No Game Left Behind: Stardock Brings Update to GalCiv II!

v2.20 improves AI, Balance, and Gameplay

Published on December 17, 2015 By Island Dog In GalCiv II News

The crew here at Stardock cares a lot about our community and the games that we produce for you.

That's why we're pleased to announce that version 2.20 for Galactic Civilizations II
is available for you today!

Even when a title is "finished" and put out to market, there are always little things we find that could use a tweak or a change here and there. We also know what it's like to enjoy an old game so much that you keep going back to it, even when there are newer and "better" versions of it out there.

With help of some awesome community members, the Dev Team has taken all of the suggestions and implemented them into this update. You can find he entire change log (spoiler alert: it's long!) at the bottom of this post.

A few words from our CEO and President, Brad Wardell:

"It was awesome being able to work with the fans to integrate years of their own mods and tweaks into the base game. They also gave me a long list of areas where they thought I could improve the AI, which I used to dig into the now 10 year old AI source code base to implement."

We hope you enjoy the update. We have an awesome community here at Stardock and are so very happy that you're a part of it. Have a great holiday season!

Special Thanks

To Antonio "Mabus" Invernizzi, Gaunathor, SilasOfBorg, Kamil "OShee" Bober, DARCA1213, Sam "MarvinKosh" Edwards. Steffem "Maiden666" Jenter, MarvinKosh, Leiavoia, Frogboy and everyone else who helped out!

Version 2.20 Change Log

[ Gameplay ]

General

The Capital now increases Morale to 35 (up from 25) and Economy to 25 (up from 10)
Advanced Hulls is now unlocked from Basic Logistics
Life Support is now unlocked from Advanced Hulls
Several techs moved to improve AI use
Mind Control Center moved to Concept of Malice
Shrine of the Mithrillar now gives a 10% population growth bonus civ-wide
Shrine of Tandis now gives a 10% morale bonus civ-wide
Information Warfare tech now requires Advanced Diplomacy (instead of Planetary Invasion)
Temporal Mechanics cost increased from 10 to 30
Hyperion Packages cost increased from 10 to 30
Entertainment Center now requires Innovative History
Slave Pits, Slave Labs, Collectives and Maintenance Grid have had their costs adjusted
Research Matrix bonus decreased from 12 to 10
School maintenance increased from 1 to 2
University maintenance increased from 2 to 3
Space Weapons no longer grants a Military bonus
Economic Direction Unit bonus reduced from 50 to 25
Ultra Spices now requires Extreme Entertainment instead of Xeno Cultural Trends
Merchant Trade Complexes cost increased from 800 to 1100
Buffed Tier 1/2 starbase attack modules and battlestations 4; removed Singularity Armor
Neutrality Learning Center cost increased from 500 to 1000
Cultural Enlightenment no longer has a pre-req; moved to Pure Research
Healing Pools now requires Planetary Improvements; cost decreased from 300 to 100
Nano Materials now requires Basic Space Construction
Advanced Philosophy now requires University
Enhanced Adaptation cost increased to 150/450/600
Robust Hull Construction now provides 15 HP (up from 10)
Precursor Library cost decreased from 400 to 100
Miniaturization techs bonuses updated to be better
Empathic Tactical Center now grants a defense bonus of 25% instead of an attack bonus of 20%
Various weapons rebalancing
Plus much much more adjustments. See the Progressive Changelog for more.

