Galactic Civilizations II v1.3 betas now out

The fetal position is working fine for me thank you. If you need me, I’ll be under my desk.

I’m probably the worst person to ask since I helped write the game so I’m incredibly biased.

But yes, its still one of the top selling PC games at retail and has sold well over 100k copies in a very short amount of time.

The Alexa ranking of GalCiv2.com is ~32,000 which makes it a very popular site despite the only thing one can really do there is hang out on the forums and talk about the game.

There’s a demo, it’s pretty outdated now but it would give you a basic idea of what the game is like.

Wow, that’s practically a ringing endorsement! Now does she listen to the our podcast?

Anders - GC2 really is a great game. I’ll give you some of the reasons I like it so much:

  • Metaverse. Whether you win or lose you get to keep track of your conquests and whether you’re good, evil, or a modicum neutral.

  • The ship designer is really cool. Spending time “outside” the arena of pure strategy and getting into your creative side is very rewarding. This is one of the reasons for my request above - so we can better appreciate it all in the strategic view.

  • Great AI. I love losing in a fair fight (if it’s recorded for posterity).

  • Several ways to win. It doesn’t all have to be about war.

  • Late-game play is not micromanagement hell. Stardock has done a great job of automating lots of tasks (under your control) that in many games get overwhelming when you get a vast empire. I’m playing a few war-games at the moment and sure wish they had GC2’s options.

  • Stardock keeps adding new stuff to the game. Every new patch that comes out holds and air of excitement when you check to see what they’ve added or improved.

*Conquering the Galaxy is fun.

  • If you get it through Stardock Central - it’s the best digital delivery mechanism available. It makes STEAM feel like slog through mud.

Maybe I’m blind, but is there some way to automate your constructors?

Sorry, but I couldn’t find the answer to this question on the Galciv site, but how big is the downloadable game? It’s an issue for me since I’m on a cheap ADSL connection. Thanks.

I’ve owned it since release, I was only interested in the financial aspects. Also, you’re in my Empire :)

If you’re referring to me ? , see my posts on Civ IV and Space Rangers 2. A dedicated gamer who appreciates great games isn’t viral.

Finally went back and clicked all those screenies GC2/ST screenies above. Some of those Star Trek shots are amazing. This one is my favorite:

When is the expansion coming out? I can’t wait for atmospheres to play a role in the game. Anything to restrict the necessity for expansion early on, which is a pretty glaring limitation in the game. Every map starts with an initial gold rush for planets, followed by quickly throwing together whatever fleet you can while building some basic infrastructure for the research necessary to get techs for said fleet.

The expansion pack is supposed to be out before Christmas.

As for my own image I’ve always envisioned something like this:

hehe - put little arms and legs on that and it’d be a great candidate for a new race!

Is there going to be like a gold pack that has the game + expansion?

I must have that Star Trek TC now! I’m salivating at the screenies again and if there’s one thing that could pull me away from Civ4 and back into GalCiv2 it would be that total conversion.

Oh I’m sure in the long term there will be gold packs, platinum editions, Drengin Hygene edition, etc. As long as the product is profitable, the content will be packaged and repackaged “Now with new logo!”

But there won’t be any such bundles this year. Probably next year.

as long as you continue to allow us to trivially skip your logos, we won’t track you down and kill you :D

Brad, I’m putting this here mostly because I think you’re more likely to see it here.

Wading deeply through the Sword of the Stars demo over the weekend made me appreciate what you’ve accomplished with GC2 all the more. The digital download along with retail distribution, the responsiveness and POLITENESS of Stardock to the players, the constant incorporation of feedback, updates that continually add to and improve the property; all stand in sharp contrast to the piss poor, rather arrogant responses of Martin C. to the feedback provided by the players of SotS demo here on QT3.

So … THANK YOU!

While the PUTV podcast motto may mention something about being unprofessional (which, in the case of the podcast, is actually the heart of it’s charm), you and Stardock are classy professionals in the eyes of this gamer.

Seconded! After trying the SoTS demo and it’s piss poor interface I was really jonesing for a space game and bought GalCiv2 and am having a blast. If Brad and Co., will see fit to add some real time battles down the road I’ll crap myself with joy (provided I have some actual control of said battles of course).

Brad cheated by being, you know, a UI designer first.