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GALCIV II:TOTA CLOSE TO 1ST BETA
(7 October 2007, 13:06 | GalCiv2 | 17 comments) Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of The Arnor is about to go into Beta, according to Frogboy in this article posted on Stardock`s website.
The article outlines a tentative schedule of release dates of the Beta,
Beta 1: October 24th - Terran Alliance, Drengin, Arcean technology trees
Beta 2: October 31 - Yor, Torian, Korath technology trees added
Beta 3: November 7 - Korx, Drath, Iconians trees added
Beta 4: November 14 - Thalan, Krynn technology trees added.
We all look forward to this follow up to Galactic Civilizations II:Dark Avatar expansion with this second expansion! - Grandpa Troll
FIRST TOTA PREVIEW
(3 October 2007, 19:29 | GalCiv2 | 17 comments) IGN has the honour of being the first to have a preview of Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor. The article explains the backstory of the expansion: the humans run across the Arnor, a race falsely assumed to have been wiped out by the Dread Lords.
The Arnor tell the humans that in order to have any chance of destroying the Dread Lords, they`ll have to collect all of the crystals the race uses to manufacture their fleets and destroy them in a supernova.
Obviously supernovas aren`t exactly an every day occurrence and waiting around for one would most assuredly take longer than is healthy for the rest of the galactic races. Hence the return of the Terror Stars. Players will have to build and wield one of these massive Death Star-like vessels to cause the supernova that destroys the crystals and saves the day. Yay for Terror!
The article continues to talk about a new "immense" galaxy size (22x22), the unique tech trees and all the goodies that come with it and the new textures. Read the full one-page preview and view five screenshots on IGN. - Locutus
BRAD TALKS MORE TOTA
(3 October 2007, 19:28 | GalCiv2 | 17 comments) Gaming site GameSpy recently posted an interview with Stardock`s Brad Wardell about the upcoming second expansion to Galactic Civilization II, Twilight of the Arnor. When asked why another expansion is coming so soon, Brad says:
There probably won`t be a sequel to Galactic Civilizations II for quite a long time. You`ve probably noticed that we tend to add a lot to our expansion packs, so you can imagine how long our feature list would be for a sequel and we just won`t be able to get to it anytime soon. We had always planned on having at least two expansion packs to Galactic Civilizations II in order to complete the Dread Lords trilogy, but we were worried that we wouldn`t have time to go back to Galactic Civilizations for a long while once we are full-bore on the fantasy strategy game we`re working on.
He goes on to list the major features of this expansion: unique technology trees for each civilization, Terror Stars (star-system destroyers), new ship components, and tournaments (a la the Tri-League tournament for Beyond the Sword here on Apolyton). He answers questions on the Terror Star, unique tech trees, planetary conquest, super abilities, fleet combat, Galactic Civilizations II v2.0, AI, newbie-friendliness and the difference between an expansion pack and sequel. When queried about the storyline Wardell explains:
For players who have been following the story in Galactic Civilizations II, the campaign is key. I still think the sandbox mode is probably the most enjoyable part of the game. I have been very surprised by how many players are interested in the back story. Having spent years writing it (the back story to GalCiv started out as a series of manuscripts I wrote in college that I wanted to turn into books some day) I`m glad to see players interested in the GalCiv story and its take on humanity in the 23rd century.
He also points out that he`ll be writing the campaign for TotA himself, as opposed to outsourcing it to someone like Jeff Pinard as was done for the game`s first expansionDark Avatar, since this may be my last opportunity to write one of the campaigns myself as opposed to providing the overall design.
Read the full 3-page story on GameSpy. - Locutus
BRAD TALKS TOTA
(3 October 2007, 19:24 | GalCiv2 | 17 comments) Following the announcement of Twilight of the Arnor, the second expansion to Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords, GameSpot had a Q&A session with Stardock CEO and GalCiv lead designer Brad Wardell. Brad explains why a second expansion and not a sequel:
[The] reason is that I would prefer to wait quite awhile to do a sequel to Galactic Civilizations II. I`d like to wait long enough for another generation of hardware to come into play. For example, by waiting as long as we did to make Galactic Civilizations II after the original Galactic Civilizations, we were able to transition to a full 3D engine with seamless zooming, 3D ship design, and so on. If we had made the sequel sooner, we would have had to compromise on the concepts we had.
