Look at Distant Worlds Shadows (king of living and breathing galaxy) and Sword Of The Stars 2 ie Randoms and Grands Menaces what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and more fun. I like pain. Strike me where I'm weakest I dare you... 

Distant Worlds does come the closest to creating the illusion of a "living and breathing" galaxy, largely due to the "private sector"  I love to watch the merchanters going around building space stations and mining outposts.  Even though GalCiv III is going to be TBS, I hope they find a way to make the civies as active as in DW.

I also would like to see the character system from DW find its way into GCIII.  DW's characters were very close to CK2.

 

Jarac:

Having tensions with conquered colonies (especially with those of a different race) would be a good one. Also, random events like coups and revolts (not like the current Jagged Knife, I-League, etc., but smaller, colonial revolts) would be cool. It would definitely make you think about the people in your empire more (this should happen in the A.I.'s empires too, of course). 

 

That is exactly the type of things I was thinking about!

When a star exhales, watch out ...

agreed!!!

distant worlds won!

Distant Worlds - Shadows is pretty good.  The graphics are not as cool as GalCiv2 but the game has a lot of depth and many things going on.  Having said that, be prepared to drop a load of cash.   Shadows is the latest version you have to buy the original and the previous expansions at regular prices to get there.

I absolutely agree with the OP. Random events, and lots of them, would help to give individual games more personality. I could do without the GalCiv2 style "mega events" however, which frequently threw things out of balance so much as to be really frustrating.

I also agree with the idea of having tensions with conquered planets. It would be cool if the game kept track of the racial composition of each planet, similar to Master of Orion 2. So if the Drengin conquer a Torian planet, the surviving population should initially be 100% Torian, but the longer the planet stays in Drengin hands the more Drengi begin to live there. If this was done, they could implement a further cool feature: during wartime, the AI could prioritize recapturing worlds where many of its own people are still living.

Agreed on Distant Worlds. Lot of good elements to incorporate. 

Glad to see I am not alone on this. 

GalCiv 2 had the genesis of a good idea: remember the planetary screen?  On it, there was always a quote from a random citizen reflecting their opinion on the planet and the player's leadership.  I would like to see this expanded so you get a lot of feedback from the citizenry.  Perhaps we could borrow another idea from GalCiv 2: the robot TV show that would report on a new tech breakthrough.  I would like to see that used for all sorts of events and headline news affecting the galaxy.

I am all for adding more more depth to the game. However when it comes to games like Distant Worlds I felt like it was completely overboard on the micromanagement to the point that you had to setup so much "automated" stuff it felt like the game was playing it self. So if you liked sitting back and watching a galaxy sim then it could be fun.

I however prefer a strategy game, like chess, where I am in control of the pieces and not hoping they choose to do what is best for your empire. The sad truth is that AI sucks and it often fails to do what you want or need. Games that often allow such detail often forget that those in charge can set down very specific rules of dos and donts that those under them follow. Where as such detail in how things get automated are rarely left often to the player. It's usually just a check list of which governor/automation type you want.

Given the previous GC games I doubt they will do anything like DW when it comes to private sector running around doing things all on their own. I can see more event types, perhaps more planet differences, new space objects, and etc.

For those peaked an interest in Distant Worlds be prepared to drop a lot of cash. I hear the game improved with the expansions, of which there are 3, but they are still asking full price on a 3 year old game and full price on all the expansions which are nearly as much as the full game. It's well over $100 for lastest version and no demo.

Sigh.  Why does every game have to be a role playing game?  Isn't there anyone else who just wants a competitive turn based strategy game?  I hate feeling so alone in this world.

I like this idea. Also depending on what race, you could have means to speed up the process of "converting" conquered planets to being of your race. Whether that be assimilation, faster breeding, or just plain genocide. 

One of the great things about DW is it's customization.  You can set it up so that you control every aspect of everything, which is really impossible, all the way to complete automation, and every degree in between.  I automate quite a bit, but have my advisers tell me about the situation and make suggestions, and let me make a decision before they do anything.

There was? LOL, well I'm a dictator so I don't listen for my punny little slaves . Unless of course they try something, in which case it's good to have army near by