In the classic RPG Baldur's Gate, I remember thinking at the end of the game that my character was really impressive.  Then I played Baldur's Gate II and realized just what real power meant.  That's the essence of Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor.  The civilizations are getting more powerful.

This week, Beta 2B for Twilight of the Arnor was released. No new races have been added. But the existing races are much more powerful than previously.

For instance, the Arceans get the Stellar Forge Galactic Achievement. And they get it right away.  Once built, it increases the hitpoints of ships made on that planet by 25%.

The Terran Alliance, however, get their own initial Galactic Achievement they can build called the Innovation Complex which makes ships built on that planet go +1 in speed.

The Yor get some love too with some tweaks to their initial improvements and the Maintenance Coordinator which improves their morale.

There will still be balancing needing to be done, but the clear direction of Twilight of the Arnor is that the younger races are starting to become quite powerful in their own right.