Thinker is an AI improvement mod for Alpha Centauri: Alien Crossfire. By patching the game to use an additional dll, new functionality can be developed in C++. This mod increases the level of challenge in single player while providing many gameplay enhancements. Some of the features include:
- Vastly improved production/terraforming AI
- Rewritten code for AI social engineering choices
- AI terraformers prioritize condenser-farms, boreholes and forests
- AI builds more crawlers and deploys them better
- AI deploys colony pods much sooner instead of wandering on the map
- More config options for many previously fixed settings in the game engine
- Many enhancements to random map generation/spawn locations
- Name labels for HQ bases are emphasized on the map
- Does not affect player-run factions (with some exceptions)
- Minimal changes to vanilla game mechanics
- Game binary includes Scient's patches
This mod is tested to work with the GOG version of Alpha Centauri. More information about the features and recommended settings can be found from Details. Remember also to star and watch the repository to receive new updates!
See also the Changelog for useful release notes.
- Extract the files to Alpha Centauri game folder.
- Check the Changelog for release notes.
- Change configuration from thinker.ini or just use the defaults.
- Start the game from terranx_mod.exe
- Mod version/build date should now be visible in the game version menu (Ctrl+F4). If it is not displayed, Thinker is not correctly loaded.
- SMAC-in-SMACX mod can be installed to play a game similar to original SMAC from the SMACX game binary while Thinker is enabled.
- PRACX graphics enhancement patch can be used together with Thinker, but it is not required in any way. For easiest installation, download version 1.11 or later. If you already use older Pracx 1.10 you can just rename terranx_mod.exe to terranx.exe and run pracxpatch.exe so that the installer patches the right binary.
- OpenSMACX is a long-term project to decompile and create a full open source clone of SMACX.
Thinker can be compiled with GCC using the included CodeBlocks project. GCC version 8.1.0 or later is recommended. To avoid compiling issues, do not use the MinGW toolkit version bundled with CodeBlocks. Instead get the toolkit separately from the MinGW-w64 project. See also more information about patch loading.
This software is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2, or (at your option) any later version of the GPL. See License.txt for details.
The original game assets are not covered by this license and remain property of Firaxis Games Inc and Electronic Arts Inc.
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire is Copyright © 1997, 1998 by Firaxis Games Inc and Electronic Arts Inc.