Wow, just wow. I normally dont post on any forums, cause im too lazy to type, but seeing what DrSpock wrote about Dark Avatar and stardock has forced me to respond.
First off, the fact that stardock is able to release two expansion packs in one year does show that they are indeed working very quickly, however this only impresses me, because I have actually played the original Galciv II and its expansion and am aware of the quality of both games. Which by the way, is damned good. Second, you obviously dont know much about the two, seeing as you dont describe the expansion correctly.
The expansion did have new planet types yes, but saying this only causes a slight gameplay change is quite simply wrong. Say for instance you start off in an isolated corner of the galaxy, as has happened to me before, and the really good planets near you are radioactive, or barren, or water, or heaven forbid, all damn three. This will force you to make some early decisions that will affect how the whole game will play out, mainly the decision to make a dash for the required techs to colonize said worlds, or to build some spacestations to reach some more desirable worlds that would be too far away to colonize right away. So clearly, that alone affects the gameplay quite a bit right there.
Of course, we now have what you said about asteroids... You say they make no difference? Damn, I would like to play a game against you where you arent able to use them and I can, we would see how much of a difference they make then... Trust me, you would not like the outcome.
And finally, we have what you left out of it completely. One, you failed to mention the new spy system, which, by the way, is pretty damn cool. Its nice to drop a crapload of spies on drengin worlds and totally shut down their production capability. Another thing you failed to mention, is the upgraded AI. Its like trying to take down someone who knows exactly what im gonna do before I do it when you have it on max. And another thing not mentioned is the whole new faction, or did you not notice that the Korath exhisted?
Well, my rant is done, and as for the original topic, which i have gone way off of, I think Stardock should not release the expansion until they feel it is good enough, since they have quite ably proven to me that they know what the hell they are doing. If that means an extra month of testing, then by all means, please do so. It just means an even better quality of game in the end.
One final thing, that little comment at the end of DrSpock's post makes me wonder if maybe he works for the Civilization team... And if so, does that mean that they are fealing threatened by GalCiv? If thats the case, the grats to Stardock, that would be quite the ego-boost I would think
