Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords [PC]

Galactic Civilizations -- GalCiv to its friends -- was a futuristic implementation of the Civilization style of turn-based strategy games. Set in a galaxy of stars and planets, the gameplay formula is commonly called "4X" for eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. A little research and economy development is thrown in for good measure. GalCiv made quite a splash with fans of the turn-based genre, and independent developer Stardock is full of ideas for its sequel. We took a beta version for a spin.

Unlike the first game, GalCiv 2 lets you choose any of the game's starting races to play, or create your own with your preferred set of specialties. Most of the starting options remain the same -- you can customize the size of your galaxy, the planet density, and number of habitable worlds, set the number of AI competitors, and so on. From there, it's into the game, armed with nothing but some basic research ideas, a couple of starter ships, and the need to expand.

To do that, you'll need to find a suitable planet of a suitable class. Much like in Star Trek, class is a measure of the planet's friendliness to life. It determines the number of structures the world will support, and has important knock-on effects on its potential for population and production. To take a somewhat familiar example, Earth is a Class 10, while comparatively uninhabitable Mars is a Class 4 world with less than half the development potential. As you advance, you'll find ways to exploit more of the space on a planet, so you'll be able to develop beyond these limits without too much difficulty.

GalCiv 2's research tree is vast. Even though you're only presented with a few basic technology choices at first, if you don't have some kind of strategy in mind you're likely to be clobbered by enemies with more directed research programs. This isn't like Civ, where you'll probably end up researching the whole tree over a long-running game -- to gain access to advanced technologies like the temptingly-named Black Hole Gun or Invulnerability Field, you'll have to commit to a long slog through prerequisites.

Of course, with all that research done, you'll be wanting to put your shiny new technology to work. Fire up the ship designer, and you can build your own spacecraft for exploring the void, battling alien races, or populating distant worlds. Some customizations are cosmetic (and handy for telling your ships apart on the map), but most are highly functional. Weapons of various types, extra sensors, more powerful engines, armor or shields, and various utility payloads are just some selections from the menu, assuming you have the right technologies developed.

Creating your own class of vessel is easy and flexible. Each hull type can hold a set number of upgrades, depending on its size. What these upgrades are is up to you -- take a small ship, give it fast engines, long-ranged sensors, plenty of life support (so it can venture far into the unknown) and little else, and you have a scout. Outfit the same hull with armor, particle beams, and slower engines, and you have a defensive fighter. There's a scissors-paper-stone relationship between weapon types and armor materials, so players that crank out just one ship design will be vulnerable to more adaptable enemies.