How Long Does It Take to Get Used to Galactic Civilization Series?

Subjective question has subjective answer...

This highly depends on what other games you play are.

If you like Civilization, particularly older versions like 3 or 4...      One or two games?

if you've never really played a lot of turn based 4x games...      much longer.

There's a learning curve to be sure.  Stardock has continually tried to make the on-ramping process easier throughout the series, but at the end of the day it's simply a complicated game.

At heart it's a tinkerer's game.  Lots of fiddling around with stuff, trying things different ways - succeeding some of the time and failing some of the time. 

It's a great game and I've always felt like I learned something new, or exploited a unique situation in an intuitive way, pretty much every game I play.  Much of the design is very much to present different situational challenges every game without a straightforward solution (much like running an empire would be), which can be confused as not understanding the game well enough.

Hope this helps & welcome!!

-tid242

GalCiv 3 is not the best game in the series. I would recommend starting with GalCiv 2, if thats an option.

IMO two is a tougher sell the younger generation. I’m 32 but I game with mostly people in their 20s if it don’t look pretty they ain’t interested of course players interested X4 seem to care a little less about graphics and more about gameplay. However the art style in civilization 6 was so off putting I haven’t completed a game meanwhile I 2000 hours in Civ 5.

Also galactic civilizations 2 is a damn excellent game and why I brought 3 when it first released.

also play on lower difficulty and as you figure out what’s going on ramp it up even on normal these games AI will come at you hard if it sense weakness and they are warlike. 

I am absolutely baffled by this comment. I know 5 has its fans but I find it completely unappealing. To completely dismiss 6 because of its art direction is completely missing the point of the game and missing out on a game that is as fun as any I have ever played.

As has already been said this is a subjective questions with a subjective answer. And some games just aren't for some people. The best way to answer for yourself is to compare to any other turn based and 4X games you've played.

Meh. I've been trying for years to figure it out. I was here today, once again looking for more info when I saw your OP.

Not sure what the problem is, other than I seem to put the game away for too long (awaiting bug fix patches) and DLC changes what I thought I knew. Upgraded to 4.21 last night and I'm starting over, again, because it seems a couple DLC (Crusade and Retribution) are required to fix things that the 4.21 upgrade patch didn't. Was looking forward to the AI Trade Offer update, but they are still just as idiotic as they were in previous versions.

But, with GC IV in Beta, maybe GC III will remain consistent for a little longer now. I'm not convinced 4.21 is a worthwhile update yet, but I'll give it a couple more games.

I played all 3 and I'll liked GalCiv 3, but I'll echo Divine Wrath. GC2 is more straight forward.

Fingers crossed GalCiv4 will be even better.

Definitely a learning curve.  While GC2 is easier, keep in mind that was a pre-chick (fancy tooltip) game.

GC4 has tooltips and nested tooltips if you hold shift down/