Okay. I own galactic civilizations Dread Lords. However I am able to obtain the 1.4 update for some reason (computer freezes everytime I try to activate and stardock hasn't helped me out at all...I've even sent an email to support).

Do you have a firewall or any other similar software that may be interfering with it?

You can also try updating via SDC, as when you do that SDC handles the activation itself in the background.

Barring that, you could also try temporarily disabling your network connection so that the manual activation gives you the option to activate by email.

Also.. can I play Dark Avatar without the 1.4 update?

No, Dark Avatar requires GC2 itself to be updated to the very latest version as it uses some of the same files.

And does it use the same system requirements as Dread Lords?

I don't know if it is officially going to be different, but so long as you're at DL's recommended specs you'll be fine either way.

Now about the stardock central, how does that work? Like installation, activation, etc.

Get it from the downloads page, install, and log in with the same account you use on the forum. You will need to have registered the game to that account (if you have not, go to Tools Menu->Register Products in SDC--you'll need your serial number for that), or if you registered it previously to another account, log in with that one instead.

If you've already got the game registered, then all you have to do is fire up SDC, pick Games on the left and select GC2 on the listing at the right. Click the Update button and let it do its thing, including activation. That should be all there is to it.

Did you try turning off your firewall?