Galciv2 Beta 2.0

For GalCiv2 owners if you haven't heard: the beta for the new (final?) 2.0 version of DA and TA is available on their Impulse service for registered owners. I think they're only shooting for this one beta before it goes final.

A few highlights (there may be more that I'm missing):

* Ship designer available at the main menu, so you can design templates outside the game.

* New options on the galaxy setup screen for frequency of extreme planets, and rate for random events.

* New "No Tech Brokering" option where races can only sell techs they've researched, instead of re-selling everything they get their hands/claws/tentacles on. I'm only playing my first game with this option, and it does seem to help keep the aliens feeling more "alien" with different techs, and less homogenization of techs across the galaxy. I'm not sure yet, but it might also help keep tech development rates slow enough for the larger galaxy map sizes, without having to disable trading completely. I have a hard time surviving the colonization phase without selling at least some early techs for cash.

* New espionage option for placing a spy that only researches another race, without having to target infrastructure for sabotage. This type of spy can't be neutralized like the more active type. It feels more realistic to just research an ally now, instead of being forced to sabotage as the only option. Also it seems like you get info faster with your intel focused on just one or two primary threats or targets. The only thing I'm not sure about, because I haven't had time to play into the later game stages yet, is whether or not you're still forced to keep a large pool of spies on-hand to neutralize enemy saboteurs. If the other races are still spending heavily on sabotage, it might offset this research-only option.

No major crashes or new bugs I've spotted so far. Still a few remaining buglets from earlier versions like occasionally stuck asteroid miners, but overall it's pretty solid.