The Wargamer

A Bold New GalCiv II

Galactic Civilizations II was one of the better strategy games of 2006. I reviewed it in May of last year and found it to be a streamlined, addictive 4x experience. It was an easy candidate for our Award for Excellence in my eyes, and I also compared it to one of my all-time endearing favorites, the Master of Orion series (barring the MOO3 aberration). The latter comparison generated a few raised eyebrows and more than one email lampooning my opinion, but Galactic Civilizations II is definitely a quality 4x strategy game, no matter your stance.

So how does one expand on such an excellent game? Generally the industry over the years has rolled out rather mundane expansions-a few new units, a new campaign, but rarely do expansions make real changes to the gameplay proper. There have been notable exceptions, like last year's outstanding Warhammer 40k expansion, Dark Crusade, but by and large expansions are just more of the same. However, Dark Avatar, the upcoming expansion for Galactic Civilizations II, looks less like an expansion and more like Galactic Civilizations 2.5. In addition to the more standard additions, like new units and new races and such, there are fundamental changes to the gameplay that seem, at least at first glance, to broaden the strategy and offer a richer 4x experience for those perhaps tired of the original after nearly a year of play.

Two New Races

The first of the two new races is the Korath Clan. A violent splinter of the Drengin Empire, the Korath are even more sadistic and evil than the Drengin themselves. They seek nothing more than the complete destruction of every other race in the game. To call them maniacs would be an understatement.

Also new to the stable of races are the Krynn. According to the manual, they are the new Jihad, a race that follows a strict moral code. Apparently the Krynn also expect the rest of the universe to do the same.

The Krynn bring a very powerful espionage edge to the game, particularly early on, and the Korath bring…insanity to the universe. Just check out the various super abilities below to understand why.

Super Abilities

New to Galactic Civilizations II - Dark Avatar are super abilities called, appropriately enough, Super Abilities. Each civilization comes with a specific super ability, but it's also possible to change them during game setup. Here are three of the super abilities introduced-they are quite powerful, and will certainly cause players to reassess their strategies against old foes and develop new strategies to deal with these unique abilities.

Super Diplomat: Is able to secure much better deals through negotiation than other civilizations.

Super Dominator: When going to war, they receive a group of Corvette class ships. The number they receive is based on their military power.

Super Annihilator: Can build a Spore Ship that, when released on a world, will totally destroy all life on the planet and turns it into a toxic world.

I love Spore Ships! Mm, the Korath are nasty buggers…good times to be had for the more sadistic players out there.