See, that's the only reason why I don't like that GC3 requires Steam.  Steam keeps track of how many hours you play, and I don't necessarily want to know that.  If I knew how many hours I'd played GC for OS/2, then GC1, then GC2, I might not want to play GC3.  Or any other game.  But then again, I'm an almost retired old fart who's way past going out chasing girls and doesn't spend all my free time watching reality TV.  So maybe spending my entertainment dollars on GC3 isn't such a waste.

Sorry if this isn't on point.  But I couldn't resist.

I think (hope) we'll find, once we get to release, that the game's diplomacy and battles are much more rich than GC2. The UP is already more interesting and impactful, as are treaties and alliances. Battles are going to make use of more tactical stats than just attack, defense, and HP. They will take into account weapon range, ship speed, and we cannot forget the carriers. Add in that resources' (durantium, etc.) impact on ship stats, admiral veterancy, it seems much more strategic than GC2. Maybe. i think we need to wait at least until patch 2 of beta 3 to have a good handle on it.

The ability to become chair of the UP and be the one to propose the various motions is indeed a great improvement over previous GCs.  Can't speak to the others yet but I have my hopes.

I would say the GCIII is, at this point in the beta, mostly an update/improvement of GCII. This is not a bad thing. Once you have played III, even in it's beta version it is difficult to go back and play II. It is a similar, but much richer game and it leaves GCII in the dust, visually.

I am sure the final release will have features that set GCIII apart more than it is now, but it will still be the GC universe and the objectives will be essentially the same as they were in GCI. Nothing wrong with that if you are working with a game as enjoyable as each of the GC games have been.

I bought GCIII early for the same reason I am on the fence about buying the new Sid Meiers space colony game. I have enjoyed the GC games in every version so I did not worry about being disappointed. On the other hand, Alpha Centauri was an all time favorite of mine and I am hoping that the new Sid Meiers game will be similar but updated, however, when I look closely the new game appears to be The same old Civ games that they have been spitting out for years, just on an alien planet and without Ghandi. So...I want to play a demo version before I spend my money and time.

On the fence, well the game is not a remake of GC II. Lets clarify this up front. From the beginning the game is going to be GC II with more of everything and better. It will still be the same gameplay and still have the same players...but. Better. 

• Hexes instead of squares.
• 64 bit for maps that are mindbogglingly big!
• Multiplayer enabled (something never  before in GC I or II.)
• Dx 11 (beautiful awesome visuals)
• A far superior AI that is not hard coded, with better moddability, more features on AI<<< this alone is the largest best feature for all)
• More robust and beautiful ship designer.
• More QoL features like planet tabs, and waypoints.
• More diplomacy and trade features..including...
• Tactical and strategic resources that you can rush out and mine which will make your Empire unstoppable!
• Did I mention a far better ai?
• Still have the combat viewer, no TC but more features to make diversity of fleets needed and more meaningful. No 10 massive ships beats everything.

Hope you join us!

 I am retired, and if I wasn't married I would still be out chasing girls (actually, women). Why does "old" (I'm 75) have to imply lack of energy?

Faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, and more money, eh?

Actually, Jack, I knew you were retired, we used to work in the same organization at STL.

I fully support my decision to support this game.

That having been said, I very much hope the game gets more fleshed out, rather than simply activating the disabled tech in the trees.

At the moment, it feels "bare bones", like a third or so of the tech and options are AWOL.

 
Wonders of the Universe?  Ah, we have the Restaurant... and... the Restaurant.

Amazing!

...where's the rest?

There's many things that I hope are just not implemented yet, like many more wonders, flavor text, unique artwork for each random event...etc.  Incidentally, I think planet colonization events happen too often, I think every planet has one.

If steam added an offline counter that adds to the online counter as soon as connected would do.

If I added my offline time for SOTSII onto my online time the number would be many many many times bigger.