Dark Avatar

The Expansion Pack for Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords

Release Date: Now Available!

Not quite a sequel...but far more than your ordinary expansion pack...

Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar is the expansion pack for Stardock's award-winning hit strategy game, Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords. This expansion pack not only adds the usual content that expansion packs tend to do such as new opponents, new units and a new campaign. It also greatly expands the game play of Galactic Civilizations II.

Stardock's goal with Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar is to vastly expand the game play. It doesn't want players to have to wait until some future sequel to get these cool new features.

Galactic Civilizations II is one of the highest rated PC games of 2006 and also one of the best selling. In Galactic Civilizations, player take on the role of leader of an interstellar civilization. It takes place in the 23rd century and humans (based on Earth) are one of the 12 included civilizations players can take command of (or they can design their own custom civilization).

Military might, diplomatic maneuvering, technological achievement and economic power all are key elements in succeeding in the game.  The expansion pack includes a new story-driven campaign that starts off where Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords left off. It also adds a host of new game elements that will significantly alter the way the game is played and vastly increase re-playability.

...Our Story so far...

We won't spoil what happened in Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords. But suffice to say that it is a dark time for the galaxy.  The evil Drengin Empire reigns supreme across the galaxy. But there is an internal disagreement over what to do with the vanquished -- enslave them or eliminate them. The most powerful Drengin clan, the Korath, demand total extermination of all non-Drengin.  The player takes on the role of the Dark Avatar, leader of the Drengin military to thwart the genocidal plans of the Korath in order to make the galaxy safe for oppression...

The ruins of the galaxy also have made it vulnerable for a radical religious movement known as The Krynn who have begun striking across the galaxy to convert the fallen to their righteous philosophy.  The Krynn have an advantage as well -- planets considered uninhabitable can now be colonized via new environment technologies that the Krynn have but others lack (but now know exist). And the Iconians have discovered a way to mine the resources from asteroids and transfer the resources through sub-space to any planet they choose creating a new wrinkle.

The war may be over...but the conquest has only begun...

The Features

The goal of the expansion pack is to take the game to the next level. To extend its longevity by adding many new game elements that Stardock hopes will transform the strategies employed by players.  The features include:

• Custom Civilization Opponents. Players can now design their own opponents within the game and then play against them. This includes both what the opponent looks like but also how it plays.

• Espionage Agents.  Many of the reviews of Galactic Civilizations II have made mention of how the game allows players to win through many different strategic paths.  Espionage agents give players the ability to win through covert operations. Spend money on espionage to hire agents who can sabotage production, research, morale, farming, etc. on enemy worlds. Or use them to snuff out enemy agents on your worlds.

• Special Worlds.  In Galactic Civilizations II, all worlds could be colonized by all players.  That will change. In Dark Avatar, each world will be of a certain environment and only civilizations that know how to build colonies on the proper environment can colonize until they research the proper technology.

• Asteroid Fields.  Near worlds are asteroid fields which can be exploited by nearby worlds by players. Players will have a variety of asteroid bases they can construct. No longer are planets and galactic resources the only types of "space terrain".

• Diplomatic Treaties. Players will be able to establish research and economic treaties with alien civilizations. In this way, they have other sources of money and research and have more tools to influence diplomatic relations.

• New Computer AI options.  The advanced artificial intelligence in Galactic Civilizations II has been one of the most appreciated features of the game.   For the expansion pack, players will be given new options on just how the computer player will play (what algorithms it will make use of, whether it will "cheat" or not, how much CPU to give it) in order for players to get the best experience possible.

• Two new races. Two new civilizations will be joining the mix.

• New Ship parts. The popular ship design feature will get a lot of new content to design all kinds of new ships.

• The new campaign.  A new mini-campaign will also be included to continue the story where things left off at the end of Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords.

• MEGA Events. Users can optionally enable mega-events. These events can dramatically alter the course of the game. They're not completely random, intelligent algorithms analyze the galaxy and intentionally upset the balance of the galaxy -- civil wars, plagues, rising dread lords, new game rules, etc.

• Super-Abilities. Each civilization now gains its own unique super-ability that is immensely powerful. The super-isolationist can keep ships from traveling more than a certain speed in their sphere of influence, the super-manipulator can more easily get civilizations to go to war with each other via diplomacy, the super-warrior gets extra ships, and so on.  Each civilization will feel more unique and have very powerful advantages.

• New stream-lined technology tree. The Galactic Civilizations II technology tree gets a make-over to make it more stream-lined and interesting.

• Visual Make-Over. Hundreds of little tweaks and touches to how the game looks to make it visually more interesting and more engrossing.

• Templates. Players can design ships and save them as templates so that in the future, they can start off with a basic design.

• User-assignable default AI ships. Players can not only design their opponents but assign what their ships will look like. Design your own set of sci-fi/fantasy ships and then assign those ships to be used by a civilization of your own design.

• And more...Stardock has a lot of other features in the pipeline that will be announced as it gets closer to release...

The Story

For those who play the optional campaign mode of Galactic Civilizations II, it's a dark time for the galaxy. Sometimes, evil wins. Dark Avatar is the story of the Warlord of one of the clans that make up the Drengin Empire.  The Drengin Empire dominates the galaxy.  The Terran Alliance is on the brink of collapse, the Arcean home world is occupied by Drengin shock troops.  But within the Drengin Empire there is conflict, the most powerful clan of the Drengin Empire is known as The Korath.  The Drengin Empire merely wants to conquer and enslave the galaxy. The Korath, however, want all non-Drengin exterminated completely. Moreover, something dark is happening to the Korath. The families of the Korath are starting to look..different from other Drengin.

Your mission is to find out what is happening with the Korath and save the galaxy from utter extermination.  Slavelings yes. Genocide no. What good is being the greatest power in the galaxy if there are no slaves to cower in terror? 

General Info

Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar

Developer: Stardock Entertainment

Publisher: Stardock Entertainment via TotalGaming.net (www.totalgaming.net)

Requires: Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords to be already installed.

List price: $29.95

Release Date: Now Available (Digital Distribution Only. Users can elect to have a CD package sent to them when they purchase).

Website: www.galciv2.com

Screenshots

Join the adventure...

Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar Requires: Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, or Vista Also Requires: Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords (don't have GalCiv II? Get it here)

$29.95 [Digital Download Only]

$29.95 + S/H [Download + CD]