One aspect of GalCiv II that was just awful, once again, all because of Civilization IV stole a lot of thunder, was the tech tree. Stardock acknowledged this to Joystiq:

"One very legitimate criticism of the original Galactic Civilizations II was that the technology tree was pretty uninspired. Technologies like 'Laser I, Laser II, Laser III' cluttered up the technology tree.

The 'tech tree' in GalCiv II is more like a 'tech forest.' That is, many technology paths are totally unrelated to each other. In most strategy games, the tech tree is a pretty straight forward path up. In GalCiv II, players can build super-dreadnoughts without ever having even researched advanced factory production or advanced forms of government. This means which technologies gamers research really, really matters. Players are not expected to (and shouldn't) research all the technologies.

Because the original GalCiv II tech tree was so cluttered, it wasn't apparent just how rich the tech tree really is. In Dark Avatar, we have segmented duplicate technology stages together. Instead of 'Laser I, Laser II, Laser III' and so on there is a technology group called 'Laser' which has several segments. This cleans up the technology tree immensely."




You can see the difference in the tech tree above. The first image shows "Lasers I - V" fully spread out, the new tech tree has them compact.

Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar also adds a mass of other features making the game larger and more complex than it already is, from the press release:

• Custom Civilization Opponents. Players can now design their own opponents within the game and then play against them. This includes not only the opponent's looks, but also how it plays.
• Espionage Agents. Many of the reviews of Galactic Civilizations II have made mention of how the game allows players to win through many different strategic paths. Espionage agents give players the ability to win through covert operations. Spend money on espionage to hire agents who can sabotage production, research, morale, farming, etc. on enemy worlds. Or use them to snuff out enemy agents on your worlds.
• Special Worlds. In Galactic Civilizations II, all worlds could be colonized by all players. In Dark Avatar, each world is of a certain environment and only civilizations that have researched the appropriate technology will be able build colonies on those planets.
• Asteroid Fields. Near worlds are asteroid fields, which can be exploited by nearby players. Players will have a variety of asteroid bases they can construct. No longer are planets and galactic resources the only types of "space terrain."
• Diplomatic Treaties. Players will be able to establish research and economic treaties with alien civilizations. In this way, they have other sources of money and research and have more tools to influence diplomatic relations.
• New Computer AI Options. The advanced artificial intelligence in Galactic Civilizations II has been one of the most appreciated features of the game. For the expansion pack, players will be given new options on just how the computer player will play (what algorithms it will make use of, whether it will "cheat" or not, how much CPU to give it) in order for gamers to get the best experience possible.
• Two New Races. Two new civilizations will be joining the mix.
• New Ship Parts. The popular ship design feature will get a lot of new content to design all kinds of new ships.
• The New Campaign. A new mini-campaign will also be included to continue the story where things left off at the end of Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords.
• MEGA Events. Users can optionally enable mega-events. These events can dramatically alter the course of the game. They're not completely random, intelligent algorithms analyze the galaxy and intentionally upset the balance of it. These include civil wars, plagues, rising Dread Lords, new game rules, etc.
• Super-Abilities. Each civilization now gains its own unique super-ability that is immensely powerful. The super-isolationist can keep ships from traveling more than a certain speed in their sphere of influence; the super-manipulator can more easily get civilizations to go to war with each other via diplomacy; the super-warrior gets extra ships, and so on. Each civilization will feel more unique and have very powerful advantages.
• New Streamlined Technology Tree. The Galactic Civilizations II technology tree gets a makeover to make it more streamlined and interesting.
• Visual Makeover. Hundreds of little tweaks and touches to how the game looks make it visually more interesting and more engrossing.
• Templates. Players can design ships and save them as templates so that in the future, they can start off with a basic design.
• User-Assignable Default AI Ships. Players can not only design their opponents but assign what their ships will look like. Design your own set of sci-fi/fantasy ships and then assign those ships to be used by a civilization of your own design.

Despite not being the most refined strategy game out there, GalCiv II is the little game that could. We're looking forward to seeing what Dark Avatar brings to the table. The Stardock team always seems to be learning from their mistakes and improving on what is already a solid product. We can't wait until they announce Galactic Civilizations III. Hopefully, with all the GalCiv II money, plus a wealth of experience, GalCiv III will be polished with an intuitive user interface and become the break-out hit for the company and series.