Man, it's been forever since I played this game but there are so many features in it which I just can not understand why they aren't Civ games. I mean... besides having the entire game as part of a Civ game, that is. It is only natural that once you build a spaceship in Civ that you should arrive at Alpha Centauri and continue your game. *nod*

I played as whatever it was that could 'adopt' the aliens. Was it Gaia's Stepdaughters or University of the Planet? One or the other. Whichever I was, it was awesome. Once you get the technology to allow you to get all the aliens to join your civ, you can cause serious damage to every other nation out there without much difficulty. So basically, survive until that point and then rule the world without contest.