IT IS HERE!

The first beta of the second expansion pack to Galactic Civilizations II was made available today.

The new expansion pack, Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor

will give all 12 major civilizations their own unique technology trees which include new weapons, new planetary improvements, new civilization abilities, and more. In addition, players will be able to construct the star destroying "Terror Star". The graphics engine for the game has been updated and Stardock is overhauling the textures and other elements in the game to make use of the update engine.

The expansion pack is due for release by Christmas but users who pre-order it can get the beta immediately.

An extremely abreviated "what's new" is available in the journals for what's in this beta.

There are plenty of bugs in the beta. I know, I've seen them and some of them are mine. (like the Terran Alliance tech tree not having plasma weapons tied to lasers -- doh!). We will be releasing additional updates to beta 1 this week as we work through such buglets.

One of the things you'll notice are the planetary textures. Right now, we're just testing the new system so the planets generally have the same planet textures. But by release, there will be plenty to keep it unique.

Not only do planets look better but they use a fraction of the memory. When complete, we should be able to double the number of planets on "abundant" over what we have now for users of Twilight of the Arnor.

One of the big stories with Twilight of the Arnor from a technical point of view is that the new graphics look so much better while using so far less memory.

Example:

BEFORE (Dark Avatar) and AFTER (Twilight of the Arnor)

The second screenshot uses around 1/4th as much memory.

Now, if you're worried about running into bugs, then don't bother with these betas. There will be bugs. Lots of them. That's why we have the betas, to let players help us balance.

It's going to be an exhilarating ride! We're very excited to develop the game with you guys! To join the beta, simply PRE-ORDER the game. You get the beta and the final version.

More Screenshots:

[PRE-ORDER and JOIN THE BETA]