OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances

[dmm]

Thanks to everyone who rendered an opinion. Thought I'd give you all an update. Downloaded the demo against my better judgment at son's pleading. We've played it a few times; it is pretty fun and never once crashed our system. It definitely doesn't have SEIV's depth or modability, but there is a lot to like. Besides of course the eye-candy and ear-candy that many of you mentioned, there are a number of good "strategy" features. I like the way intel is done, using individual spies and costing money. I like the way research facilities are divided up into ship, tank, and building research. I like the way manufacturing is separated into ship and tank factories. I like its planetary guns, which can hit capital ships anywhere in the combat sector but can't hit fighters at all. (Of course that Last one can be modded into SEIV.) I like the lack of warp points -- you have to guard an entire border, not just a few chokepoints. (You can sort-of mod that into SEIV by having many warp points per sector.) And I like that it has real ground combat, with terrain and fortresses and everything.

Bottom line: We found a site selling it for 7 US$ (plus 5 US$ S&H ). So we bought it. I'll let you know what I think of the full game in a few months. But of course by then SEIVG will be out and you won't care!

[Xandu]

I think I beat you all at a young, but mature, 14.

So ha

[Fyron]

The thing is, IG2 was fun the first time played. Just wait till you play it a few more times. It's repetitiveness will bleed through the eye/earcandy and the few nice features. It had the potential to be a great game, but it failed. The spies were a good idea, but there is really only one viable strategy when using them. And the AI glaringly cheats, especially at higher dificulty levels. They field massive fleets of fighters and large numbers of ships really early in the game, long before you can make a comparable force.