Terran Alliance

Changed default alignment from 50 to 75
Now start as Mercantile political party
Starts with +10 Economics, -10 Social Production, +25 Trade and 12 Logistics (up from 6)
Starting techs changed to: HyperDrive, Industrial Revolution, Fusion Reactors, Traditional Research, Innovative History, Capitalism and Basic Space Construction
Terrains gain a 10% bonus to propulsion and diplomacy research

Drengin Empire

Now starts game as War Party political party
Starts with: +10 Military Production, -30 Diplomacy (increased from -25), 20 Loyalty (up from 0) and 14 Logistics (up from 7)
Starting techs changed to: Fusion Reactors, Ruthless History, HyperDrive, Stellar Cartography, Specialized Research, Capitalism and Traditional Slavery.
Propaganda Machine is now a special project
New invasion tactic added (version of Information Warfare)
Drengin suffer a 50% penalty to trade techs; and a 100% penalty to diplomatic techs

Altarian Resistance

Now starts game as Pacifists political party
Starts with: +10 Luck (up from 0), 10 Logistics (up from 5)
Starting techs changed to: HyperDrive, Industrial Revolution, Fusion Reactors, Traditional Research, A History of Benevolence, Stellar Cartography, Capitalism and Basic Space Construction.
Social Matrix is now a special project
Altarians gain a 20% bonus in Labs research

Arcean Empire

Now starts game as War Party political party
Starts with: +10 Economics, +10 Morale, +20 Military Production, +30 Ship HP (up from +20), +20 Soldiering (up from +10), +25 Courage, +20 Loyalty and 20 Logistics (up from 8).
Starting techs changed to: Glorious History, Fusion Reactors, HyperDrive, Industrial Revolution, Stellar Cartography, Traditional Research, Capitalism and Basic Space Construction.
Stellar Forge and Cathedral of Valor are now special projects
Arceans now gain a 20% bonus to Hull and Logistics research
Arceans now gain:

15 HP from Superior Hulls (up from 10)
20 HP from Master Hull Building (up from 15)
15 HP from Reinforced Hull Design (up from 10)
15 HP from Hardened Hull Design (up from 10)

Torian Confederation

Now starts as the Populists political party
Starts with: +30 Loyalty, 16 Logistics (up from 8)
Starting techs changed to: Torian History, Fusion Reactors, HyperDrive, Stellar Cartography, Inherited Technology, Capitalism and Basic Space Construction.
Can now research Advanced Aquatic World Colonization cheaper
Aquatic Transport Station is now a special project
Torians now suffer a 20% penalty to Hull research
Changed Advanced Computing requirement to University (from Scientific Method Implementation)
Changed Planetary Improvements and Enhanced Adaptation to require Basic Space Construction
Added Basic Space Construction with cost 75
Xeno Communications now requires Cultural Enlightenment

Yor Collective

Now starts game as the Industrialist political party
Starts with: -30 to Diplomacy and 12 Logistics (up from 6)
Maintenance Grid and Distributed Energy Matrix are now special projects
New invasion tactic: Terror Drones (Cost 250, 20% bonus to attack, 25% improvement damage)
Yor now can a 20% advantage in Labs research

Dominion of Korx

Now starts as the Mercantile political party
Starts with: +15 Economics, +10 Diplomacy and 12 Logistics (up from 6)
Starting techs changed to: A History of Mercantilism, HyperDrive, Stellar Cartography, Industrial Revolution, Fusion Reactors, Traditional Research, Capitalism and Basic Space Construction.
Festival of Capitalism, Mercenary Academy and Freighter Command are now special projects
Korx gain a 20% bonus to economic research

Drath Legion

Changed default alignment from 75 to 50
Now starts as the Populists political party
Starts with: +25 Espionage (up from 0) and 16 Logistics (up from 8)
Starting techs changed to: Way of the Drath, Industrial Revolution, Basic Space Construction, HyperDrive, Fusion Reactors, Traditional Research, Stellar Cartography and Capitalism.
Drath gain a 20% bonus to diplomatic research

Thalan Empire

Now starts as the Technologists political party
Starts with: -50 Population Growth (increased from -30), +40 Loyalty and 12 Logistics (up from 6)
Starting techs changed to: Fusion Reactors, HyperDrive, Stellar Cartography, New Propulsion, Artificial Gravity, Xeno Biology, Xeno Medicine, Xeno Engineering, Hyperion Packages, Temporal Mechanics and Interstellar Construction.
Gaia Vortex and Church of Valor are now special projects
New invasion tactic: Mechanized Warriors (Cost 250, 50%/90% min/max bonus to attack, 100% improvement damage)
Thalan suffer a 50% penalty to trade and diplomatic research

