Gal civ 2 is great but its showing its age.

@SmilingPig: true. it also has a low price point going for it, although ES is cheap at 30 dollars

GalCiv 2 was my favorite 4X game for years, but yeah, it is starting to seem pretty dated. I vastly prefer the Endless Space universe and races, but GalCiv 2 has better gameplay, I think. They're really different though: GalCiv 2 has you colonizing on a planet by planet basis, while Endless Space constrains you to systems. The diplomacy in GalCiv 2 is more fleshed out, too, and I think the ship creator is superior (though the battling in Endless Space is better).

I mean, I'd really say you should consider buying both, but I'd definitely pay more for Endless Space than I would for GalCiv 2.

Other space 4X games you might want to consider: Space Empires 4 (I prefer 5, but this belief is apparently heretical) and Star Ruler.

GalCiv is a bit deeper. Stardock is also really good about keeping their games updated. Endless space does look quite a bit better though...

@Jrad: thank you! especially for the suggestions, I just got a gaming pc a year ago and have been discovering games like crazy, so it's always nice to get some titles to take a look at.

I've really been enjoying Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity. It's more focused on combat, but they do have diplomacy paths.

EDIT: also it isn't turnbased, but it seems slow enough to keep track of everything.

Oh, and if space is your thing, I've been loving Evochron Mercenary. Exploring a galaxy in your own ship is pretty fucking awesome.

@Raethen said:

I've really been enjoying Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity. It's more focused on combat, but they do have diplomacy paths.

EDIT: also it isn't turnbased, but it seems slow enough to keep track of everything.

Oh, and if space is your thing, I've been loving Evochron Mercenary. Exploring a galaxy in your own ship is pretty fucking awesome.

Trinity? Wow, dude. Get Rebellion duder. I swear you won't regret it. I loved Trinity but Rebellion blows it out of the water. Also, if you want to explore space in your own ship, check out X3. You get your own ships but you also create your trade empire. It's a first person 4X strategy game.

@gaminghooligan: I highly recommend Sins. Highly

don't buy either... spend your money on gin instead.

Endless Space looks better, has a better interface (believe it or not) and is more intuitive. Gal CIv 2 is more layered, is a bit deeper and has some nice customization options.

It boils down to this: Would you prefer a slick looking game that's easier to get into or an older, but deeper game?

Also, try Master of Orion 2 someday. It's old, looks a bit ugly, but it's way more intuitive than GC2, and I felt it's relatively deep and fun.

Or... Get all of them!

G-Police.

It has space in it.

With all this talk of space sims, I just started playing space rangers 2 again. you should look into that, it's a fun little atmopsheric game, with a lot more under the hood than first meets the eye.

@Masin:

I got Trinity because I didn't have the money for Rebellion, which I probably will get a some later point. I also didn't know the the X series was first person, every screenshot I've seen made it look like a strategy game, and hearing that it is super complicated kind of turned me off. I'm going to pick it up though, seeing as the pack is 75% off on Steam right now. Thanks for the suggestion!

I bought Sins Trinity and Gal Civ 2 over the Steam Sale. I've been wanting to try both for a while. Based on how I like Trinity, I'll make the step up to Rebellion later. I also want Endless Space, but I'm going to wait until I try the cheaper games I already bought. :)

@FakeKisser: I also bought those two. Haven't tried Sins yet but I'm finding Gal Civ pretty impenetrable. Guess I should read the manual..

If it was me, it would be GalCiv 2. The last expansion blew my mind with race-specific tech trees. It doesn't sound like a big thing, but it really shows off a lot of the personalities of each of the races you can play as and often play against.

@gaminghooligan: i was about to post a thread about the same thing. What did you end up doing? And if you have tried either one what do you think so far. I tried GalCiv 2 but its really complicated and i am wondering if Endless Space is easier to get into.

@jediknight00719:

ES has a very mello learning curve for being the decent 4X game that it is. If you like space and 4X TBS, you will most likely enjoy it.

GalCiv 2 has some great TBS gameplay, but it's extremely difficult to penetrate when you first start playing it. As I recall, there's just a bunch of video tutorials, nothing interactive, and the interface leaves much to be desired when compared to more modern games like Civ V and Endless Space that have great interfaces that really help you manage a massive amount of info.

I'll also echo the recommendation of Sins of a Solar Empire. I really enjoyed that game when it was first released. The mix of 4X style strategy with mellow paced RTS gameplay is unique and works surprisingly well.

Has this genre evolved much since Master of Orion 2? Cause I watched that Quick Look of Endless Space and while it was, obviously, much prettier the gameplay looked almost exactly the same as MOO2. The only differences seemed to be that the tech tree was all laid out in Endless Space and the combat and planet building was more complex in MOO2.

Did they not dig deep enough during the Quick Look or are those games really all the same as they were in 1996?

@jediknight00719: Went ES but I ordered a box copy of gal civ 2 for real cheap. Love ES although it's def not as deep as Gal Civ appears to be. ES is a lot of fun and it is a time eater.