My Impressions

I find the game even more enjoyable with the AI at its maximum potential. At a setting of "normal" it is not using all of it's routines. Try difficulty setting of "tough" for the full AI effect

I agree with a lot you said, although HEEGZ did mention a valid point regarding strategy. Play on tough before making calls on what the AI does. Don't take that to mean I am trying to invalidate your experience (I hate it when people do that) just that it does make a significant difference to play..... e.g.

In most cases the game is won or lost in the first few turns. If you can secure five planets right away you will almost certainly win. Four or less and you will have a tough road to travel.

Obviously this greatly depends on what settings you are running. On a medium map, with everything set to rare and 8 other civs.... you'll get 2 planets at most and games are only won or lost then through getting attacked and killed by the AI, or finding some way to stop them doing that! e.g. On a gigantic map, 5 planets will make you a minor race.... especially without referrence to the quality of those planets.

Long term success lies in the economics and diplomacy. I have formulated a basic tech plan I follow which I pursue through research and through trading with the other races for those techs.

Long term success doesn't matter much if the Yor are your neighbours and they research planetary invasion while you are developing your economy to a fair clip! I found moving up to Tough that I started researching weapons a LOT earlier and playing more of a trading game to get some of the economic techs - here diplomacy helps, but again you didnt really comment on racial abilities.

In many ways, I agree. Its a great game. My biggest problem with most of these games (MoO, Civ, most turn based strategy games, essentially), is that the 'live or die' aspect of the game is often dealt with long before you have wars and treaties. And its where Gal Civ 2 has its biggest problem, in my opinion. Some star and planet options are simply game breaking, in that anywhere from one -- four major civilizations will be left to curl up and die with no expansion possibilities depending on the map generation. The game does a horrible job of 'creating even relatively equal starting positions.

I've had games on Gigantic maps where within two years, only four powers exist; and there have been no wars, no cultural flips. In one game, the Drengin, Arceans, Torians and Yor were all nobodies; they'd never grabbed more than two -- four planets, whereas the others had grabbed dozens. Sometimes its because the map generation has placed them at the corner of the map with maybe 2-6 systems with in reach. If probability has it that few of those are yellow stars, and yellow stars with habitable planets (much less good ones), that civ is dead before it started.

And this can be an extremely common occurance; especially with Tight Clusters, even at max habitability, planet and star frequency. Its gotten to the point where when I start a new game, it can take anywhere from 1 - 30 minutes just looking for a map where a race or several arent screwed from the get-go. Its been the biggest disappointment and problem with the game that I've found, personally.

There are other issues, of course, Some bugs, some glitches, some gameplay issues that either hurt the gameplay, or that simply rub me the wrong way [I despise, and always will despise, the starbase rush and crowd -- the things are simply too powerful, too common, not too mention how the game essentially acts as a wide open field with no strategic value in positioning; meaning there's no onus for much of what 'war' is, and the game loses a lot of flavour because of it, imo]. But, by and large.. its a good game.

The bugs/glitches will be worked out, and I only hope some of the areas the game is exceptionally weak in (espionage, tactics, strategic maneuvering [such as impassible, or semi-impassible features, or a more varied space within which we fight -- nebulae and the like, for example], diplomacy [requiring cassus belli if a Good Civ, or some such] and so on). But the groundwork is there, and the developers are certainly sticking with it, so..

Overall, its a great game.

I kind of like the idea of not always starting out on equal footing. At the start of some games you might be the one civ who grabs more than a fair share of systems, while in others you might just be the underdog who's left to scrounging for all the table scraps you can get eventually digging yourself out of that hopelessness. If this is the case it makes for excellent strategizing! As the underdog, or fledging empire at the start of a game, you'll have to more fully utilize diplomacy and quickly make friends with the big dog who can watch out for you while you grow, or even convince that friend to go to war for you so that you can have a piece of the pie. Then, because you're running with the big dogs for the moment, you might better secure a chance to swipe a few extra planets from the table scraps that they leave behind, thus expanding your backyard a little more.

