Galactic Civilations II: Dread Lords

[Rabidwerewolf]

Don't get me wrong, I like a good FPS game especially after I've had a 'ella of day, and I can take out some of my frustrations and angst by fragging a few peeps. However, I find I sometimes still can find myself wasting away my whole weekend on a good strategy game like Age of Empires or Civ. Probably more so as of late as my aging system has been feeling the weight of the new FPS games bearing down on its performance, especially my good 'ole 9800Pro, but that is a different topic in a different section....which hopefully with a new card in the near future will put me back into fragg'in heaven or hell....depending on which end of the barrel I'm on.

I received Galactic Civilations II: Dread Lords last Christmas from by brother, and I just got around to installing it and playing it. Don't ask, long story as to why I got a game 6 months ago and am just now getting around to playing it. I've come quite addicted to the darn thing. I know its like a year and a half old and an expansion was released this year in Feb, but why haven't I heard more about this game as much? Its a very good strategy game. I haven't tried out any of the mods yet, but I'm anxious to try out some of the Battlestar Galactica and Babylon 5 mods. Pretty active modding community over at Stardock I might add. Anyways, if anyone is into strategy games, this one is worth a gander in my opinion.

edit: fixed, really need to pay attention and get it through my head that html isn't used here lol

 

[TallBill]

Its a decent game, I just never got to much into it.

 

[aCynic2]

I got the Gold Edition last week and I'm playing the hell out of it. Oblivion and IL-2 are getting neglected in favor of this game. I find I'm losing interest in twitch games, even the combat flight sims, which I always loved.

More than worth a gander, it's a must have for the strategy player.

Wait until you play a few games. The AI will do new things almost everytime. The expansion, Dark Avatar, makes use of dual core CPUs for the AI and they are talking about using the disk to store a human player's strategy style for persistence and learning about the player over time.

http://forums.galciv2.com/?forumid=164&aid=138274

Some of my experiences so far:

The expansion adds a mining factor to the game and some super abilities and other things, on top of a new campaign. I would say, get the Gold Edition, start with DL (Dread Lords) to get the hang of it because alot of people have trouble the economic side of the strategy. They go bankrupt expanding to fast into space, or not growing their population, manufacturing and markets. I've also gone bankrupt trying to grow too fast. Once you get that down, go to DA (Dark Avatar) and try that.

Don't worry too much about deficit spending in the early months. It's expected.

Also, another key factor to learning the game: learn to design your own ships because sometimes you won't get some of the stock ones until later and you'll need heavier ships ASAP to keep from getting thugged by the other cultures.

The game is designed to be modded, like NWN in a way. Some have made Star Trek, Star Wars and Babylon 5 mods to the ships.

The game is also designed to be as flexible as possible. You could play a tyrant, an ambassador of unity, a wheeler/dealer, a shrewed entrapeneur, tech advancing civ...and the difficulty control affects the intelligence of the AI players, not the damage or production factors. You may find you're buddy with someone who is doing well and protecting you decently, then get screwed over when you get too powerful.

I've had pretty much the good guys all gang up on me when I did too much conquering. I've had minor races say "considering your history, I think I'm next, so I'm declaring war on you." The funny part is, it was right. I was taking over the minor races worlds, but later decided I prefered having a trade system with them to augment my income. So I ended up not totally conquering them, but just beating them into line. They were nicer and more subservient after that.

I've seen the tables reversed, where it's one of the AIs that is getting too powerful and conquering, so all the other AIs gang up on it and call on me to join in.

I've had one race try to thug me, "your military is inadequate to defend you. Give us 1000bp and we'll make sure you aren't invaded...by us" and after I told him to get bent, he declared war. I beat him back to his home world with the help of another race and he sues for peace, I agree and don't have my ships back across the border when he starts thuggin' on me again. After I finally beat him into submission, he surrenders to someone else not even involved in the war.

It's been a way cool ride in this game.

Gamespot gave it a 9.0 and called it Hall of Fame quality.

It's graphics aren't ground breaking, but it is cool to zoom in on a planet and see the ships orbiting it. What is most admired about it is the depth of thinking required and the AI.

One other thing in DA, not in DL, is extreme colonization. Some planets have heavy gravity, are radioactive, barren, toxic atmosphere, etc, but you can colonize them if you researched the tech.

And just so you don't miss it:

IF YOU LIKE "DREAD LORDS," GET THE "DARK AVATAR" EXPANSION.

 

[BladeVenom]

The AI in the game is nice. They've made every race different, and they act aware of current situations. The AI in Gal Civ 2 puts all other games to shame.

 

[aCynic2]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom
The AI in the game is nice. They've made every race different, and they act aware of current situations. The AI in Gal Civ 2 puts all other games to shame.

Currently, I play on a large map, with 5 AIs at normal difficulty and it's hit or miss at times. I've neglected to monitor AIs only to have one of them grow out of hand and beat me up bad. He had ful fire power frigates vs my reduced guns corvettes. If you don't step on them from the beginning, you could be facing an uphill battle. Perfect for those who like to beat their way to the top, rather get there first and kick all contenders back down.

The other option is to form alliances and take it down together or use diplomacy to get them to fight each other, but if he is too powerful, he'll beat all others and gain their territory. Then you're really f'd.

 

[MarcVenice]

hmz I must say that once you get your economy going and dont get ganged up on, you just churn out massive frigates and what not, and start owning everyone. At that point it's just massive force you use to take over other worlds and intercept anything that comes close to important planets of your own ...

Not a bad game at all though, I just think it doesn't quite fit my playing style, or I just suck at it and can't get it to play right so it's more fun.

 

[hg321]

I was playing it until the new 1.6 patch and now it crashes every 5 to 20 turns back to the desktop. :|

 

[shortylickens]

Still play it.
The problem with galactic conquests is you cant play them for 8 hours straight. If you make some small games you will only want to play one or two at a time.
If you make a huge game, you will only want to play it in parts.

My brain gets fuzzy after about 4 hours and thats if I'm having tons of fun.
I have started many medium games and quit out of boredom halfway through.
But its usually fun. I play that and Heroes 3 and Disciples 2 more than anything.

I used to load up Master of Orion 2 once in a while but I think I finally exhausted that game. There really isnt anything I havent done a hundred times before.

 

[BladeVenom]

I know what you mean about some games taking a long time to finish. But with Gal Civ 2, you can set the victory conditions, and bots surrender when their chances are hopeless. That beats most other games of its type. I can't even remember how many other games, that even though it was clear I was going to win, it still took a very long time to finish up the last of the enemies.