Mixed feelings...

[Littiz]

I'm interested in this game but I have some doubts.
I'd appreciate to hear some answers/comments from players

Well, the game looks very good, it's had nice reviews it seems, and it has a lot of elements that I love (sci-fi settings, mostly).
But:
[list=1][*]it seems a complete rip-off of the MOO serie. I mean, complete. Starbases, the ship builder, everything.[*]the silly lines of text. Wouldn't it be better a more serious approach? I mean, I wouldn't mind a few jokes, but playing SMAC I've become used to a certain "deepness" of themes and quotes. This game seems to place itself at the opposite end of the spectrum, in this aspect. What's its target "audience", really?[/list=1]

I don't know. Yet, it intrigues me...

[Solver]

Serious approach or not, that depends on your tastes, of course. SMAC was more deep and serious, yes. SMAC had an awesome backstory. GalCiv2 has a backstory, too, but it's nowhere near as elaborate as the story of SMAC... however, GalCiv2 takes a humorous approach.

Of course, it indeed depends on you whether it's "funny" or "silly". Some of the humour in GalCiv2 is quite subtle, like in certain names or parts of technology descriptions, sometimes there's just funny dialogue. But if you're looking for another SMAC atmosphere wise, no, this isn't it. And I'm not saying this as a negative to GalCiv2 - it's just that SMAC has, in my opinion, the best atmopshere of any strategy game ever released, and I can't honestly say anything else comes close.

[bonscott]

As for it being a MOO ripoff, note that the original Gal Civ for OS2 came out about the same time as MOO1 (I think it may have actually beat it to market by a couple weeks if I remember my history right).

[Grandpa Troll]

I am planning on beggiing the missus for financing for this new game

Reading this post one thing I really miss from CIVII (I played it on Playstation)

was the hilliarious interaction of the council.

It had me cracking up, me, well everyone saw the military dude was so much like me, kinda loud, kinda arrogant and kinda demanding, come to think of it its a little more than "like me"

Seriously, I like a bit of humor mixed in, so if I was keeping score this would be in the plus column

Sorry folks, didnt mean to threadjack-wabbit the topic, just thought it was an appropriate response

Gramps

[Silver14]

Re: Mixed feelings...

Originally posted by Littiz [list=1][*]it seems a complete rip-off of the MOO serie. I mean, complete. Starbases, the ship builder, everything.[/list=1]

Starbases in GalCiv2 are nothing like those in MOO. In MOO2 starbases were built by the planet and were only located at the planet. Also in MOO all the combat took place in or around planets, in Gal Civ all of space is open to you. You can build starbases anywhere you want. Next to your planet, next to an opponents planet, in the middle of nowhere - what ever you want.

The ship builder is nothing like MOO either. Aside from choosing what components you want to put where you can also chose from 'structures' that do nothing other then change the look of the bare hull you chose. The latest patch makes the ship builder easier to use and I've found I can spend maybe 15m designing a ship. I usually save the 'look' of the ship bare with no components on it at first, so I can use the design in later games even when I dont' have all the tech (weapons, armor, engines) that I'm about to put on the ship.

Basically you can custom design the entire look of your ship in the game, save it, and have it around for other games that you use the same hull types in. (human, altarian, drengin, ect.)

*note I don't consider MOO3 part of the series and I'll never, ever play it.

Also doesn't Stardock own the rights to the MOO series now?

[Grandpa Troll]

Man you guys keep right on selling this, sounds awesome

[Peets]

If you call this game a rip off of the moo-series
then you can just call it a rip off of the Civ-series too

[yin26]

Of course it's a rip off. A darn good one!

[Brizey]

All these games are ripoff's of Pong! Stealing the idea of using moving graphics in a game.

[Littiz]

Thanx, I think I'm going to give it a fair try.
It seems well done, and surely the way the company is behaving towards customers deserves appreciation...

Anyway, about the rip-off issue...
Well, I'm not activist or something, I can play the game if it's good and the rest is not important after all.

Yet I think it cannot be denied: these games are FAR too similar, one of the two is a blatant rip-off of the other one... if they first came out in close moments, then it means there has been some "industrial espionage" going on...

[Silver14]

[Qilue]

Once upon a time back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and massively multiplayer games were by snail mail, I played a space empires game.

In this game, you started with a homeworld from which you could build starbases, colonize planets and have space battles. Each turn took one week as the mail service was slow.

[Hansolo88]

I have good memories of PBEM Space Empires games, though they took freaking forever to play and usually were abandoned long before they would have ended. Still, they had a lot of richness and depth of strategy and were a blast while they lasted. I've always thouht that would be the easiest way for GalCiv 2 to add multiplayer.

[Daz]

I have played all MOO games and GalCiv2. The games share the same genre and look similar. But dont all games? I mean, a FPS is a FPS- you can change the scenery, but thats it.

[Spaced Cowboy]

This was the first 4X space game that I played.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/imperium-galactum

MoO ripped this one off.