On the other hand, starting out with numerous planets while your opponents have but few you might try taking advantage of the fact quickly making use of your good fortune by hurriedly constructing and researching military tactics, then shoving that weight around.

If the game starts out with all civs on fair footing as far as providing equally distributed planets, then it's a touch and go sort of strategy until somebody rises in the ranks. Again, strategy is key here. By having various starting points, some good while others are bad, makes for exciting gameplay. Are you the underdog, the fledging empire trying to get a hold in the galaxy, or perhaps you're the equal opportunist with an equal amount of systems to manage who waits on the sidelines secretly plotting how to conquer, or befriend your neighbors, or just maybe you're that imediate powerhouse who can shove their weight around from the get-go, but at what terrible costs to morale and galactic civility are you willing pay--tyrant, or hero?

If all games started their civilizations on equal footing there'd be no real initial conflict, or creativity in how to approach each particular conquest. I find it extremely entertaining having to imagine my empire as the nobody of the galaxy, refusing to succumb to the bully tactics of other races while nurturing my empire to fruition until the time comes when I can go forth and conquer. So therefore, the made dash to secure as many planets as possible is truly one of the better aspects, I think at least, of the game. Like trying to get in a good position at the firing of the starting pistol, but even should you fall behind a little or a lot, there's always those later laps when you can kick it in and surpass the challenge. And how much sweeter the prize!

It's all in the imagination folks and how we choose to use it.

I would never have the patience to play this on a gigantic map!

But on small medium maps, your starting position makes a HUGE difference. Finding a single good second planet makes it a whole different game. A lot of the time you get screwed with a single planet.

I'm playing on Painful level, was unable to find another planet to colonize in the exploration phase, and the damn Altarians stole Mars from me while I was moving my Colony Ship around (that's a blunder, in the future always take Mars immediatel, and rush build another Colony Ship if you find another planet), but I was able to hang around unattacked, and then take over another neighboring race which also had only one star system.

Some AIs do get stuck in a corner and don't do much but that's the AI. Doesn't happen to me since I usually find a way out. If you like to have EVEN start, try the custom maps, they are mostly mirrored so everyone has the same starting oppertunities. But be warned, the even start is the most game breaking thing you can have! The AI will simply not keep up with the player because the player already knows what to expect everywhere.

Lots of good comments guys.

Yes, I realize there is more than one way to "skin the cat." My comment on the economic path to victory was just that.

I've had bad luck on the higher settings with game stability. On one occassion I had a group of transports that the game allowed me to use over and over again to invade. Took all of the fun out of it. Plus, the "luck" thing really got out of hand. The game gave me three "lucky" cruisers in a row that the bad guys couldn't even damage. That's more like divine intervention than luck.

The game needs some adjustments and some bugs worked out. Nevertheless, it is like an old friend already. I'm 49 and have been playing computer games since they first came out. This is really an old style game dressed up and, as I said, it feels like an old friend. I think I've had about eight hours of sleep in the past three days! LOL!

Spoiler Alert!!!!!

As for strategy... there is no excuse for not getting your fair share of planets. Without letting the cat too far out of the bag, you can use the setting on the little side map to see where everyone starts and thus know where to look and where you are wasting your time right off the bat. Second, never settle for the pre-built ships. You can increase the speed of all the scouts from the very beginning and their sense ranges. Just use a cargo hull to build a fast scout full of sensors. Build two of them, use the "cheat" I just mentioned to find the planets, and then build colony ships with three speed instead of two and bingo! You will beat the bad guys to the planets each time!

If the planet's are out of reach use your beginning money to build some custom engineers. You can speed them up too, build a quick starbase and beat the guys there. I just did that on a map and ended up with half the map on a large game in which five bad guys shared the other half. They never had a chance.

Finally, the early military strategy is a good one too--especially on the normal and above normal settings.

Happy Hunting!

Good luck!