Iconian Refuge

Now starts as the Federalists political party
Starts with: +10 Morale (decreased from 20), +20 Research, 0 Espionage (decreased from 100), -5 Soldiering (decreased from 0) and 16 Logistics (up from 10)
Precursor Library is now a special project
Expert Engineering is now unlocked after Advanced Hulls
Soil Enhancement, Xeno Biology and Space Mining moved to the Enhanced Adaptation tree
Iconians gain a 20% bonus to terraforming research

Korath Clan

Now starts game as War Party political party
Starts with: -30 Diplomacy (decreased from 0), +10 HP (decreased from 20), +30 Soldiering (increased from 10) and 14 Logistics (increased from 7)
Starting techs changed to: Fusion Reactors, Ruthless History, HyperDrive, Stellar Cartography, Specialized Research, Traditional Slavery and Black Market.
Graft of Ages is now a special project
New invasion tactic added (version of Information Warfare)
Korath suffer a 50% penalty to trade techs and a 200% penalty to diplomacy research

Krynn Consulate

Now starts as the Universalists political party
Starts with: -15 Research (decreased from 0) and 12 Logistics (increased from 6)
Starting techs changed to: HyperDrive, Industrial Revolution, Basic Space Construction, Fusion Reactors, Traditional Research, The Path, Stellar Cartography, and Capitalism.
Super Spy Training Center, Temple of Espionage, and Oracle of Krynn are now special projects.
Krynn suffer a 20% penalty to labs research but gain a 20% bonus to government research

Minor Races

Changes to various minor races that play more into their background lore. Watch out for the Snathi!

[ Graphics ]

Updated race colors for Iconian Refuge and Krynn Consulate
Improved Rally Point indicator
Various UI tweaks

[ AI ]

Each race's AI has been tuned to better match their background lore and relative strengths
All AI opponents will now use the maximum amount of CPU possible

Comments (Page 13)

181

sgiles

on Jun 04, 2016

Wow, you mean to tell me that you patched the game but didn't fix the "Out Of Memory" problem? The only memory problem is that you are not properly managing memory or you have a memory leak. It's not a real memory problem. How do I know this? Because I can play a gigantic map for hours, saving after every turn until I get the "Out Of Memory" hang. I then have to restart the game, reload my saved game, and I can play for hours more before I once again get "Out Of Memory". If it was a true memory issue then I wouldn't be able to continue after reloading a save. This indicates that the game progressively is allocating an increasing amount of memory as the game progresses, possibly allocating space to perform a save and then not releasing the memory afterwards.

Since installing the new patch I can no longer use alt-tab. Whenever I alt-tab out and back the game graphics become more of a "text" display and is totally unplayable unless the game is terminated and restarted. Because of the screwed text nature of the graphics the game can only be terminated through Task Manager.

I congratulate you on patching an old game, but have to give you an EPIC fail for not addressing a key game flaw (memory issue) and for introducing a new game breaking bug (alt-tab). I will not be using this patch.

182

DMF

on Jun 09, 2016

I have to disagree with you, loudly.

First, have you ever had to find a fix a memory leak? Thought not. A company could spend the profits from the next game paying for the effort, especially if the developers are unfamiliar with the code. Second, is it NOT a major bug. One sees it occasionally after playing a very dense games for a long time. And it is recoverable.

The graphics bug is *not* new. It has been around as long as there has been a Windows version, AFAICT. One typically encounters it if the screen saver kicks in while in GCII full-screen mode. alt-tab usually still works if you do it before playing any turns in the session. It is possible to continue from the "text graphics" mode: ctrl-esc to the desktop, then focus back to the game. The screen will be black. If recovery is possible, the display will restore after a rather lengthy wait (maybe a couple minutes). Immediately save and restart, as the next "glitch" will probably be fatal. This bug has some aspects of a memory leak, too, as the longer you play the less likely is the possibility of recovery. Also, it may not be an in-game bug but one in the old graphics system support that the game uses.

