Galactic Civilizations is a turn-based strategy game in the vein of games like
Civ and
Alpha Centauri. Taking place a hundred or so years in the future, you must lead the people of Earth on a conquest of the galaxy. Alliances will be formed, wars will be fought, rebellions will rise and be crushed, and your own government may even decide to kick you out for a while. But this is all in a day's work for the leader of a new civilization.
Don't think that you are being limited by being forced to play as Earth. You can customize your civilization by allocating skill points to traits like diplomacy, defense, espionage, etc. You must also choose the type of civilization you will lead, whether it will be a warlike juggernaut or a prosperous mercantile civilization. Next, you pick your alien neighbors that you'll be sharing the galaxy with, each possessing their own personalities and skills.
You'll start the game with a colony ship and a recon vessel. In order to expand your galactic influence, you must search out habitable star systems and then colonize them with some of your citizens. Each planet in your empire (or whatever form of government you choose) will either add to or take away from your overall progress. If a planet's population is unhappy and morale is low, it may either revolt or be persuaded to join an opposing race.
Researching and developing new technologies, and then employing them in your grand scheme is the only way to get ahead in Gal Civ. You start out with virtually nothing, you can't even communicate with any other race, and the courses of action your can take are vast. Managing your spending is just as crucial as research, as a poor civilization is sure to fall. Things can get a little complicated here, as there are so many numbers on about a dozen different screens that effect your budget that it will take some practice to figure how you are losing or even gaining money.
Your government is another influence on your plans, as you start out as an empire, but once new forms of politics are discovered, you can switch. Depending on what regime you are ruling under, there will be elections from time to time. If you are in good standing with the senate and your people, you will stay in power. However, it is possible to become disliked enough to be voted out of office. This doesn't spell game over, but you will be at a serious disadvantage.
An online 'Metaverse' is open for Multiplayer games, and a tight knit community awaits your exploration. A well organized website reveals players' standings, and you can form alliances and declare war on people in this environment. For a game like Gal Civ, this type of community organization is crucial, and they did it well.
