Alien Legacy
|
|
Alien Legacy is a sci-fi real-time strategy game created by Sierra Online and released on 24 March, 1995.
As the captain of the “Seedship” UNS Calypso, you arrive in the Beta Caeli star system nearly 21 years after the UNS Tantalus, the first attempt to colonize the system. But things don’t go as planned. The UNS Tantalus and its colonists are no where to be found. And now, alone in this unknown system, you must insure humanity’s survival.
| Contents |
The Centaurians
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.
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.
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.
And thus, the Human-Centaurian War began.
Odessa Class Seedships
In addition to the massive battle cruisers that were going to take the fight to the Centaurians, Earth also produced a line of Seedships that would colonize distant star systems, ensuring humanity's survival from the Centaruian war machine.
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.
Calypso and Tantalus
Two of the Seedships Earth launched 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.
The Odessa Class 4-C Seedship UNS Tantalus, with it’s new Ramikin fusion engine, would arrive in Beta Caeli 21 years prior to the Calypso even though the Tantalus was launched in 2135.
Beta Caeli
Found in the Caelum constellation and located over 17 parsecs (over 55 light years) away from Earth, the Beta Caeli system was deemed the best candidate for survival from the Centaruians.
The Beta Caeli of Alien Legacy contains, in order:
- Beta Caeli (B-type Star; Blue-White in color)
- Alpha Asteroid Belt
- Hermes (Terrestrial Planet - Rocky)
- Rhea (Terrestrial Planet - Earth-like)
- Prometheus (Natural Satellite)
- Gaea (Terrestrial Planet - Earth-Like)
- Ares (Terrestrial Planet - Desert)
- Beta Asteroid Belt
- Zeus (Gas Giant)
- Hebe (Natural Satellite)
- Hera (Natural Satellite)
- Cronus (Gas Giant)
- Posedion (Gas Giant)
- Thetis (Natural Satellite)
- Hades (Minor Planet)
The naming of the Caelian planets closely matches that of naming planets in Sol.
(There is a discrepancy between the distance provided in the Alien Legacy manual and the actual information on the star Beta Caeli.)
External link
- MobyGames entry on Alien Legacy (http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/p,2/gameId,1234/)