The most complete game I've ever played. The perfect "spin-off" of the Civ franchise which beats it in every way. All that's missing is the lack of continuing content, but the replayability of SMAC and SMAX is great enough you don't even notice. The story is incredible, the factions are perfectly balanced and the gameplay is new, yet familiar, and complex yet simple enough to understand to get through games, although it takes a few plays to master (like any 4X game). This remains on my list as one of the best games I've ever played. It's just so disappointing that Beyond Earth was a Civ V clone instead of an attempt at creating the best sci-fi 4X game.
