Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri/Units

Alpha Centauri features a Unit Design Workshop which is very flexible in comparison to other Civ games. For each unit, the workshop presents you with choices for each of a unit's weapon (attack strength), armor (defense strength), chassis (speed and terrain movement), reactor (hit points and build cost), and up to two special abilities (but only one until the discovery of Neural Grafting).

Chassis
The chassis is the most important part of the unit. It will determine where it can go (land/sea/air), how fast it goes, and what weapons or equipment it may use.

Infantry

 * Prerequisite: N/A
 * Speed: 1
 * Terrain: land

The default chassis for units. Some units (Crawlers, Formers, Colony Pods) do not display an actual infantryman in the unit graphic, instead using a custom chassis graphic sitting on enlarged treads.

Weapon
Weapons determine a unit's attack strength. Higher attack strengths give a unit better chances in battle. Missile payloads may only be equipped on the Missile chassis.

Hand Weapons

 * Strength: 1

Psi Attack

 * Prerequisite: Centauri Psi
 * Strength: uses psi combat; depends on morale or lifecycle
 * Cost: 10

Units with the Psi Attack ability attack with psi instead of weapons. The most common and basic example of such an attacker is a Mind Worm boil.

Laser

 * Prerequisite: Applied Physics
 * Strength: 2

Particle Impactor

 * Prerequisite: Nonlinear Mathematics
 * Strength: 4

Gatling Laser

 * Prerequisite: Superconductor
 * Strength: 5

Missile Launcher

 * Prerequisite: Synthetic Fossil Fuels
 * Strength: 6

Resonance Laser

 * Prerequisite: Bioadaptive Resonance
 * Strength: 6
 * Cost: 8

Chaos Gun

 * Prerequisite: Superstring Theory
 * Strength: 8

Fusion Laser

 * Prerequisite: Organic Superlubricant
 * Strength: 10

Resonance Bolt

 * Prerequisite: Sentient Resonance
 * Strength: 12
 * Cost: 16

Plasma Shard

 * Prerequisite: Advanced Spaceflight
 * Strength: 13

Quantum Laser

 * Prerequisite: Quantum Machinery
 * Strength: 16

Graviton Gun

 * Prerequisite: Applied Gravitonics
 * Strength: 20

Singularity Laser

 * Prerequisite: Controlled Singularity
 * Strength: 24

String Disruptor

 * Prerequisite: String Resonance
 * Strength: 30
 * Cost: 40

Conventional Payload

 * Prerequisite: Orbital Spaceflight
 * Strength: 12

Planet Buster

 * Prerequisite: Orbital Spaceflight
 * Strength: 99
 * Cost: 32

Equipment
Units with equipment cannot attack - instead they are granted a number of special actions.

Colony Module

 * Prerequisite: none
 * Equipment cost: 10

A unit with a Colony Module can build a new base. Producing a unit with a colony module consumes one population.

Probe Team

 * Prerequisite: Planetary Networks
 * Equipment cost: 4

Units with probe equipment can perform a number of covert actions.

Terraforming Unit

 * Prerequisite: Centauri Ecology
 * Equipment cost: 6

Terraforming units can create all manner of terrain improvements. The Terraforming Unit can be later enhanced with the special abilities

Terraformers are the single most important unit in the game. The AI's poor use of them contributes greatly to its poor performance. Formers are the primary way to make your cities more productive, and are the only way to make tiles more productive (except fungus, which improves with the Centauri techs). Centauri Ecology should always be one of your first techs, or a competent opponent will defeat you.

For comparison, a good unterraformed tile yields 2-1-1 (rolling and rainy, on a river), before nutrient/mineral/energy bonuses are considered. A good terraformed tile yields 0-6-6 (borehole) or 4-1-1 (condensor-farm). A fair unterraformed tile yields 1-1-0 (moist and rolling). A fair terraformed tile yields 1-2-1 (forest).

