Never played Earth and Beyond so I can not say.
The game has elements of Master of Orion but it came first, also it is more complex.
Every game is different and can be played different.
You can play Evil, can play Good, win by trading or researching technology. The game adapts to the way you decide to play.
For example if you decide to crush every Alien race you meet, the Technologies change and you get techs that help you wipe out Aliens, control your population. Of course the other races know your evil and react as they should.
I have played the OS/2 game and kept and OS/2 machine all these years just to play Galatic Civilizations. The Windows version when it is complete should be better and
I suspect it will grow for along time.
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