adaliabooks: Alpha Centauri is definitely one of the best but I find the setting lacks the charm of the classic Civs.
Vythonaut: Personally, I believe AC's setting is one of the best settings in a video game. While it's true that in many games we can travel in other planets inside our solar system, other planetary systems inside our galaxy, even distant galaxies, Proxima b is the most realistic approach in real life since it is "only" ~4 light years from planet Earth. I can't stop wondering "What if...?" and this game offers a great visualisation/aspect of what we could meet there, through a great story. No need to mention the magnificent way the game is presented through the use of sophisticated and greatly explained science fiction (the datalinks).
And here's a nice article about the real life journey to Proxima b:
http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=35402 There's nothing particularly wrong with the setting, I just find the historical to modern era setting of normal Civ games more appealing.
In normal Civ it's pretty easy to tell what everything is and guess what it might do, in AC it's that much harder to figure out because nothing is familiar (until you've played for a while anyway).
