Galactic Civilizations IV Enters Early AccessPlayers can now Play the Alpha
Join Early Access Now
View the Alpha Guide Here
Stardock released an Alpha version of Galactic Civilizations IV into Early Access today. As the all-powerful leader of a spacefaring civilization, the player must seek out new star systems and discover the exciting potential of the subspace realm. There are thousands of worlds to colonize and dozens of civilizations - both old and new - to encounter.
The game takes the best of what the award-winning space 4X strategy sandbox game series has to offer and adds many new and exciting features while vastly increasing in scope and depth. Galactic Civilizations IV utilizes new features like AI characters, star sectors, ministers, central control, a much bigger technology tree, and more.
Because of the dramatic changes from previous Galactic Civilizations games, the early access program for Galactic Civilizations IV is starting at the Alpha phase rather than the more typical Beta phase, so that player feedback can be incorporated early.
“Great games are built on player feedback,” said Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock. “We have always valued our community and encourage them to participate in the process as we develop new things. Putting Galactic Civilizations IV into an Early Access period during its Alpha phase allows us to hear what our players have to say now so we can deliver the best game possible later.”
Galactic Civilizations IV introduces sectors, which are connected through lanes that provide checkpoints and strategic interest. Each sector is like its own map, with several different solar systems contained within.
Players will need to assign governors and enact policies while also tackling big problems like pollution or crime on individual worlds they control. Citizens play a critical role with unique traits, specializations, and ideologies.
A reworked combat system provides tactical depth with players waging epic battles across multiple turns. Several new alien races join the favorite classics from previous games, each of them with their own strengths and weaknesses.
To get into the Alpha, visit www.galciv4.com
What's the deal with distribution? Right now it appears to be Epic only. Is there the typical one-year exclusive and then released on other platforms (Steam)?
The one year exclusive starts with the release of the alpha, right?
Any chance for GOG?
Thanks for any info.
PS: Can you add this info to the FAQ?
The Alpha program is being run here. We're using Epic for distribution of the Alpha. Beyond that is TBD.
I don't think having the Alpha on GOG is a good idea. I think you want to be forcing people to be using the latest version during development (you don't want testers to be reporting bugs that were already fixed). However, I would love to have GalCiv 4 on GOG once the game is released.
OK so unless I read incorrectly, if I buy the Alpha for 40 bucks I will also get betas and the release version when it comes out?
I'm hoping that at least one would get a credit towards the full release on whatever platform(s) Stardock choose for the official first release.
Is the Ship Designer included in the Alpha?
Dangit I have a lot to do this weekend and 76 is free this weekend. Im been waiting for this and I know what I’m doing this summer. Looking forward to gaming this.
blah, i did not expect to have to use yet another program - what is this epic store thingy now ):
So I've just bought the Alpha access. I have 2 versions to install "Gal Civ 4" and "Gal Civ 4 Test Edition". Which one should I be running?
I think the test edition will feature lots of small in between updates and the normal version will have the bigger / more stable updates, but not totally sure about that. So it would be great to get an answer from the devs.
For now I installed the 'normal' version.
Always concerned that Epic Games may bankrupt and shut down some day
I'm interested to know what's so special about Epic in this context? Are they better than GOG and Steam for Alpha testing games?
I installed normal version as well.
Go with Gal Civ 4 for now. They're the same as of writing. But the test edition will be updated with less stable updates.
So very early thoughts after a f ew hours.
-I like the citizen centric approach. I particular like how each individual citizen has different stats and ideological leanings, it makes loading up colony ships more interesting (like exporting all your criminals to some backwater outpost), it reminds a lot of the political system in Endless Space 2 (which I thought was a particularly good system). Will there be other ways to export unwanted citizens other than colony ships? Will there be any immigration mechanics?
-Nice little change to asteroid mining, you now have to build a miner in a shipyard but once you move him to an asteroid the whole belt is mined so you don't have to click each asteroid individually.
Planetary/scavenging events. I like how when you hover your mouse over each option it explicitly tells the ramifications of the choice, however one gripe I have (and this was the same for GalCiv3), particularly for planetary events it would be nice to be able to go to the colony and see the stats so you can get a better idea of the impact of the decision.
-I like the implementation of governors, its going to take a while to get used to not micro managing each planet unless I assign a governor but I think its good way to make the end game less tedious and more interesting.
That's all for now but so far I think you guys are off to a good start.
Same here. I'd be downloading this right now if it were through Steam, but I don't trust the long-term viability of EGS, and I have no interest in getting burned by them like I did with my Impulse library. Hell, does EGS even have integrated discussion forums, or are they going to be depending on players coming back here as their only channel for feedback?
Yeah, sorry. Epic only with a TBD for other stores, even your own, is not even remotely good enough. I imagine it’s got that exclusivity clause too. You may as well have slapped Denuvo on there for good measure. Would’ve loved another Founder’s Edition though and been more than happy to pay Stardock directly. Alas.
Yeah, sorry. Epic only with a TBD for other stores, even your own, is not even remotely good enough. I imagine it’s got that exclusivity clause too. You may as well have slapped Denuvo on there for good measure. Would’ve loved another Founder’s Edition though and been more than happy to pay Stardock directly.
Alas.
Ditto.
Well as multiple others have pointed out there is just no Way I will install Epic or give them any money. GOG or Steam are fine. This is another forced exclusivity deal instead of letting the player pick their preferred platform (In which case obviously very few people would opt for the shady Epic experience)
Hope we will get some clarification on where the game will be available at release.
If Civilization VII came out and it was on Epic... I wouldn't buy it.
I got it on Epic first time I have ever used epic. If they go belly up that’s like two drinks at a concert. However with all their hilarious amount of fortnight money it seems unlikely. Steam takes 30% and doesn’t give a flying F
Epic takes 12% and I would assume is trying to be helpful ( seems unlikely that they are but I don’t know )
Also no reviews on epic and since people are freaking idiots and would probably leave a bunch of negative reviews on a game in early access that is being developed which would probably reduce lifetime sales of the game.
I get it I don’t like it but I get it.
I woulda made the case as a developer why they were gonna use Epic.
@Tatiora or @Frogboy, does the $10 coupon hurt sales as this is in the middle of the Summer Sale? Also, will you be offering other older games in the catalog (I and II) on the Epic platform eventually, I have a preference for keeping one platform installed at a time.
Also, GoG is notoriously bad for support patches and version synchronization. I really like that platform, but it's not great for development. It's Steam, Epic, or (shudder) Origin...Uplay...Battle.net as the major choices. Epic has better revenue terms and if it is going the exclusive, Stardock gets better revenue out of it compared with Steam.
Not necessarily true. Steam has a much larger userbase and higher spending per user. This isn't the kind of game that will necessarily appeal to the Fortnight crowd (the largest group of users on EGS). A wider release would have resulted in more sales, and even if some of the Epic purchases were then made on Steam, the increase in copies sold would still likely have resulted in more revenue for Stardock. That's before you get into the polarizing effect and loss of reputation that come from exclusivity programs.
Keep in mind that internet access issues will be more common with the Nation State ransome ware hacker and ISP screwups....Ive had way too many of them lately.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
Sign in or Create Account
