I recently purchased GC II Gold and so far have had nearly flawless gameplay (only 1 CTD in over 200 hours of playing) - except for one consistent, insidious issue.

I play Dark Avatar, sandbox mode. The problem goes like this:

As you know, several times during a game, you will get a pop-up message that informs you that so-and-so has decided to go to war with...well, whomever - and you are asked if you will join them since your race is of a like kind. You have a yes / no selection box. No matter which box I click on, the next turn I get the message that I have joined the conflict. 'No' just doesn't work. I get this same result every time regardless of alliances, treaties, or any other factor.

In my last game the Altarians had been reduced down to one star system (due to earlier wars) and were on their last leg. The Thalan empire had expanded to cover almost 50% of the galaxy and were clearly in the number one spot. About mid-game, the Altarians decided to go to war against the Thalans. This very act in itself took something away from the game, since any race intelligent enough to develop hyperdrive would not be stupid enough to make that kind of mistake (Brad Wardell, where are you?). Anyway, I got the message asking if would join the Altarians, clicked 'No', and, yup...you guessed it, the next turn found myself at war against the most powerful empire on the board. I took a beating before I could finally arrange a peace.

Sorry for the long post. My thanks to those that take the time to read it, and for any advice or input. Is this a known bug? Is there a fix? Any ideas? Peace