing Alpha Centauri on Mac OS X 10.6 As I mentioned a few days ago, forces have conspired to get me interested in the Civilization series again, and those forces compounded over the past weekend as Tracy brought her Civ Rev love up for PAX and 2K teased us with posters for (but not an adequate supply of) Civilization V.