Stardock,

After playing Galciv2 for the past few nights (late, late nights) I have three words for you:

Oh My God

...with that said, I'll elaborate. I never played the first GalCiv, though not for any particular reason, I just never got around to buying it, though, I always thought it looked interesting. I didn't even know GalCiv2 was coming out until I read a preview at Gamespot in January, and, looking at the screenshots and reading the features, my strategy-game-starved mind went into convulsions! So, I was very happy when the game was released this month and sold some older PC games on eBay to save up the funds for GalCiv2 (it's hard for us married computer game junkies to justify spending so much money on games, so, some of us are forced to sell personal possessions on Ebay! ) With that said, here is what I like:

* The interface is beautiful, clear and clean, and....beautiful. I love it.
* The game loads up quick, no stupid intro movies you can't skip past, and runs smooth as silk. I've finished one campaign on normal (I lost!) and I just started another, and have not experienced a single bug or CTD.
* Options, options, options, and charts, charts, charts. Perfect. This is a strategy man's dream come true. For those that complain the game is boring, try tweaking your starting game options...or try playing something more exciting like a shooter. This is a 4X game, afterall.
* AI seems sharp, I love the open ended gameplay, and the ability to "roleplay" your way through the game is sublime.
* It's obvious from reading the forum, reading the in-game text, playing the game, and visiting your site that you have put a lot of love and attention into this game. It shows. Thanks.

Here are the few things I do not like:
* As someone stated, you should not be able to see AI players influence before you run into them. This ruins the "go out and explore and see what's out there" part of the game, and takes away some of the mystic of "going boldly where no one has gone before". I can understand your civ may be picking up radio transmissions or something, pointing out to you that there is something "out there", perhaps. Maybe at least remove the color coding from the influence circles so you can't tell who is where? Though I still think that influence should only be visible once you have "bumped into" an AI ship, planet, base, or even "run across" it's influence border.

I think that pretty sums it up. Being a computer game junkie, I would probably rate this as one of the best gaming experiences I've had to date, not just because the game is fun, most games are, but because of the, for want of a better way of putting it, sheer amount of love and attention Stardock obviously puts into their product. It really shows and this game is a triumph of engineering, fun-factor, and presentation.

Cheers,
Candelarius

I am impressed, graphics are great and the game is fun to play. I've already played 5 complete maps from tiny to medium with up to 6 rival civs, and i plan on playing it alot more 8). Things i like...Ship building, very awesome, very fun, and easily personalized, outstanding. Tech Tree is great too..you can choose any path u want your civ to take and that makes your civ very unique..which also makes game replay different and unlimited...i'll be playing it alot. Civ interaction is very good and can be entertaining as well. Economics is easy and fun..with so many upgrade possiblility's, gives you alot of potentials, and variety to choose from, which means even more unique civ possibiltys. But most importantly ,the game is very fun and thats what matters.
Things i'd like to see in the future for the game.............definately need to be able to add to new ship designs with out having to make a whole new ship..(as mentioned in previous posts), and maybe even a starbase design also. I'd like to see counter spy ability's, seems easy to plant spys, if u have enough cash, and no way to protect your self from it. Survey ships should be more easily available early in the game, by the time u get to that tech..there's not much left to survey. Individual ground unit techs and upgrades would be nice like in MOO3. Influence area's should not give away other civ's worlds unless they have been found, or explored (as mentioned in previous posts), and/or have a map exchange option available on first contact. A a map design option, to place planets ,stars ,enomily's, resourses, and civ starting locations...this would be awesome, and would greatly affect the replay value emensly. More random events..love those add alot of flavor to the game. And carriers for fighters, the fact that a tiny fighter can travel from 1 end of the galaxy to other, well just doesn't feel right (just my opinion ofcourse). I personally would like to see a range limit for them or a support ship for deep space operations (ei. the carrier).
My score.........on a scale from 1-10 i give it a 15! I love this game 8), but being the supreme leader of the universe means i must now return to the game so that i might continue creating the 500 trillion clones of myself to achieve galactic imperial rule!................also i no longer addess the game by its title..........becuse it is now " my prescious" and it calls to me...............8) lol Isdahl good hunting and kill well

One last thing...i've noticed alot of players have expierinced many bugs and problems with the game so far...i personally have had no such problems...none what so ever....yet (knock on wood). The game runs perfect for me and my game play has not been hindered at all, and if there have been any bugs i have not noticed them and thats good enough for me. My only problem has been lagg as the game goes on into the later turns and that is probobly a personal computer issue on my PC, which i am still waiting for a reply from stardock tech suport on. Now back to universal conquest....8).

Presently I recommend that my friends not buy Galactic Civilizations II. It does make up for the failings of MoO 3 in every conceivable fashion, except that on Beginner difficulty the AI is no challenge on Normal difficulty the AI uses extremely exploitative tech trading tactics. I don't want my friends to play for three days on a huge map just to find out that despite their empire being powerful, their friends and enemies will gladly trade weapons techs with eachother and the result being, the enemy's ships are 8x more powerful and their allies are unwilling to give them competitive weapon and defensive technologies for anything. Thus, invalidating three days of playing time.