Well, I've been pondering this question since it was brought up. Given the many aspects of SMAC I really like, it's been difficult trying to come up with one feature that I like more than any other.

That said, if I had to choose just one thing, I guess I'll have to go with replayability. Random maps are definately random, starting locations and proximity to both resources and other factions is always varied and scattered Unity pods are extremely scattered.

While there are a lot of basic game elements which remain the same regardless of the particular game being played, the random starts always bring some unique elements to each play through. The ability to modify the world being generated, as in rainfall, erosion, native life and size, ensures that each playing of the game has some unusual and indeed even unexpected results.

After all, an easyily terraformable world with heavy rainfall and limited natives on a medium world using the Morganites is a significantly different game than an arid, heavily fungused huge world as the Gaians. Amount of ocean coverage changes things as well - especially if you are playing the Pirates in SMAX.

Since I'm not playing against humans, or on Transcend level, I don't have to follow the generally prescribed course of action seemingly universally recommended for such situations [massive crawler use and smaller, closely packed bases] and can actually use varied strategies based on the world and faction I choose and situation I find myself in. As a "perfectionist builder" player, that's important to me... If I HAD to play as Yang with bases 2 squares apart, working nothing but boreholes, eating off of crawled condenser farms and making 80% of my populace Librarians... well I would have moved onto another game long ago.... That the game can accomodate both myself and others is a big part of it's continuing popularity and longevity.

So I guess the "one" thing I'd pick is all of those variious things that go into making SMAC an endlessly varied and fascinating game each time I play. Since I've been playing it since it was first published, all these many years ago, they must have done something right! :) Bottom line is that for sheer replayability, I haven't come across any other game that comes close to SMAC in that regard.

AC is still one of my all time favorite games, To me the most outstanding feature of the game is the replay value of the game. Each new game plays completely different than the game before it. Here is a list of improvements I would like to see in a new AC
!. latest graphics
2.More depth and greater choices when it comes to conversations with other faction leaders.
3.Would like to see a ON / OFF feature that would allow the player to watch a variety of cut scenes of actual battles on planets surface
4.Here's something NEW to think about : I think it would be neat to be able to go to the planets surface and be able to enter your main city home base if you want, just to do some sightseeing...while your there the game would go into pause mode so no battles could take place until you would return to God mode
Here's a list of some things I would like to see left alone...because they work JUST FINE thank you.
1. Same faction leaders
2. The original interface in AC. It was changed for the alien follow up game...WHY?...if it's not broke don't fix it!!
3. The ability to set a auto delivery point for units built.
4.Same tech tree
5.Being able to select planet size
6.Being able to select planets weather and ocean coverage.
7..Being able to select game difficulty and victory conditions.

The one main thing that I WOULDN'T want in a new game would be rap or loud rock music.
If just these few things were done I would be very happy.

My favorite feature of SMAC/SMAX is the extensive terraforming options. While other civ-like games feature some options for improving tiles, I cannot think of another that allows you to completely rebuild the terrain of the game to suit your needs. It's like it's not just an empire builder, but a world builder.

Hello 5lider,

to answer your question short - it's the complexity of the original game. The single best part for me is the unit designer.

Please, let us know if you indie project goes life, there hasn't been anything alike SMAC for too long.

Kind regards,
Corak

If I have to pick something out - which is really hard - it's the Terraforming/Ecology part. The model behind is quite complex /(takes in account luv and lee side) and creates a bound between your faction and the planet which so far hasn't been in any startegy game between your playing pieces and map/board you are playing on.

It's the best. Period. I don't even like Civ games, Alpha Centauri does it on a magnitude better to actually snare me in and enjoy it so much. Unit customization, research, Sci-Fi atmosphere, mind worms. All of it. Better. In every way.

For me it was the unique ability to set up government AI controlled bases, mainly helped with the immersion for me but also helps out when your controlling alot of units and bases at once.

There's much to like about AC, and in some ways it still does things better than any other 4x game I've tried. I'll also add things that could be improved.

What I like:
-Unique atmosphere/lore. This is really the only 4x game that combines a detailed backstory with a fascinating ingame story. I love the descriptions/text for every advance.
-The faction leaders all seem like distinct people.
-Diplomacy feels authentic. Tons of ways to interact, and peace and war both seem viable. I never feel blindsided by AI decisions. In contrast, I've seen AIs in other games make absolutely braindead decisions. The worst was in Civ 5, when a country that I had always been at peace with, and who's enemy I was attacking, decided to declare war on me, despite being in a desperate fight against this other Civ. They sailed all their units around the world to attack, and lost them one by one in beach landings at my capital. They didn't last long.
-Advances in technology feel very powerful. A single new tech or building can unlock enormous advantages, and units can start doing very cool things. By contrast, it's harder to get as excited about the more incremental upgrades in Civ. Terraforming, too, allows for great changes.
-Social engineering allows for very different factions.
-Automation generally produces solid results.

Things to improve (little in the way of gameplay):
-A more clearly visualized tech tree.
-A simpler way to move units around, group them, and issue orders. Similarly, units moving around the map need to be visualized much, much better.
-Various UI fixes.

By far the atmosphere, it's what I like most about the period of games around 2000, pretty much all of the good games had such incredible atmosphere, and heck, plenty of other qualities that keep me playing that period more than any other.

Probably the Policy Profile choices and Terraforming / Climate Change.

For Policies, each faction has preferred and disabled sets of policies, while still being malleable; this gives them a more distinct identity which matches their leader's personalities. (Whereas in Civilization, it feels like every leader generally acts either passive or aggressive, and their differences are not as pronounced, so their tech choices match arbitrary prevailing game conditions rather than their cultural ideology.)

For Terraforming, it makes the player far more involved in the composition of their lands (and seas) than Civilization, giving you a lot more to think about than just "build an improvement and a road here, and never touch it again unless it needs repairs". And who can discount the possible danger of having your lands be flooded, drought-induced, or even turned into islands?

Alpha Centauri. I've been playing this game since it first came out over 22 yrs. ago, and it's still one of my all time favorite games, gosh has it been that long?? Time flies when your having fun! Anyway, if I may...there are three things that I would like to see improved in this game. 1. I wish someone would improve the graphics to 4K resoluition. 2. There needs to be a better method of forwarding units to a new location especially when it comes to missles. 3. I wish there was an option to enable cut scenes that would allow us to watch the battles that take place up close. That's about it for me.