Alien Legacy
Developer(s)	Dynamix
Publisher(s)	Sierra On-Line
Designer(s)	Joe Ybarra
Release date(s)	1993
Genre(s)	Science Fiction Sim
Mode(s)	Single Player
Platform(s)	DOS
Media	CD-ROM

Alien Legacy is a sci-fi real-time strategy game created by Sierra On-Line and released on 24 March 1995. Image File history File links Alienleg. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates computer or video games. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Video game publishers are companies that publish video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer. ... Sierra Entertainment was a computer game developer and publisher. ... A game designer is a person who designs games. ... Joe Ybarra (born ~1954) is one of the original game producers at Electronic Arts in 1982 (along with Stewart Bonn, Dave Evans, Susan Lee-Merrow and Pat Marriott), where the concept of a game producer was created by Trip Hawkins. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... This is a listing of computer and video game genres with brief descriptions and examples from each genre. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... A simulation is an imitation of some real device or state of affairs. ... In computer games and video games, single-player refers to the variant of a particular game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. ... This article is about computer and video games. ... It has been suggested that X86 DOS Comparison be merged into this article or section. ... The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ... Sci-fi is an abbreviation for science fiction. ... Age of Empires (1997), Invasion of an enemy A real-time strategy (RTS) game is a type of computer game characterised by being in real-time being a wargame (strategic) featuring resource gathering featuring base building technology development using direct control over individual units Thus, RTS titles are strategy wargames... Sierra Entertainment was a computer game developer and publisher. ... March 24 is the 83rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (84th in Leap years). ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Gameplay

The game includes elements of city construction, research, ressource management, industrial production and combat. Several advisors guide you through the plot and a PDA reminds you of important tasks. Given a sufficient player immersion, the game atmosphere may add to the experience of ensuring the survival of mankind. palmOne Tungsten T5 Personal digital assistants (also called PDAs) are handheld devices that were originally designed as personal organizers, but became much more versatile over the years. ... Immersive Reality Gaming is defined as gaming where you receive you are TRULY part of the game. ... Look up Mankind in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Mankind may refer to: Human beings and their society The morality play Mankind An alias of professional wrestler Mick Foley An MMORTS (massively multiplayer online real-time strategy); see Mankind (MMORTS) A French Demoscene group : m4nkind (web) Spelt thus: ManKind, it can...

Plot

As the captain of the “Seedship” UNS Calypso, you arrive in the Beta Caeli star system with orders to assist the UNS Tantalus, which first colonized the system nearly 21 years before. But things don’t go as planned. The UNS Tantalus and its colonists are nowhere to be found. And now, alone in this unknown system, you must insure humanity’s survival.

In 2043, humanity finally encountered alien life in the form of an alien solar sail probe from the Alpha Centauri star system. The US Scout Ship Friendship, currently on assignment surveying the Neptunian moon of Triton, was diverted to intercept the craft. On the first Friday in October of 2043, following many attempts to contact the craft, the Friendship closed to within 200 miles of the unknown vessel. Then without warning the probe fired an energy weapon at the Friendship, destroying it in mere moments. Centuries: 20th century - 21st century - 22nd century Decades: 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s - 2040s - 2050s 2060s 2070s 2080s 2090s Years: 2038 2039 2040 2041 2042 - 2043 - 2044 2045 2046 2047 2048 Events and Trends The year 2043 marks the first contact between Humans and the Centaurians in the computer game... Concept image of a solar sail spacecraft in the process of unfurling sails. ... Triton (trye-tÉ™n, IPA , Greek Τρίτων), or Neptune I, is the planet Neptunes largest moon. ... Centuries: 20th century - 21st century - 22nd century Decades: 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s - 2040s - 2050s 2060s 2070s 2080s 2090s Years: 2038 2039 2040 2041 2042 - 2043 - 2044 2045 2046 2047 2048 Events and Trends The year 2043 marks the first contact between Humans and the Centaurians in the computer game...

Despite numerous counter-attacks by other ships and even missiles, the alien vessel continued to drive towards Earth. The probe then fired missiles of its own at Earth. Most of them were destroyed by the defense systems but one hit near Sudan. The viral weapons onboard the missile killed millions. Earth is the third planet in the Sol system. ... Earth is the third planet in the Sol system. ...

