From what I have read, Galactic Civilizations II is going to come out sometime next month. Anyone here going to buy it? Personally I'm psyched, it sounds like it should pick up where MOO II left off.

I pre-ordered mine long ago.

I found the first Galactic Civilizations was quite good, even if not quite up to Civ standards, so I think I'll get the second one fairly soon after it comes out.

Yes, I loved the first one and the next one looks even better.

for people who never played GC, can someone point out the similarities and differences in detail?

I've never heard of the game. Can you post a link to a preview of it?

The games I'm looking forward to are Empires at War, RoN: Rise of Legends, and LOTR: Battle for Middle Earth.

I'm going to check it out. It sounded good in the preview that I read.

I've never heard of the game. Can you post a link to a preview of it?

The games I'm looking forward to are Empires at War, RoN: Rise of Legends, and LOTR: Battle for Middle Earth.

Well, I think the website is www.galciv2.com

The game itself sounds very much like Master of Orion II which is an all time classic. It's not exactly like Civ, but there are some similarities. The tech trees are much more linear, you are colonizing planets and designing starships.

I tried very hard to get into galactic civ when It came out- it had its pros and cons- one great thing was the developer and community bond.
But I just couldnt get into it enough to keep going back for more.

I preordered my a long time ago. So far Galciv2 sounds like a huge jump from Galciv. Note that while in MOO2 you control the tactical battles while Galciv you don't. In this reguards it closer to Civ than Moo II.

I'm going to buy it if the demo is good. I'm assuming they'll put out a demo, since all the other big strategy games released recently have.

I may buy it 6 months after release, but it is unlikely. Insanely disliked the first one.

Pre-ordered mine nearly a year ago when I reupped to totalgaming.net. Been playing around with the beta's here and there, mostly the first couple.

It's due out end of February and looks to be awesome. Civ 4 will hit the shelf for while once Gal Civ 2 is out. And not far behind will be Elder Scrolls Oblivion so's 2006 will be a big gaming year for me. :D

I tried the GalCiv1 demo when it came out and was NOT AT ALL impressed. :thumbdown:

galciv uses a stupid thing called stardock. I screwed around with it the first time, and I won't ever do so again. When they can figure out what they are doing, screwy web pages or games, maybe they will have something. For now, they don't.

I buy games, not BS attachments to stupid web pages. I paid full price for Civ4. I wouldn't accept galciv if they gave it for free.

But that's my opinion.

Yes, looking forward to it.

Pre-Ordered here too! Looks like an extemely well put together game with something that actually passes as AI, rather than just a bag full of cheats given to the computer player.

Exactly, I think Galciv's main highlight is its exceptional AI. At the 2nd highest difficultly level (Intelligent), the AI is at its full potential (still no cheats). To make the AI easier at lower difficulty levels, the devs actually locked away some algorithms.

It's only at the highest difficulty that the AI is given some additional advantages over the player.

The only thing that I didn't like about Galciv was the combat. Basically, it was he who has the biggest, baddest ship wins. But I believe the devs improved this in Galciv 2.

I tried the GalCiv1 demo when it came out and was NOT AT ALL impressed. :thumbdown:
GalCiv was improved over the year of updates including the AI. Still Galciv2 won't impressed all civ fans just like Civ4 didn't impress some Civ3.
The differences between the two games will turn some people off while others will find them refleshing and interesting.
The only thing that I didn't like about Galciv was the combat. Basically, it was he who has the biggest, baddest ship wins. But I believe the devs improved this in Galciv 2. That's true as it was the exact oppiside of Civ3. There was "no spearman (Corvette) destroying a tank (Avatar)" in GalCiv. Even 50-100 weak ship couldn't take down a one strong ship.

Deffinately going to buy the game. I liked the first one, it really helped after the depression set in from the mess that was Moo 3. While not as good as the MoO series ( well, first 2 anyway) it was a real solid game. I am looking forward to it.

Yes I will buy the game. One of the things I liked about Galciv 1 more than Civ is how influence/culture is really a useful weapon. It's a good alternative to military might for conquering the galaxy.

