What impressed you the most about this game...

I was impressed by the fact, that Brad had a vision of what he wants to achieve, and stayed by this vision. His ideas about gaming industry are innovative and very appealing to me.

To explain a bit, I am manager of minor software company (business apps.) and I am quite jealous about the approach the gaming companies can take towards their customers. If I would have the same approach as most of the designers, we are out of business. So I decided to support Brads approach - in belief that this approach will generate good game. I think I was correct in this assumption.

To be honest, I was hoping for very different game, but I found out that Galciv is very good as well, and provides fun.

BTW, I hope it is not impolite to use first names in English... My English is not the greatest...

The feel and the depth along with a strong AI, after that it was nice looking graphics and cutscenes. From reading the info I just got the impression that this game would have an epic feel to it.

Peter:

Your English is great! We use first names in casual or friendly situations. This is a good example of that, and Brad has made us all feel comfortable with his public presence. No need to worry on that point.

I agree that the development model is outstanding. I think we might be seeing more of this kind of development, one that strays from the multi-million dollar media games (some are good, some terrible) in place of a niche market that, dollar for dollar, earns a solidly made game more money even if its production values are lower.

As a hard-core strategy gamer, I certainly hope we'll see more skilled folks take Brad's approach!

AI.
Diplomacy- both foreign AND how you must deal with your own senate, people, etc...
Focus on strategy

Thanks, Yin for kind words. In Czech using the first name is very sensitive, but everybody here does it, so I did as well.
BTW, I hope Gal Civ will ROI very soon, and there will be a budget for next games. I have noticed they plan to make a game similar to MoM, and this is very promising.
The game I would like to get is reworked Imperium from EA, but tough luck... Not too soon. BTW, it was great "macro" game (not automated micro-game )
Anyway, I think we will see this approach - SE IV is good example. -Crosses fingers-

AI. The fact that I feel like I'm playing another person. Either one with failings (lower levels of AI) or one who impresses me (higher levels) with a strategy that slowly unveils itself... "Oh, *that's* what they were up to all this time... crap."

It's like playing with a couple of friends who are always available whenever you want to play and don't mind starting over if your opening position stinks.

~SDC~

Oh, and the fact that Brad's making the game. I'm so glad that he's hung in there all this time from the original GalCiv, Entrepreneur, Business Tycoon, The Corporate Machine, and then the new GalCiv. At each step, he's set the high water mark for quality of the current crop of games. Sure I play other games and frequently hop from game to game (short attention span and such), but I never have to give a second thought about picking up the latest StarDock game and that's an increasingly rare thing these days.

~SDC~

The AI as demonstrated in Brad's game examples is what has impressed me the most. The humor is a close second.

I have to agree with fellow citizen, Peter Sly. It wasn't so much a particular "feature" of the game, but more of a feeling that whatever was done, it would be done well. I can't remember exactly what document I was reading but the general impression it gave me was that Brad had a very solid idea of what he wanted and how to make it happen.

ditto Peter Sly and LifeWish! In my experience, it adds tremendous value to the game!

Not to do any advertising or anything (I'm not related to the company in any way shape or form), but Paradox (EU and EU2) were quite comparable in their involvement with the users as well as their community.

the excellent looking diplomatic aspects, the moral choices, the ai, the feeling that stardock is not wasting time but concentrating on making a good bug free game out of the box, the way brad believed making a good ai that didn't cheat, the way brad and stardock handle customer feedback and suggestions, the humor, the way they are going to reduce micromanagement.

add on top how much i liked civ2 and that they said this was gonna be like civ in space...

Has to be the AI. For the first time in years I have a feeling that this is finally going to be an AI that can cope with human players in a human way.

There have been lots of games with 'adaptive' AI that will 'learn' from the player. But the way Brad has explained the AI in GalCiv and the way it has acted in his AAR's I have a really strong feeling that this AI is going to kick some major butt!

Thing that impresses me the most about this game? When I first saw it, the graphics looked lame, which was good for me cause my system is really weak. When I actually went to the site I saw that it actually looked really good, and also saw how low the system requirements were.

For me, the biggest draw is the promise of challenging AI that doesn't cheat.

I'm really tired of how in almost all TBS games (like Civ3 as much as I love the game overall), my supposedly "elite" units ROUTINELY get slaughtered by units of lesser experience and/or technological quality even when I have the advantage of being defensively fortified. Sure this is going to happen sometimes, but it shouldn't happen MOST of the time. If the combat rules indicate that my unit should have about a 90% chance of winning when you factor in all the situational bonuses, I want to actually WIN 90% of the time.

It's equally frustrating when all the AI players gang up on you just because you are the human player or just because you are doing well. I get frustrated seeing the AI's trade every tech they get to every other AI player the moment they get it, but won't trade me ANYTHING unless I give them something worth 3-5x the value of what I am asking for just because I am the human player, etc. Again, that is fine when there is a "logical" reason for them to act like that, but it is NOT fine (to me) when the only reason is because I am the human player.

When I see things routinely happen that are not supported by my understanding of how the game mechanics are supposed to work, it really "takes me out of the game". I'm looking SO forward to playing a game that doesn't rely on cheesy tricks like that to provide a challenge.

--Soulfire