I love Civilization as much as the next person, but after having DLed Galactic Civilizations 2 a few days ago, I am really really surprised. This game seems to be exactly everything that Civ4 is, except better. Moreover, I had a tiny bitsy problem with DLing the game, and I wrote Stardock (devs) who answered my query (which I had gotten solved 3 hours later anyhow) within 24 hours. Has anyone here ever gotten a human answer from Firaxis? And it runs smoothly on my machine even in endgame.
Has anybody here also played GC2? I am thoroughly addicted now, and I am liking it more than Civ4. Strange, huh?

In previous years i played a lot of civ. then a game came along (like Rome:Total war) and i thought it was better than civ and played it like mad for a month. But in every case i ended up getting bored and playing civ.

i would concur with that last comment- i thought RTW was what one of these games should be - killer graphics - battles u can control - men flying up in the air when a stone from a catapult hits'em- all kinds of units, leaders that age and die ......and it took me about two weeks afor i went back to civ. go figure.

While I do like Civ4 a lot, I think GC2 will have legs. It really does have the right stuff (just one more turn, I really mean it this time). It may seem strange but Soren and Brad are friends and talk about game design.

I say CIV4 has prooved to be the jewel as far as the civlization series goes and generally the best TBS game ever developed on the PC. On the other hand, GalCiv2 stands proudly onside of it as best turn based space strategy. I have been playing GalCiv since the first release and yes I do like it. Another runner up for space strategy would be Space Empires 4.

Personally I prefer CIV. I can relate to the say Russians or the Persians more than I can to some fictional space alien made up name. I usually never know who is declaring war on me in GalCiv2. After playing hard for 3 days Im back to CIV. For some reason GalCiv2 isnt as good as Moo2.

generally, people who likes Civ games would like GalCiv games. In my days I would play both of them, but sadly I don't have so much free time nowadays.

Really, the two games just have different aspects that set them apart from each other; so, you'll find yourself hooked on designing ships in GalCiv II, while Civ IV's user interface might be much easier to use.

Heck, I've been playing tons of Master of Magic the last week or so, and have hardly touched Civ IV in that time--I'm having too much fun blowing things up with my hero units in MoM's tactical battle system!

being married, having a daughter, and working long hours at the office i don't think i could juggle another 'just one more turn' type of game...

no, i think civ is enough to keep this conqueror busy!

I am waiting for Space Empires V, for now. At some point or another I probably will pick up Galactic Civilizations II, but I have made Space Empires V a priority because I enjoy designing ships and such - a holdover from Stars!. Galactic Civilizations and Space Empires IV had remarkably different designs and styles, and I hope the same goes for this round. That, and I hope Space Empires V allows it's creators to gain a measure of glory and profit. I want the videogame industry to be diversified, and I feel that developers that create good games should be allowed some success - for the happiness of all.

By the way, here is a link to the screenshots for SEV. Things look promising.
http://www.malfador.com/Se5Gallery.htm

I have to agree that GC2 is outstanding. I find my initial reaction to the game to be much more pleasant than I had with CIV. Right now I am really enjoying this game, I think this one will stay on the HD for years.. ( I still have GC 1 on the HD) Until I am able to play CIV without major slowdown or other problems it will be on the shelf and I will be enjoying GC2 and AOW-SM for my turn based gamming. Great job stardock!!

Oh, btw I had read on Stardock's forum that they *may* get the rights to the Master of Magic (MoM) series!!!! Can this be true!?? I have been waiting for a sequel to that gem since the Mid 90s; God I hope that happens!!! If anyone is going to make a sequel to that game I would be really happy if it is stardock.

I have to say that Stardock more than meets my expectations as to what a gaming company needs to do to keep their customers happy.
After another day of comparison, I also have to say that GalCiv2 seems to lick the pants off CivIV; it has everything CivIV does -- just more, and better.
Technologically, it runs smoothly on my meager laptop as well as my high-end system -- the system which STILL has problems with CivIV. It is simply programmed well. It is so user friendly, despite being deep and complex. It looks sharp too. And to top it all off, the AI is really astounding. I think stardock has done a great job. They also happen to be very open, friendly people -- and you have to love a company that treats gamers as worthy customers, not potential criminals or goofballs. Sometimes, I have the feeling that Firaxis doesn't really give a damn about us as long as they make a profit. Odd, I never thought I would ever say another type of 4X game could lick Civ, but there ya go.

i may just have to try it. though i am having no problems at all with civ4 and extremely pleased with it, i've heard so much about galciv2 i may check it out.

I have both and love both. After years without a decent TBS, I now happily have two new ones. Oh, the joy :)

More to the point GalCiv2 was the second game lately that had problems on my computer (DirectX 9c seems to have issues) Civ4 almost works now with 1.52 which came out two months after the game. GalCiv2 worked mostly with 1.0D which came a few days after release, and is now more stable than Civ4 with the 1.0X patch which came out a week after release..

That Firaxis has pathetic patch policy is just a simple proven fact at this point.

Right there with ya' folks. Everytime I buy a new game, I'm bored in about a week and back to CIV IV. It's like being a junkie trying to go clean!

I've even scoured the PC gaming community to find and try other turn-based strategy games and all fall quickly to the wayside, bowing down to the CIV IV Overlord...

