Pandora: First Contact

Pandora: First Contact is a turn-based strategy game inspired by Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. The game is set in beginning of the 22. century when humanity begins to settle on a recently discovered planet with Earth-like parameters. The player takes the role of one of the six factions (which only differ in a few parameters, e.g. the spiritual faction has a bonus in morale and a minus in research) which fights for supremacy.

While there are different winning conditions (military, economic or scientific victory), the basic steps are similar: the player needs to explore the planet, expand the reach of influence by founding cities and harvest natural resources (ore and food) to keep the population happy and finance future endeavors. Researching new technologies (the tech trees are partly randomized) allows to use different gear in the modular unit editor or to develop cities and landscape with new buildings or terraforming units. Another result of research are operations which are one-time effects like boosts damaging against the enemy or scouting.

While there are diplomatic options to make alliances with the other factions, conflict is inevitable for expansion. In part, the reason for this is the local alien population. They are peaceful and only occupy resources with their hives, but eventually they will turn hostile (how many rounds it takes depends on the starting parameters and other factors like pollution). Combat takes place directly on the hex-based world map with stacked units.