A Look at the v4.0 Update in Galactic Civilizations IV View the Changelog | Get GalCiv IV v4.0 for Galactic Civilizations IV has been released, adding a long requested map generator, enhanced economic systems and increased roles for leaders, and accompanies the release of the new Federations & Empires DLC. [read more]
7/31/2026 By BATTLEMODE in GalCiv IV Dev Journals
Galactic Civilizations IV: Federations & Empires Turns Every Form of Government Into a Different Game Expansion arrives alongside free Version 4.0 update for every owner, adding additional forms of Government, a hand-built Map Editor, internal Political Parties, Leader-run Institutions, smarter AI, and a redesigned Diplomacy screen Get Federations & Empires | Get Expansion Pass II Stardock today released Galactic Civilizations IV: Federations & Empires, an exp... [read more]
7/30/2026 By wasabi_md in GalCiv News
Hammer Blow in Ashes of the Singularity II Wishlist Ashes II Today we show some footage from the closing moments of an internal test game played over at Oxide Studios. A PHC player has outmaneuvered the Substrate, bringing the full might of his army in as a hammer blow to smash their HQ, and win the match. [read more]
7/29/2026 By BATTLEMODE in Ashes Dev Journals
Join us on July 30 for a release day livestream on the new expansion for Galactic Civilizations IV, Federations & Empires! The team will also dive into the new features brought to the game in the free v4.0 update. Mark your Calendars | Wishlist Federations & Empires 📅 Thursday, July 30, 2026 at 1:00 PM EST 📍Location: Galactic Civilizations IV Steam Page What to Expect: Five forms of governments, five different games: The expansion ships with fo... [read more]
7/23/2026 By wasabi_md in GalCiv News
The Drengin Empire in Federations & Empires Wishlist Now Let's take a look at Galactic Civilizations v4.0: Federations & Empires from the perspective of the Drengin Empire. The galaxy calls them "cruel," yet they insist they merely believe in order . Yes, they keep the lesser species in labor camps, but have you considered the alternative? Idleness. They are, they claim, giving them purpose. And that's without getting into the "genocide" accusations. Reductive, in their view. ... [read more]
7/23/2026 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals
Elemental: Reforged v1.3 Update Now Available Get Elemental: Reforged | Full Changelog Below The v1.3 update for Elemental: Reforged is now available. This release resolves multiple crash scenarios, restores tactical UI info cards, adds a new strategic unit speed control, and speeds up map generation while rebalancing loot drops. Stability and UI Improvements Resolved multiple crash scenarios across research, audio, terrain rendering, and game cleanup. The tactical unit hover info card... [read more]
7/23/2026 By wasabi_md in Elemental News
Skirmish Gameplay in Ashes of the Singularity II Wishlist Ashes II In this dev journal, BATTLEMODE shows Skirmish gameplay against three Regular AI players, highlighting a feigned retreat tactic for breaking through well defended chokepoints in the early and mid-game. [read more]
7/22/2026 By BATTLEMODE in Ashes Dev Journals
Stardock to Publish Crimson Freedom, a Story-Driven RTS Set on 22nd-Century Mars Yboga's real-time strategy game brings classic base-building and three warring factions to the red planet Wishlist Crimson Freedom Stardock Entertainment announced today that Crimson Freedom , a narrative rich real-time strategy game developed by independent studio Yboga doo, is joining its portfolio as the first title signed under Stardock’s expanded publishing program. Coming to Steam in 20... [read more]
7/22/2026 By wasabi_md in Stardock Entertainment Announcements
Unit Upgrades in Ashes of the Singularity II Wishlist Ashes II In this dev journal, we take a first look at the new Unit Upgrades system in Ashes of the Singularity II. We start with the PHC Commander, showing how a basic starter unit can become a battle hardened veteran with more health, stronger weapons, and even a new offensive drone bay module. From there we move on to the Hyperion dreadnought, upgrading its health and weapon damage to turn it into an even bigger threat on the battlefiel... [read more]
7/10/2026 By wasabi_md in Ashes Dev Journals
Join us on July 15th for a Reddit AMA on the upcoming expansion for Galactic Civilizations IV, Federations & Empires Mark your calendars | Wishlist Federations & Empires Now Tune into r/GalCiv for an exclusive AMA event with the developers of Federations & Empires, the newest expansion for Galactic Civilizations IV! 📍 r/GalCiv 🗓️ July 15, 2026 - 3:00PM to 4:30PM ET [read more]
7/8/2026 By wasabi_md in GalCiv News
Real-Time Controls, Content, and Cohesion in Ashes of the Singularity II Wishlist Ashes II In the early era of RTS games, we did not have what later became known as ‘control groups’. Units were selected and ordered individually, or the user could drag-select a box around a group of units and issue (the same) order to all of them at once. That’s the basic gist, but it’s not the whole story. All the way back to some of the earliest real-time games, we had some unique control schemes. In... [read more]
