I've had the privilege to play Gal Civ for around four and a half years. I've recently been thinking about what has kept me playing Gal Civ for that many years when most games, even excellent ones like System Shock 2 or Bioshock, only hold my interest for about a month or so? So, I've put together a list of reasons of why I've kept playing this game through three OS's, multiple computers and innumerable games.
1. Artificial Intelligence
The AI is good. Real good. In fact, it is likely the best I've ever encountered. Unlike most games that crank up AI bonuses as you crank up the difficulty level, Gal Civ just gets 'smarter'. For example, if you crank up the difficulty in the Civilization series, you get swamped by units from the computer because the units have gotten cheaper for your computer opponent. In contrast in Gal Civ, as you crank up the difficulty the computer gets smarter. This has been especially noticeable with the duocore processors. As someone who uses AI at work, Gal Civ's AI is good. It is very easy to have an AI system that is 'dumb' in that it will do what you ask and never re-evaluate itself. in other words, it is not very dynamic. Gal Civ's AI has more than once managed to stump me. The AI does have a least one weakness, you can normally reach an 'Alliance' victory even with races that have no good reason to ally with you. But this is 'gaming' the system and is only something I do when I want to finish a game.
2. Ship Design
This gives the player a huge strategic advantage over the computer and is a tonne of fun. Do you want your ships to look like Honor Harrington's, Darth Vader's, Miles Vorkosigan/Naismith's, etc, etc? Then you can go crazy. So this feature is both fun and essential to beating the computer at high difficulty levels. There is something hugely satisfying about creating a Psyionic Horror with a Laser attack rating of 88.
3. The Races
Where else do you have to deal with crazy squirrels who want to rule the world. It reminds me of the recent book 'Old Man's War' by John Scalzi where the hero is a genetically enhanced 80 year old man who ends up fighting a civilization of 2 inch high pixies. The diversity of civiliztions is fantastic. It is unfortunate that the diplomacy and espionage can't live up to the back story of these civilizations but my feeling is that this would be... challenging.
4. Game Play
It's the little things like the beautiful music that has acted as a lullaby for my kids as they napped, to the ability to pause the game anywhere and anytime. I love the fact that if something happens, like it does when you are raising a family, you can walk away from Gal Civ and it's no big deal. The vector graphics introduced in Gal Civ means that the game continues to look good as graphic cards continue their stratospheric rise in performance. It's a manual and a Galactopedia that help. The recent 'World in Conflict' set a new standard in poorly documented controls and game engine design. Manuals help players and are essential in strategy cames. It's the technology tree that has changed and continues to evolve all the time. You can pursue so many different options. I so wish that my real life R&D job was a simple as the technology tree but real world R&D "Give us a tonne of money and you might get something useful, sometime, maybe or... not" just wouldn't work in a game. However, I might suggest that those 'Epic events' that occur in the game may be a new 'hidden' technology tree that one could uncover.
5. Developer Support and Involvement
This can't be emphasized enough. It is the reason that I continue to play the game. There have been hiccups over the years but the Stardock team continues to be there and provide support and respond to community concerns. It's a fantastic corporate strategy of NOT playing to the lowest common denominator with flash players but instead of focusing on quality delivery to a dedicated customer base. The delay in the Gal Civ II beta is a great example. No BS just there will be a delay and here's why.
I'd be interested in reading the top five list of other long term players? Why have you kept playing Gal Civ II?
