Dark Avatar? Discuss...

Just read everything posted about the expansion, Dark Avatar, what does everyone think of it, now we know whats in it?


Personally, I like all the new additional features. The one that really sounds awesome is this epic generator. Creating a story based on the events in the game sounds great, I hope u can post the story to both the metaverse to be recorded and perhaps a special section in this very forum.


Good to see espionage improved but I hope u can sabatoge planetary ship production (what's being built in the shipyard) and social production (planetary improvement building), just sabotaging individual tiles seems a little insignificant to me.


Hopefully the new planets being only colonised by certain races will end the initial colony rush at the start of the game. Its gets stale after a while and every race is forced to have mad colony rush or be doomed later on.


Three last points the Altarians have been conquered, it looks like they are the race that got wiped out, but the resistance continues?


The new evil race the Korath look a lot like the wraith in stargate:atlantis!


Is it worth $29.99 asking price or should it have been $19.99?

31,148 views 50 replies
Reply #1 Top
Sorry about the lack of paragrapths folks, they r missing from this forum presumed dead! Anyone tell me how to get them back? Never mind figured it out, I think...
Reply #2 Top
seems to be back to normal now

last post i tried was fine anyway

edit: yep, definitely back
Reply #3 Top
Erh... Meglobob did you edit the post again or something, because I see alot of paragrapths.
Reply #4 Top
I like the sound of things too. sabotaging tiles could be ok - imagine sabotaging that 700% manufacturing tile! and i guess you could sabotage multiple tiles on a planet too. will be interesting to see how it works!

my favourite improvement is the planet categories, will definitely make the early game more interesting and fun. being forced to colony rush to have any chance was a bit annoying. This change will make actually exploring more important, maybe.

Reply #5 Top
Will it fix the bug where if you load a save game, after you hit turn, you get an extra turn of moving?
Reply #6 Top
I'd pay $29 for it....

I love GC2...

Reply #7 Top
I'd pay $19.99 for pre-order and $24.99 if I waited too long and realized I wanted it.

As far as what they're offering - it's ok. I was one of those that said "yes" to multi-player so I could play with friends.
Reply #8 Top
Meklar- that is not a bug, it is by design. Either way some have found it somehow annoying, I just click the turn button one extra time.

My favorite is definitely the planet types also. That will give the colonization phase much more depth. Second are the asteroids. Finally, we get asteriod bases! w00t!!!

And those poor Altarians.... I liked 'em, too....
Reply #9 Top
Funny, I read that line (The Altarians being conquored) as being part of a game, not that they were gone from the game...

The Schu
Reply #10 Top
Hmmm, the Drengin/korath schism sounds very much like the ur-quan kzer-za (green, slavers) and Kohr-ah (Black, genocidal) from *We're not worthy!* Star control two, no complaints there but

Different races being able to colonise certain specialised planets is a feature I thought was lacking in the original, I'm glad to see it added, it will (hopefully) make the beginning more interesting, less of a mad rush for planets.One thing im not sure about here, but will having these different conditions effectively mean more colonizable planets per galaxy? i.e. As it stands colonizable planets seem to be those near Earth standard unversally, so will humans be able to use these worlds, whereas say the drengin will prefer volcanic worlds (well thats the type of world i imagine them occupying at least) the torian water worlds etc.. That was one of my favourite things about *Bows down and worships* Master of orion, especially as the silicoids and I believe the meklar, being able to take any world hehehe

As for espionage, more is better! I like the ability to sabotage enemy installations, steal research.. there is a game, o.r.b, quite like haegemonia but unfortunately relatively unrecognised, (Being released around the same time didnt help)In which you could sabotage their research, slowing it down, and destroy ships killing its crew (of which there was a limited supply).I love being a sneaky bugger, and would love to see these abilities in galciv, which in my opinion is already quite good at exploring non military options.
I want to sabotage that huge frelling Battleship they're sending at me and blame those hesmana insectoids (man they annoy me...influence just flowing from thier wazoo's..do insects even HAVE wazoo's?)

Yes, I am farscape fan.

As for megablobs question of price, I dont mind paying the $30 (though perhaps somewhat more for myself, I'm guessing this price is USD not AUD)Stardock are definitely a company I'm willing to support.Their policies regarding updates and replacement (Most specifically being able to download a replacement for free if you have the serial- I love you guys!) were definitely a major selling point.Man this is a huge post,I'm just gonna end it here...
Reply #11 Top
I like the sound of things too. sabotaging tiles could be ok - imagine sabotaging that 700% manufacturing tile! and i guess you could sabotage multiple tiles on a planet too. will be interesting to see how it works!


In the example screenshot, it shows a manufacturing tile being sabotaged, it says production from the tile is being reduced by 20%. Will espionage be worth it?

Funny, I read that line (The Altarians being conquored) as being part of a game, not that they were gone from the game...


