I am also very curious about the "social policies", I thought Civ4's civic system was a big improvement over pre-definded governments but not as good as the system in Alpha Centauri.
yes. it's 1of the core issues for me as well.
i loved SMAC. it's government system was fine, so is civ4's civic system.
the main difference is that reading the civics of civ4 is harder than that of SMAC's.
in SMAC it was so easy, you could even learn in how many turns you would explore the tech before revolting into a new system and similarly you could foresee what the new system will bring by all means.
the civic system of civ4 is generally for the guys who know about game mechanics very well. it'S not a problem for me but i admit that it makes the game a little more complex.
hardcore civ fans will always be curious about game parameters and mechanics so for them it is not boring to explore & understand the benefits of each civic system. but i assume for beginners, it can be boring.
in civ4, some UBs, civics and traits are defined so cleverly that beginners might not understand what it would bring as extra to the empire, i mean they are a a little bit more "hidden" while it was so much more obvious in SMAC.
in SMAC, you just see that it will bring +1to growth and -1 to support and you say "ok, city growth is more important at this time and i don't need a large army, so let'S revolt". such decisions were much easier in SMAC.
if u ask me, i prefer civ series being complicated and designed cleverly instead of games which are more-oriented for beginners. on the other hand, companies might think for sales and prefer the opposite.