Check it out! Seriously!
GalCiv2 Forums
Back by popular demand, Tom Francis of PC Gamer UK has begun writing a new epic diary of a Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor game.
The first one, released last year, was insanely good. This is an absolute must-read.
Check it out here:
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=195920&site=pcg
This guy's previous GalCiv2 journal was so good, I bought the game even though I had already given up on the demo months earlier. Can't wait to read more.
Yeah, Tom's AAR's are timeless. Makes me want to play the game, and I helped make the thing 
Can't wait to see how his cultural overthow of the Korath goes 
Cool stuff, certainly somethin' to follow up if only to witness how in heck the peacefulls will be able to survive long enough against who knows else yet 
!!
I remember the last one. If this is only half as good, it still is a must-read!
It's pleasant reading. Reccomanded.
Can anyone post the link to the older story?
Thanks
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=161570&site=pcg&skip=yes
There you go.
This was printed into a small booklet and bundled freely with my edition PC Gamer UK October 2008. It was a great read (even if it was riddled with typos :P). Note that this may be subscriber only... not sure though.
Nope, it also comes with the magazines in stores. I bought this edition last week, I had just purchased Sins of a Solar Empire, but after reading this diary it made me purchase GalCiv2 and the two expansions as well. Good reading, recommended!
Heh - just bought Gal Civ after reading the booklet too - it sounds so much fun
Great read. I too purchased the mag to get the booklet
Laughed my butt off when i reached the end and the game crashed for him on the final turn. Hope he had a save game handy!
He makes a good point about the spy system being a menace that i think we can all agree with (hopefully changing in 2.0) and just how annoying it is that you cant flip minors.
I wish I'd never started reading. GC2 swallowed absurd amounts of my time, and while I purchased DA and TA I never really played either one. Unfortunately I still hit the GC2 site on a regular basis. I noticed this story and remembered his previous one, so I made the mistake of clicking the link.
Then I fired up TA late last week.
I forgot to feed myself several times this weekend. 
Tom, you magnificent bastard, I read your BLOG!
(great, great fun read)
One of my fave lines from his original DL diary: "I ammended the terms of the deal to them giving me four and a half trillion credits, their entire military fleet and their homeworld, in exchange for shutting the hell up."
I LOL'ed at that one.
Tom Francis claims he put a spy on a Minor Race planet (Akilians). I don't think that's possible ("Let's not waste agents on Minor Races" or something like that).
Also, he claims that the Korath declared war on Akilians although they didn't have any contact with them. I also think that's impossible (the usual reply I've seen is: "We have no contact with Akilians" or something like that)
I love the way he points at hillarious, illogical, inconsistent, strange and absurd issues in galciv2.
Example? There you go:
"I just hope they know good TV when they see it."
"In a few weeks, the number came back: one thousand million billion. Er..."
"you can keep adding deal-sweeteners until their response text turns green, indicating they'll go for it."
"The Korath had blasted a few Akilian vessels, but I was becoming pessimistic about their willingness to actually invade Akilia"
"Day 6:Skeleton Crew [...] Thus, my two Constructor Ships became two Colony ships,"
Look at the screenshots...Terror stars appear to be plan B....
Is it me or do the maps appear to stem from different games?
Man this guy is great. I bought this game just because he gave it such a great personality.
I appear to have a cultural starbase broadcasting nearby - I was going to have the damn thing destroyed, but the show is so fricking funny my fleet disregarded my orders.
Which is, I suppose, the point.
{G} - Jonnan
Tom Francis claims he put a spy on a Minor Race planet (Akilians). I don't think that's possible ("Let's not waste agents on Minor Races" or something like that).
I've had that message since, but for some reason when I first did this it let me place the Spy. As I say in the diary, the data I got back from it made no sense. I started this game a long time ago, so maybe it was patched out after. Or maybe it was just a glitch. It was before they patched out the ability to browse worlds you'd never found when choosing where to place a spy,
Also, he claims that the Korath declared war on Akilians although they didn't have any contact with them. I also think that's impossible (the usual reply I've seen is: "We have no contact with Akilians" or something like that)
When I say I'm waiting for them to find the Akilians, I mean their actual world: the Korath wandered about seemingly blindly without getting near it, so I assume they didn't know where it was.
Is it me or do the maps appear to stem from different games?
hmm? It's working fine for me in FF3.
A magnificent write up. Has personality, suspence and humor. A great showcase for TA
Stardock better be really thankful to this guy. I know it made me buy the game and he must be giving you guys a huge sales boost.
i use ff3 as well and its not working. Not even if i try to go to their main site.
That diary is better marketing than any amount of ad will ever achieve Sure makes me wanna see what the fuss is all about
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