Well of course i have played out all the other victory conditions.... i have gone through it all and even used the editor extensively to create maps and scenarios with all kinds of diplomacy set ups.... been there done that.

I get it that its a good set up, no denying that, but the AI is mostly unreasonable, which is the case with most games that have diplomacy. You need to approach diplomacy with cap in hand, oh please sir, be my friend...its not my thing.... i am more of a 'get in line or get out of my way' type of gamer..... What is fun for you is not fun for me..... different strokes for different folks, whatever floats your boat etc etc.

Ultimately The most enjoyable part of diplomacy comes when i get to wipe them out because they are so unreasonable.... oh yea!!!!

Which is exactly why I enjoy victory by diplomacy. Dealing with a faction leader that is so outrageously unreasonable usually because they demand a technology you have, sometimes, swallowing one's pride when being bribed by one of them because your faction's might is not as strong as theirs, whilst building up your military & developing more continental territory, winning elections, bombing their terrain enhancements, spying on them & knowing what units they're going to push out in service next, until eventually being in a stronger position to make that unreasonable faction leader see things the way you do!

They just don't make strategy games like this anymore.
*sigh*
:)

What is this strange new concept of which you speak? "swallowing ones pride"? hahahahaha

SMAC still is the ultimate game,,,, in all these years i am still waiting with my arms crossed for someone to do better.... I'm not holding my breath!!!!!

If the AI was way smarter, you would change nothing else in this game and what other game would come close to being as good? You tell me? NOTHING.... no one is bothered... all the good developers are investing most of their efforts making bouncing things in console crap that's why.

When I mentioned 'swallowing one's pride' , I am referring to the impulsive inclination of novice gamers wanting to insult a faction leader whose Might is much more threatening than theirs during first contact (in the early game). It is a much more wise & prudent decision to just pay off the bribe than to engage in combat that will result in a most assured defeat.
Regarding the A.I., I have found it to be a very formidable opponent(s) at difficulty level:Talent. At times, the experience feels as if you were really communicating with a real person inside the machine, especially when you consider that their ideaology motivates their actions.
:)
Right now, after I complete the current game I am playing (Difficulty Level:Talent), I'm curious as to how the A.I. behaves at Difficulty Level:Librarian, or higher with my newfound playstyle which is strictly victory by diplomacy with Intense Rivalry checked in the Settings.

Regarding, Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth (I am well aware that is the game that you implied), gives me the impression that it is the Future Society game I could never seem to reach in Alpha Centauri difficulty levels Specialist and above. I believe what Beyond Earth does is start the player off with a Future Society type setting, because I don't see anyone talking about Politics, Economy or Values. Instead, gamers are talking about devotion to Affinity. I think once I had my satisfaction fulfilled with enough Alpha Centauri, I'm going to explore what Beyond Earth is all about.

:)

Oh... well i play in the level 'thinker' and i am never weaker than the AI even early on. So whenever they make a demand i just tell them to get lost and if they attack i flog their ass. That about covers my version of diplomacy in this game.

It helps to make sure you get mind worm capture ability early on or play a race that already has it at the start. If you know how to take advantage of mind worms and fungus squares you can whip the AI ass severely early on in the game.... and continue doing so for the duration pretty much, that's my free tip :)

Never heard of civilization beyond earth, but it sounds interesting?

Actually, it helps to utilize whatever technology is given to you (I play Blind Research setting) and running with that.

I don't what you mean by playing a race. The characters in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri aren't separated by race but by ideaology and are grouped by factions, each led by one human, thus the term faction leader.

Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth is the latest in the Sid Meier's Civilization family of strategy games. When I get a chance, I will pick the game. If you appreciate these kinds of strategy games, Beyond Earth is highly recommended.

:)

I'm glad you have decided to see Sid.Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth for yourself!
:)
Although, I haven't actually played Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth or the expansion title, Rising Tide (and I plan to try out both when the game is packaged as a complete edition!), I am confident that the game is a qualitative challenge.
Beyond Earth may not contain the level of detail in gameplay found in Alpha Centauri but just judging by what I have seen in Twitch & YouTube videos, I was able to recognize a few visual homages to its predecessor such as the rotating Earth from the main title that you'd see in satellite view in Alpha Centauri. Rising Tide uses the last shot from The Maritime secret project cut scene from Alpha Centauri in its main title. Noticed the Needle Jet artwork from Alpha Centauri used for the air units in Beyond Earth, so there are some Easter Eggs the veteran players can appreciate.

