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Best 4x Game Ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 17
Date: September 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I love this game.

The best thing about it is the diplomatic AI. In most games of this type, diplomacy is like being locked in a room full of rabid badgers - hostile and stupid. In Galactic Civilizations (GalCiv), the computer players act rationally. If you're weaker than they are, they threaten you and demand tribute. If you're stronger than they are, they try to maintain good relations with so that you don't invade them. If you defeat them badly, they will come begging for peace. It's possible to make game-long, mutually beneficial friendships with the computer civilizations. It's possible to wheel and deal and make a fortune through clever diplomacy. It's even possible to play the computer players off against each other to your benefit, using them to fight your wars for you. Furthermore, you're able to define your civilization as 'good' or 'evil', and the other civilizations treat you differently depending the ethical choices your civilization makes. All of this gives the game a narrative feel that other games of the same type lack.

The AI is otherwise very well coded. Even at the low intelligence levels, it's a challenging opponent, and it doesn't cheat. Well, it doesn't cheat much. It knows where all the habitable planets are, and at the very high levels, it gets more money from taxes than you do. But otherwise, it's playing the same game you are.

Other than that, it's a very solid 4x game. The feel is a great deal like CivII or CivIII in outer space. Nothing revolutionary, but the excellent AI makes up for it, and makes GalCiv a classic.

The game that saves the genre

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 16
Date: March 31, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Master of Orion 3 is a failure, but it's GalCiv that saves the day. It's pretty different from MOO (Master of Orion) and brings many things that are totally new in turn-based strategy gaming. I see GalCiv as the summum of all TBS (turn-base strategy) up to now. As a gamer, here's the TBS I've already played: Civilization 1-2-3, Alpha Centauri, Colonization, Corporate Machine, Capitalism 2, Master of Orion 3. What's so special about GalCiv? Sheer fun is there and it's the game that best manages an empire, a civilization. You may give money to support someone's war, you can win WITHOUT WAR or by many other ways, spying is there and efficient (propaganda too), intern politics are incorporated in a simple manner, the economy is nicely and coherently modeled, your civilization is totally customizable (even if it's always humans), etc.

Indication: Yet, I played about 30 hours of it.

Go see [the website] for more information and the official forums.

This one will get you!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: April 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This has everything I was looking for in MOO3 (which failed terribly) and more.

-That 'one more turn' addictivness is there.
-You feel like you are controling the game, it's not controling you.
-It's a game with good depth and strategy to it, but not over kill to the point of feeling drudgery.
-The AI is good and I have yet to see it make rediculous choices. (For instance: when a rival civ declares war on you, they will feel they are ready for war and have a fleet ready to come after you imediatly.)
-The Sciences work nicely with game play on a couple diffrent levels. You get that sence of "I need that science so that I can ..." and so on and so forth. The need to pick a scientific path and specalize or risk falling behind other civs is also a natural by product of the science system.

There is more I could say. I will list my one 'con'.

-There are no 'warp lanes' between star systems. The whole map is open on a grid system. Any star can be reached from any other as long as your ships have the range. In past games I have enjoyed the strategy involved in setting up defenses at stratigic star systems. In this game there really aren't any single "stratgic systems" since anyone can get to any star.

This has not effected my enjoyment of the game however.

Buy this game. It's well put together. It's fun to play. It is supported well by the company. You will love it.

Losts of Strategy with Little Busy Work

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: June 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Galactic Civilization is for gamers who prefer strategic thinking to blowing up Orcs. As a long-time gamer I have become disappointed with products like WarCraft III which are graphically excellent but strategically sterile. The Galactic Civilization designers, however, put their energies into creating an intellectual challenging game that requires little mundane busy work.

The alien races act extremely intelligently, especially during negotiations. Unlike in other games, aliens usually attack only the weak. This provides you with a benefit to building a strong military even if you never intend to go to war for in Galactic Civilization only the strong can enjoy peace. As a professional economist, I greatly admire the trading system which penalizes nations at war but also allows you to achieve a military victory by destroying your enemy's trade ships.

An Excellent TBS

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: February 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The game itself is an excellent turn-based strategy game. The AI is good enough to provide a challenge to any player, and it does it without cheating. Many players upset with the quality of MOO3 may wish to try this one out. Even if you liked Moo3, you shrould still try GalCiv.

Along with the standards of space TBS's, GalCiv also has some intresting new things thrown in to keep the game intresting. Various random events offer different choices on how to react to them, and aside from affecting the game directly they also influence the morality of your civilization. Your morality affects your relationships with other civilizations and the techs available to you. Another innovative aspect of the game are the starbases. These are structures that can be built anywhere in space. After building them, you can upgrade them with a huge number of additional modules that can affect everything from your civ's cultural influence to military operations. Eventually, you can also transform them into star-destroying terror stars.

In addition to the five major races (six, counting your own), there are also a number of minor races that are placed around the map. The players can use these minor races to make money off of through trade, and they can even be convinced to wage war against your enemies.

There's also a galactic assembly called the United Planets. The United Planets convenes every once in a while to decide on various laws to pass. Your empire uses its influence points during these sessions to attempt to influence the outcome. There are a wide variety of different laws that can be passed, and some can change how the game is played. This plus the many random events included mean no game is exactly like the last, and increase the replayability of GalCiv.

