Hi folks,

I was an avid GalCiv II player back in the day. Probably my favourite computer game ever. 

I just bought and started playing GalCiv III which has been out for a while now. My first impressions are that the graphics have been greatly improved but the gameplay has not. 

I believe GalCiv II or III is basically Risk in space. The enjoyment of the game comes from marshalling all the resources, strategies and variables a player has and pitting them against the AI or now other players. But the features which I loved about GlaCiv II and made the game a great playing experience - unique every time a new game was loaded and so an endless amount of replayability - seem to have gone. 

Planetary management not only made the game great in terms of playability as you attempted to defeat your enemies by stealing an edge when you could and then dealing with whatever economic disasters, like war, befell you, but just as importantly gave players a sense of ownership over their colonies. To me this was a vital part of what made the game great. My colonies were like children or perhaps Pokemon pets. I would revel at their successes and mourn when I lost them to enemies. Discovering new colonies with unusual or interesting planetary features that I could exploit to their best advantage was at best like searching for India and discovering instead the Americas or at worst like the opening seen of Alien. I got invested in those colonies. I loved naming them, just as I would a Pokemon pet, and watching them thrive. 

In GalCiv III I can't rename the stars? Why?

Far worse all the micromanagement seems gone. I have no control over spending. Spending was an essential part of gameplay. 

Of course with no concentrated spending on ships or to make ships in shipyards there is perhaps less need for control over spending.

Now colonies seem to have to build improvements. Why? Again with no control over spending there seems less need to stop building and accrue finances. 

Shipyards have to be building ships. Why? This seems again to make gameplay easier at the expense of playability for the same reason. 

I hope these features return in patches or with expansions.

I feel that currently the game has become less than GalCiv II.

There were certainly some features of micromanagement in GalCiv II that could have been streamlined - such as starbase upgrades - but THIS GAME IS MICROMANAGMENT. Ships are the most important part of the game sure but they are just the most important third - the other thirds being planets and stars, and factions.

The more control the player has over these the better. The ships are awesome. Give us some more playability on planets please!

Cheers