7/1/2026 By Oxide_BrettN in Ashes Dev Journals
Region Resources in Ashes of the Singularity II Wishlist Ashes II See how regions now work in Ashes of the Singularity II. In this dev journal we cover the new baseline resources you earn just for owning regions, how structures like the Quantum Archive multiply a region's output, and why grabbing the richest spots in the contested middle of the map is a real risk and reward call. [read more]
6/24/2026 By wasabi_md in Ashes Dev Journals
In this video developer journal BATTLEMODE explains the reasoning and method behind the recent balance adjustment to the Vasari, to tone them down a little and bring them back into line with the Advent and TEC. [read more]
6/24/2026 By PixelProphet in Sins Dev Journals
"New Issues" Update for The Political Machine 2024 Now Available Get Political Machine 2024 The political landscape doesn't stand still, and neither should your campaign strategy. We've added six new issues to the game reflecting the biggest political battles dominating the headlines right now. New Issues: ICE Raids and Enforcement: Workplace raids, courthouse arrests, fast-track deportations. Is this restoring the rule of law or federal overreach? Voters have strong opinions. S... [read more]
6/24/2026 By wasabi_md in Political Machine News
Localization Update for Star Control: Origins Now Available Get Star Control: Origins We've done a comprehensive pass on localization across all supported languages in Star Control: Origins. Translations have been improved and refined in German, Finnish, French, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazil), and Simplified Chinese, covering dialog, galaxy object names, and DLC Earth Rising strings. If you've been playing in any of these languages and noticed lines that looked off, there's a g... [read more]
6/24/2026 By wasabi_md in Star Control News
Dev Journal #120: They're Not Squatters Wishlist Federations & Empires When a civilization chooses the Oligarchy government type, they get a “hero ship” and we originally called them squatters. The ship gets a special ability to go around to class 0 planets and claim them as collateral, which they use to purchase investments that get added to their portfolio. When investments mature, they provide a new executive order for the player. For example, Dumping Rights lets you flood a targe... [read more]
6/18/2026 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals
Elemental: Reforged v1.2 Update Now Available Get Elemental: Reforged | Full Changelog Below The v1.2 update for Elemental: Reforged is now available. This release is focused on stability, AI improvements, and an overhauled loot system for the base game and gameplay updates and bug fixes for Treasures of Magi. Smarter AI AI now pushes back against runaway leaders, founds more cities on large maps, uses potions and scrolls in battle, and makes smarter spell targeting decisions. Overhau... [read more]
6/18/2026 By wasabi_md in Elemental News
Galactic Civilizations IV v3.31 Now Available The v3.31 update for Galactic Civilizations IV is available now on Steam, Epic, and galciv4.com. This is a maintenance release focused on stability, balance, and quality-of-life fixes from community reports. Get GalCiv IV | Changelog Below Stability Several crashes are fixed, including ones that could happen during startup, in late-game enemy turns, when closing the Ship Designer, and during turn rollover or autosave around the s... [read more]
6/18/2026 By redskittlesonly in GalCiv News
Turinium Victory Mode in Ashes of the Singularity II Wishlist Ashes II In this dev journal, we're taking a look at the Turinium Victory condition coming to Ashes of the Singularity 2. It's a returning win condition from the original game where teams compete to hold Turinium generators and accumulate points, giving you a way to end matches without having to hunt down every opponent on the map. We walk through a live match, break down how generator placement works, and show off the customiza... [read more]
6/17/2026 By wasabi_md in Ashes Dev Journals
Ara: History Untold v2.1 Update Adds National Crafting Policy System, Now Available Update addresses the most-requested change since launch by letting players set their empire's crafting priorities at the nation level Get Ara: History Untold | View the Changelog Stardock Entertainment and Oxide Games, in partnership with Xbox Game Studios, released the v2.1 Update for Ara: History Untold today, introducing a new National Crafting Policy System that addresses the most-common... [read more]
6/11/2026 By wasabi_md in Ara: History Untold News
Sins of a Solar Empire II v1.61 'Prelude' Update Is Live Get Sins II | View Changelog Below We've switched gears for our June update. The ARES AI overhaul still needs more time in the oven, so rather than rush it, we're holding it in the opt-in build and shipping a smaller, focused v1.61 in the meantime. This one is about making the AI a sharper opponent. AI players now survey the planets they own based on difficulty, and we've adjusted their bonus modifiers to cle... [read more]
