Galactic Civilizations II 1.3 released!

Hundreds of small changes

https://www.galciv2.com/Downloads.aspx
from GalCiv2 Forums

Stardock is proud to announce the release of Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords v1.3.  The new update has hundreds of new tweaks, features, and other enhancements to the existing game based on player feedback.  We've updated the computer AI, we've made changes to game mechanics based on player requests, we've made some enhancements to the user interface and we improved some of the planet graphics.  But overall, what we have tried to do is go through the mountains of suggestions people have given us over the last few months and found ways to implement as many of them as possible.  Unlike 1.2 and 1.1, this new version isn't so much about a handful of major features but rather dozens and dozens of tiny changes that we think when combined help make the game even more fun for players.

Galactic Civilizations II is at most retail stores in North America and Europe so if you don't already have it, you should be able to get it locally.  You can also purchase it directly from GalCiv2.com via TotalGaming.net and download the entire game while your box is shipped to you.

We hope you find this new version to be as fun to play as we had making it.  We've had a good time going through and making some of these changes and finding how even the smallest tweaks to game balance can add new dimensions to game play. You can download the update either in the Downloads section here or from Stardock Central (which enables users to re-download the entire game no matter where purchased even years from now).

You can read all the new features here: Change log.

 

25,117 views 34 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Sweetness! Downloading as I key! Thank you Stardock. You guys rock.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Great! and I'm second to congratulate! Am downloading now too....
Thank you
Start11 - Customize the Start Menu and Taskbar in Windows 10/11.
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yeah, I read the list of fixes for this new update and just have one question. To all of you who have played this game without any issues, how could that be when there is a list of "tweaks and fixes" that scrolls for an awful lot of lines. This is proof that the developers weren't the swiftest at programming for if so, then why would we all need these updates to fix our problems? Like I have always said, love the game but this list proves that the game has issues, and it cannot possibly be that a great percentage of us computer owners possess substandard equipment that will not allow this game to run properly. Kudos for all of the help with issues and bugs, but please, for the expansion(which you know I will buy) fix the rest of the issues and make the game more user friendly!
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Stormbringer,

A program, any program, is never finished. It can always be tweaked and improved. If you wait till it's perfect to release, you'll never release.

Where I work, we release early and release often. Seems like Stardock is similar.

Mark
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thank you for the new patch. I've been looking forward to it! Please keep up the good work.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yeah, I read the list of fixes for this new update and just have one question. To all of you who have played this game without any issues, how could that be when there is a list of "tweaks and fixes" that scrolls for an awful lot of lines. This is proof that the developers weren't the swiftest at programming for if so, then why would we all need these updates to fix our problems? Like I have always said, love the game but this list proves that the game has issues, and it cannot possibly be that a great percentage of us computer owners possess substandard equipment that will not allow this game to run properly. Kudos for all of the help with issues and bugs, but please, for the expansion(which you know I will buy) fix the rest of the issues and make the game more user friendly!


That's one of the dumbest arguments I've ever seen. The game is the #1 strategy game of 2006 by reviews. 1.0 was fine. The things they add are based on people suggesting new things.

The list of changes is almost all adjustments based on how people are playing the game. For a guy who can't figure out how to upload his own avatar, you sure are quick to label people as being dumb.

I challenge you to find one item in the list that prevetned the game from running properly.

Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm sure those who played the game encountered bugs, or places where things didn't work quite as they might have expected. However, those issues did not materially impact their satisfaction with the game. Therefore, they were not problems for them.

There are, undoubtedly, bugs in 1.3, though I believe we fixed those we know about. And there will be bugs in the expansion. Chances are, we may even know about some of those bugs before we release it. But we will release it anyway, because it is better to get something out than not.

As for the developers, they were swift. They just weren't always right. I know of no developers apart from the guys who build the space shuttle that can get 1000 lines of code right first try, or the second, no matter how long they have to do it. GalCiv II is a project of half a million fairly tightly-coupled lines of code that has to run on just as many different machines. That's without considering the updates that are added at the same time (which may uncover new bugs that were previously undetectable).

I am not sure what "great percentage" of people you're talking about, really. There are few people for whom the game will not actually run properly. "Run without bugs on all systems" is never going to happen, because the demand for new features will always be more important than a certain level of problems. That's how games work.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
And a lot is very dependant on the particular hardware/software combination of the individual computer. Different bios's and background tasks, not all of which are coded perfectly either, can make a big difference too.

Ignorance is bliss, I guess. It allows for easy explainations and an easy place to place the blame. But Stardock is not to blame for many of the problems, although they try to take the responsibility by recoding their stuff so often to work with all those different combinations that pop up, which they can not possibly test for in advance.
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
One suggestion I'd like to make- perhaps have a running thread of every final version, so we can see what changes were made, somewhere on the site- instead of having to hunt through the forums every time.

