Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar Q&A - First New Details

In space, no one can hear you scream. And fortunately, in space, no one can hear you curse angrily as your alien neighbors invade your territory in Galactic Civilizations II, the well-designed strategy game from Stardock. The game will soon expand into new territory with a new expansion pack, Dark Avatar, which will add customizable opponents, new worlds to explore and conquer, and new customization options for building fleets of your very own starships. Lead designer Brad Wardell gives us the first details.

You'll get into bigger, more-complex battles in the expansion pack for Galactic Civilizations II.

GameSpot: What can you tell us about the titular Dark Avatar? We understand that it refers to the campaign, and that it involves some kind of splinter faction within the Drengin Empire. We also understand that the campaign itself has a very unique starting situation. Can you fill us in?

Brad Wardell: In Dark Avatar, you play a clan leader of the Drengin Empire. The Drengin Empire is a vile, evil, nasty civilization bent on enslaving the entire galaxy. In Dark Avatar, they are the good guys. The alternative to the Drengin are the Korath, a splinter group of the Drengin Empire who have gained power and are starting to dominate the empire. They want the rest of the galaxy exterminated outright. So, the campaign focuses on thwarting the Korath's plans to exterminate everyone else. Conquest and oppression: good. Genocide: bad. You just have to know where to draw the line.

GS: How difficult will it be to play as other races if the Dark Avatar campaign begins with the Drengin about to dominate the galaxy? Do you solve this by having the player play only as the Drengin, or can you play as the other races? Will there be an easier race to play, or a harder race that's in a tougher position?

BW: The campaign is really a relatively small part of the game. It helps move the overall story forward and helps get players familiar with the game. The real meat of Galactic Civilizations II is in the stand-alone games where each galaxy is randomly generated and each game is made to feel like an epic story.

In the stand-alone games, players will be able to play as any race they want, or design their own race and then play against the main alien races, or--and this is one of the big new features--players can design their own opponents. They can assign them a behavior, an intelligence level, a style of play, a style of ship, what they look like, and a dialogue style.

GS: Tell us more about this new espionage feature in the expansion. How, specifically, will this help you lead to victory? Will opponents know if you're the one responsible for acts of espionage or sabotage, or can you plant evidence to blame another faction? And how do you defend yourself against spies?

BW: Espionage is something we're really trying to flesh out with the expansion. In Dark Avatar, you put money into espionage, and that money recruits agents. The agents can then be placed on opponents' planets to stifle/sabotage production, research, and other targets. When someone does it to you, you will see a red figure in the tile that is being sabotaged, and you can then use one of your agents to neutralize it.

GS: The expansion will also introduce new ship parts. Are they there to give players more flexibility in how their ships look, or will they have an impact on gameplay as well, and if so, how?

The expansion will offer new options for aspiring shipbuilders.

BW: The new ship parts are largely cosmetic. We were surprised by the popularity of the ship design feature. When I go to forums on various game sites, I inevitably see entire threads of people showing off the cool ships they've made. It's like a grown-up version of Lego blocks. People can design any type of ship they can imagine.

In the expansion pack, we've taken what we've learned and really upped the visual quality of the ship parts and created a whole bunch of new ones. We know that fans of the shipbuilding aspect will love the new ship parts.

GS: What can you tell us about the two new races in the expansion? How will they fit in with the existing races, and do any of them address a balance issue that you detected in the game?

BW: One of the new races is the Korath. The other race is tentatively called the Zrim. The Korath are an offshoot of the Drengin, while the Zrim are entirely new and are real rascals. One of the surprises in the game will be to find out which of the existing races is going to be wiped out and will not be in a future sequel (they'll still be in GalCiv II and its expansions, though, as a playable race).