Centauri Alliance

Centauri Alliance - the 1990 sci-fi RPG for Commodore 64 from Brøderbund.

Lead an eight-member squad across bases, starports, and derelict ships
to complete Alliance missions under scarce credits and careful planning.

Core loop
- recruit and train specialists at Headquarters and the Academy
- explore first-person grids, toggle auto-map, talk and trade
- enter turn-based battles, pick hex positions, fire or use powers

Systems and items
- six races - human, valkyryn, praktor, donsaï, manstrak, arcturian
- four disciplines - combat, tech, psionics, metamorph (praktor only)
- psionics schools - mind, body, matter, energy with varied effects
- mechanioids - purchasable robots that can join your party
- auto-map - V toggles top view; copy maps before leaving a level

Level design and feel
Flat-shaded corridor crawler with a clean mouse-driven UI and a quick
top-down map. Tactical fights shift to a clear hex field with ranged
options and line-of-sight choices.

Why it is notable
- designed and programmed by Michael Cranford of Bard’s Tale fame
- official C64 1351 mouse support recommended by the manual

Tips
- bring at least one tech with Bio for field repairs and healing
- ready weapons and armor in the Armory before you depart
- auto-map is not persistent between areas - sketch as you go

At a glance
Year - 1990
Developer - Brøderbund Software, Inc.
Design and programming - Michael Cranford
Graphics and animation - Tom Wilcox - Diane Wilcox - Gene Hamm
Publisher - Brøderbund Software, Inc.
Genre - RPG
Players - 1
Controls - keyboard or 1351 mouse in port 1 - joystick in port 2