Enjoy GCII.

183

Maiden666

on Jun 11, 2016

I can use alt-tab without prompting any bugs on both 2.20, 2.042 in fullscreen mode & also windowed mode. If you're having trouble exceeding the 2GB RAM limitation triggering an OOM-error - simply tune down your graphical options. Large galaxies are played zoomed out thus you don't need lots of planetary surface details anyway.

184

DMF

on Jun 15, 2016

What do you do, just turn down the overall Video Quality a notch?

185

Maiden666

on Jun 19, 2016

I just accomodate it to what I think is necessary to keep the game being playable. For a normal warfighting game on medium or large map I can keep them at max because there won't be more than 1000 ships floating in space, but if I play a gigantic all abundant scoremongering game I don't need fancy graphics, so I set them to lowest in all instances and with that, you'll never encounter any OOM errors. Therefore I don't understand the fuss about it^^

186

MabusAltarn

on Jun 22, 2016

Maiden666

reply 185

Therefore I don't understand the fuss about it^^

This. Porting this game to a 64bits architecture is an insane operation.

Try making a few Prefs.ini files for low and high detail and mix them up when you want to play on an immense map or small map.

187

Niall_Shapero

on Aug 05, 2016

Gentlemen: I happened to stumble across this announcement, and I went to MyAccounts on Stardock (had to dig to find the old password). And: no download of the new update (I can reload 2.04, but not the update). Come on, folks, it's AUGUST 2016. Do I have to buy a new copy of the game to get updates through Steam?

188

bargio74

on Oct 18, 2016

Hello everyone!
                      I have questions about the upgrade to the latest version 2.20 of GC II Ultimate Edition, namely:

1) after the upgrade, it is right that the three expansions have the following versions:
     - Dark Avatar ver. 1.82
     - Twilight of the Arnor ver. 1.97
     - Dread Loards ver. 1:52

2) it is correct that it can scegliare, after the start of the game, which expansion play?

3) what is the correct order of play between the three expansions?

Thanks for your help!!!

189

admiralWillyWilber

on Oct 18, 2016

Dtead lords dark avatar twilight of the arnor which is 2.2. The order isonly important for campaign purposes otherwise play twilight only.

190

Maiden666

on Oct 22, 2016

The latest versions are:

Dread Lords 1.53

Dark Avatar 2.02

Twilight 2.20

191

Niall_Shapero

on Dec 13, 2016

And just how do I get the GAL CIV II update, without REBUYING the game on Steam? I paid for it once, I should like to update it, but I see no way to directly download the update here....

192

Maiden666

on Dec 14, 2016

You need to register your product at Stardock and then should find the latest version in the "My Downloads"-section.

193

Niall_Shapero

on Dec 14, 2016

The latest version I can download is the 2.01 revision of TWILIGHT OF ARNOR (the earlier game components have a 1.53 revision number). This is NOT the 2.2 revision update. If I were on STEAM with this game, it might automatically update, but I do NOT want to have to buy the game a second time on STEAM just to get the update.

IN OTHER WORDS, WHY CAN'T I GET THE UPDATE TO THE GAME DIRECTLY FROM STARDOCK?

194

Niall_Shapero

on Dec 14, 2016

Maiden666

reply 192

You need to register your product at Stardock and then should find the latest version in the "My Downloads"-section.

As I said, this is not correct - I can only download the version that I bought (which is well before this latest 2.20 update.

195

Maiden666

on Dec 14, 2016

Contact Customer support, I'm sure they can help you out. If I remember correctly other folks had the same problem, it seems like the CU update has been incorporated into the Ultimate Edition but not the TotA-standalone - at least, not at Stardock.com.

In the meanwhile you could simply apply the latest CU release and play it as a MOD - for sandbox-mode there won't be any difference (just don't touch Campaigns or Scenarios)

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