Galactic Civilizations IV Announced

Tomorrow I’ll mention that I’ve said that you should play and just find games you enjoy, as if everyone else’s opinion doesn’t matter because it doesn’t. I’ll also point out that it is just a case of whatever mood you happen to be in. That said, I have to be in a very specific mood to enjoy a 4X game, either one that is properly grand or one that is a little more shallow. That tends to be a hard thing to predict. However, earlier this year the stars aligned, the moon was full, and Epic was giving away Galactic Civilizations III.

Well, it seems the stars have aligned once again. They shined off a woman’s shiny bust, and caused a bus driver to crash into my little world, for there is a sequel, Galactic Civilizations IV. Announced on Tuesday, the next game from Stardock Corporation is not an 8K remaster of Sins of a Solar Empire, instead, it is the 4X series that is effectively the crossroads of where you could become Star Trek or Star Wars. The next installment is claimed to “takes the best of what its predecessors had to offer and adds to it with many new and exciting features.”

Stardock’s CEO, Bred Wardell, said, “The focus in Galactic Civilizations IV is the player actually dealing with AI characters,” which is aimed at giving the game a larger scope while bringing depth. Along with the AI comes new worlds and civilizations (along with old ones), the addition of star sectors, ministers, central control, and supposedly a larger tech tree to climb. Wardell would go on, “In previous versions, the computer AI meant other civilizations. Now, every civilization is made up of hundreds of characters who have their own agendas. In 4X terms, it’s like dealing with [the] Civs of Civs.”

To create a larger scope along with the depth proposed, you’ll no longer be restricted to the size of the map you pick at the start. In Galactic Civilizations III, (for example) you’d pick a map size to play in, explore that area, and be stuck there through the rest of the game. “This time, those same clusters of stars and planets will be connected to other clusters via a new concept called Subspace Streams,” Wardell says. He goes on to say, “Each cluster is known as a sector. It’s like having a map of maps.” That is a rather childish way to put it, but it does lift one thing I didn’t enjoy from the third game after a while.

In what feels rather shallow in explanation at first, the single core-world concept will disappear. Instead, to match this change to maps and sectors, you’ll use your leaders that you accrue as a resource to (more or less) create these core worlds. Of course, with the AI playing a larger role, these leaders will have their own thoughts on how things shall be run. They could be possibly scheming against you or with other leaders. This more or less sounds like you are commanding Star Fleet and you have someone trying to be Jean-Luc without the morals.

Speaking of resources, you are one of them! The early access model will be used to incorporate player feedback as early as Alpha-testing, with the desire to incorporate these thoughts while features are being added. Feedback on features like the new control points system might be entirely needed. They now affect the loyalty and distrust between your leaders. The campaign is being replaced with what seems to be hinted as Rogue-lite/randomly generated ‘missions,’ “[allowing] players to feel like every game is effectively a unique, compelling campaign unto itself.”

I think the phrase is that I’m optimistically curious about what will come of the early access release and how the final product appears on the other end. Fence-sitting might describe it, but some of the features proposed do sound drastically different from what I’d played just a few months ago. Personally, I don’t know how I’d feel about that large change without actually playing it and seeing how things work out.

Currently, there is no word on when this early access period will begin other than, “later this Spring.” It is a short time frame to put an announcement out and not have a date, though I’m sure we’ll find out when this will be in the coming weeks. I might not be as negative as some comments, “it still won’t be like Stellaris,” but that’s because curiosity perseveres over derision for something I’ve yet to play. That and I want Galactic Civilizations IV to be its own thing, more or less.