GameSpot's Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Game Guide

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part 2

Chapter 5: Controlling Your Empire
Chapter 6: Terraforming
Chapter 7: The Art of War
Military Might
Unit Design
Chapter 8: Diplomacy
Chapter 9: Situational Awareness

Chapter 7: The Art of War

The Art of Unit Design (cont)

Tanks
Tanks are useful units for both defense and offense. How best to use them is dependent on what you stick on them. Tanks enjoy a great movement rate, are not hampered by fungus, and make exceptional invasion units as well as defense softeners.

TIP
Build your fleet of tanks with the best armor possible. Armor is more important than a strong weapon. What good is a big weapon if the tank is obliterated before it can use it?

SAM Recon Tank
* 2-2-4
* Cost: 90
This relatively cheap beast is made from a hovertank chassis, laser, synthmetal armor, and fission plant. It has two special abilities: antigrav struts that increase its movement by 1, and air superiority, letting it attack air units. Because of its mobility, the SAM recon tank is great for patrolling your borders and can deal with both land and air incursions. Its cheap price makes it a unit that can be manufactured relatively quickly.

Cloaked Missile Tank
* 6-4-3
* Cost: 120
Outfitted with a missile launcher, silksteel armor, and a fusion reactor, the cloaked missile tank has air superiority for use against air units. Where it really shines is in using the onboard cloaking device. This lets the unit move freely without enemy detection. The only way for the enemy to see it is to physically move one of its units into the same square as your cloaked tank. Otherwise, it's perfectly invisible and can launch surprise attacks at any time you wish. An interesting thing to do with the cloaked tank is have it sit within the border of an enemy faction. This lets you monitor enemy activity without giving away your presence.

Drop Singularity Behemoth
* 24-12-3
* Cost: 260
This is one brutal machine whose sole purpose is to attack cities. Outfitted with a singularity laser, stasis generator armor, and a singularity engine makes it a formidable opponent indeed. However, its two special abilities give it the edge as a city invader: blink displacer, letting it bypass any and all city defenses, and drop pods, letting it teleport up to eight squares away from any friendly city. If you've researched orbital spaceflight, you can teleport this unit to any square in the world!