I was quite excited to hear that the 2nd expansion is on it's way out. However for those that both love galciv2 and are only on linux has the only option to wine it (legally, thanks to abscense of copy protection!).

I'm a bit worried though on how modified the game engine is, since currently it just gained some stability in wine. Thus my question is, is it a slightly modified engine, or a whole new one? or is it "only" a really big mod for galciv2?

Also, I wonder how big the chances are for me to beta test the expansion without pre-ordering it, in order to add some appdb data about it?

Thanks, and I hope you'll give us the opportunity to conquer the galaxy with penguin-droids