So here are the things I like about GalCiv
- Stardock tends to support their games a really long time and are always trying to refine their product
- If Stardock has that rare-miss, they tend to go the extra mile to fix that miss (case in point Enchantress)
- The AI in this game will surrender in the face of certain defeat, sparing you from having to chase down that random start to wipe them out (in my latest game, two of the AI's surrendered to me)
- Game is very performant inbetween turns (Civ5 and Civ Beyond Earth can drag sometimes between turns)
- Lots of options to tweak your game
What I don't like about GalCiv 3
- You can't order ships to retreat in combat. Once engaged, they're engaged to the death. The playing out of the battle seems superfulous
- You can't demand AI to remove their ships/starbases from your ZoC, yet they throw a fit if you do the same to them
- The peacekeeprs
- It doesn't full honor your game settings (I had set for no pirates, yet I saw a pirate base. I set for no minors, yet a minor race appeared)
- Culture victories are far too easy to achieve
On balance, I'd easily recommend buying, *especially* with it on discount