Galactic Civilization 2's awaited expansion Dark Avatar has been quietly released on Totalgaming.net. This is one week early than the announced Feb 14 release date. The features i'm most interested in are the new ship parts that you use to create your ships as well as the new single player mode and new races plus the html story output.

Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar revisits Stardock's sci-fi universe, adding new features and options to enhance the strategic depth of the game. Featuring a new single-player campaign that sees the elimination of two of the game's alien races and the introduction of several others, Dark Avatar also allows players to create their own custom opponents. Tweak their behavior, appearance, what their ships look like, and play style to develop truly unique enemies.

The expansion also introduces resource-rich asteroid belts, unique planets requiring advanced technology to colonize, spies to assist or prevent destabilization and sabotage, an Epic Generator that creates a unique story from each game played, advanced diplomatic treaties, new ship components, improved AI options and much more.