Pandora: First Contact
About
Pandora: First Contact is a science fiction 4X turn-based strategy game on a planetary scale.
In the future, factions have risen up from opportunities and ideologies independent of governments. Private corporations and religious movements have started wars over greed, ideology and power. Many have died and many lands lay in ruin. Planet Earth has been exhausted and colonial attempts on other planetary bodies have been in vain.
Finally, after decades of exploration, an interstellar probe has brought promise of a new world many light-years away. The most powerful factions have gathered their best men and women to send on a long journey to Pandora.
Far from desolate, the earth-like planet has been found to host a plethora of indigenous life forms. While the gigantic monstrosities inland and at the oceans seem relatively calm, human-sized bugs and fungus are threatening to stop mankind's expansion.
As the various factions strive to take control, each will research and develop numerous new technologies, discovering new weapons and industry, whilst opening trade agreements and forging alliances with other factions to gain a foothold. As they spread, they will discover ancient ruins from alien civilizations that will grant them advantages over their rivals.Key Features
In the future, factions have risen up from opportunities and ideologies independent of governments. Private corporations and religious movements have started wars over greed, ideology and power. Many have died and many lands lay in ruin. Planet Earth has been exhausted and colonial attempts on other planetary bodies have been in vain.
Finally, after decades of exploration, an interstellar probe has brought promise of a new world many light-years away. The most powerful factions have gathered their best men and women to send on a long journey to Pandora.
Far from desolate, the earth-like planet has been found to host a plethora of indigenous life forms. While the gigantic monstrosities inland and at the oceans seem relatively calm, human-sized bugs and fungus are threatening to stop mankind's expansion.
As the various factions strive to take control, each will research and develop numerous new technologies, discovering new weapons and industry, whilst opening trade agreements and forging alliances with other factions to gain a foothold. As they spread, they will discover ancient ruins from alien civilizations that will grant them advantages over their rivals.Key Features
- Explore a new world harboring a variety of eco-regions, from the frozen ice lands of the north, to vast deserts and lush tropical forests in the south.
- Survive encounters with the planet's dangerous wild life. Deadly swarms walk the lands and agile predators fly in the skies. There is even talk of a giant creature in the oceans.
- Live in harmony with nature or use it to further your cause. The indigenous life will react to your actions and treat you accordingly.
- Discover ruins and artifacts, the relics of an ancient alien civilization long forgotten that can give you an edge against the planet life and other rivaling factions.
- Found new cities to expand the borders of your empire. Manage cities by adjusting the tax rate, choosing production and assigning colonists to jobs.
- Operate a fully globalized and pooled resource and growth system. Specialize one city to harvest minerals while churning out units in another.
- Adapt your empire to pressing demand. Your colonists will migrate between cities based on factors such as pollution and living space.
- Shape the landscape with terraforming, construct farms, mines, forts, and other improvements to increase the productivity of your colonies or to fortify positions.
- Progress through a vast randomized research tree spanning dozens of technologies providing operations, buildings, units, weapons, and more.
- Negotiate trade and research pacts with other factions for mutual benefits. Forge alliances to stand united against common foes.
- Design your own units by choosing from a range of different classes, armors, weapons, and devices to maximize the strength of your forces.
- Command vast armies across the battlefield against enemy factions, making use of the variety of terrain types to gain an advantage.
- Unleash hell on your opponents with powerful military operations, ranging from drop pods behind enemy lines to black hole generators eradicating entire landscapes.
- Prove yourself in multiplayer with friends or strangers and discover entirely new strategies.
- Customize your experience through easily moddable XML data and well-known image and audio formats.
System requirements for macOS
Minimum:
- OS: Mac OS X 10.7
- Processor: Intel Core 2 or equivalent
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 2.0 compatible with 256 MB VRAM (NVIDIA GeForce 6600 series / ATI Radeon 9500 series)
- Storage: 1 GB available space
Recommended:
- OS: Mac OS X 10.8
- Processor: Intel Core i3 or equivalent
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 2.0 compatible with 512 MB VRAM (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 series / ATI Radeon HD 4870 series)
- Storage: 2 GB available space
System requirements for Linux
Minimum:
- OS: Linux
- Processor: Intel Core 2 or equivalent
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 2.0 compatible with 256 MB VRAM (NVIDIA GeForce 6600 series / ATI Radeon 9500 series)
- Storage: 1 GB available space
Recommended:
- OS: Linux
- Processor: Intel Core i3 or equivalent
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 2.0 compatible with 512 MB VRAM (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 series / ATI Radeon HD 4870 series)
- Storage: 2 GB available space
System requirements for PC
Minimum:
- OS: Windows XP SP2 / Vista
- Processor: Intel Core 2 or equivalent
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 2.0 compatible with 256 MB VRAM (NVIDIA GeForce 6600 series / ATI Radeon 9500 series)
- Storage: 1 GB available space
Recommended:
- OS: Windows 7
- Processor: Intel Core i3 or equivalent
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 2.0 compatible with 512 MB VRAM (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 series / ATI Radeon HD 4870 series)
- Storage: 2 GB available space
Pandora: First Contact reviews and comments
Translated by
Microsoft from Deutsch
Microsoft from Deutsch
Pandora: First Contact POSITIV: #KI: The Computer opponent is demanding. Weaknesses and Mistakes are quickly punished. Finally a halfway good AI!
