Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor

Wow, everything is a lot prettier! Not to say that Galactic Civilization II Dark Avatar didn’t look good, but Twilight of the Arnor boasts some vastly improved graphics. The planets, planet improvements and ships have all been updated and look very cool. The planets are much better looking, and the icons of improvements are more detailed. The ships have much more detail, as well.

Besides the improved graphics, there are also lots of new features. This is a beta version, so some of the forthcoming features aren’t available, but there is still a lot of new stuff to play. My version didn’t have the campaign mode, but did have the regular game mode. The new editors also weren’t present. These will include a map editor, a scenario editor and also a planetary improvement editor.

The main new feature of Twilight of the Arnor is the restructure of the technical trees, in that each race now has distinct items to research and build. Not only are the technical trees unique, but the planet improvements and ships are different, as well, in appearance and ability. The technical trees reflect each race’s culture, in that peaceful races will have technical trees that favor diplomacy and trade over war, and that more warlike races will have more military themed research options. Besides each tree having distinct branches, the similar branches are organized slightly differently in some of the trees. This will mean that there are whole new strategy considerations, as each race will be working toward different goals.

The technical trees are redesigned in a more logical manner so planning is easier. Captions of the forthcoming techs will pop-up when the cursor passes over the techs, and right-clicking the mouse will offer up a list of improvements that will be unlocked with the tech.

Besides the new tech trees, there are more improvements available for the planets, more ships and more differentiation with the ships. This, too, adds to the complexity of the game’s strategy.  

I remember that I was having problems getting into my first few games of Civilization II Dark Avatar, as I didn’t have a clear understanding of what each turn should accomplish. I found a good tutorial online, though, that listed a “First Turn.” Dark Avatar had online tutorials for various things, but I don’t remember one describing a first turn. In Twilight of the Arnor, there is a good tutorial that describes what to do on the first turn.  

Currently, I’ve started several games with different races and varying numbers of opponents, but mostly with smaller maps. I like to have lots of freebies, so I always pick the highest levels of anomalies, stars and asteroids. As before, the gameplay is engaging and strategic, and the improved graphics really enhance the game. I haven’t played long enough to get a thorough grasp of the different strategies needed for all the different techs, but I have discovered the types of races I like to have as opponents, depending on what race I’m playing. It is different than having the same tech tree for everyone, most definitely.

Dark Avatar was my first experience with Galactic Civilization II. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though I’m more of a fantasy strategist than a space strategist. I believe I liked it so much because I could concentrate on building my empire and attempt to win without fighting too often. On the other hand, if I had wanted, I could have spent all my gaming sessions fighting all my neighbors. This is really the crux of the genius of Galactic Civilization II, in that it is whatever type of game its players want it to be. Each game can be setup as to size, the amount of goodies available for picking through while traveling around the universe, the types of random events, the number of opponents, numerous difficulty levels, the races of opponents, and the victory conditions. Couple this with some amazingly deep computer AI, and the result is pure fun.

The question with expansion packs is whether they really add anything new or worthwhile to an existing series, to warrant their purchase. Dark Avatar was so full of stuff it was almost a game in itself. While this beta version of Twilight doesn’t have all the promised new features, what I’ve seen so far is impressive. It’s early days, but I would have to say that Twilight of the Arnor is looking to be another outstanding expansion for Gal Civ II. The only big unknown is how the campaign mode will play. I’m also intrigued by the new planetary editor, as the description states that the computer AI will use the player-tweaked items intelligently.

I’m looking forward to the final release.