Expansion: Altarian Darkness
GalCiv: Altarian Darkness would be a premium expansion set created for Galactic Civilizations that would be released in December 2003 or January 2004. It would sell for $19.95 and be available direct from Stardock or possibly through select retailers. This premium expansion would introduce features that fall in closer to "Sequel level" concepts. I.e. development that would be far beyond a regular update. There would be a story element to it -- the mystery of the Altarians.
The Altarians are the civilization whose people look identical to humans. The question is, why is that? This expansion pack would delve into that.
So what would this expansion pack have in it? Here's our proposed feature set (subject to change based on # of interested players):
2 new major civilizations
New galaxy size: Massive (32 x 32 in size -- over 900 sectors)
Map editor for designing your own maps.
Scenarios
A couple dozen new technologies that would be directed towards evil and good players
New ships, improvements, and wonders based on the above new technologies
New ability: Logistics. Logistics would determine how many star bases you can have active at a given time.
New Galactic Resource: Life force. Improves your diplomatic ability.
Updated United Planets Screen with new issues.
A host of little features based on player feedback.
Stardock will be putting up a poll shortly to determine the level of interest. In effect, in order to do the expansion pack, it would need 5,000 users to show interest in it (while the game has sold far more than that, the # of people who might be willing to purchase an expansion pack, an on-line one at that, may be somewhat less).