#Forschung: The Research Tree changes slightly in each Game. The Technologies remain the same, but their Positions in the Research Tree change slightly. So every Game plays a bit differently. Nice idea I find.
#Planet: The Planet you settle is changing. From the Classic Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri I know the Fungus Flowers and other "Fun." I did not know a complete Solar Eclipse in which the Planetary Map darkens greatly, but I did not know from Games. Well done!
The Terraforming is also nice, too bad only the Rivers have fallen away. I can also build a high Mountain Range, but unlike in The old Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri, I cannot change the Rainfall (for Example, to make the Enemy fertile Territory Barren). Here, the Game is not as complex as Alpha Centauri.
#Einheiten: The Units are customizable. I can create Unit Types, name them as I want, install different Weapon Systems, armor, modules, change, Upgrade, etc ... For me just as good as in Alpha Centauri.
#GUI: Liquid. The PHP responds well, even as I adjusted the Card size for me (modding-> much larger Card), it became only minimally bearable. For example, Civilisation 4 was quite different here, Which was clearly featured in much larger Maps with many Cities. The Civ 5 FRATTINI responds better than the Civ 4 NOUS, but Pandora'S GUI is better than both.
#Fraktionen: Strongly inspired by the Alpha Centauri factions. Felt immediately At home. :) #Modding: Things like Planetary Size are modable. I could only generies fertile Planets (no Desert, Tundra, Etc.). Building Costs, Units, Technologies and so on are modifiable. I did not look more narrowly, because: NEGATIV: #Es is only 3 Winning Ways and I had to be careful not to trigger the Victory too soon. So a Winning Species is fulfilled when you have 75% of the Population. But I like to settle. If it were at least 99%, but no 75%. So in a Game where I wanted to reach a FORSCHUNGSSIEG I wanted to hold back for more than 100 Rounds with the Creation of new Cities.
I also had to reduce taxes to 0% in order to raise Negative Incomes, because I noticed that I was already at 74% of The economic Victory and I didn't want that.
In the Tips when creating a Game, if there is no Default game, the Steam Achievements are deactivated. So I can't start a Game with ONLY Science win and unlock the Achievement at Steam. From my Point of view, this is SCHLECHT threaded IN.
#Das Manual is a bad Joke. Far too short and actually barely usable Information.
#Keine Wonder Movies: The World Wonder Films from Alpha Centauri and Civilisation 2 are the best of their Kind. Civ 4 has only two reasonably good Miracle films, the Rest is only bad, Civ 5 was also disappointing.
Pandora has no Movies.
Why were the Movies at Alpha Centauri or Civ 2 good? Because they showed what it's all about! If I Built the Pyramids, they were shown in a Miracle Film, because they are large Grave buildings. But I Built Bach'S Chapel, but not the Building was shown, but the organ while the Grout was playing, because it is his Music that is special. If I Built the Shakespeare Theatre, an Actor was shown on a Stage performing part of a Work by Shakespeare. So With Alpha Centauri. If I Built a Particle Accelerator, a Particle was shown that was accelerated more and more until it collided on another Particle.
#Keine Points list: There is no High Score I can beat. That, for me, a lot of The Replayability falls away. My Favourite Faction is the University, which has reached all three Siegarten. First played on small Cards then played on a thanks to Modding huge Card, had more than 14 Cities. Why play again now when there is no High Score I can beat?
My Conclusion: It is better than many other Games of this Kind, which often cost 50 Euros. I think it is worth 20-25 Euros with DLC, I was able to buy it here at Steam, reduced, for 15 Euros with DLC.
Unfortunately, it's not as good as the old Classic Alpha Centauri.
Nevertheless, thanks to what I Think is a good Price-/good a Thumbs up from me.