Galactic Civilizations II

Galactic Civilizations II is a turn-based strategy game where your aim is to bring your race total domination over the galaxy by any means possible. In other words, it's very similar to the Civilization saga except on a much bigger scale.

The first thing to do is decide which race to begin playing with. Obviously you can choose humans, but you'll find more than a dozen different options available, each with its respective advantages and inconveniences. Also, in case none of them is convincing, you can always create your own race from scratch.

Once you have your empire, it'll be time to start on your conquest. This process might (and should) be pretty slow. Depending on your playing style, you might be interested in building a fleet of formidable spaceships that you can use to flatten enemies, make friends with the other races in order to win a political victory, or simply evolve enough to leave all the others behind.

Regardless of your approach to the game, each round will be different from the previous one. This is in part due to the huge number of variables you can play with, which range from building different structures on your planets or establishing interplanetary commercial routes to discovering ancient ruins or making unexpected advances in the technology tree.

Galactic Civilizations II is an enormous and very dense strategy game. Before you start playing, it's not just advisable but probably crucial to read the instruction manual and watch tutorials of the game. It'll be worth your while once you get the hang of it, though.