Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor Q&A - First Details

While space strategy games are remembered fondly by strategy game veterans, there aren't too many of these games around these days. Fortunately, Stardock helped fill the interstellar void last year with Galactic Civilizations II, a turn-based game that let players create and conquer entire alien galaxies through careful diplomacy or by bringing in fleet after fleet of custom-built battleships. The game was updated earlier this year with Dark Avatar, an expansion pack that enhanced the gameplay experience with new diplomacy and espionage options, as well as with more in-depth planetary exploration. Now Stardock is looking to expand its horizons even further with a new add-on, Twilight of the Arnor. We have the first details from Stardock CEO and designer Brad Wardell.

The universe of Galactic Civilizations II is set to expand again later this year.

GameSpot: Why did you decide to create a second expansion pack for Galactic Civilizations II, rather than go with a full-on sequel? Why would another expansion make sense at this point in time?

Brad Wardell: The success of the first expansion pack made it clear that people are very much interested in expanding their Galactic Civilizations II experience.

The other reason is that I would prefer to wait quite awhile to do a sequel to Galactic Civilizations II. I'd like to wait long enough for another generation of hardware to come into play. For example, by waiting as long as we did to make Galactic Civilizations II after the original Galactic Civilizations, we were able to transition to a full 3D engine with seamless zooming, 3D ship design, and so on. If we had made the sequel sooner, we would have had to compromise on the concepts we had.

GS: Give us an overview of the features in the expansion. How will it reinvigorate Gal Civ II's gameplay?

BW: The primary purpose for this expansion pack is to truly expand the breadth of content people have to play with. While Dark Avatar focused on really overhauling the gameplay, Twilight of the Arnor is more in line with what people generally expect of expansions: more ships, more weapons, more starbases, more defenses, and generally a lot more content.

Another big change is the addition of civilization-specific technologies with corresponding planetary improvements. One of the nice things about [making] an expansion pack [rather than] a sequel is that we already have a very balanced game and can build on that. So, over time, we can continually differentiate the various alien civilizations.

It's easy to forget that when Galactic Civilizations II shipped, all civilizations were basically identical, other than graphics and AI personalities. Playing as the humans versus playing as the Drengin was pretty similar. In Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar, the players got their own unique "superabilities," which went a long way to making each civilization play differently.

Now, in Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor, each civilization will have its own technologies, which will really make each one feel different.

GS: We recall that one of the most significant changes made to gameplay by the first expansion, Dark Avatar, was the way that planets were modified. They were expanded to have many new characteristics, such as varied environments and hostile atmospheres, to take the gameplay beyond rushing for as much planetary control as early as possible. What can you tell us about the planetary exploration and conquest planned for Twilight of the Arnor? How will these gameplay elements be tweaked or expanded?

BW: In Dark Avatar, the unique planetary environments required players to make some tough choices in what technologies they researched. In Twilight of the Arnor, those choices will become even more difficult, as each race will have its own unique technology tree. Even with the expansion being quite far along in development, we're still determining how to enhance planetary conquest. Fans seem quite happy with the current options, but if it makes sense to add specific technologies and features to improve that aspect of the game, we'll do it.

The new expansion will add unique technology research for each civilization.

GS: We also remember that Dark Avatar made new enhancements to espionage, and it also added new factions to the game. What kind of enhancements are being made to diplomatic gameplay and the way players will interact with other factions?

BW: We are actually working on Galactic Civilizations II v2.0, which will be free and released shortly before Twilight of the Arnor. It will include improvements in diplomacy and espionage based on player feedback. There was a lot of discussion at Stardock about whether such features should be given away, but we felt that Dark Avatar players had already paid for enhancements in those areas and, hence, we should continue to evolve those features as part of their purchase.

GS: One of the highlights of the series is the in-depth ship- and fleet-design options, which let players create their own custom starship armadas. How will this be enhanced in the expansion?

BW: In Twilight of the Arnor, there will be new types of components players can put on their ships, which affect their ability to [create] fleets. We've implemented a number of components that enable players to increase the defenses of all ships in a given fleet or make weapons more lethal within a fleet. These modules have no effect on the ship they're placed on, but rather, on other ships in the fleet. For example, players have asked to be able to design ships with targeting computers. The new "atlas" component lets other ships in the fleet target [their enemies] better, resulting in 10% more damage in a fight. You can see how components of this sort really affect the way the game is played; it's another element you'll need to take into account when building your fleets and trying to counter those of your enemies.

GS: Dark Avatar's epic-scale superabilities and "mega-events" arguably changed the way the game was played on a fundamental level. Will any new features in the second expansion similarly overhaul the gameplay?

BW: Having different technology trees with [each race's] own corresponding unique weapons, defenses, and planetary improvements will expand the gameplay even further. Having unique technology trees per civilization opens the door for some spectacular new styles of game play, as well. For example, the evil Drengin Empire has a technology called "compulsory labor," which, when researched, lets the Drengin build slave pits on their world for better production. If such a world gets liberated, the slave pits are still there, leading to a moral quandary for the conqueror: keep the slave pits, or spend the money to replace them with normal factories, or something else?

For us, the big thing about having such unique technologies is that we are talking about a game with alien civilizations, which lets us really roll up our sleeves and imagine extremely different ways in which a civilization might have progressed to this point, and implement them.

GS: Any chance we'll see any some multiplayer options of any kind from this expansion?

Twilight of the Arnor will add new fleet options, new starbases, and lots of new content.

BW: None at all. If we do a sequel, we would likely incorporate it there, using a shared multiplayer library we're developing. But there hasn't been the kind of demand for multiplayer that would urge us to focus on that at the expense of features that users have been really looking for.

GS: Finally, is there anything else you'd like to add about Twilight of the Arnor?

BW: One of the areas in which we're really looking to expand gameplay is through the use of tools. The expansion pack will come with its own separate map editors, scenario editors, and campaign editors to encourage players to create their own content to share with others.

Our hope is that if we provide an open enough framework, the player community will be able to keep expanding the universe of Galactic Civilizations II for years to come.