This game sounds like another...

There are many classic games that sound similar, one of the first 4x space games was Reach For The Stars. A classic old game.

Link

Thanks for the link... yeah I'm sure there are alot of games that are similar. Reach for the Stars doesnt ring a bell for me, yet Im sure it is close to the same. Its funny how games have evolved so much yet many of the ideas have roots in the past.
Will GalCiv2 have space marines ? (asked above already)

Will GalCiv2 have space marines ? (asked above already)

There isn't any ship boarding in Galciv II: when ships/fleets meet, the combat ends with the complete destruction of one side.

Might be a cool feature, though.

the only thing that i hate bout ships that can capture toher ships is that A its either too easy to commander other ships making the game result in massing a ton of them and there goes your fleet right into enemy hands or B there too weak so that building them is virtually usless unless you want some laser fodder

The game that really got me into this stuff was Pax Imperia. It didn't get great reviews (probably cause it was pretty hardcore with lots of menus) but it was awesome. You could create your own race in lots of detail, down to what atmosphere they breathed etc, and the same for ship customization.

I'll wager the game you are thinking of is Star Fleet II. You could invade planets, board ships and other conquer the galaxy type things. The only other games I can think of that it might be are Sentinel Worlds: Future Magic and/or Hard Nova. Both excellent games for their day and I'm still wondering why nobody makes anything like them anymore.

hmmm boarding ships... sounds good to me be way to late now but maybe an exspansion or GalCiv III guess no matter how manny people you have creating ideas new ones are always gonna come when its really late. as for getting interested in Galciv i ran into after searching the stratgey first website after being linked to it by another strategy first game O.R.B. which i ran into after seeing it for 5 dollars in EB games. while the company that made it went bankrupt the game is pretty fun and worth more than 5 dollars. yep lots of things depend on chance... like taking over an enemy ships

I think Bill Elliot is right; It was definitely the Star Fleet games you were thinking of. I still play Star Fleet I from time to time. Which is a lot like Star Trek: Star Fleet bundled with FreeBSD - but the Star Fleet series had a much better UI (even for those old days!!).

Anyone out there ever play the Star Saga games? Star Sage One: Beyond the Boundary or Star Saga Two: The Clathran Menace? They were ALL about the exploration of spave and had a very simple system: you used a regular paper map to chart your course, entered the coodinates into the comp; the results of which would dictate which passage out of hundreds spread across 15 mini-books to read.

I love space exploration - and have designed a boardgame in homage to all these wonderful games!!

P.S. You can find both Star Fleet games at the-underdogs I believe.

Thanks a million you guys! Yes it was Starfleet, though I am not certain whether it was I or II. I found the game completely addicting. It came with this huge manual (thick) with very in-depth story. It was that story that fueled your imagination when playing the game. As I said before, the game in today's standards was simplistic to the 9th degree, but when you played it, your imagination soared and you could vision the laser or torpedos smashing into the hull of another ship. You could hear the battle and sat on the edge of your seat waiting to see if your space marines accomplished their goal. Yes, it was all in your head for the most part, but we were still good at using our imaginations back then. When this game came out, just a half dozen years earlier we were playing paddle pong and thought it was the greatest thing since peanut butter. Today, the graphics are fantastic, the computers flaming fast, the gaming business bigger than ever. Even I would probably consider such a game dated and possibly not as fun as before. Yet it suggest the receipe for whats fun. Add a good story, allow for extra imagination, sprinkle with graphics and toss the mix with good ol' fashion strategy and you have fun! If you measure all games by those standards it is surprising how many dont measure up. GalCiv sounds to me like it's gonna have all those ingredients in spades. I am sure looking forward to the release. And from what I have read, GalCiv will be supported like no other.

the complete destruction of one side.

YAY! a little genocide in every battle!

There are many games like that such as Space Empires, http://www.malfador.com/. I like to support small independent game developers like Stardock and Malfador. I played the demo of Space Empires III and IV. I never bought the game because the graphics and AI were poor. Based on screen shots they have improved the graphics in Space Empires V; I hope they do the same for the AI. I would place a beam weapon that bypassed shields on my ships and would easily beat enemy fleets. They never adapted by placing that weapon on their ships (to bypass my ships' shields) and replace their shields with armor, then research advanced shields that could defeat this weapon. The AI was also poor at tactical combat (not present in GalCiv2).

In Space Empires for ship attack/defense you have:
Missiles/Dones (seeking weapons) - have the greatest range and do the most damage but lowest refire rate and can be taken out by point defense
Torpedoes weapons - have medium range, hit value, and refire rate
Beam weapons - have the smallest range and hit value but the greatest refire rate
Combat Sensors - increases the likelihood your weapon's will hit the enemy
ECM - reduces the likelihood the enemy's weapons will hit you
Point Defense - destroys incoming missiles, drones, and fighters
Shields - absorbs the hit from the enemy's weapon (except for the special weapon that skip shields) until they are gone
Armor - absorbs the hit from the enemy's weapon (except for the special weapon that skip armor) until it is gone
The more advanced the weapons' generation the greater the range and hit value.

I think this more complex approach is more realistic than that followed by GalCiv/GalCiv2. Why should shields be more effective against beam weapons than missiles and guns?

However, the AI in GalCiv2 Beta 5 (which is the same found in GalCiv) is far superior to that found in Space Empires IV. I have noticed the AI designs new ships to counter my weapons and defenses after losing in combat. The release version of GalCiv2 promises to have an even better AI. I can't wait!