Alpha Centauri
Page 3
In addition to scientific advances, Alpha Centauri speculates on the future development of human societies. As the leader of your faction, you map out your vision of future utopia by deciding where you stand on a whole series of value choices - economics, liberties, religion, health care, military service, education, environment, and information. On each issue, you can choose to take a "ruthless," "moderate," or "idealistic" stance, with a variety of consequences. Choose the ruthless "free market" economy, which promotes efficiency and economic growth at the expense of the environment, or the idealistic "fair market" economy, which encourages citizen loyalty, population expansion, and raw industrial output at the expense of economic growth.
Similarly, you may choose (ruthlessly) to conscript a massive, inexpensive, but ill-trained army, or you can (idealistically) raise an all-volunteer, highly trained, and very expensive force. Ruthlessly, you maintain ironfisted control of your information networks, preventing enemy infiltration, not to mention the corrupting influences of pornography and subversive literature. Or idealistically, you open your networks to the free exchange of ideas and information, reaping the rewards of greater creativity and productivity but running the risks of infiltration, corruption, or even open rebellion. Idealistic public health care keeps your citizens happy and healthy, not to mention loyal; a ruthless health care "for profit" scheme encourages economic efficiency, not to mention advanced medical research.
In each case, we've gone out of our way to avoid promoting a single "right" answer. As you create your vision of future society, each value choice has positive and negative consequences, and the choice between good and evil will rarely be black and white. You can create literally thousands of different societies in Alpha Centauri - an atheistic, polluting police state with a free market economy, universal education, and all-volunteer military. Or perhaps a devoutly religious democracy with a heavily censored information network, conscript army, and cradle-to-grave health care. One way or the other, we'll make you think, and therein lies the secret to an addictive game.
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