Galactic Civilizations 2 @ Apolyton Civilization Site

What is Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar? It is the expansion pack for award-winning strategy game, Stardock's Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords. Dark Avatar will not only add the usual expansion material as new civilizations, units and a campaign, it will also expand the gameplay. New features (of which many have been suggested by the player community) will include mineable asteroid belts, planets divided according to their environments, improved espionage which will include spies and the much expected Epic Generator. It will also bring new diplomatic treaties, ship parts and an enhanced artificial intelligence engine (see the full list of features below).

Invention of cheap fusion power helped unite the humanity in the twenty first century, ending internal strife. When an Arcean star probe reached Earth mankind realised that it isn't alone in the universe. But more important were the blueprints for the stargate carried by the Arcean probe. Stargates linked the galaxy for thousands of years before man even dreamed of wheel. But they were based on nuclear fission. It only took a little human ingenuity to reverse-engineer stargate technology and combine it with fusion power to create the hyperdrive. Thus the age of galactic civilizations has started in the late 22nd human century.

In 2225 galaxy was on the brink of war. Terran Alliance and Drengin Empire gathered allies for the inevitable showdown. But when the hostilities erupted, so where the Dread Lords, ancient and powerful beings, freed from the pocket universe. They intended to wipe out the young races and the conflict became three-sided. Earth and allies managed to banish their threat but at a terrible cost.

It is year 2226 and it seems that evil does really pay off. Drengin Empire never attempted to ally against the greater Dread Lord menace and proceeded to defeat the battered coalition. Arcea has been occupied and the sole remain of Terran Alliance, Earth, is protected by a force field. The bulk of its remaining forces have escaped to the pocket universe the Dread Lords came from, in hopes of returning in the future with technologies that can turn the tide of war. But even darker times are coming for the galaxy as the main Drengin clan, the Korath, wants to cleanse the galaxy of the all the non-Drengin. Two races have already been eliminated.

What is galactic supremacy without fuel for slave furnaces? But something is happening to the Korath themselves, they are changing. If they cleanse all the non-Drengin they may wish to cleanse all the non-Korath too. A rival Drengin clan must ensure the survival of slave races, ally with the remaining Terran forces, discover what is the secret of the transformation Korath are undergoing and unravel the origins of the Dread Lords and the Arnor.

Release Date: Fall 2006 (Digital Distribution Only. Users can elect to have a CD package sent to them when they purchase).

New features:

Alien races will get new company. Two yet undetailed races will join the existing ones. Races eliminated in the campaign will be available in the sandbox mode.

Asteroid fields near worlds can be exploited though a variety of asteroid bases that can constructed.

Custom opponents now may be designed and used in gameplay against you. Both their looks and style of play can be modified.

Computer AI options will be expanded. Now you will be able to determine which algorithms to use, allocation of CPU time to it and whether it will "cheat" or not.

Dark Avatar campaign will continue the story where things left off at the end of Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords and place you in the shoes of the vile Drengin. Their Empire now dominates the galaxy. Arcea has been occupied while the Terran Alliance is on the brink of collapse. But within the Drengin Empire there is conflict. While the Drengin Empire merely wants to conquer and enslave the galaxy, the most powerful clan of the Drengin, the Korath, wants all non-Drengin exterminated completely. But that is not all. Korath families are starting to look different from other Drengin. Find out what is happening to them and save the galaxy - without slaves there are no masters.

Diplomatic treaties like research and economic treaties are now available for signing with alien civilizations. They will influence diplomatic relations.

Epic generator engine will create stories based upon game sessions. Since one of the most popular community building features was Stardock's release of epic stories of various games the developers played, expansion will include its own epic generator that will actually build (in HTML) the story of each game. Stories will be exportable for later reading or sharing with others.

Espionage system will receive a complete overhaul.You now aquire spies as you spend money on espionage.Espionage agents give you the ability to win through covert operations. Agents can conducts sabotages on enemy worlds or remove enemy agents on your worlds.

Ship parts are a must. New parts will improve the widely popular ship design feature. One of such additions are
civilization logos which will now appear on ship designs. This will include custom made logos.

Specialized worlds will change the colonization mechanics. In the expansion each world will have certain environment and only civilizations that know how to build colonies on the proper environment will be able to colonize them. Research will unlock other environments.