For example 1.3.037 to 1.3.041, what changed? Since this game isn't MP, it may not be worthwhile to patch up all the time.

Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It is a good thing most people aren't like Stormbringer or else Stardock wouldn't likely be able to put out these free updates. If most people started equating new updates to a game to mean that the game was buggy or made by developers who aren't smart, then you can be sure there wouldn't be updates.

I think the folks at Stardock can point to all the awards the game has won and the relatively few problems people are reporting and say that the game works pretty well.

Plus, I can click on Stormbringer's profile and see his other posts where he asks questions like what the difference between a megabyte and gigabyte is, whether AMD has more than 1 processor, and his multiple posts asking for help that don't include any information to what the problem is other than it isn't working "right".

I wouldn't give the guy a hard time except that he keeps saying that the reason he is having problems is because the Stardock developers are "dumb" and don't know how to "program" right.
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I for one have never had any terrible problems with GalCiv2. Thanks to you all for making this game so great. I love the download system for the updates as well. It is simply the easiest system to patch out of all the games I play. (Which is more then I care to admit.)
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Oops I forgot to ask, why was there another updated a little while ago? The patch seems to have been rereleased. What changed?
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The main executable didn't seem to synch right, so we re-staged it just to make sure they were all the correct versions. I would recommend that you update to be sure you have the right exe with all the fixes mentioned in Brad's post.
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
New PC parts arrive tomorrow... The PAIN of waiting to play 1.3! The JOY of Conroe + 7900GS + 2Gb!
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The previous iterations were the beta releases for 1.3. This is the final release.
Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thank you Stardock-you guys continue to build a deserved reputation for pro-active development and listening to your Gamers. There is little doubt in my mind now that you are now in the top bracket of Game developers. I know no of no other game where the deliberate use of its users in Betas and feedback is so potent and successful.

Whilst this strategy of intimate use of Gamers in public Betas is a cost effective strategy with many benefits for Stardock - it works well as Gamer feedback is so pro-actively saught after that users feel involved and many are keen to help.

Kudos to the Team, and my personal thanks for all the long hours you put in, both official and unofficial, to give us a constantly evolving and engaging game. The intense personal committment of individual coders leaps at you during the game, and you have a right to feel proud of what you are releasing.

Regards
Zy
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Damn, stardock... good update. Stormbringer, go home and play something else.
Reply #19 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I was perfectly happy with 1.2, but sounds like 1.3 will be even better
cheers
Reply #20 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Stardock does it again! I have seen many mainstream devlopers release a product, release one or two patches with maybe fix a few dozen bugs and exploits, then move on. I have even had patches that corrupted my game files! GC II was one of the more stable and balanced games I have played, and it just keeps getting better! I think Stardock can start boasting about it's excellent technical followups on it's games next time it advertises a product.
Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thank you for your efforts and enthusiasm for this game. It is greatly appreciated.

One question. This release is bound to produce a lot of feedback. Will there be a central place to post these?
Reply #22 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yeah, I read the list of fixes for this new update and just have one question. To all of you who have played this game without any issues, how could that be when there is a list of "tweaks and fixes" that scrolls for an awful lot of lines. This is proof that the developers weren't the swiftest at programming for if so, then why would we all need these updates to fix our problems? Like I have always said, love the game but this list proves that the game has issues, and it cannot possibly be that a great percentage of us computer owners possess substandard equipment that will not allow this game to run properly. Kudos for all of the help with issues and bugs, but please, for the expansion(which you know I will buy) fix the rest of the issues and make the game more user friendly!


Two words. Continued support. Nuff said. I am very proud of the coders especially Cari and CodeCritter for going through and fixing these bugs.

Stardock does it again! I have seen many mainstream devlopers release a product, release one or two patches with maybe fix a few dozen bugs and exploits, then move on. I


Exactly. If this were a Quicksilver product it would have been dropped and unsupported long ago. (Moo3)
Reply #23 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Stormbringer, I can forgive you because you just aren't used to getting post purchase service from other developers.

Thanks for another fine update Stardock!
Reply #24 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Congrats to all at Stardock! I have never had better post game support and this is what makes it so special. Complaining ( Stormbringer) when the team has gone so far to help all of us have a better experience, only makes you infamous.

Well done Stardock! Looking forward to Dark Avatar for Christmas.
Reply #25 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
For me, the big news is that this version finally fixes the "lost turn of production on game load" bug. Wheee!

I do, however, have a question: Does this fix support games saved under 1.2? I have a 1.2 game that crashed in progress, and I'd really like to not lose that turn of production when I reload my last save, if it's possible.