Why should I buy the expansions?

The expansions have bugs, but are cleaner than DL.  DL/DA/TA each play differntly.  If you like the demo, you won't be disapponted.  Pony for all three.

1.)  There are still some bugs, but I have not run into many, or anything gamebreaking.

2.)  There are two new races introduced in the expansions, as well as all new campaigns.  Also. the expansions have upgraded the appearances of all races ships and certain planet upgrades, so that now all races have unique ship designs and certain unique buildings.

3.)  Yes, the expansions have altered how certain things work, such as espionage.  They also have included race specific techs and a tweaking of tech trees.

4.)  The original Dreadlords is good for playing the storymode campaign still, but for the Sandbox adventures, there's no reason to go back (in my opinion).  Better looking graphics, two new races, a larger galactic map option, asteroid mining, the works.

5.)  This is a personal opinion, I certainly don't speak for everyone, but GalCiv2 and its expansions have one of the best replayability factors of any game I have ever played.  Conquering the galaxy never gets old.  Oh, sure I may take some time off, but it's not one of those games I abandon for months.

Once you own the expansions you never go back... few go back for the old campaign but really thats it... you buy the first expansion play the crap out of it and then the next expansion and play the crap out of that and never go back... Its just that good. Buy them... well some actually just play DA and some TOA and some both... ive just stuck with TOA... Hope this helps.

I first bought a copy of Dread lords for myself a month or so ago, and just now on monday bought the expansions.

I believe the gold edition (demo andwhatnot) is dread lords + Dark Avatar. 

Dark Avatar brings

-Custom Civilization Opponents: which goes along way to increaseing replayability. 

-Agents: which in my opinion are lame and not a good reason to get the expansion.  but I guess some people like them.

-Asteroids and diplomatic treatys: which help boost your construction/research/econ

- 2 new races, a new campain that uses the DA updates, some new tecs, and ship skins that look more like ships and less like starfox polygons.

Twilight of the Arnor brings

-enhanced textures and graphics:  the galaxy screen looks much better now. (main reason I wanted TA)

-Map, ship, scenerio, campain editors: I dont expect to use them myself, but if your into moding I am sure these rock.

-Unique tec trees for all the races:  which only make the races all that much more unique, and helps increase replayability. 

-New galaxy size for people who like to play really really long games and multi manage a ton of planets

-and of course another campain that you can play with all of TA's bells and whistles.

One of thoes two expansions, I dont know which yet, nerfs your economy pretty hard.. In DL I used to sit on piles of credits all the time, and in TA I'm definately hurting for them.  Patches have improved the AI, so even non-expansion computer races are smarter then they were with out patching.   I think DA brings planets that you need special tecs to colonize, TA brings terror stars to blow up solar systems with out the need to invade.  I'm not sure which, but one of the expansions brings "Super powers" which seem to help increase each races strengths. 

I havent had time to really play around that much with the expansion, but so far I hate having to relearn the tec trees, and I love the new graphics.  But you need to remember that in the end its the same game.  Just more toys, bells, and whistles.

I have the original DL, but not the expansions.

I held off buying them until I could really see what was included.

As I said, I have the original - which I still play. But, I have no desire to spend money on the expansions. For me, they just add complexity with no real gain. I have no desire to simply add more micromanagement, which is all I see the expansions as. Paying an extra $40 bucks or so to add a couple races and features is simply not worth it - especially when the 'features' seem only to be twists of things already in the game that simply give you more to do, as opposed to features that really add something meaningful to the game.

every expansion set is made for all of us to enjoy the game much more. buy it. some minor bugs but you could do away with it.

Moose, my man, nothing wrong with staying with DL.  If the devs would have increased the AI speed capability in DA as opposed to nerf'n the player, it would be close to a perfect game.  They didn't, probably couldn't.  At the same time DA plays cleaner and even with the added planets takes about the same time to manage.  I still hate the speed change but it's worth the money.  Check it out.

if you live in the UK just head to GAME they currently sell the ultimate edition in their 2 for 20 section