Multiplayer?

Are you both running the same version of the game?  Beta 6 or Beta 6 Patch 1 (opt-in) if you're not running the same version it won't work.

I will check, honestly didnt even think about it. Thank you.

Hope you have better luck than we do.  With latest opt-in that updated just now the game crashes when we ready up and click Start. 

So we tried again tonight, same game version and everything the same as before... still no worky. Me sad panda.

The invite option linked into steam does not appear to function at this time for the game. We have been simply hosting and having the others look in the lobby for our game. It's public at this point soo they have always easily found the game. If your game is not visable to the others I would suggest checking your port forwarding. Though someone else will have to tell you what ports galciv3 uses as I am not sure. Hope this helps

I played with my brother last night on the lastest opt in.  So I can confirm it does work.

Under what conditions?  We've tried every combination of map size, team, race numbers, custom races yes/no... every time we click START the game CTD with no error report.  The game at least started in Beta5 for 2P MP.  Now it goes nowhere.

Are you guys putting each other on the same team?  I have seen this cause issue.

Tried with teams, separate team, some teams, no teams... always CTD on start.

We tried a few times last night with the latest and still can't make it more than 20 turns without the it getting stuck with no turn button.

So we were finally able to play a bit of multiplayer. We created a game and waited in the lobby until it showed up for the other person. So on top of the lack of an invite feature we discovered that there does not seem to be a way to make the game private. I felt like a dick when people joined my game, I had to tell them it was meant to be private while I was waiting in the lobby for my friend to join. Reviewers are going to rip this apart on launch...

The multiplayer functions I agree need some work. Hopefully before launch as I also agree that reviewers will not speak kindly of it's current state. The fact that multiplayer is a game feature is huge for this franchise. I have no doubt that it will be improved upon. For those having issues with multiplayer might I suggest going without custom races for the time being. We have been fairly successful on huge sized maps with all the standard races being played by humans or AI.

I tried multiplayer last night. CTD on turn 2.

Retried. Saved game wouldn't even load and game hung. Tried twice, then gave up.

Conditions under which we have had successful games include.

3 humans using standard races on huge map. planets set to occasional, AI on gifted, minors abundant. We had a few crashes but were able to load back up and press onward.

2 player with custom races being used by humans and AI. Again we have occasional crashes but are able to restore.

During both occasions while in the lobby players reported the information being displayed about who is what race and at times team information is showing incorrectly. This has proven to only be a display issue for the lobby. Once loaded the saves are intact and players resume where we left off.