I doubt I'll get it, unless it fixed the issues I had with the first one, which it doesn't exactly sound like it did. If the AI is truely superior then I may change my mind, but everyone gushed about the AI in the first, and I thought it was mostly ballz once you figured out a couple of things (same deal with Civ3 though...).

For those who tried and hated MoO3 if you still have the CDs give it another go with the new mods and user patches. It is a completely different game, and one that may surprise you.

For those not familiar with the series, GalCiv (and other space games) have both some interesting similarities and some differences with the Civ series.

The "terrain" is simplified, which makes the AI much better on the military side. You have stars and (largely) empty space between.

In the initial exploration phase there is the rough equivalent of goody huts.

GalCiv emphasizes diplomacy, and the AI diplomacy is quite sophisticated; trade is important.

There is technological research, and planet (think city) development; both can be compared with Civ.

Military combat involves thinking more deeply about the interaction between a smaller number of base units, and has less of a rock-paper-scissors feel than the Civ series. If you want a bazillion choices of units you will not like it.

Games tend to be faster than Civ, and the AI at harder levels behaves more like a chess AI (it explores more turns into the future to figure out what to do) and less like normal Civ-style games (research and units are cheaper. etc.)

I found the first one to be extremely enjoyable and liked the alignment options (goody-two-shoes approaches got a different tech tree than bad guys did). From the boards, there were certainly people who hated it as well. But I think that, for the most part, these were folks who simply didn't like the sort of game that it was rather than people who thought that the concept itself was poorly executed.

But I think that, for the most part, these were folks who simply didn't like the sort of game that it was rather than people who thought that the concept itself was poorly executed.

Not really. I like space 4x games alot. I did not like some aspects of GC, and the more I played the more I realized those aspects were enough to make me not want to play the game anymore. But to each their own, certainly GC is quite popular and not a bad game, just one which in the end did not appeal to me.

My biggest issue was with how hyped the AI was, when after playing awhile the AI wasn't much to sneeze at. It wasn't bad, it was just predictable and eventually uninteresting. There were too many exploits and cheese bits tossed in. Granted Brad worked very hard to try and fix them, but in the end there is only so much that can be done to the system to clean it up.

GC2 might improve on some of this, but from what I've seen not the things that bothered me the most. I suppose I will have to wait and see though when it gets the final release.

My biggest issue was with how hyped the AI was, when after playing awhile the AI wasn't much to sneeze at. It wasn't bad, it was just predictable and eventually uninteresting. There were too many exploits and cheese bits tossed in. Granted Brad worked very hard to try and fix them, but in the end there is only so much that can be done to the system to clean it up.

In case you miss it Brad seem to stated the same thing at GalCiv2 site One of my biggest disappointments in the GalCiv I AI was how it fought its wars militarily.

The computer players in GalCiv I were given a lot of kudos but that mainly was because they were so efficient in how they handled their resources and on-the-fly military decision making.

But when it came to the overall strategy of war, the AI was disappointing. It wasn't supposed to be that way, it's just that the best laid plans can fall apart when things get complicated and there's not much CPU time involved.

In GalCiv I, all the graphics were handled by the CPU. This meant that the background threads in GalCiv which handled the AI could still effectively slow down animation and graphcis. So I was always painfully aware that any time I wanted the AI to do a complex calculation that I might be making some animation stutter due to slowing things down.

In GalCiv II, it's all 3D and all hardware accelerated. So my background threads for running the AI are honkey dorey. This has let me have the AI build much more complex strategies....
http://www.galciv2.com/Forums.aspx?ForumID=164&AID=96360#752204

I tried the GalCiv1 demo when it came out and was NOT AT ALL impressed. :thumbdown:

I didn't like the first either. But i love the second one!

I have the first one and the expansion and really didn't like it. It was better than Moo3, but didn't hook me. This one is waaaay better.

It was better than Moo3...

Anything is better than Moo3 :).

I will wait a few months for future patches before buying.

galciv uses a stupid thing called stardock. I screwed around with it the first time, and I won't ever do so again. When they can figure out what they are doing, screwy web pages or games, maybe they will have something. For now, they don't.

I buy games, not BS attachments to stupid web pages. I paid full price for Civ4. I wouldn't accept galciv if they gave it for free.

