Galactic Civilizations

steviec

Just wondering if anyone's played this? It was out long ago and I did read interesting reviews at the time but there were other games out so it kind of slipped under my radar.

But I bought it for 6.99 in Xtravision last week and I've really been enjoying it, it's as good as if not better than Civ 3. I like how diplomacy, which is always one of my favourite parts of these type of games, is really central to gal civ, and there's just as much focus on peaceful methods as there is on war. There's also a lot less micro-management than Civ, which was a great game but I often abandoned games when I got too powerful to keep track of everything.

Overall though I'm enjoying the game a lot, and I won my first few games on easy and normal but I reckon I'm heading for a loss in my current game on challenging difficulty, I came out very poorly in the expansion race at the start, its still a lot of fun though and I'm enjoying trying to pull strings and keep everyone else at war while I try to catch up with them by focussing on my economy while they kill eachother, and keeping good relations with the most powerful civs so I have help if someone does decide to attack me.

At 6.99 I'd recommend it to anyone. I'm already considering ordering the expansion pack but there's more than enough content for me to get to grips with as it is.

Branoic

I picked it up there a few months ago, enticed by everything i'd heard about its fantastic gameplay. But I only played it for about half and hour. There was this wierd humming noise constantly in the background coming from my computer which drove me nuts.

tba

I have it ages now and I love it. I never got the expansion however and may chance it sometime. For a 2D Game I give it 95% anyways.

bizmark

new ones comeing out soon http://www.galciv2.com/

Sand

Its got a rather good AI alright, the best in the entire field of strategy/god games me thinks. Other factions will jump into wars and bail you out if their trade with you is profitable, and again, theyre less likely to endanger that trade by attacking you themselves. Factions that are at deaths door will often surrender to your enemies, accepting a loss of independance in exchange for protection. It seems to make realistic decisions in terms of war and peace, that another player might make!

And your alliances can be somewhat useful, as your allies will not stab you in the back in most cases, especially when your factories are churning out warships that you send to your ally as they fight a proxy war against your real enemy - against somewhat similar to historical situations and realpolitick. Yep, its definitly wonderful AI and a very good diplomacy system leading to good games, rather than the lazy AI in other games that gangs up on you to hide that it cant provide a real challenge.

Mind you, if you play on the largest map, and set your picks in favour of speed/range youll be able to grab half the systems on offer quite early, giving you an unassailable lead in most cases. The smaller the map, the more chance the AI will grab those resources and planets and have the resources to beat you.

Its a very good game, but Ive found it hard to go back to it from the graphical splendour of RTW. But Im definitly going to buy the 2nd installment. They should pretty much force game designers to study the AI to learn how to create a challanging one.

MrPinK

Sand wrote:

They should pretty much force game designers to study the AI to learn how to create a challanging one.

They used a very simple idea to achieve it, and it's ridiculous that no one else has since followed suit. The AI calculates it's moves while you're planning yours. Simple as that. Galciv puts those free cpu cycles to good use, and allows the AI more time to think. All other games sit bone idle while you're taking your turn, and then have to figure out what every non-player faction will do in the two seconds after you hit end turn.

BKtje

it was a great game. I always found it incredibly difficult to keep up with speed the computer advanced tho.