6/11/2026 By redskittlesonly in Sins of a Solar Empire News
In this interview, Sins of a Solar Empire II's game designer, Conor "Sovereign Echo" Harris, joins BATTLEMODE to discuss the role of static defensive structures in Sins of a Solar Empire II, and his work to clarify and improve defensive play by adding in new abilities for each. He also shares information on the Pirates and the new Pirate Galleon added to the game a few months back. [read more]
6/10/2026 By PixelProphet in Sins Dev Journals
HQ Upgrades in Ashes of the Singularity II Wishlist Ashes II This dev journal covers the new headquarter upgrade system coming to Ashes of the Singularity II, and it's worth a watch if you've ever lost a region because your HQ couldn't hold the line on its own. Each faction's headquarters can now be upgraded twice, and the final tier adds a unique turret that fits the faction's identity. The UEF gets a rail gun that hits incredibly hard against armored targets, the PHC Nexus gets area-of-eff... [read more]
6/10/2026 By wasabi_md in Ashes Dev Journals
One of the recurring pieces of feedback we've received during Steam Nextfest and closed testing has been around unit production. While players understand how to create armies and reinforce existing armies, it has become obvious that we need to continue to improve the visibility into what is being produced, where units are being built, and how production queues are progressing across their production pipelines. As we continue to work on ways to address this feedback, we've have implemented ... [read more]
6/4/2026 By Oxide_BrettN in Ashes Dev Journals
It has been a busy Spring. The Galactic Civilizations community has posted vast amounts of suggestions, requests and just generally amazing feedback. There really should be a study on why 4X game communities are just, well, they really are just the best. The new expansion, Federations & Empires is pretty closely tied with version 4.0. That’s because version 4 supports the new government system and the base government, Colonial Charter, comes with the game. This will be good ne... [read more]
6/4/2026 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals
Avast ye scurvy dogs! Today I thought we could share pretty pictures of the concepting process for the Galleon, the Pirate’s newest unit featured in Pirate Incursions! Players have been asking to see the beautiful concept art created by resident concept artist Mike Doscher for this plundering beast and now seemed like a great time to share. “We want to introduce a more formidable unit for the pirates, a commander type unit. We're thinking a retrofit Akkan colony ship seems like a fun idea.... [read more]
6/3/2026 By Unikraken in Sins Dev Journals
Observer Mode in Ashes of the Singularity II Wishlist Ashes II In this dev journal, we're taking a first look at Observer Mode in Ashes of the Singularity II. Jump into any match and spectate from a specific player's perspective with full visibility into their economy, resources, research, and army orders, or switch to Revealed View for a fog-free cinematic look at the whole map. We also showcase our new Tactical View, which keeps fog of war intact for the player you're observing while lett... [read more]
5/27/2026 By wasabi_md in Ashes Dev Journals
How might a hyper-capitalistic civilization develop in the future? That’s the question we wanted to play out and the upcoming expansion pack for Galactic Civilizations IV, Federations & Empires, will answer it. The Oligarchy form of government results in a very different set of gameplay mechanics from the other governments and today we’re going to dive into it. The Background Here are some early concepts we played with how to manage these that I thought you might find interesti... [read more]
5/21/2026 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals
Treasures of the Magi brings new items, quests, gear and monsters to Elemental: Reforged Stardock Entertainment today released Treasures of the Magi , the first DLC for the fantasy turn-based strategy game Elemental: Reforged . Priced at $8.99 (enjoy the 20% launch discount through May 28!) , the expansion adds new monsters, treasures, items, and quests drawn from the First Age of Elemental, the era when the Magi ruled through sorcery and their golems stood watch over the cities of Ant... [read more]
5/21/2026 By redskittlesonly in Elemental News
Welcome to this Dev Diary! I’m Tom Fortune, one of the engineers on Sins of a Solar Empire II, and I’ll be walking you through the reasoning and motivations behind the upcoming AI overhaul. Let’s get started. Cause & Effect If you've spent some serious time playing against the Sins II AI, you likely already know the shape of the general complaints we get. The AI doesn’t really like to fight as much as we’d like. It builds a credible early empire and then has issues maintaining it. It ... [read more]
