Game Carbon - by Dylan Lawrence

Turn-based Strategy - Game Carbon

Galactic Civilizations II

August 14th 2008 00:52

Image courtesy of Lockergnome

Galactic Civilizations II is a powerhouse of a sequel. This is a turn based strategy 4x game. 4x means Expand, Explore, Exploit and Exterminate. A good example are the Sid Meier games which all typically follow this theme.

Gal Civ II offers so many options you could literally spend days just tinkering with it. You can build your own ships from scratch and there are dozens of ship types at your disposal. If you ever wanted a fleet of giant penises to rule the galaxy, you can easily build these. I have a race of Strippers from the home planet Las Vegas who fly around in shoes and giant breasts as well as a race who only use blue Smurf-looking ships. Don't ask how long that took.

The gameplay in Gal Civ is wonderful if you like deep, turn based strategy games. If you don't like the typical slow pace games like this have, you should probably look elsewhere. You start with one planet, a colony ship, and a miner. The inexperienced will colonize the first nearby planet but once you get the hang of things, you look for a planet not so nearby that has room for tons of expansion and buildings.

The maps in this game range from sort of small to absolutely gigantic. The small maps may take weeks if you are lucky enough to last that long. Victory conditions are many and you have full customization of them. You can win by sheer military might, dominating others with your amazing culture, and a few other ways which are just as challenging as these two.

There have been some expansions such as Dark Avatar and Twilight of the Arnor and each adds its own unique features to the game such as powerful new enemies and a multitude of cool ship pieces. In Twilight of the Arnor you can even make a "Death Star" type battle station.

Galactic Civilizations can be very difficult. You can think you are almost to victory only to realize a far away enemy has been specifically building ships that are resistant to your preferred weaponry. Research is the key and the research tree is enormous. You can focus on trade, engines, diplomacy, faster research, and tons of race specific branches that are extremely cool.

For tips and tricks, nothing is better than the Stardock forums. The players and community members are very friendly and helpful.

If you like turn based strategy games, there is no excuse not to own this game. It's absolutely amazing. Below are some cool screenshots from the game as well as a shot of a custom made Star Wars ship.