He goes on to talk about the new content in this expansion, particularly the civilization-specific features and their impact on the game. As an example he cites:
Having unique technology trees per civilization opens the door for some spectacular new styles of game play, as well. For example, the evil Drengin Empire has a technology called "compulsory labor," which, when researched, lets the Drengin build slave pits on their world for better production. If such a world gets liberated, the slave pits are still there, leading to a moral quandary for the conqueror: keep the slave pits, or spend the money to replace them with normal factories, or something else?
Also included will be some new ship components, of which Wardell says:
We`ve implemented a number of components that enable players to increase the defenses of all ships in a given fleet or make weapons more lethal within a fleet. These modules have no effect on the ship they`re placed on, but rather, on other ships in the fleet. For example, players have asked to be able to design ships with targeting computers. The new "atlas" component lets other ships in the fleet target [their enemies] better, resulting in 10% more damage in a fight.
He also briefly discusses Galactic Civilizations II v2.0, multiplayer and new modding tools. Read the full article and view the nine accompanying screenshots on GameSpot. - Locutus
THE FUTURE OF GALCIV2
(3 October 2007, 19:21 | GalCiv2) Stardock announced their plans for the future of the Galactic Civilizations II series. As reported earlier, the second GalCiv2 expansion Twilight of the Arnor will ship in November. A new patch for the original GalCiv2, v1.7 will be released sometime this month, with a second beta currently undergoing public testing.
Finally, a major free update to Galactic Civilizations II, titled simply v2.0, will be released sometime next year, the features of which are yet to be announced (pending player feedback) but will likely include a lot of new AI work based on new strategies we`ve seen people come up with that the AI can learn from
.
This however will likely be the final update to the game, and indeed to the franchise as a whole for a long to come. As Brad Wardell tells GameSpy, after this release Stardock will focus its efforts on other games (specifically a yet-unannounced fantasy strategy game) and will likely not return to the Galactic Civilizations franchise for the foreseeable future. - Locutus
TWILIGHT OF THE ARNOR ANNOUNCED
(3 October 2007, 19:15 | GalCiv2 | 17 comments) 
If you were all wrapped up in the Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword and Civilization: Revolution hype like we were, you might`ve missed that Stardock announced a new expansion pack for Galactic Civilizations II a few weeks ago, like we did 
So under the motto better late than never:
Stardock is pleased to announce the second expansion pack to its award-winning PC strategy game Galactic Civilizations II. The new expansion pack, entitled Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor, takes place shortly after the events of Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar and puts the player in control of one of 12 unique civilizations ranging from the humans to the evil Drengin to the mysterious Thalan.
As per usual for Stardock, this expansion will be jam-packed with new features:
- New campaign detailing the final chapter in the Dread Lord wars
- The star destroying new unit, the Terror Star arrives
- Unique technology trees for all 12 civilizations
- Unique planetary improvements for each civilization
- New 3D engine powered map editor
- New Scenario Editor for creating highly detailed custom games
- New Campaign Editor for players who want to create their own custom epic campaigns for themselves or to share with others
- New Metaverse Tournaments: Specific Map & Scenarios recorded to the Metaverse with prizes for top players
- New Ship Component: Atlas. Makes ships in a fleet more lethal
- New Ship Component: Fortitude. Gives ships in a fleet have more hit points
- New Ship Component: Driver. Makes ships in a fleet move faster
- Unique weapons per civilization
- Updated Planetary Invasions
- New Enhanced textures and graphics for planets and ships
- New Galaxy Size: Immense (vastly bigger than current galaxy sizes)
- Extra alien portraits and logos
- Legacy of the Telenanth: Detailed back story of Galactic Civilizations
- And more!
This expansion is the final act in the Dread Lords saga and scheduled for release in late November. It will list for $29.95 and require either Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar or Galactic Civilizations II: Gold Edition to play. You can pre-order it now for only $24.95 from GalCiv2.com. - Locutus
