GalCiv3 Forums
Wow, planetary invasion is still awful and two of the most well liked and interesting races of the previous gal civ games can only be played if you purchase dlc. I really didn't expect this from Stardock. The planetary invasion system really should have received some form of overhaul by now. Poor show.
Have faith, things are continually improving. Just because this expansion didn't have your hot-button feature doesn't mean there isn't lots of good content.
Think happy thoughts.
Don't want to pay for DLC? Be a Galciv3 founder, although the ship has sailed on that option awhile ago.
This may be true, however, think of what this game came with compared to Galactic Civilizations II when it was first released. Galactic Civilizations II also did not have the ability to create a custom faction so therefore what you see is what you get only 10 factions to play with with no custom tech trees.
Galactic Civilizations II Core Factions
Galactic Civilizations III Core Factions
So with that being said, although Galactic Civilizations III base game came with two less core factions, it came with the ability to create custom factions. With that being said each has it's own tech tree and unique abilities. Personally I'll trade to core factions for endless custom factions any day but, that is to each person I suppose.
Let's look beyond the base games, shall we?
Galactic Civilizations II later added 2 additional core factions (bringing total to 12) with the custom faction as well, each with unique tech trees, and this was after it's third and final expansion several years after the release of the base game. Galactic Civilizations III has already added 3 core factions (bringing total to 11) to the base game less than a year after release. If one purchased Galactic Civilizations II at release with expansions at release they would have purchased the game for $100 (approx I don't have the actual release prices based on $39.99 for base and $29.99 for expansions each). With Galactic Civilizations III one would have purchased all DLC's and the 1 expansion to this point less the soundtrack you would be at $90 ($49.99 base game, $4.99 x 4 DLC's, $19.99 expansion). Even if one would add the $9.99 soundtrack you are right at the cost of $100 and, you only need to purchase what you want. If you're a founder than you already potentially paid the $100.
This I agree with but, I'm okay with the design plan for the game to this point. Hopefully it's right around the corner in the near future 
I don't really mind that DLC exclusive content, to be honest. If it lets them developps more content for the base game, I'm ok with it.
I haven't bought it yet, I'll wait for the next price drop. With the CAN$ so low, gaming has once again become an expensive hobby.
That's not true. The ability to create custom factions was in GalCiv 2 from the start.
Refresh your history, custom factions were added with the Dark Avatar Expansion. I think 3 sources are good enough see below.
Sources...
https://www.galciv2.com/darkavatar/
"Custom Civilization Opponents. Players can now design their own opponents within the game and then play against them. This includes both what the opponent looks like but also how it plays."
http://www.ign.com/games/galactic-civilizations-ii-dark-avatar/pc-837041
"Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar also allows players to create their own custom opponents"
http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/galactic-civilizations-ii-dark-avatar-review/1900-6166566/
"you can design a completely new race. You can tailor every aspect of the new race, from how it thinks, what its priorities are, and its abilities, to its appearance and custom ship styles."
No, they weren't. DA added the ability to play against custom factions, and provided more options to customise them. However, you could already play as a custom faction in DL. Just start up DL, if you don't want to believe me.
Brad will be able to answer this question once and for all, however, there is no documentation out there that the base game included custom factions and there is a whole lot of documentation out there that DA added this option to the game. I remember it coming in one of the expansions as well.
Here is a link to Frogboy's Beginner's Strategy Guide for DL. The second screenshot clearly shows the custom race option (mesh-figure in the upper right corner). I also still have the manual of my retail copy of DL, and it mentions the ability to play as a custom race (not sure, if I'm allowed to scan the page in, so I could show it to you). The wiki-page for DL also mentions it (though wiki is generally not a trustworthy source). Lastly, as I mentioned before, you can simply start up DL without any of the expansions. The option is there.
Sorry to burst that bubble but Founders had to pay for the DLC.
The only option not to pay for DLC is to...well, not pay for it.
Here is a link to Frogboy's Beginner's Strategy Guide for DL. The second screenshot clearly shows the custom race option (mesh-figure in the upper right corner). I also still have the manual of my retail copy of DL, and it mentions the ability to play as a custom race (not sure, if I'm allowed to scan the page in, so I could show it to you). The wiki-page for DL also mentions it (though wiki is generally not a trustworthy source). Lastly, as I mentioned before, you can simply start up DL without any of the expansions. The option is there.
I think its still a point in Gal Civ III's favor that it started with the option to play against custom opponents, because right now through steam I have downloaded about 30 to choose from, and of course the option to pick from hundreds (thousands?) of pre-made custom opponents already created, as well as make my own of course. So yeah the potential opponent list for vanilla Gal Civ III is not 8 or 12 but basically unlimited.
However I agree with the OP about planetary invasion being bad and hoped that was what was to be addressed in the expansion. I hope it gets overhauled soon.
I do see what you are referring to, however, I still seem to remember them being added to the game in Dark Avatar, and if they were already present than why does it state that this was added in Dark Avatar as one of the new features especially right from the Dark Avatar official page? Although it would be nice to here from Stardock to confirm our argument either way it doesn't change most of my points.
The fact of the matter is at this point there is one less core faction (along with the custom factions) in Galactic Civilizations III with all DLC's and the Expansion than was in Galactic Civilizations II with both major Expansions. Total value if purchasing Galactic Civilizations II in it's complete form on original prices still is more than purchasing Galactic Civilizations III in it's current complete form by about $10. (less the soundtrack pack).
Not to mention modern games cost more than games did 10 years ago...
Because custom races were player-only in DL. You couldn't select them to play against. That's what was new in DA.
This is true; I'm not sure what you're thinking of seilore, but customizing your own race to play as was always a thing in GC2
Stardock has made a distinction between dlc, expansion, and expandable. Steam has not.
Actually I'm a founder elite i got all the dlc for free. They don't mean founder but elite.
For me, the above is what's stopping me from playing the game or buying more DLC. I wonder when they will sort it?
Founder elites didn't get the dlc for free, they payed twice as much up front.
Correct and a great choice I made 
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