JMiddleton

4X games will always appeal to those of us who enjoy taking our time and thinking about the challenges the game presents rather than being forced to react in real time. The turn based nature allows a much greater scope without overwhelming the player and grants the player a lot more control over initial conditions in the sandbox where the games are created. 4X also has the benefit that you can abandon a game to deal with some other life event and it will wait patiently for you to return. This

I find it fascinating that this thread appears in the GalCiv III forum complete with references to the Arnor and the Dread Lords. Is this just coincidence or is there some connection between these universes!

GalCiv II sets the overall direction of the economy with the sliders but each planet can specialize (or generalize) at the players option and the focus buttons allow concentration where needed. The sliders can be changed as the game progresses allowing a lot of flexibility. I think it's a good system though it can get a bit cumbersome if you're trying to manage 100 colonies. It would be nice to have a "civil service" to help with the micro management - perhaps scripts or macros to man

Microsoft offers an evaluation of Windows 8.1 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh699156.aspx It's the enterprise edition but will give you everything you need to evaluate the product. I highly recommend one of the Seagate hybrid drives (they now have desktop models) The Windows 8.1/hybrid drive drive combination boots my laptop (Celeron processor) to the desktop in 20 seconds.

Given the technology required to support the premise of this game, it's likely any weapon that succeeds in penetrating a ships' defenses will vaporize that ship. I't's also likely that engagements will take place at ranges of hundreds or thousands of miles with ships travelling at hundreds or thousands of miles per second relative to each other. I'm not sure that captures are practical. Best to expand the espionage capability to steal technology.

The Pro version of Windows 7 (or 8.1) is intended for business use. The main benefit you get is the ability to join a domain. Most consumers will be perfectly happy with Windows 7 home premium or Windows 8.1 standard. Do consider Windows 8.1. It's much improved over Windows 8, especially if you add the Stardock Start8/ModernMix bundle ($7.99). I have Windows 7 ultimate on my desktop, Windows 8.1 on my laptop and prefer 8.1. It's faster, works exactly the same (with the Stardock bundle

This is the nature of the beast. You start with a newly created map, it's fun to explore and develop your civilization, but eventually you get to the point where you dominate and the outcome is completely predictable. The developer can extend the life of the game by providing several playable races with different strengths and weaknesses, multiple difficulty levels, multiple victory conditions, Elemental style quests and wildlands (which I hope will find their way into GalCiv III), DLC&#3

Starbases have always played an important role in my strategy but I would like them to be more flexible. I recall asking back in the Dark Avatar days why they couldn't be more like ships - upgradeable as you research better miniaturization, weapons and defensive tech. I also believe starbases should be generic - their purpose determined by the modules the player chooses to install. I don't want invulnerable starbases but believe they should automatically be part of any defending fleet

One of the best features of Stardock games is that there are a lot of different ways to play them. We are not limited by the developer's vision for the game. That's one reason why I continue to enjoy GalCiv II after 6 years. I understand why random events were added - generally you reach a point in mid game where the outcome is 100% predictable and the question becomes, do I push the turn button a few hundred more times to confirm my prediction or abandon the game and start over. Rand