I Loved the total war series- absolutely think the total war series is on its way to being the best strategy game in history- when they get the economics/diplomacy/city population all worked out....Once thats done- there will be no competition. I played galciv for about two weeks when it came out and found it tedius with nothing to excite me. went back to civ 3 conquests..
civ 4 is a darn good game and I have been enjoying it. I dont think that galciv2 is going to have that extra 'sparkle that I'd need to make it worth the investment even though the update from galciv 1 sounds intriguing. I have yet to really find a diplomacy aspect in any strat game worthwhile-even civ 4-- close but not quite there.
Just wait- when medieval total war's next incarnation comes out with a solid and deep economics/diplomacy (crosses fingers) clean off your hard drives- you wont be looking back at all.

i have a question. i didn't really like galciv 1, i lost interest midway through the first game. i am however a rabid fan of MOO1 & 2, and i like my civ of course. are there enough differences between galciv1 & 2 that i might like galciv2? i hear ship design is possible now, which is good. what else has been improved?

Too bad is more bugged than Civ IV on it´s release, but it´s performance is way better...

What is this game about? Is it like Civ in space?

Is it like Civ in space?

Give the man a cigar.

i have a question. i didn't really like galciv 1, i lost interest midway through the first game. i am however a rabid fan of MOO1 & 2, and i like my civ of course. are there enough differences between galciv1 & 2 that i might like galciv2? i hear ship design is possible now, which is good. what else has been improved?


I am in the same boat, bought but barely played GalCiv 1.

Me also, I got so bored playing the GalCiv1 demo it wasn't funny.
However, I do recognize the potential that game has.
Master of Magic was bug-ware (or patch-ware) when it first came out, but 4 patches later it was a fantastic game!
Stars! Was fun also, it took a looong time to get bored with it :)
Right now, I'm still playing Civ4, but it isn't as much fun as it ought to be, I just can't put my finger on why, exactly.

What is the length of a game like in GalCiv2? I find that after about 1000AD or so in CIV, I'm ready to start a new game because there's so much micromanagement or the end seems so far away.

So, I'm wondering if GalCiv2 would address my Civ addiction, but not require the huge time commitment that CIV does for a complete game on a reasonable (say emperor on CIV) degree of difficulty.

So, I'm wondering if GalCiv2 would address my Civ addiction, but not require the huge time commitment that CIV does for a complete game on a reasonable (say emperor on CIV) degree of difficulty.

Size of map has more to do with the length of game than does difficulty. A game that only has 5 or 6 habitable planets won't take forever no matter what the difficulty. Conversely, one that has 200 or so will.

Is GalCiv2 what MOO3 should have been?

I also play both although I just played GC2 for a few hours. What I like most about it is that you can download it instead of waiting for the boxed version to arrive. What's more: You can even play it while it downloads! Movies and sound effects not downloaded yet? No problem. Just play it without.

I remember all the hours I browsed through the internet to find the best and fastest way to buy Civ4. Special edition? Normal edition? Original US version? EU version? Order? Buy in the shop? Import Duties? Fedex? Regular Mail?

All this could be history if publishers moved more rapidly to download distribution.

So, kudos to Stardock!

Greetings,

Rince

I am in the same boat, bought but barely played GalCiv 1.

add me on the list
never finished my first game:(

I have had GalCiv2 for about a week now, and since the day I picked it up, I have not played any other game. It seriously had that "One more turn" aspect about it.

My favorite parts about it are:
-Ship design, which has taken hours of my time
-Customization, don't like the defaults, just change it
-Smart, unpredictable AI
-AI does not differentiate between you and the other AI
-Complex, but not complicated
-Funny, has great flavor text
-Something about conquering the galaxy tickles me inside

I think it is a great game. Some people have said that it is very buggy... but even the release version was entirely stable for me and a buddy of mine. Matter of fact, I'm hearing that most people having problems with the game crashing etc, the problem is actually on their end, which it usually is in most cases. It does require that you have updated drivers and everything for it to run smoothly. There are a few cosmetic glitches that tend to pop up, but Stardock is very good at taking care of those. It is much more stable than Civ 4 was at release, I'll tell you that right now. And Stardock has much more customer friendly customer service.

I really like the AI, it knows when you are piling up ships outside their borders and takes appropriate action (if it can :P). Or if you are on the verge of conquering it, it will sometimes surrender to your enemy or closest rival just to spite you. But I love how it doesn't give preferential treatment to the other AI and rip you off because you are the human player. I have actually been gifted money by the AI because I have been benevolent (when in actuality I am slowly conquering them with my overwhelming influence). That is something that jas never happened to me in any incarnation of Civ.

GalCiv2 is nice and all, but it just doesn't seem to have that same allure as Civ. Maybe I'm missing something, but GalCiv2 just seems kinda clunky and impersonal, and nowhere near as exciting as Civ.

I will have to give them credit for the wonderful tech tree and ship design aspect, though. Very nice.

GalCiv2 is nice and all, but it just doesn't seem to have that same allure as Civ. Maybe I'm missing something, but GalCiv2 just seems kinda clunky and impersonal, and nowhere near as exciting as Civ.

I will have to give them credit for the wonderful tech tree and ship design aspect, though. Very nice.

I agree - Civ IV is well polished, and very easy to play. Note - I'm not saying it's easy to master. :)

The UI in Civ had a huge overhaul from III, and that I think is the reason why I'll probably play Civ IV more than GC2. But, GC2 is a fairly simple game with very few rules to learn - Civ IV is _far_ more complex with all the interactions between gold, food, production, research, culture, religion, etc... and will take the average player a long, long time to master. I feel like GC2 is fairly easy to figure out in terms of how things work, but again, will also take a long time to really master.

I'll be playing them both, but given that my wife & I can play Civ IV together via multiplayer, guess which one will most likely be played more often. :mischief:

Is GalCiv2 what MOO3 should have been?

That is what a lot of the reviews seem to be suggesting:

Gamespy review (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/galactic-civilizations-ii/693427p1.html)
Gamespot review (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/galacticcivilizations2/review.html?sid=6145309)

Daniel