It is more a strategic level game, not a tactical one. Thus while you control the wars, individual battles are determined by a "roll of the dice".

No, the game can't be modded to allow you to control the tactical combat.

The video accompanying ground and space combat is simply eye candy, but good at that. So you do watch the battles unfold.

I forgot to mention... the AI is very good indeed. If Alpha centauri had an AI this good then it would be the best strategy game ever!

Mmm. Yeah. It's not bad. I only spend 2 to 6 hours a night playing it.

There's a demo available. It's time/turn limited but does give you a good glimpse into the game.

No, you only see the building on the tile, plus a picture of it along with the description. You don't see things moving in it.
But you can see ships orbiting planets in the expansion Dark Avatar.

For the price, I think this game is a steal (Best Buy has it for $29.99. While it is $10 more for the game straight from Stardock, they get ALL the money, not just a cut.) Either way, this is a very good game that never was at the $49.99 price point like many new releases, and has many of the features that other full budget games have. Also, with the release of the expansion, Dark Avatar, in Febuary (tenative date) you can get the 'gold,' or w\e the name will be, version of the game. That will be both the base game and the expansion. Otherwise, if you pre-order you can probly still be in the open beta for DA

I should point out, that in case you haven't heard, there are a few things that are not in this game:

1) No Multi-player.<--(notice the period) It was decided by Brad\Frogboy\Draginol and the rest of the team that the amount of money\resources\time it would take to make this a multi-player game would detract from the game. As of now, it is not planned, but it may be a possiblity in the future (either expansion or sequel)

2) Carriers - These are not in the game either, as without tactical combat and with the weapons model that is used, they would be utterly useless.

3) Orbital Bombardment - This is not in as the Dev's did not like the way that many games end up. You have a huge fleet and you go around wiping out all life. You have to conquer to take a planet. (This is sort of changing in the expansion with the spore ships *they kill everyone but ruin the ecology and PQ, size, of a planet*)

These three little horsies have gotten the stuffing beaten out of them, as people bring them up. Just realize that some design choices were made that may rub you the wrong way (multi-player is usually the most common, especially when it is simply expected).

All in all I highly recommend this game if you like a game that has high replayability, can be a real challenge, is 4X turn-based strategy, and has an amazing team of developers that work very hard with the community to make this a game we all love. I have had a lot of games over the years, and I have never seen a more dedicated group.

I have been playing this game now for the last 7 or so months and find that every game I play is different.

You are able to customize just about every aspect of the game, including but not limited to, star density, how abundant habitable planets, stars, and anomalies are, speed of research, how many opponents, level of play, race you wish to play, how smart your adversaries are, what your starting techs and racial bonuses are, choose your political affiliation, customize colors of your ships, standard core ship design, and then, on top of all of that, you have the unique ability to design ships any way you choose. The Mods out there seem to be endless and you can create your own rather easily.

Multiplayer does not exist as stated above, but there is a competitive nature built into the game via the Metaverse. The Metaverse allows you to keep track of your individual games, gives you a score based on those games, and stacks you up against others who have posted games as well. Thus giving a ladder type environment Also you can join an empire and combine your scores with others within your chosen community creating an empire score, thus fostering competition between the empires.

The game is not perfect and there are a few things it does lack, but this holds true with any game. If you are a 4X fan as I am you will enjoy the replay ability GalCiv2 offers.

Is it worth it? Definitely. It's currently my favorite game.

Hmm. Some people have said that it's only gotten buggier with 1.04. Is this plausible, or not?

Nope. More bugs got squished with every release. More often than not, a lot of people screaming the game was buggy, never updated their video drivers. The forums bore this out.

Also: I've read that there is a lot of campy humor throughout the game, and that it might ruin the sci-fi atmosphere by being too tongue-in-cheek. Is this the case or not?

There is a fair amount of humour, yes. The game is immersive in my opinion as you truly feel like you are the leader of your empire all the time. I think it has the right amount of humour. Could you imagine all the text that's in this game, without any humor at all? It'd be boring. It's a part of what gives life into the game.

Finally: How spectacular are the effects/explosions/ship damage in the space battles?

If you have a good vid card, its the shiznit. There is eye candy and it is sweet.

"Orbital bombardment as a general feature has not been added explicitly because of the way it affects end-game gameplay in other games -- players going on a "genocide run".

That is the official view from Frogboy (aka Brad Wardell, Designer)."

I'd call that not in it. If you are to do anything to an enemy planet, you have to try invade. What you are talking about are the invasion strategies. A few forms of bombardment are in there (mass drivers I think is all....can't remember off hand)