Firstly: I enjoyed GC1/AP, but I think the game was flawed by it's scope/UI.
One of the main drawbacks of GC1/AP is IMHO the lack of empire overview. The main overview screen can only display 1 sector at a time while the galaxy was up to 28x28 sectors(!) I found it almost impossible to respond to enemy fleets and keep track of all my systems, fleets and star bases.
GC1 has a small 'overview' screen, but it can only be used to get info from influence spheres and star systems. It is even quite hard to see ownership of star systems and almost impossible to see enemy/own fleets. And you can't select stuff directly from it.
I have seen from screenshots that this is essentially the same in GC2. Complexity is even increased by having planets appear in the main overview screen.
Personally I like to play on huge galaxies when playing space 4x; a lot of stuff to explore and conquer. It is great to really get the feeling that you are running a powerful empire. In GC1 I only had the patience to play medium or smaller galaxies, and even that became quite tedious with the lack of empire-wide overview.
I would have hoped that the developers went for a more simplistic empire-overview in GC2 (hint: Stars!, MoO 1+2, Starships Unlimited).