The race eliminated will continue to exist in GC 2 but not be present in GC 3, apparently. So make the most of those Altarians, folks. By the way the portrait of the female Altarian resistance leader looks a lot better then the male leader portrait, he looked evil...

I'd pay $29 for it....

I love GC2...


I agree with this, mostly. I paid 30 pounds or $50 US if u prefer, at $30 the expansion is 2/3's the price of the full game, will it make the game 2/3's better? I love the game and will buy it no matter what, to be fair u can pre-order for $25, so I will do that I guess. But does it sound value for money?


Reply #12 Top
Will you be able to pre-order without TG?

Reply #13 Top
Cheap at the price. BTW the load a saved game lose a production turn thing was id'd as a bug, maybe it will be fixed soon.


[link="http://linksrc="https://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=274&AID=121432#940816"]"]http://linksrc="https://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=274&AID=121432#940816"]">Link
Reply #14 Top
they say "he expansion will be initally released digital only via TotalGaming.net (and the store on GalCiv2.com)"
Reply #15 Top
In the example screenshot, it shows a manufacturing tile being sabotaged, it says production from the tile is being reduced by 20%. Will espionage be worth it?


I guess it will depend on how many agents you can get, and how much you have to spend to get them. lots of -20%'s could have a pretty big effect. also, if you choose +% espionage as a race ability, maybe this % would be increased?

also, maybe the reduction shown is the total reduction to the planetary production from sabotaging that tile?
Reply #16 Top
maybe the reduction shown is the total reduction to the planetary production from sabotaging that tile?


I got the impression, just the individual tile was effected.

I guess it will depend on how many agents you can get, and how much you have to spend to get them. lots of -20%'s could have a pretty big effect. also, if you choose +% espionage as a race ability, maybe this % would be increased?


Showed 18 agents available in the screenshot I saw, so look pretty plentiful and I assume espionage will effect them, so having a high % might open up new playing strategy's.

Reply #17 Top
Epic Generator! Definitly my favorite of the proposed additions.

Too bad for the Altarians, I guess Billy Idol wanted his hair back, and came to collect.
Reply #18 Top
Looks like some fun stuff, but sadly, I've grown tired of the kind of micromanaging that GC2 requires. All they'd have to do is apply excess production to the next item in the build queue and I'd be placing my preorder immediately. But if I have to keep moving the production sliders one percent at a time and checking my planets' production levels with each and every repetition on each and every turn, then not even the great-sounding features of this expansion pack will provide any enjoyment for me. Babysitting my planets has gotten old, and I can't play an optimal game without it.

I'd also very much like to be able to save the game without losing a turn's worth of production, but that's slightly less important.
Reply #19 Top
What I'm looking forward to most if the different type of environment of planets - thats one thing I really missed from Stars!
Reply #20 Top
Looks like some fun stuff, but sadly, I've grown tired of the kind of micromanaging that GC2 requires. All they'd have to do is apply excess production to the next item in the build queue and I'd be placing my preorder immediately. But if I have to keep moving the production sliders one percent at a time and checking my planets' production levels with each and every repetition on each and every turn, then not even the great-sounding features of this expansion pack will provide any enjoyment for me. Babysitting my planets has gotten old, and I can't play an optimal game without it.

I'd also very much like to be able to save the game without losing a turn's worth of production, but that's slightly less important.


You don't actually have to do that if you don't want to...
Reply #21 Top
I was the first one to post a topic on the GameFAQs board for this...yep, it's a me, Sion_Revan!


it looks pretty good to me. the star control 2 thing can be expected really. as someone said before somewhere, every story from every medium is taken from somewhere else and altered. new additions look cool too (sabotage? hot dog! )
Reply #22 Top
Sadly the novelty factor has run down to a trickle for me and this game. Its cute but the limitation of only being able to play against AI opponents means the game has ceilinged
- new campaign *yawns* - havent played the original one - care factor =0

more espionage - meh

restrictions of planets colonising - more like MOO2 every patch
was a shortcoming of the original

the only challenge twinking micromanagement to outwit a number crunching machine - how much better can it possibly be

throwing more money to defeat the computer - nah
Reply #23 Top
No.118 sez:
You don't actually have to do that if you don't want to...

I do if I'm playing to win.
Reply #25 Top
Against human opponents, yes. The social element adds a dimension beyond mere victory, so when I'm playing games with my friends, winning is a secondary consideration. It'll be fun whether I win or lose.

But when I play a game against a computer, there is no social element at all. The fun lies almost entirely in overcoming the challenges presented by the game, fighting as hard as I can and using every possible resource (short of cheating) to pull a victory out of the fire. That challenge was fun for a while with GC2, but I've grown bored with this particular micromanagement element, and playing to win requires that I devote about 75% of my playing time to it.

I mean, wouldn't you rather play without the micromanagement? Isn't is so much more fun to design ships, develop a technology strategy, play the diplomatic game and stuff like that?