Been a long time fan of Galactic Civilizations 2, played it since it first came out and must have repurchased the game several times over its lifespan with all the different dlc versions, then impulse getting bought by gamestop and buying a Steam version of the game. I didn't mind though as the game evolved really well and I definitely got my money's worth. The final version is probably my favorite 4x space game.
I have been feeling the itch for a 4x space game again for some time, as I just tried out the newest Master of Orion. Master of Orion, while a neat game and brings back some nostalgia, just doesn't do it for me, it's no Galciv2.
This brings me to my question, is Galciv3 currently in a state comparable to Galciv2 that it is worth getting? A lot of the research and googling I have done say the game is buggy, there isn't any Espionage yet(A complete deal breaker for me), the AI is actually worse, etc. But these are all older posts and articles I am reading, they don't tell me how the state of the Gold edition with all its DLC is at the moment. There doesn't seem to be all that much that is different either, other than updated graphics and from what I have read, a worse interface. Is the game feature complete, or are there certain things that won't show up unless you buy DLC?
Should I just play Galciv2 and wait a year or two until Galciv3 is more fleshed out, or is Galciv3 worth a purchase now? How long is DLC planned for? I may rather wait to get it until they are all done with it, so I'm not constantly dumping cash into it.