This violent act of aggression by the Centaurians was the catalyst for the humans to rally all governments under the auspices of the United Nations, realizing that only their combined effort would create an effective defense. United Nations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

And thus, the Human-Centaurian War began. Earth put all its efforts behind spacefare research. Soon, a battlefleet departed for Alpha Centauri to take the war to the enemy. However, after a long voyage and some progress in the enemy starsystem, the battlefleet was destroyed without achieving its mission and a counterstrike was to be expected. Meanwhile, fearing complete annihilation, mankind constructed colonization ships called "Seedships" to spread our kind to other stars in case our defense failed.

The Humans and Centaurians continued to send battle fleets at each others' systems over the next several decades to attack each other's homeworlds, often encountering each other in the Oort Cloud and fighting vicious battles. Human fleets would attack the Centaurian homeworld, and if any survived, would continue on to other systems such as Tau Ceti. After a large Human offensive armada was destroyed, though, the Humans awaited a final Centaurian assault. This image is an artists rendering of the Oort cloud and the Kuiper Belt. ... Tau Ceti (Ï„ Cet / Ï„ Ceti) is a star commonly mentioned by science fiction authors since it is similar to the Sun in mass and spectral type in addition to being relatively close to us. ...

Overall, while the two species are approximately equally matched technologically, the Centaurians are far more aggressive, and it is apparent in the game that the Humans lose the war.

Massive enough to hold thousands of colonists, machines, supplies, and shuttles, the Odessa class Seedships were the pinnacle of technological advancement.

The key feature of these Seedships were their revolutionary Bussard ramjet engines that allowed them to travel vast distances without needing a large amount of fuel, simply by using the trace hydrogen found in the interstellar medium. Even though, the voyage took many decades and required the use of suspended animation techniques. The Bussard ramjet method of spacecraft propulsion was proposed in 1960 by the physicist Robert W. Bussard and popularized by Carl Sagan in the television series and subsequent book Cosmos as a variant of a fusion rocket capable of fast interstellar spaceflight. ... General Name, Symbol, Number hydrogen, H, 1 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 1, 1, s Appearance colorless Atomic mass 1. ... Suspended animation is the slowing without termination of life processes by external means. ...

Several Seedships were launched, each with orders to assume that all others had been destroyed. Two of them were the UNS Calypso and the UNS Tantalus.

The Odessa Class 3-B Seedship UNS Calypso was launched in 2119 on its course towards Beta Caeli. (Redirected from 2119) (21st century - 22nd century - 23rd century - other centuries) The twenty-second century comprises the years 2101 to 2200. ...

The Odessa Class 4-C Seedship UNS Tantalus, with its new Ramikin fusion engine, would arrive in Beta Caeli 21 years prior to the Calypso even though the Tantalus was launched in 2135. The deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion reaction is considered the most promising for producing fusion power. ... (Redirected from 2135) (21st century - 22nd century - 23rd century - other centuries) The twenty-second century comprises the years 2101 to 2200. ...

Found in the Caelum constellation and located over 17 parsecs (over 55 light years) away from Earth, the Beta Caeli system was deemed a good candidate for survival from the Centaurians. Caelum (Latin for chisel, and similar to Latin for of the Sky) is a minor southern constellation introduced by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. ... This article is about the unit of length. ... A light year, abbreviated ly, is the distance light travels in one year: roughly 9. ... Earth is the third planet in the Sol system. ...

The Beta Caeli of Alien Legacy contains, in order:

• Beta Caeli (F0-type Star; Blue-White in color)
• Alpha Asteroid Belt; analogous to the nonexistent Vulcanoids
• Hermes (Rocky Planet); analogous to Mercury
• Rhea (Earth-like Planet)

Similar to Venus in position, but has a large Moon and is slightly larger than Earth. The presence of the large natural satellite and a quick rotation rate supposedly prevented the runaway greenhouse effect, making it Earth-like. Vulcanoids are hypothetical asteroids that may orbit in a dynamically stable zone between 0. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure trace Potassium 31. ...

• Prometheus (Natural Satellite of Rhea), analogous to Earth's Moon
• Gaea (Earth-like Planet); the Calypso starts the game orbiting Gaea. It has no moon.
• Ares (Desert Planet); analogous to Mars but poor in iron
• Beta Asteroid Belt; analogous to the Solar System's main asteroid belt
• Zeus (Gas Giant); analogous to Jupiter
• Hera (Natural Satellite of Zeus); analogous to Io but larger and less volcanically active
• Hebe (Natural Satellite of Zeus); analogous to Ganymede
• Cronus (Gas Giant); analogous to Saturn but has no rings or moons.
• Poseidon (Gas Giant); analogous to Uranus and Neptune
• Thetis (Natural Satellite of Poseidon); analogous to Triton but larger
• Hades (Minor Planet); analogous to Pluto

