Hello all just wanted to stop in and say that I bought Gal Civ IV (in the 'Beta') yesterday... and I am really impressed it is a fantastic game. The game is fantastic. 

There are some uh bugs and 'balance' issues (already mentioned in this forum) that should probably be addressed however what's there is really, really good. I love how colorful the game is, how involved it is, and the tremendous potential it shows - ie with citizens, ship customization, and in particular planet and district management in addition to so many other things that work well. It really feels like a 'civilization' game and there's a lot of customization.

The game is, in my opinion, really, really well thought out and already does so many things so much better or far in excess of what 'the competition' does (and they're more expensive and have had significantly longer 'development'.)

GCIV should, in my opinion, really push the genre forward and be the Best 4x strategy game on the market right now. And the developers, in my opinion, really have a winner on their hands and it's clear just how hard and passionately they've worked. Like I said the game is excellent.

Having said that though.... I never even knew Gal Civ IV existed if it weren't for a random YouTube comment on a video about a different game. A random YouTube comment... otherwise I wouldn't have known that Gal Civ IV was even possible (having played III with all the DLC on Steam.)

I guess I can understand not wanting to participate in the Steam store (it's probably expensive) however how else are people to even hear about the game so they can buy it? Most developers turn out lousy games and try to market themselves to a profit - a cheap product, no innovation, lackluster quality, but extensive marketing. 

But in this case it looks like the opposite??? How are people to buy GCIV if they've never even heard of it? In my opinion if this game had say an opening weekend (on Steam) with a little advertising (similar to other far lesser strategy games) I think it would be a huge hit! It would be in direct competition with a certain other 4x game (starts with an S) which gets hundreds of thousands of YouTube views and players... because GCIV is that good. There could be untold numbers of views and players and game purchases from YouTube, through Steam, but there won't be if no one knows about Gal Civ which honestly I think would be a huge loss.

Anyway just wanted to say thanks to the people who put this sequel together... for me it's easily the best of the series so far and I'm really enjoying it. I'm looking forward to the '1.0' release and hopefully years of development, many players, and huge commercial success.

Thank you,

The Tomb Raider