Is the game worth it?

This game is 90% strategy and 10% luck.

I would describe the game as being similar to your typical turn based civilisation game except that cities are planets and ground units are all spaceships.

So for example if you liked Civilisation 1 2 3 or 4, or if you liked Alpha centauri, then you will love Galciv

It is more a strategic level game, not a tactical one. Thus while you control the wars, individual battles are determined by a "roll of the dice".

No, the game can't be modded to allow you to control the tactical combat.

The video accompanying ground and space combat is simply eye candy, but good at that. So you do watch the battles unfold.

Hmm. Do you actually build separate ground forces, or are they just "levies" that you attach to ground transports?

Are the cinematics for ground battles always the same, or do they differ from time to time to keep it interesting? In other words, are ground battles as unique and interesting to watch as the space battles?

How big do ground and space battles get? Do you ever have epic battles between gigantic space armadas, for example?

I forgot to mention... the AI is very good indeed. If Alpha centauri had an AI this good then it would be the best strategy game ever!

The ground battles are pretty much all the same, but the space battles are each unique. They show your actual ships against your opponents ships.
And if you build large enough fleets they can get fairly epic in size. You might have 20 or so ships in a single fleet, going up against an (more or less) equal number of enemy ships.

Mmm. Yeah. It's not bad. I only spend 2 to 6 hours a night playing it.

definently worth it but if your a person who likes tactical more than strategic this might not be the game for you. However i will say that this is probably one of my favorite TBS games out there and the lack of Tactical combat just makes it easier to control huge amounts of units in massive wars without haveing to fight each individual battle.

There's a demo available. It's time/turn limited but does give you a good glimpse into the game.

This seems like a bit of a silly question, but is there a feature in the game that allows you to "see" your colonies? I don't mean the world tiles where you construct buildings or assign policies; I mean actually seeing the various buildings and/or cities on the individual planets - sort of like the feature in Rome: Total War that allowed you to view your cities on the tactical map. Thanks.

No, you only see the building on the tile, plus a picture of it along with the description. You don't see things moving in it.
But you can see ships orbiting planets in the expansion Dark Avatar.

Oh sorry, I forgot

Is the game worth it?

Hell yeah

For the price, I think this game is a steal (Best Buy has it for $29.99. While it is $10 more for the game straight from Stardock, they get ALL the money, not just a cut.) Either way, this is a very good game that never was at the $49.99 price point like many new releases, and has many of the features that other full budget games have. Also, with the release of the expansion, Dark Avatar, in Febuary (tenative date) you can get the 'gold,' or w\e the name will be, version of the game. That will be both the base game and the expansion. Otherwise, if you pre-order you can probly still be in the open beta for DA

I should point out, that in case you haven't heard, there are a few things that are not in this game:

1) No Multi-player.<--(notice the period) It was decided by Brad\Frogboy\Draginol and the rest of the team that the amount of money\resources\time it would take to make this a multi-player game would detract from the game. As of now, it is not planned, but it may be a possiblity in the future (either expansion or sequel)

2) Carriers - These are not in the game either, as without tactical combat and with the weapons model that is used, they would be utterly useless.

3) Orbital Bombardment - This is not in as the Dev's did not like the way that many games end up. You have a huge fleet and you go around wiping out all life. You have to conquer to take a planet. (This is sort of changing in the expansion with the spore ships *they kill everyone but ruin the ecology and PQ, size, of a planet*)

These three little horsies have gotten the stuffing beaten out of them, as people bring them up. Just realize that some design choices were made that may rub you the wrong way (multi-player is usually the most common, especially when it is simply expected).

All in all I highly recommend this game if you like a game that has high replayability, can be a real challenge, is 4X turn-based strategy, and has an amazing team of developers that work very hard with the community to make this a game we all love. I have had a lot of games over the years, and I have never seen a more dedicated group.

Depending on what is most important for you then this game can the best 4X game currently.

However you should be aware of a few things.

1. There is no tactical combat, none. Combat is decided by attack points, defence points and hps. There are no special weapons or anything that Moo2 had and you have no control whats so ever.

2. Ground combat is also not tactical with no control and just a small window showing two sides approaching and shooting at each other. And it always looks the same so after the tenth time you will probably just skip it.

3. No multiplayer option and both devs and a significant part of the community seems against implementing it so the probability of ever seeing that is slim.