Beyond Earth explores a different aspect to nation building by removing the politics, the economics and values system. This game focuses on a much more defined purpose for the human race to pursue in a future society rather than to repeat the same mistakes that Alpha Centauri mocks(war, famine & disease), which is to introduce the Affinity system.
Look around your own surroundings. No matter what humankind's intentions, good or bad, they have an insatiable desire for Harmony, Purity and Supremacy.
I personally believe that this is a very interesting concept in a turn based strategy game because simplifying what really motivates human behavior to do what they do in order to advance to the next level to transcendance brings us that much closer to that goal.
If more players saw Beyond Earth from that perspective, they could enjoy it a bit more.

:)

Beyond Earth is another civ4/5 game.

And the thing with the civilization series, as good as they are, they simply refuse to play ball on terraforming.

If ever i hear a civ series game allowing terraform land to sea and back again, then i will sit up and take notice,,,, but until then... yaaaaawwwwwwwnnnn.

What do you mean by 'they simply refuse to play ball on terraforming' ?

Think about terraforming in Alpha centauri, then tell me which other game measures up to that?

None of the civ series do, even though the last couple are much newer games. So they 'could' be more dynamic on terraforming but simply refuse too. They refuse to measure up to Alpha centauri on terraforming. that is what i mean.

None of the earlier Civilization games in the series were not consistent with the space & science fiction theme that Alpha Centauri presented. Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri was a computer game dedicated to NASA and people who had a vested interest in world space programs but with enough gameplay to appeal to strategy and political game enthusiasts.

The Civilization series appealed to people passionately interested in the history of the world, again, with enough gameplay to appeal to strategy and political enthusiasts.

Two different games. Two different themes.

The 3 stages of resource gathering in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri was an extremely long, and meticulous process that was brilliantly designed, however, may not have been as exciting to the casual* gamer who wanted to just get into the fight right away. I didn't have a problem with the resource gathering in Alpha Centauri but perhaps the vast majority of casual** gamers didn't agree.

In Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, the player could intentionally and unintentionally deform the landscape on Planet which was useful for gameplay, however, judging by gameplay videos I've seen on Youtube videos, terrain deformation didn't seem possible in Beyond Earth. That may very well be because of the limitations of the HAVOK game engine which I have observed this source code wasn't too keen on deformation programming in previous game projects which is interesting considering that the original game programming for Alpha Centauri was dynamically more 3-Dimensional than HAVOK actual 3-D game engine.

:)

Anyway, I look forward to interacting with the Artificial Intelligence in Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth more than anything because in this game, the faction leaders are now animated so it should be fun to read the gestures, body language and reactions whenever they establish commlink channels instead of a emotionless portrait pop-up.

:)

*I hate that adjective
**that darn adjective again!

That's an interesting post, thanks :)

Its interesting to note that in civ2 you can actually make significant terraforming choices.... not ocean to land but certainly far more than all the subsequent civ games. Civilisation call to power is even better but still no land to sea..... although global warming does turn some sea tiles to land.

So the civ series did start out allowing land tiles to be changed - civ2 - desert to plains to grassland to hills... and you can even change mountain tiles.

Also what was fun in civ2 is that grassland tiles do not show the tile bonus. But you can follow the general bonus tile pattern to try and guess where to dig for them, that was fun! lol

Then all the civ games that came after that, the terrain is all fixed, you cannot change shit..... boo hiss. Got a desert tile? sorry your stuck with it. because there is no technology that brings a desert tile to life..... sorry Israel and Arabia and all those other countries.... all your irrigated crops just died! Oh and sorry Netherlands, all your ocean reclaimed land just became ocean again.... because its impossible to turn ocean to land.

Oh gosh i love sarcasm! hehehehe

Y'know, all this chat about Civilization, motivated me to pickup Civilization V: The Complete Edition!
:)
Which is interesting because I already own the original Civilization V but the game doesn't contain the additional content that the Complete Edition provides. So, I'll consider the investment an 'expansion pack'.
:)

Hey, thanks for reading and when you get a chance, try out Civilization: Beyond Earth!

Cool thanx

So you like civ5?
I liked it for a while when i first played it..... but the 2 unit tile limit slowly wore down my patience until i just gave up mid game and never played it again since. I was hoping a mod would come out to fix that problem.... even if they made it 3 unit limit i would probably be happy with that.... 2 is no good, it makes it a bin chuck game in my book.