Master Biggie Yak asked in another thread how I liked the game. I just finished my 1st game with a huge galaxy and 8 or 9 civilizations and it took my about a week to a week and a half to finish. I played on the beginner level and had no real problems. I took out 3-4 civs and then spent about half the time working my way to a diplomatic victory by making an alliance with all the other civs. The last civ to fall under my magnetic personality were the Drengin (one of the evil races) who didn't get off the one or two starting rocks they had so were extremely isolated in the top eastern corner of the galactic map. I hadn't spent much on technology that would let me travel far beyond my borders so it took some time, but ultimately a wad of cash made them see the value of being my friend and they agreed to an alliance as well.
One thing I forgot to mention, but is very cool about the game is the ability to customize your ships...a lot! The battle simulations leave a lot to be desired for, but the basics are there...what has me intrigued for my next several games is the following I pulled from the gamespot article:
Quote:
This leads to the issue of artificial intelligence, always a controversial subject in strategy games. The AI in Galactic Civilizations II differentiates it from other 4X games: It doesn't cheat, and it's very, very good at higher levels. It's also unique in that the AI doesn't treat the human player any differently than it does the other AI players. You can set the AI to a lower level to allow you to have fun while learning the game, but when you set it higher as you advance in your skills, the game doesn't respond by cheating. Instead, it employs more advanced (and devious) strategies, observing and adapting to your play. For example, at lower levels you could be trading and generally playing nice with a neighboring civilization that is rather weak militarily, while at the same time setting up military starbases and fleets of fighters in their vicinity, and the AI may continue to trust you. At higher AI levels it will recognize the signs of betrayal and take preventive or preemptive actions.
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