So, has anyone else here tried out this little game?
It's a strategy game in the vein of the Civilization line (but taking a number of clues from Paradox's historical simulators (Europa Universalis I-II. etc), not to mention a Unit Builder that allows you to design your own warships to play the game with), set in a wide galaxy.
And it's good. Seriously. Many of the ideas they're bringing out have long been needed in this sort of games. For example, the notion that, in a democracy if people don't like you, they're going to vote people who don't like you in the senate (the player, of course, has permanent control of his civilization, even if it goes democratic), and that those people's politics are NOT going to help you
If YOUR party is in power, you gain certain bonuses depending on the party you chose as yours at game start (the Industrialists increase your industrial output, the Technologists, your research rate, etc). If ANOTHER party is in power, you not only don't get the bonus from your party, but actually suffer a penalty equal to the bonus the party now in power would otherwise have given you. IE, if you are a Technologists and the Industrialists are in power, you actually suffer from a decreased production rate).
Another thing this game implements that the genre has long needed is the notion that building factories don't suddenly increase your production for free. In Civilization, building a factory simply gives a 50% bonus to your total production. In GalCiv, building a factory increase by X% your total production CAPACITY. However, you still need to fund those factories to get them to actually work : doubling the production capacity of a planet also doubles the amount of credits it costs you to keep that planet running at maximun production capacity. It's still beneficial...but it's no longer free. You have to chose how to spread your taxes - spread them between Social Projects (ie, constructing new planetary improvements), military projects (ie, building new ships), and research.
And then there's the ship design aspect. Quite simply put, Gal Civ II's units are about as customizable as it gets. You start with a basic hull that has a certain number of capacity points, and you simply assemble the ship as you see fit. And it's not just "always the same graphics, but different stats" - you actually can create virtually any ship design you want, by adding different "jewelry" (ie, equipment that changes nothing to the stats and doesn't cost any capacity point). Star Wars and Trek design (I've got a Star Destroyer of my own lying around somewhere), not to mention Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica and what have you, are already commonly displayed in the fan community. And no, the game didn't ship with those pre-made. The most impressive stuff, however, remains the piece of arts some people did, including a full-fledged green dragon-like ship, and an humanoid Giant Death Robot.
So, yes. All in all, a great game, addictive and well worth trying.
It's a strategy game in the vein of the Civilization line (but taking a number of clues from Paradox's historical simulators (Europa Universalis I-II. etc), not to mention a Unit Builder that allows you to design your own warships to play the game with), set in a wide galaxy.
And it's good. Seriously. Many of the ideas they're bringing out have long been needed in this sort of games. For example, the notion that, in a democracy if people don't like you, they're going to vote people who don't like you in the senate (the player, of course, has permanent control of his civilization, even if it goes democratic), and that those people's politics are NOT going to help you
If YOUR party is in power, you gain certain bonuses depending on the party you chose as yours at game start (the Industrialists increase your industrial output, the Technologists, your research rate, etc). If ANOTHER party is in power, you not only don't get the bonus from your party, but actually suffer a penalty equal to the bonus the party now in power would otherwise have given you. IE, if you are a Technologists and the Industrialists are in power, you actually suffer from a decreased production rate).
Another thing this game implements that the genre has long needed is the notion that building factories don't suddenly increase your production for free. In Civilization, building a factory simply gives a 50% bonus to your total production. In GalCiv, building a factory increase by X% your total production CAPACITY. However, you still need to fund those factories to get them to actually work : doubling the production capacity of a planet also doubles the amount of credits it costs you to keep that planet running at maximun production capacity. It's still beneficial...but it's no longer free. You have to chose how to spread your taxes - spread them between Social Projects (ie, constructing new planetary improvements), military projects (ie, building new ships), and research.
And then there's the ship design aspect. Quite simply put, Gal Civ II's units are about as customizable as it gets. You start with a basic hull that has a certain number of capacity points, and you simply assemble the ship as you see fit. And it's not just "always the same graphics, but different stats" - you actually can create virtually any ship design you want, by adding different "jewelry" (ie, equipment that changes nothing to the stats and doesn't cost any capacity point). Star Wars and Trek design (I've got a Star Destroyer of my own lying around somewhere), not to mention Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica and what have you, are already commonly displayed in the fan community. And no, the game didn't ship with those pre-made. The most impressive stuff, however, remains the piece of arts some people did, including a full-fledged green dragon-like ship, and an humanoid Giant Death Robot.
So, yes. All in all, a great game, addictive and well worth trying.