It is a direct rip off... but...
The game is quite fun to play, easy, customizable ships, huge tech tree and good diplomacy options makes this game really fun and enjoyable, especially the newly found technology is brought to you by a news broadcaster with real funny dialoges... The diplomacy is quite fun, the AI doesnt try to tacke you by allying every AI faction on the map to stop you...
There are many victory conditions, such as massive alliance, cultural victory and of course the classic domination victory...
I cant say much about the campaign since I only played custom games like Civ 4...
All in all GalCiv is a great rip off, promises hours and hours of gameplay and fun...