Supply Transport

 * Prerequisite: Industrial Automation
 * Equipment cost: 8

Supply units can extract one resource from a square and convey it to its home base, and can also be brought to a base to apply its production cost toward the production of a unit prototype or Secret Project.

Supply crawlers are the second most important unit in the game (second to Terraformers). Since they allow you to harvest more tiles, they act like extra population units, but without the drone problems or the nutrient requirements. In effect, supply crawlers are constructed population points, and at 30 minerals are a bargain.

Troop Transport

 * Prerequisite: Doctrine: Flexibility
 * Equipment cost: 4

A Troop Transport, as the name implies, can transport land troops from one place to the other. In combination with the Carrier Deck ability, can also transport air units. The number of transported units depends on the chassis and reactor: Foils can transport twice the reactor strength, Cruisers can transport four times the reactor strength, all other units can only transport one unit at a time.

Having a transport in a sea base along the coast allows units to freely enter and leave the base from the coast.

Defense
A unit's defense determines how well it fights when it is attacked. Defense strength affects a unit's mineral cost. Some defenses affect a unit's cost by more than just their defensive strength.

No Armor

 * Strength: 1

Psi Defense

 * Prerequisite: Eudaimonia
 * Strength: Psi
 * Cost: 6

Units equipped with a Psi Defense always engage in Psi combat when attacked, ignoring weapon and armor strengths. This is useful for defending against opponents whose weapon technology exceeds your defensive technology.

Synthmetal Armor

 * Prerequisite: Industrial Base
 * Strength: 2

Plasma Steel Armor

 * Prerequisite: High Energy Chemistry
 * Strength: 3

Pulse 3 Armor
''Same as Plasma Steel Armor, but more expensive and with +25% bonus vs. mobile attackers. Alien Crossfire only.''
 * Prerequisite: Adaptive Doctrine
 * Strength: 3
 * Cost: 5

Generally a bad choice of armor, since it costs just as much as Photon Wall, yet is less effective than Silksteel Armor even against mobile attackers. Still, it comes earlier in the tech tree than Silksteel, and might make the difference against an Impact Rover. Provides no benefit to ships except perhaps when defending in a base against a mobile land attacker, since ships are never mobile attackers. The AI prefers Pulse-3 Armor, which needlessly pushes up its unit costs. Disable it or decrease its cost to help out the AI.

Resonance 3 Armor
''Same as Plasma Steel Armor, but more expensive and with +25% bonus vs. Psi attacks. Alien Crossfire only.''
 * Prerequisite: Field Modulation
 * Strength: 3
 * Cost: 5

Mainly useful for combining with Hypnotic Trance on a foil for a great Psi defender. Other than that, see above.

Silksteel Armor

 * Prerequisite: Silksteel Alloys
 * Strength: 4

Photon Wall

 * Prerequisite: Photon/Wave Mechanics
 * Strength: 5

Probability Sheath

 * Prerequisite: Probability Mechanics
 * Strength: 6

Neutronium Armor

 * Prerequisite: Matter Compression
 * Strength: 8

Pulse 8 Armor
''Same as Neutronium Armor, but more expensive and with +25% bonus vs. mobile attackers. Alien Crossfire only.''
 * Prerequisite: Super Tensile Solids
 * Strength: 8
 * Cost: 11

Resonance 8 Armor
''Same as Neutronium Armor, but more expensive and with +25% bonus vs. Psi attacks. Alien Crossfire only.''
 * Prerequisite: Sentient Resonance
 * Strength: 8
 * Cost: 11

Antimatter Plate

 * Prerequisite: Matter Editation
 * Strength: 10

Stasis Generator

 * Prerequisite: Temporal Mechanics
 * Strength: 12

Fission Plant

 * Prerequisite Tech: N/A
 * Strength: 1

The default reactor for units. Later in the game, it is ideal for worm-killing units since psi combat ignores reactor strengths, and without a strong weapon, more advanced reactors will usually make the unit more expensive.