Other than that the game is very well done with good solid diplomacy, economy and ship designing. And contrary to the post above me there IS orbital bombardement, several different types in fact, which will soften up a planet, but never destroying it, for invasion. You have to research the technologies though.

The AI is good but overrated. At its highest level without cheating (bonus to economy etc) its easily beaten. However once you give them some bonuses it gets significantly harder.

However for me personally Im not playing it so much anymore for the simple reason that I like long drawn out tactical combat and multiplayer. Another 4X game, Sword of the Stars, has that. But then again its all it got that is better than GC II. So if you dont want tactical combat or multiplayer you should try this game, otherwise I recommend Sword of the Stars.

I have been playing this game now for the last 7 or so months and find that every game I play is different.

You are able to customize just about every aspect of the game, including but not limited to, star density, how abundant habitable planets, stars, and anomalies are, speed of research, how many opponents, level of play, race you wish to play, how smart your adversaries are, what your starting techs and racial bonuses are, choose your political affiliation, customize colors of your ships, standard core ship design, and then, on top of all of that, you have the unique ability to design ships any way you choose. The Mods out there seem to be endless and you can create your own rather easily.

Multiplayer does not exist as stated above, but there is a competitive nature built into the game via the Metaverse. The Metaverse allows you to keep track of your individual games, gives you a score based on those games, and stacks you up against others who have posted games as well. Thus giving a ladder type environment Also you can join an empire and combine your scores with others within your chosen community creating an empire score, thus fostering competition between the empires.

The game is not perfect and there are a few things it does lack, but this holds true with any game. If you are a 4X fan as I am you will enjoy the replay ability GalCiv2 offers.

i don't think anyone's mentioned this:

while certain design aspects of this game cannot be modded, a huge portion of it can. there are lots of mods out there, and i don't get the sense that's about to change (they're only getting better).

i've wasted hours of my life in the ship builder. it's like a game in itself.

and while people report technical problems, i can say that in the latest patched version i've had almost none. the game loads pretty quickly and the time between turns is livable. i usually play with WinAmp running in the background and it still works fine. i'm playing with a PentiumD, 1 GB of RAM, and a pretty old video card (...getting myself an upgrade for xmas, probably not til new year tho).

Is it worth it? Definitely. It's currently my favorite game.

Hmm. Some people have said that it's only gotten buggier with 1.04. Is this plausible, or not?

Also: I've read that there is a lot of campy humor throughout the game, and that it might ruin the sci-fi atmosphere by being too tongue-in-cheek. Is this the case or not?

Finally: How spectacular are the effects/explosions/ship damage in the space battles?

Hmm. Some people have said that it's only gotten buggier with 1.04. Is this plausible, or not?

Nope. More bugs got squished with every release. More often than not, a lot of people screaming the game was buggy, never updated their video drivers. The forums bore this out.

Also: I've read that there is a lot of campy humor throughout the game, and that it might ruin the sci-fi atmosphere by being too tongue-in-cheek. Is this the case or not?

There is a fair amount of humour, yes. The game is immersive in my opinion as you truly feel like you are the leader of your empire all the time. I think it has the right amount of humour. Could you imagine all the text that's in this game, without any humor at all? It'd be boring. It's a part of what gives life into the game.

Finally: How spectacular are the effects/explosions/ship damage in the space battles?

If you have a good vid card, its the shiznit. There is eye candy and it is sweet.

Awesome. Thanks everyone for your opinions. I've ordered the game as we speak.   

"Orbital bombardment as a general feature has not been added explicitly because of the way it affects end-game gameplay in other games -- players going on a "genocide run".

That is the official view from Frogboy (aka Brad Wardell, Designer)."

I'd call that not in it. If you are to do anything to an enemy planet, you have to try invade. What you are talking about are the invasion strategies. A few forms of bombardment are in there (mass drivers I think is all....can't remember off hand)

When I bought the game, knowing absolutely nothing about GalCiv at all, it was on the strength of being able to design my own ships and being able to determine how they look. Which I wished I could have done in Master of Orion. I figured if it was half as good as MOO, it would have been worth the money I spent. Lo and behold, I found that it was even better than MOO, IMHO. And, to indulge the frustrated computer programmer in me, I learned how to make mods for GC2. I've downloaded some of the mods here and have liked what I have seen. Plus, the stardock staff, from what I have seen, keep a close eye on the posts and have gathered an awesome following in the forums. (no brown nosing inteneded)

So I would have to answer,"Hell yeah!"