Stardock Releases Galactic Civilizations IVThe newest installment of the award-winning space 4X strategy sandbox game series
Get it Now
Stardock released Galactic Civilizations IV today. The newest installment of the award-winning space 4X strategy sandbox game series takes the best of what its predecessors had to offer and adds new features like multi-sector maps, the ability to customize your civilization mid-game via policies, internal factions, a unique mission/quest system, and so much more.
As the all-powerful leader of a spacefaring civilization, players will seek out new star systems and discover the exciting potential of the subspace realm. With over a dozen starting civilizations to choose from – plus the ability to create unique custom civilizations from scratch - the possibilities for each playthrough are endless, leaving players with a truly unique experience every time they start up a new game.
“Galactic Civilizations IV is the result of years of thinking about the exciting innovations that have been occurring in strategy games,” said Brad Wardell, Stardock CEO. “We want to give players the ultimate turn-based strategy experience, and we’ve accomplished this by adding in tons of new features that add to the depth and scope of the game while incorporating feedback over several alpha and beta testing phases.”
For nearly 30 years, the Galactic Civilizations series has focused on four main pillars: a simulated universe, strong AI opponents, rich lore, and multiple paths to victory. Galactic Civilizations IV supports this approach through several new features.
Choose from over a dozen possible starting civilizations - or, create your own!
How you choose to tackle major events could greatly impact your civilization.
Multi-sector maps add a new depth to the scope of Galactic Civilizations IV. While players will still be able to play a smaller map, the ability to span an adventure across an enormous map with multiple sectors gives a true feeling of galactic conquest and exploration. Each sector is connected by subspace streams that will allow the player to travel between them.
While the idea of citizens was introduced in Galactic Civilizations III, their role was not as distinct as it is now. Citizens have individual approval ratings and keeping them happy is important – a disloyal and unhappy governor might just take their planet and corresponding colonies with them and start a new empire if the player isn’t careful. The story of the game changes depending on which characters are recruited and how their various backstories manifest throughout.
Galactic Achievements solve the age-old problem of a player seeing a clear trajectory to victory that is locked behind another couple hours of gameplay. Historically, many players quit at this point and don’t bother finishing their game because they “know they are going to win,” but it’s hardly a satisfactory victory. With this new feature, players can take on a challenge to earn “prestige points” that will go toward a total necessary for them to win the game. This cuts down on the “grind” of late game and allows a story to come to a much more interesting conclusion.
The concept of the Core Worlds system was introduced to reduce micromanagement. Previously, players would have to manage each world they conquered individually. When a player colonizes a subpar world, it will feed into a core world that the player has already established. With this system, players will directly oversee a lower number of worlds, but still receive the benefits of colonizing and conquering as many as possible.
So many sectors! Conquer your enemies on a truly galactic scale.
We're under siege! Prepare your defenses.
To further support a unique experience for every game of Galactic Civilizations IV, players will now be able to set and update policies and issue executive orders during gameplay. Policies allow a player to shift priorities as they play by choosing between different buffs and focuses, while executive orders allow the player to spend a new resource called control to do things like print money or draft colonies.
There are many other features that comprise the Galactic Civilizations IV experience, including several new additions for helping newer players. An in-game tutorial and advisors that offer strategic and tactical advice make getting started easier than ever before. Many old and beloved features from previous games – including the ship designer and civilization creator – are also included.
Why is this not on Steam? If it requires the EPIC launcher to play it then I'm going to pass...
I will be waiting to get it on Steam.
Sorry not buying it on Epic. Back to Distant Worlds 2.
I would buy direct from you or on Steam for an additional fee to avoid Epic.
This is a very good point - I'd totally buy it from you guys. But I'm not willing to do business with Epic Games Store, sorry.
I join others. I don't want another launcher. And nothing Epic.
Yes. This.
1617,6h on Steam with GalCiv III. I can play some more 100s hours on it. Or Hearts of iron, Europa Universalis, Baldur's Gate 3, and even Civ 6...
I will just wait for perhaps a couple of years: there are so many other games, and so little time,and so many patches (and DLCs?) to come...
May I know what is the issue with Epic? I see so many against Epic store.
