If you haven't played IG2, do it. The franchise died an untimely death. The spiritual heir is Hegemonia: Legions of Iron.
If Stardock wants something absolutely spectacular for a sequel, they should lock Galactic Civilizations 2 and Imperium Galactica 2 in a bedroom and develop whatever comes out of it.
IG2 failed on multiple points because they didn't have the dedication or, more likely, the code ownership that Stardock has.
Few developers do.
Incremental advancements on expansion packs is ok but a sequel should be orders of magnitude better. So much so that people call it exclusively by subtitle.