Fusion Reactor

 * Prerequisite: Fusion
 * Strength: 2

The first more powerful reactor you can get. The decrease in build costs is noticeable, and your units will be nearly unstoppable until your opponents discover Fusion as well.

Quantum Chamber

 * Prerequisite: Quantum Power
 * Strength: 3

Reactors beyond Fusion are of little use, since the game should well be over by this point.

Singularity Engine

 * Prerequisite: Singularity Mechanics
 * Strength: 4

AAA Tracking

 * Prerequisite: Advanced Military Algorithms
 * Cost: 1

Air Superiority

 * Prerequisite: Doctrine: Air Power
 * Cost: 1

Algorithmic Enhancement

 * Prerequisite: Nanominiaturization
 * Cost: 1

Amphibious Pods

 * Prerequisite: Doctrine: Initiative
 * Cost: 1

Antigrav Struts

 * Prerequisite: Graviton Theory
 * Cost: 1

Blink Displacer

 * Prerequisite: Matter Transmission
 * Cost: 1

Carrier Deck

 * Prerequisite: Nanometallurgy
 * Cost: 1

Clean Reactor
Not to be confused with the unit's Reactor, the Clean Reactor trait comes with Bio-Engineering and while it increases the costs of the unit's construction, it reduces the cost of support.
 * Prerequisite: Bio-Engineering
 * Cost: 2

Cloaking Device

 * Prerequisite: Frictionless Surfaces
 * Cost: 1

Comm Jammer

 * Prerequisite: Advanced Subatomic Theory
 * Cost: Attack/Defense (rounded down, maximum 2)

Deep Pressure Hull

 * Prerequisite: Nanometallurgy
 * Cost: 1

Deep Radar

 * Prerequisite: Advanced Military Algorithms
 * Cost: 0

Dissociative Wave

 * Prerequisite: Centauri Psi
 * Cost: 2

Drop Pods

 * Prerequisite: Mind/Machine Interface
 * Cost: 2

Empath Song

 * Prerequisite: Centauri Empathy
 * Cost: 2

Fuel Nanocells

 * Prerequisite: Matter Compression
 * Cost: 1

Fungicide Tanks

 * Prerequisite: Synthetic Fossil Fuels
 * Cost: 1

Heavy Artillery

 * Prerequisite: Polymorphic Software
 * Cost: Armor+Speed (rounded down, maximum 2)

High Morale

 * Prerequisite: Intellectual Integrity
 * Cost: 1

Hypnotic Trance

 * Prerequisite: Secrets of the Human Brain
 * Cost: Attack/Defense (rounded down, maximum 2)

This is probably the most popular special ability in the game, perhaps rivaling Clean Reactor. Adds 50% to psi defense, putting defending land units on equal footing with attackers, and turning sea or air units into veritable psi fortresses.

Marine Detachment

 * Prerequisite: Adaptive Doctrine
 * Cost: 1

Nerve Gas Pods

 * Prerequisite: High Energy Chemistry
 * Cost: 1

WARNING: using a unit equipped with this in combat is an atrocity. That means if the UN charter is in effect, sanctions will be imposed upon you (nullifying commerce for at least 10 years), and regardless of the UN charter, the opponent on whom you used nerve gas will hate you forever.

+50% attack bonus. Additionally, when attacking a city, kills half of the city's population (round up) if the attacking unit wins.

Non-Lethal Methods

 * Prerequisite: Intellectual Integrity
 * Cost: 1

Polymorphic Encryption

 * Prerequisite: Pre-Sentient Algorithms
 * Cost: 1

Repair Bay

 * Prerequisite: Nanometallurgy
 * Cost: 1

Soporific Gas Pods

 * Prerequisite: Bioadaptive Resonance
 * Cost: 1

Super Former

 * Prerequisite: Advanced Ecological Engineering
 * Cost: 1