Galactic Civilizations IV

Galactic Civilizations IV is the next instalment of the award-winning sandbox space strategy series from the 4X subgenre. It was again developed by the American studio Stardock. Development of the game was announced 6 years after the release of GalCiv III, with early access scheduled for June 2021. Unlike previous games, this part introduces many changes and improvements, while retaining the best of the features offered by its predecessors.

Plot

The action of the fourth installment of the series takes place in the 24th century. People have discovered a way to travel in space faster than light, which they called Hyperdrive. The player takes on the role of the leader of a cosmic civilisation, discovering new star systems, analysing the potential of the subspace sphere and competing with aliens for domination in our galaxy.

Mechanics

Galactic Civilizations IV is a turn-based game in which the maps are divided into hexes. The player starts the game owning only his home planet. His goal is to research new technologies, explore the known galaxy, colonize new worlds while keeping his citizens happy. The game also allows you to conduct trade, diplomacy, intrigues or wars with alien civilisations.

Previous games in the series had a single map of different sizes. Players who liked to play on large maps were forced to deal with the drawback that parts of the map were not filled (empty fields without stars and planets appeared). In Galactic Civilization IV, star sectors were introduced. Most of these sectors are similar to the small and large maps from GalCiv III, representing parts of the entire galaxy that the player was trying to conquer. The fourth installment offers between one and dozens of such sectors to explore.

The early part of the game introduces a traditional exploration phase, but to get to other star sectors, only subspace streams can be used, which again requires the proper technology. Once this is acquired, the player can enter the second phase of exploration and conquest.

In previous installments, battles were resolved in a single turn, no matter what the distribution of forces was. In this game, however, one turn may not be enough to completely destroy a fleet. This allows players to change tactics as well as retreat or call in reinforcements. Similarly, invasions - depending on the population and defences of the world - do not have to be decided in a single turn. This gives the player a chance to show off their strategy planning, as sneaking in and conquering a capital world in the heart of an enemy empire is no longer an option.

Previously, the player had to manage each planet individually, no matter how minor it was. It was possible to assign an AI governor to a planet, but this was not always a satisfactory solution. The developers of this part, however, invented a way to solve this problem. By default, planets are not governed at all, they only provide resources (technologies, minerals, food, others) to the nearest important world. The player can later decide if he wants to assign such a colony a governor, who will turn it into another world. The governor does not manage anything, but provides the planet with a series of bonuses. If the player has too many colonies feeding the main world, the governor can also rebel.

The galaxy has a rich history, which the player can explore during missions and events. Taking part in missions provides him with various benefits and challenges.

Galactic Civilizations series also features extensive technology trees. The game offers the possibility to invent new technologies, some of which turn out to be easier for a particular race. Now, at a certain moment the choice of technologies is limited to the best 5 (later this number can increase to 7). This particularly affects the later phase of the game, during which the player must make difficult choices, as each technology has an "innovation rating". The player can, in fact, press the "inspire" button, which will select for him a new group of 5 technologies, but their cost increases with each subsequent use of the button.

Both developed and primitive civilisations appear in the game. The player sets the difficulty level of his opponents and their technological advancement. The population that inhabits his planet consists of a real number of characters (for example, five citizens can inhabit it). This means that when the player conquers another planet, he can end up with alien characters in his worlds. Each race is unique and has both strengths and weaknesses and varying levels of xenophobia (fear of other races).

Galactic Civilizations IV features a four-axis system of moral choices: collectivist, authoritarian, individualist and libertarian. For the choices made, the player receives points that allow them to unlock new ideological perks, providing new traits, bonuses, but also penalties.

This part also introduces the concept of 'control', which allows you to determine how much direct power a player has over their civilisation. Control acts as another resource, used to make direct decisions on the map.

Game modes

In addition to the single player mode, Galactic Civilizations IV also offers a multiplayer mode. This time, unlike the previous installment, the game provides better support for co-op mode and scenarios that can be played in less than an hour.

Technical aspects

Galactic Civilizations IV features 3D graphics, with lots of detail and special effects. The maps in this part are much larger, also the number of worlds that make up a typical empire, is much larger than in GalCiv III.