GalCiv or GalCiv2

Speaking as someone who has been around since the old GC1 days i would say that GCI is definitely worth playing, but if you put them both together then there is so much difference it cannot be expressed in mere words.

All i can say is that GCI is your old black and white 14" portable and GCII is your new 42" High Definition Plasma screen

I tried galciv1 and was not fond of it, I bought galciv2

if your computer is not 10 years old I would say go for galciv2

I'm glad to hear you say that.  I tried GalCiv 1 and wasn't that impressed with it either.  Not that there was anything wrong, just that it seemed more like a board game than a computer game. 

I just received the GalCiv2 bundle pack for Christmas (early ). I am coming from the Sins community (love that game), but while I await the added chrome of Entrenchment, I figured it would be a good time to go exploring in GalCiv 2.  What can I expect that is different from both GalCiv 1 and Sins? 

Also, what is the future for GalCiv 2?  Is it done and everybody is just awaiting the GalCiv3 annoucement, or is more coming down the pike for this game?

make sure you pick an easy race to get into and play on an normal difficulty setting on your first run, so that you get used to the pace and mechanics of the game.  Oh a word of advice, to get your economy going, make sure you build a lot of entertainment/morale enhancing centers.  Happy citizens will be always be happy to contribute more to taxes. 

There will not be any more official GalCiv 2 expansions, but there's a fan-made mod/expansion which is roughly tabled to come out in a year or so (don't quote me on that).

The AI in GCII is probably the best turn-based AI around, so if you go straight in on tough you are liable to get flattened if you haven't played it before.

Check out the ship editor as well (that wasn't in GCI), it is essential to use it in order to counter your enemies' ships.  I very rarely use the standard ship designs.

Stardock are currently working on Elemental - War of Magic, scheduled to come out early 2010, and I guess GCIII will follow that (ie 2012ish)

Thanks for all the advice, guys!  I'm looking forward to writing my first AAR! 

Stardock are currently working on Elemental - War of Magic, scheduled to come out early 2010, and I guess GCIII will follow that (ie 2012ish)

 

I'm sort of glad to hear that.  I was just positive that as soon as I downloaded the GalCiv 2 bundle, I would read an announcement that GalCiv3 is slated for January 2009. 

I decided to go ahead and purchase GalCiv. I figured if it was bad, I wouldn't be out too much. Anyways, it took me a couple of games to get the hang of it - the different sliders, constructing/purchasing, the importance of early colony ships, trading with other civilizations, etc. After figuring things out I was able to play a couple small maps successfully.

I have enjoyed the game, although I still don't fully understand everything and am definitely still learning the game, but it was certainly worth the $4 I spent and probably more. It has certainly raised my interest in GalCiv2, if the sequel plays similar and is improved (building your own ships sounds cool).

I guess I have one question, and it probably applies to both - Does anyone that has the expansions, play the original games, or do you just play the expansions?

I play primarily DA, with some games in TA now and then.  But it took a long time for me to move from DL to DA, and DL is still an enjoyable game.  I had one in DL the other day testing something, and I actually lost-it had been that long since I had played a DL game.  Then again, it was a tiny map, which isn't my forte.