Posted this in the weekend promo thread but thought I'd try here too...
Imperialism sounds like my kind of game. Having never played and sorry to say, barely even heard of it before, if one or more of you has the time to give me some brief advice. If I could only get one of them, which one is the one to get and why? Thanks.

I have them both and both are fantastic, however, if you could only get one I would get Imperialism. I like the game mechanics in that game better. I played Imp2 first, and the exploration aspect of it is a lot of fun, but the economy feels more restricted. I had more fun with the first one.

Thanks, appreciate you taking the time to give some advice. Probably won't buy it till Monday since I'm out of town this weekend but can still login to GOG on my smartphone a couple times to read up on the games before I make the purchase.

I've been trying to decide between the two as well. This review did a pretty good job with some differences:

http://www.avault.com/reviews/pc/imperialism-2-pc-review/

I think I will go with Imperialism 2

I would say 1 is a little better, but very little. The market feels more dynamic and there is more "imperialism" going on. In 2 you are mostly just conquering instead of bribing and investing. But 2 has better combat, nicer graphics and some unique stuff as well.
So I'd say get 1 first, and then you'll soon want 2 anyway.