The naming of the Caelian planets closely matches that of naming planets in our solar system. But while our system uses the names of Roman deities (except for Uranus), Caeli has Greek ones; Rhea and Gaea are both Greek goddesses of the Earth. One amusing artifact that can be found in the game details a movement demanding that Roman names be used for the Caelian planets also. In addition, as Beta Caeli is brighter and hotter than the Sun, the Caelian planets are more distant from their sun than their Solar System analogs are. Bulk composition of the moons mantle and crust estimated, weight percent Oxygen 42. ... For the Roman god, see Mars (mythology). ... Image of the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. ... Adjective Jovian Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure trace Sulfur dioxide 90% Io (eye-oe, IPA: , Greek Ῑώ) is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure trace Oxygen 100% Ganymede (IPA: , gan-i-meed, Greek Γανυμήδης) is Jupiters largest moon, and indeed the largest moon in the entire solar system; it is larger in diameter than Mercury but only about half its mass. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 140 kPa Hydrogen >93% Helium >5% Methane 0. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 120 kPa Hydrogen 83% Helium 15% Methane 1. ... Atmospheric characteristics Surface pressure ≫100 MPa Hydrogen - H2 80% ±3. ... Triton (trye-tÉ™n, IPA , Greek Τρίτων), or Neptune I, is the planet Neptunes largest moon. ... Adjective Plutonian Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 0. ... Look up deity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Adjective Uranian Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 120 kPa (at the cloud level) Hydrogen 83% Helium 15% Methane 1. ... In Greek mythology, Rhea was the sister and wife of Cronus and the mother of many of the other major gods of the pantheon. ... Gaia, also spelled as Gaea, Gaïa, or Ge, can refer to any one of the following: Gaia is a Greek and Roman goddess, also known as the Earth Mother. ...

(There is a discrepancy between the distance provided in the Alien Legacy manual and the actual information on the star Beta Caeli, which is not as well known as other closer stars. The most accurate measurement to date, from the Hipparcos satellite, suggests that Beta Caeli is 90.2 light-years from Earth.) Hipparcos (for High Precision Parallax Collecting Satellite) was an astrometry mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) dedicated to the measurement of stellar parallax and the proper motions of stars. ...

On arrival at Beta Caeli, you learn that Earth has been attacked and likely destroyed by the Centaurians attacking from above the ecliptic. You also learn that the Tantalus colony is supposed to await you already, and are thus stunned that there are few traces of it at all. However, leftover Tantalus technology may give you a boost later on. The plane of the ecliptic is well seen in this picture from the 1994 lunar prospecting Clementine spacecraft. ...

During the later stages of the game, you will encounter two alien races:

• The H'riak (who appear to be identical to or at least progenitors of the Centaurians that destroyed Earth) have an automated sporeship called Gamma1 in the outer asteroid fields. The sporeship will send signals causing the biota of the terrestrial planets to attack your settlements. They are a highly xenophobic race who have apparently seeded many planets in the Galaxy with their life, including Beta Caeli and Alpha Centauri, but apparently not Earth, and programmed it (whether intelligent or not) to attack any non-H'riak life forms. (see also: Progenitors)
• The Empiants, who resemble purple squids in appearance, inhabit the Gas Giant Cronus. Although fundamentally different from both man and Centaurians - due to the reason that the H'riak tried to send a sporeship to a Gas Giant and experiment the birth of a species living in such a radical environment. In the long run, Empiants waged war against H'Riak,probably with same reason that they will wage war on Player's settlements.
• The reason that they attack the Human race is that Empiants and Men have different types of brainwaves, and that Human thoughts cause severe pain and disturbing in Empiant population on Cronus,but not vice versa.
• They are not unreasonable once you learn to talk and negotiate with them. In fact, they provide you with the science necessary to unlock previously unavailable hyperspace and win the game.

Xenophobia means fear of strangers or the unknown and comes from the Greek ξενοφοβια, xenophobia, literally meaning fear of the strange. It is often used to describe fear of or dislike of foreigners, but racism in general is sometimes described as a form of xenophobia, as are such prejudices as... The Progenitors were a race of humanoids in the fictional Star Trek universe that were one of the universes oldest sentient species. ... In science fiction, hyperspace is any region of space co-existing with our own universe (in some cases displaced in an extra spatial dimension) which may be entered using some sort of energy field or space-altering method. ...

Development history

Reception

See also

• Space colonization in popular culture

Space colonization has been commonly presented in popular culture during since the 20th century, and has become a staple of science fiction. ...

References

External links

• MobyGames entry on Alien Legacy