Reading it now! More complex space battles sure are welcome Maybe formations? Some new eye candy for land battles would be welcome too. New espionage sounds solid too. Not too big fan of campaing but getting to play as Drengi sure sounds neat

Almost forgot, those asteroid platforms look terrific!!

Damnit, the expansion won't be sold at retail?

YES!!! Asteroid fields! It also sounds really good that colonizing planets will be different depending on race and planet-type! Two questions: When can I download it? What will this expansion pack cost me?

When will the expansion be available in the UK?? Would it be necassary to download from stardock central?is it ever going to be available in UK retail??

I'm really happy to hear about the customizable AI. I was afraid there wasn't enough reaction in the thread where you proposed it, but it will be great. Imagine trying to win a cultural victory in a galaxy where every other civ is trying to win a cultural victory. Imagine the prodigious Drengin AI turning its focus to industry. Imagine role-playing scenarios as you create small meek civilizations to protect from warmonger AIs. So Stardock never did think of putting weapons on a cargo hull. From the development of Magic: the Gathering, I'm not surprised. The smartest people don't have the collective brainpower and creativity of thousands of gamers. The designers of Magic have a Banned List announcement and website where they admit their mistakes and try to fix things up with the community. New ship parts! I am excited.

Actually, For GCIII I suggest using the Reach For The Stars system. Each race had different tolerance for planets' atmosphere, heat, and terrain type. So for one race this junkyard of a planet would be nearly worthless, but for another, it'll be a paradise! Imagine the possibilities: should I bother to colonize this dump or should I just colonize the next planet that my race could flourish on? Should I colonize it just to deny it from other races and let them grovel and beg me to give to them in exchange for everything I want?

There should even be some planets that will be uninhabitable at all for some races, but fully or even a bit inhabitable for others. That could be really great. And each race could even be able to gain extra stuff from certain types of terrain types and planets. Like, for example - an aquatic race could gain happiness and breeding bonus in water-worlds. What do you think?

Oh, and ofcourse, there MUST be orbital bombardment in GCIII. Simply a MUST. Let it take awhile to level a planet, so it will not unbalance the gameplay (unless you use some REALLY heavy-duty weapons and fleets, in which case you could level a planet in a turn or two).