There are a few things about the game that might not appeal to everyone. It's single player only. While some may view that as a big negative for the game, it allows Stardock to focus on making the single player game robust and intresting. Some of the graphics are a bit dated, but since the game is still in beta and art is still being replaced, it'd be unfair to judge the graphics at this point.

While it lacks the name recognition of Master of Orion 3, it still delivers solid and challenging gameplay. If you're a strategy gamer, then you owe it to yourself to check out this game.

Solid 4X Conquest Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: April 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I love Civ II. Civ II is the best 4X turn-based strategy game. Many games have emulated Civ II, including, appropriately, Civ III, but to me they just seemed like glossier versions of Civ II. That is, Civ II with more eye candy. A lot of game features, such as trade and city development, became more automated in the later games, but automation takes away any personal attachment to your virtual empire.

For me, Gal Civ has brought back a lot of the fun I had playing Civ II. Now, don't get me wrong, the rules are a variation of Civ II, and automation is available if you want it, but the developers have done a nice job keeping you involved with the game.

My favorite variation is the inclusion of "star influence," which basically defines the outline of your empire within the galaxy. It is reminiscent of the borders that become automatically defined in Alpha Centauri and Civ III, but in Gal Civ its clear exactly how the borders are defined and how your decisions affect the borders. I suppose the same may be true of Alpha Cen or Civ III, but I never stayed interested in those games long enough to figure it out.

The impact of the sector boundaries is felt most strongly when you try to expand your empire. Ships have a limited range outside of your borders (nice idea), and some cannot leave your borders at all! This makes it very difficult to "rush" your AI opponents, and they don't rush you. Instead, you have to build up the influence of the core of your empire, allowing you to send ships farther away as the game gradually progresses.

Another bonus: the AI doesn't cheat. It plays by the same rules you do. That means if you take out a planetary improvement, it's gone, and the AI has to live with it. Nice.

I've been playing for a couple of weeks now, and I'm still coming across strategic surprises that keep me playing.

If 4X turn-based games are your bag, baby, then I recommend Gal Civ wholeheartedly!

Everything MOO3 forgot about

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 18
Date: April 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I got Masters of Orion 3 after months and months of hype and waiting. It was a terrible disappointment. This game makes up for it. If you were disappointed by the lackluster showing for MOO3 but really loved the first two, you need this game.

A Galactic Gem of a Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: June 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

It's Civilization in space, and just as much fun. Also addictive. Gamer's with families beware!

GalCiv does not break new gound in any aspect. It simply uses a lot of tried and true ideas put together in a game that works right out of the box. It's really simple to play, but also deeper than it looks. It's not at all easy to edit (well, not for me, anyway)but for those who have the skill, some things can be edited. That's one area where Civ3 has it beat. Otherwise, graphics are good, sound is adequate, the AI is smart.

The game seems to play out in three phases: the first phase is a race to get all the planets you can. Next grab and develop all the resources you can. Last, get serious about how you're going to win. There are four ways to win (no combo's) and the easiest seems to be cultural influence. Of course straight-out conquest is one of the options, but unless you're playing at the easiest level, you'll find the AI will give you a serious run for the money.

There are some bugs, but the developers are fixing them. An expansion pack is promised. The company seems to really listen to the customers and fans and the fixes and additions reflect that.

One reviewer here mentioned the lack of a tech tree, and that really is a problem. Another problem is the manual, which in order to be kind, I'll describe as thin. An on-line, printable manual is available. Haven't had time to evaluate it yet but it seems to be an improvement. Within the game there are not a lot of options for building and research: you can only research one thing at a time and each planet can build only one ship and one "social" item at a time. Interaction with AI computer players is also limited, much more so than in Civ3, for example.

My main gripe (again) is the lack of an editor. There seems to be no effort to remedy that and it may not even be possible until GalCiv2 comes out.

In summary, a great game that is well thought out, fun, and easy to play. Buy it.

classic 4X game from small programming group

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: August 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is a 4X game in the classic sense. You explore a two dimensional space, exploit population resources and build up a tech tree, expand to as much space as you can, and exterminate the competition. :-)

The game has a strong online following, and the game is modular, with the configuration files in plain text. This means you can add on things like ships, random events, tech tree, etc -- and the online community has done exactly that.

The game was built by a small shop (four guys) who are very much old-world gamers. The game is not especially creative in terms of UI or goals. (I wish people would stop making space games that are not three dimensional!) What is clever is that the AI's are reasonably smart, and have four different personalities. Red always tries to conquer the world by force. Blue is tech-heavy, and tries to ally with green. Yellow tries to out-expand everyone. The AI appears to play fairly, other than the fact that it knows the locations of everything in the map (its explained that they are older civs, and explored the universe with radio telescopes).

If you enjoy 4X games, then this is a must have for your collection. Lots of replayability, and a very smart game.

This game is a steal at any price.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: July 08, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I have more money than time these days so I tend to purchase games with good reviews and then determine whether they live up to the hype. GalCiv delivers. It is challenging (actually, quite challenging) and great fun. In addition, the support that this product receives from Stardock, its creator, is unparalleled. I purchased this game shortly after its release and have already upgraded it by downloading the changes Stardock has designed. This fall, Stardock is promising further upgrades to owners at no cost (essentially a free expansion pack). This is a great game to own from a great company. I highly recommend it.

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