Galactic Civilizations II v2.0 Preview

from JoeUser Forums

Galactic Civilizations II v2.0 is a major free update to Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar and Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor.

Galactic Civilizations is a turn-based space strategy game set in the 23rd century. In it, humans have begun colonizing the galaxy and have encountered several alien civilizations, some friendly, some hostile. Players must guide humanity by building fleets of ships, researching new technologies, negotiate treaties, fight wars, and much more. It is a game of epic scope and depth. Each game is different since the galaxy is randomly generated, the computer AI in the game behaves differently and the game has an immense number of setup options to give players a great deal of variance.

To get an idea of what a game is like, read the PC Gamer Diary which gives a detailed account of one such game.

Galactic Civilizations II encompasses 3 chapters:

  1. Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords (2006)
  2. Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar (2007)
  3. Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor (2008)

Most of the new features in v2.0 are for users who have Twilight of the Arnor but a few biggies are for Dark Avatar as well.

If you don't have Galactic Civilizations II, you can get the full saga here: https://www.galciv2.com/Purchase.aspx 

PART I: FIRST IMPRESSIONS...

Loading up the internal beta of 2.0 brings up an updated intro screen:

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Players can now design their own star ships right from the main game screen.

Selecting Ship Designer:

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Going back to the main screen I decide to start a game.

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PART II: A BRAVE NEW UNIVERSE

 

370,919 views 88 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

any chance of getting more star distribution patterns?  i was hoping a spiral shape might make it in there.

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

ooo Tech Brokering

Siege of Centauri
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Nice...great to see the extreme planet and random event sliders!

Kzinti empire2.JPG Sentient species taste better...

Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

~hits the pc on the side a few times~  OK, I see there is 4 replies back at forum level, I see '1 reply' on the OP, but I only see reply 1 & 2 in the thread.  /boggle

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

~hits the pc on the side a few times~ OK, I see there is 4 replies back at forum level, I see '1 reply' on the OP, but I only see reply 1 & 2 in the thread. /boggle

that was happening to me a moment ago as well, but now i see all 5. go figure.

Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Nice, I can't wait to see more news of the upcoming features.

Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

What is the difference between tech brokering and trading?

Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Brokering is when you buy Laser I from the Dregin then turn around and sell it to the Torians.  With Brokering turned off, only techs that are researched by a race can be sold, any techs purchased by them can't.  It's just like the trade goods right now.

Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting GJDriessen, reply 8
What is the difference between tech brokering and trading?

Yup i was wondering what is meant by this too?

 

A little clarification please :)

Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting Loupdinour, reply 9
Brokering is when you buy Laser I from the Dregin then turn around and sell it to the Torians.  With Brokering turned off, only techs that are researched by a race can be sold, any techs purchased by them can't.  It's just like the trade goods right now.

Aha thanks :)

 

Cant see the reason to turn this off personaly but i guess some people might like it..

Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Mr Frogboy sir...

Is there plans for 2.0 to allow us to review the Galactic News Update that shows between turns? It would be very handy to be able to recall this at times during the turn.

 

Thanks.

Reply #13 from Demigod Forums Top

sounds great Frogboy

Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Cant see the reason to turn this off personaly but i guess some people might like it..

It would stop the universal techs between races a bit and help focus more on your own research.  Also, if it's a race-specific tech that can be traded, you can feel better about sharing it only with those you trust.

Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Special planets sliding sounds pretty cool. Allows you space for those map with extremely few, but valuable planets (have tried to do a game like that before... Having a 14 class planet try to produce enough to keep a galaxy-wide empire going is... Tedious). Tech brokering is kind of nice to be able to turn off, will make the Colonisation techs very valuable as currency when teh AI's don't distribute them amongst themselves.

Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

As other's are pointing out, it's actually a really awesome option to finally have in the game.

 

It prevents tech's from spreading near instantly after just 1 race discovers it.

 

it's strengthens the power of research, and bargaining.

 

 

Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

How will disabling tech brokering work with respect to the super abilities that grant techs at the start of the game? (super adapter and aquatic/barren, super trader and the trade techs, etc.). will these techs be considered researched by the appropriate race for the sake of trading them when tech brokering is disabled?

Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

allow us to review the Galactic News Update that shows between turns

Yes, please.

And huzzah for the tech brokering option. I don't know if it'll lead me back to fully enabled tech trading, but it sounds like it will at least be a good compromise to help keep the TA tech trees feeling "unique" through the full game.

Reply #19 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting dystopic, reply 17
How will disabling tech brokering work with respect to the super abilities that grant techs at the start of the game? (super adapter and aquatic/barren, super trader and the trade techs, etc.). will these techs be considered researched by the appropriate race for the sake of trading them when tech brokering is disabled?

I'm not sure...but I know those can't be sold even for 1bc since they came via a SA.

Reply #20 from Sins Forums Top

My personal request for v2.0 is about zooming on the minimap - there is a big jump between fully zoomed out and the close up ones - I keep wanting something in between...if that's not too much to ask   :\

Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Is there any hope of fixing DA's invasion memory leak?  At least give us an option to turn off the invasion graphic which seems to be the culprit.

For me it's like a clock, 20 invasions and the game stalls, around 30 I get the white box for an explosion and out of memory.  Play the Korath, spore all day, no problem.  Stop invading, no problem.

 

Reply #22 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Nice tip of the iceberg with just the new setup options.  Looking forward to seeing how espionage is tweaked and whatever other goodies are planned.

Reply #23 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Is edit broken?

Anyways - I'm especially happy to see a "no tech brokering option".  TA AI does very well with tech trading entirely off but it'll be nice to have a middle ground.

Reply #24 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I like the tech brokering option. Still would prefer the option to 'license' or 'sell' tech, but at least this leaves trading as viable without having everyone get everything.

 

Jonnan

Reply #25 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Ooookay - Edit not working for me either?

That said - also, yay for being able to create ships out of game!

Jonnan