5/21/2026 By republica103 in Sins Dev Journals
Combat Stats and Tooltips in Ashes of the Singularity II Wishlist Ashes II This week's dev journal dives into something that doesn't always get a lot of attention: the numbers behind how units actually fight. We walk through the tooltip changes we've made and what they reveal about weapon behavior, range, and damage in ways that aren't always obvious just from watching a battle. [read more]
5/20/2026 By wasabi_md in Ashes Dev Journals
Greetings! Today I want to talk about what the Empire government actually does in the upcoming Federations & Empires expansion. I'm getting ahead of myself. So let me first walk through the idea of the new expansion, possibly the biggest we've ever done. In Galactic Civilizations IV: Federations & Empires, we are introducing governments. But really, we are using governments as an excuse to redo a lot of how the game is played without making people mad at us for changing the game so ... [read more]
5/14/2026 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals
New Orbitals in Ashes of the Singularity II Wishlist Ashes II Two new orbitals are coming to Ashes of the Singularity II. The EM Blast stuns enemy tanks and Titans while leaving your infantry standing, and the Nano Mesh Barrier throws a temporary shield on any friendly units to help them survive a bad engagement. [read more]
5/13/2026 By wasabi_md in Ashes Dev Journals
Tech trees are one of those parts of a strategy game that look obvious from the outside and turn out, every single time, to be one of the hardest things to get right. Game designers have been struggling with how to present technology research to the player since the early 90s, and three decades in, nobody has really solved it. There are good answers, there are interesting answers, and there are answers that work for one game and fall apart in another. There is no settled answer. As part of ... [read more]
5/7/2026 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals
Part 2 Video Blog v1.6 UI Horizons Update for Sins of a Solar Empire II Play Sins II Now In this video developer journal we show off some of the new gameplay features added in v1.6 "UI Horizons", including all new active abilities for static defense Military Structures. [read more]
5/7/2026 By BATTLEMODE in Sins Dev Journals
Treasures of the Magi, a New DLC for Elemental: Reforged New expansion adds monsters, treasures, items, and quests drawn from the lost age of the Magi, launching May 21, 2026. Wishlist Treasures of the Magi | Get Elemental: Reforged Stardock Entertainment today announced Treasures of the Magi, a new DLC for the fantasy turn-based strategy game Elemental: Reforged. The expansion is priced at $8.99 and adds new monsters, new treasures and items, and a new set of quest... [read more]
5/7/2026 By wasabi_md in Elemental News
Hotkey Changes in Ashes of the Singularity II Wishlist Now This video covers a restructured building system with dedicated hotkey rows for army buildings (QWER), resource buildings (ASDF), and defense buildings (ZXC), alongside a reworked unit recruitment screen that follows the same organizational logic, placing basic units on QWER, advanced units on ASDF, and air units across ZX through V. The consistent layout is designed to help players build muscle memory quickly while managing large... [read more]
5/6/2026 By wasabi_md in Ashes Dev Journals
Federations & Empires Expansion - the largest governance overhaul in the series' history replaces a linear upgrade path with forms of government Each with its own screens, resources, and political mechanics, releasing on July 2026 Buy Galactic Civilizations IV | Add Federations & Empires to your Steam Wishlist Stardock today announced Galactic Civilizations IV: Federations & Empires , a new expansion that introduces interstellar governments to the studio's... [read more]
5/6/2026 By redskittlesonly in GalCiv News
Part 1 Video Blog v1.6 UI Horizons Update for Sins of a Solar Empire II Play Sins II Now In this video developer journal for Sins of a Solar Empire II, we're taking a look at the new and improved front-end user-interface added in the v1.6 "UI Horizons" update. We also show off the new hand-crafted leader portraits, a ship viewer tool, and some new ship color customization options. [read more]
4/30/2026 By BATTLEMODE in Sins Dev Journals
The UI Horizons v1.6 Update is Now Available UI overhaul, in-game map editor, new defensive platform abilities and more arrive in the v1.6 Update Play Sins II Now (Part 2 Coming Soon!) Front-End UI Overhaul The entire front-end UI has been rebuilt from the ground up. The new layout surfaces more information at a glance, cuts dead space, and brings a cleaner visual style throughout. A new Faction Selection screen gives you a breakdown of each faction's identity... [read more]
4/30/2026 By wasabi_md in Sins of a Solar Empire News
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