Brad Wardel,(Frogboy/ Draginol) the creator of GCII, on the website
www.galciv2.com has hoped that Space Empires V and other games of the genre do well because it benefits us all. I agree.
The game is modeled after the Civilization games(Civilization IV in particular). This is partly the reason for its success. Galactic Civilizations II has many new concepts though. Not to mention the even more dangerous AI in the expansion.
While GCII and SEV are two seperate sorts of games in the same genre they're both good games. As well as Civilization IV. I play all three and hope to make time for some others too.
-Wade