In 2006, Stardock Software published a game called Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords. Anyone that has played the PC classic, Master of Orion, knows what’s going on here. Galactic conquest in a turn-based strategy format.

Civilization IV really stole the turn based strategy glory in 2006, and I’m not going to argue that it isn’t a great game, because it is. I just believe that GalCiv II is a better game.

I’m not going to do a full review because the game is so immense and I don’t really have the time. Obviously, if you are not into the outer space theme, that might be a turn off for you. There are many things that GalCiv II has in its corner, however.

Reasons why GalCiv II is a better game:
The game is extremely customizable. Moreso than Civ IV. There are many more options for creating the exact type of game you want to play. You can even do things like create a custom race without having to modify config files or anything like that. The upcoming expansion pack promises even more customization options.

More unpredictable gameplay. In Civ IV, once a game starts it’s a pretty straightforward affair. Research techs, make friends and enemies, go to war, etc. GalCiv II has a much more dynamic game engine which throws in random events and occurances that make each game much more interesting.

You might be lucky enough to discover a “Ranger” class starship early on, giving you a huge advantage in space battles. Your race might discover ancient technology leading to some kind of breakthrough. Any number of events is possible, and the face of the game can be changed in a moment.

Minor races. Minor races add some more dynamic flair to games. Not just a nuisance like Civ IV’s “barbarians”, minor races can turn out to play a major role in any given game. Minor races don’t participate in the galactic council, but they basically play like any major race and have the same diplomatic options available when dealing with them.

Better combat. Combat is “more realistic” than Civ IV. To me that’s still one of the weakest points in the game. It’s still crazy that on the 4th version of the game, it’s still possible for a maceman to defeat an apache helicopter. Just not realistic at all. In Civ IV, superior techs don’t really gain the advantages that they should.

In GalCiv II, there are 3 types of weapons (beam, bullet and missle) and 3 types of defenses (shields, armor and ECM). Each type of defense is suitable towards a specific weapon. For example, if your closest neighbor is developing shields and you want to go to war with them, you don’t want to battle with lasers because they won’t work. You need to really consider your ship types and consider what your opponents are building and if you think they’ll declare war on you.

In Civ IV, you are stuck to watch as your musketman might lose to a pikeman, but in GalCiv II you create your own ships and are completely responsible for your military domination (or failure). The ship editor is pretty fantastic, basically allowing you to create custom, unlimited ship designs to use. You can also use stock designs, but it’s so much fun to build your own (and very intuitive and not very time consuming).

I urge anyone out there who hasn’t played GalCiv II to pick up a copy and give it a spin. Just keep a close eye on the clock, it might be 3AM before you realize you’ve been playing for a few hundred turns!