But that's my opinion.

Um...you do realize that you're not forced to use Stardock, right? It's just for those of us who want to download the game directly...IMHO it's a little unfair to judge a game on the grounds of disliking a completely optional program that you only come in contact with if you choose to download it in the first place.

I bought the first GalCiv at a store, but this one I got with Stardock because I realized more money went to the developer if they didn't have to pay for packaging. But it's obvious plenty of people are buying it retail though, as evidenced by the astronomical Wal-Mart sales figures.

Personally, I wish Sid Meyer would make use of a Stardock-like program. After hanging out here a few days I've been feeling like replaying Alpha Centauri and maybe Civ II, but as the CDs are long gone I'd have to buy new ones.

If I was in a similar situation and felt like playing either of the GalCivs again six years from now (or The Corporate Machine or any of the Stardock games...) all I'd have to do is load up Stardock and redownload them for free.

Good points, Killstar.

I've bought both versions through DL, and have found the Stardock program to be quite easy to use, and extremely handy for keeping my games up to date.

Another benefit is that it also allows you to check out their other offerings, games and utilities.

My initial reaction is that I may be playing GCII more then CivIV. The attraction of space, and a MOO2 flavor may be too much to resist...I'm od'd on CIV3, so it's time to go Galactic...

My initial reaction is that I may be playing GCII more then CivIV. The attraction of space, and a MOO2 flavor may be too much to resist...


Me too. I miss MoO2 and a little space action may be just the ticket.

I'm looking to see what this inspires the modders for civ4 to do with an ultimate space mod.

I own Civ4 and I ordered GC2 from play.com today. Civ4 got old during my 4th win (a painfully tedious Domination win on Prince, and that was just on a Standard size map) so hopefully GC2'll have just a tad more longevity. :rolleyes: It should if this (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=63130) review is anything to go by. :)

Yeah, I'll probably be buying GalCiv2!

I have both Civ IV and GalCiv II and they are both solid quality games. And here I was thinking TBS died with MOO III :)

I'm going to check out the demo before I buy it, unless I win it in the lottery...

Will probably buy it after my exams if I decide to.

I wasn't too impressed with the GalCiv1 demo but GCII might be worth a try.

One thing I think would be really cool is if instead of the game automatically deciding the battles based on Ships capabilities, to be able to actually fight out a battle in space. There used to be a game where you could do different combat scenarios with Spaces Ships modeled after Star Trek. That was a cool game but was just limited to the combat scenarios and had no bigger picture outside of that. If you could combine the two types of game like what's done in Rome: Total War, it would be sure winner in my book.

:) Yes I will be buying it just not sure which way I think I am leaning towards the download version. I liked the first Galciv and this one seems way better. I guess i will be alternating between CIV4 and GalCiv2. The only problem I will have is that there is not enough hours in the day, also work is a problem as well..... on that note back to work I guess:cry:

I found out about GC2 throught his website (on the home page). I bought the game and Im really impressed by it. One of the best turn based strategy games Ive played

Old news now but GalCiv2 is the only game I've ever preordered, simply based on GalCiv1 and the fact that Stardock is quite possibly the best game dev out there. That and the fact that I was able to purchase CDs from Stardock themselves and be enabled to predownload the bulk of the game and then download the rest on release day for immediate hassle free gaming.

Which is why I'll do it again (Pre-order that is).

I've already pre-ordered mine. However, I have to wait until next week for it to arrive in Australia. Was supposed to be this week. Oh well. I could've always bought it from Stardock directly, however it is a little late now.

I did. I just purchased and downloaded it - and installed it on the free disk space left on my HD from uninstalling Civ4, which I was not happy with.

And I love the fact I don't have to keep a CD in my drive, uninstall other legal software I own, or resort to possibly "illegal" methods to play without a CD in order to play the game.

Sure thing!

It has a place besides Civ 4 on my desktop now. The feel of the games is very different to me, so I can play them both and experience new gameplay. Still they're both loaded with turnbased gameplay goodness, so how can one go wrong?

The shipbuilder is ace! Nice graphics, great AI, fantastic gameplay. It has pushed Civ4 aside for a bit, but after the honeymoon period :) I'll play them both.