I can only speak for myself of course, but I have three reasons why I don't want to do business with Epic Game Store;
The first reason (and I will freely admit this is the most selfish reason) is that I'd prefer all my games are in one launcher to cut down on bloat and Steam kinda got there first. I don't want multiple launchers each taking CPU/RAM/Net resources to independently keep my collection of games up to date. I've been using Steam since I was complaining about it back at the Half-Life 2 launch and it has the vast majority of my PC games from the last 18 years or so.
The second reason is I find Epic's position on a lot of things to be hypocritical. They complain about Steam, Google, and Apple taking a 30% cut and until recently they were also taking a 30% cut with an asterix. At that time they took a lower cut on exclusives but on anything listed on multiple platforms they took the same 30% cut they were suing others over.
Finally, I just really dislike them getting exclusives in the distasteful way they've done so. If they want to be the exclusive launcher for Fortnight or Unreal that seems fair since those are their toys, but to actively cut out other stores for things like Borderlands series and now this seems like it's at the consumer's expense. Having a monopoly (even a timed one) is bad for consumers and I would take a similar stance of distaste if Steam or GoG or anyone else did this sort of thing. I think the Borderlands 3 thing was what originally got me so frustrated at the situation. That game was on my Steam wishlist, it was advertised as releasing on Steam and Epic, and the exclusivity deal didn't happen until barely a month before release. It was incredibly frustrating and generally just gave me a bad taste in my mouth towards Epic Game Store and with the concept of "vote with my wallet" I've decided to never buy any non-Epic exclusives from them to discourage this practice that I see as anti-consumer.
Also read https://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/669720/epic-games-store-china-controversy-explained/
If I remember this game when it gets on Steam I might buy it then but I will never use the Epic game store. I have been playing this game since version 1 but by taking Epic bribe for exclusively you mY have lost me a a customer forever.
Primarily, I don't want another launcher eating up resources, etc., and I already have lots of games that I play through Steam. But I also agree with Kurtis Peterson's other reasons.
Drat...so happy finding out that you made 4. I had no idea as life is just screaming by with Covid, new jobs, etc. But why only Epic? Like so many others, I dont want another launcher. I have STeam and Gog, and that is enough for me. Can we buy it from you directly somehow? Is there a time line when it will be on others if at all? Ive been a long time fan, and was so hoping to try this.
Still, congrats on the new game, and I hope one day to be able to play it.
I'll wait for Steam or GOG release. Or sell it through your own store - I'm happy to buy it directly from you.
I'm in no rush to deal with another game install manager. I know Steam has no issues with downloading games again when I get a new PC. I have no idea on Epic.I already have more games than I can play. I'm not in that big of a rush for GC4. Maybe when it winds up in the cheap bin at Steam.
I just found out this game was just recently released. But, finding out that I only can purchase this game through Epic game store. So, I only have Steam and most of my games are on there. Therefore, I will be looking forward to this game becoming available on Steam.
Avid player of Gal Civ 3 here, hard pass until it is on Steam. Maybe sales will tank so hard they will never make the mistake of getting into bed with Epic Games again.
I bit the bullet a while ago and bought the game through Epic. I could have waited. I have a friend that I play games with regularly. We played GalCiv 3 (through Steam) quite a bit, but it kept crashing late in games, and it would become unplayable after a while. We have been playing Civ 6 for quite a while and wanted to try GalCiv 4. I wish we had saved our money. It crashes earlier and more often than GalCiv 3 and becomes unplayable rather early in the game.
We haven't tried it again since an update came out that is supposed to address crashes. Maybe we will try it again soon.
To address resource usage, we both set Steam and Epic to not load on bootup. After we launch a Steam game, we leave Steam open. If we want to play GalCiv 4, we exit Steam and launch GC4. When we are finished with it, we either shut or computers down, or exit Epic and launch a Steam game. Epic is only on when we are playing GC4. It's not all that much trouble, but it is irritating, especially when we were able to play GC3 through Steam.
Please release on Steam so I can host screenshots there. Plus forums, etc. Discord just doesn't really cut it...
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
Sign in or Create Account
