In
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (
SMAC), the Supercollider is a
Secret Project. It may be built at a cost of 270 minerals, on discovery of
Applied Relativity (D5). It doubles Research at the base where it is built.
How useful is this? Since it affects only the base where it's built, the Supercollider is not a great value. If you have the luxury of pursuing this Project, you can maximize its value by: building it in a larger-size base (preferably one that already has other Research-oriented base facilities, e.g. Network Node and Biology Lab); making further Research facilities a priority for that base; maintain high population in that base (e.g. avoid Colony Pod production); lean a bit toward terrain improvements that increase Energy in the base's production radius; and consider building it in a base situated in a high-energy terrain area (Mount Planet, Pholus Ridge,
etc.)
If difficulty level doesn't handicap you too severely in the tech race, you may want to plan a base for massive Research output: locate on high-energy special terrain, and build the Supercollider, Theory of Everything, perhaps the Merchant Exchange, and all the research facilities your discovered techs allow, there.
The Supercollider is nothing more than a particle accelerator - hardly "science fiction". Its ho-hum sci-fi credentials seem appropriate for its limited game usefulness. Still, the technology race is a major element of SMAC strategy, so if you have a particularly well-suited site, it's a better pursuit than, say, the Planetary Datalinks. If it helps, think of it like the (abortive) U.S. Superconducting Super Collider: not just any particle accelerator, a HUGE particle accelerator.
Secret Project animation narrative:
"God does not play dice."
-- Albert Einstein,
Datalinks