Finally........

[Xen]

Well that's it. After playing SMAC/ SMAX for over 20 years I've finally gotten bored with it. I've tried other turn-based games but none of them match it - nowhere near as it happens. If anyone hears of a worthy successor kindly post it. I'll be very grateful.

[Geo]

Please don't go. The    need you...

[Buster's Uncle]

Try CivII - it's like a cruder version, but the most of the basics of engaging play, and the differences ought to amuse for a while.


It's what I'm currently playing for over a year now...

[Aureustgo]

This may not change your mind but, have you considered changing the prerequisite for forests to [B2] Industrial Economics?

A simple change, but I find it has a few interesting effects:

1. You have to learn a lot more about terrain (flat vs. rolling) - you'll be using farms and solar panels (mines, to a lesser extent) out of sheer necessity.
2. The lack of early forests greatly reduce your ability to grab a lot of the important Secret Projects, making the game more challenging. If I want HGP, for instance, I often have to start on it right away or even use artefacts.
3. It makes discovering a forest pod a lot more interesting, as it can easily shift new base location strategy, or territory to fight over.
4. It makes discovering Industrial Economics a lot more important to the early game, causing you to make some interesting tradeoffs. (I've also tweaked Free Market to halve its penalties, but that's another subject).
5. When you get forests, you have to think about the opportunity costs of digging up your farms, as their discovery can coincide fairly closely with Tree Farms.
6. You can't as easily target the crucial techs, like [E2] Doctrine: Flexibility,  [D2] Secrets of the Human Brain, or [C2] Non-linear Mathematics, at least without greater consequence.

Of course, if you're stuck in very arid conditions, you still have the option of b-lining it to Industrial Economics, so it's not debilitating. Just costly, making for some more interesting tradeoffs.

In my experience, it can be a long time before I get forests. Sure, I can bump into Morgan and he'll often trade it to me, but I've gone at least 100+ turns before acquiring it and it's kinda surreal (in a rewarding kind of way) when all you're used to is forests.

[MysticWind]

Definitely not as good, but try out Pandora: First Contact for a modern UI.

[Secundus]

I agree with MysticWind. Pandora: First Contact is the closest thing to a successor. Get my Factions mod too to have more variety with the game!

[Steelstorm]

I try to alternate between classic games so I don't get bored. Alpha Centauri / Civ 2 / Heroes of Might & Magic 3 / Age of Empires...

Alpha Centauri is still a lot of fun for me. But I always turn off the option to build sea-bases / cities. It overcrowds the whole map in the endgame.