Kzinti Patriarchy by Airmaster

The race of cat-like aliens originally created by Laren Niven and brought to life for GC3 by Airmaster. This faction pack includes the unique race itself and a wide selection of ships to choose from.

The Kzinti, a large canivourous cat-like species from a world known as Kzinhome orbiting star 61 in the Ursae Majoris constellation. Based on the Larry Niven sci-fi novels Man-Kzin Wars.

The Kzinti Race Civ is a full playable custom civilization that already includes ships set style. No need to subscribe to ship models unless you want a ship class that I was not able to add to ship set style. Otherwise ships may be subscibed to and used for other race factions and civs for player personal use only.

Kzinti Patriarchy on Steam Workshop

Microsoftians by Wally Wombat

A tongue in cheek faction made by Wally Wombat. Inspired by the good old Clippy character made by Microsoft to help people use their productivity software.

Would you like me to: Enslave all who oppose us, become an invaluable trade partner to all races, or help everyone come together as one happy family?

Microsoftians on Steam Workshop

Voufan Creator by Seilore

Part of Seilore’s factions pack, the Voufan are not the best with other civs, but are smart and eager to expand their dominion.

Many years ago as the Vimmite were nearing extinction they explored all options on how to save and extend their lifes. After much exhaustion Vimmite scientists developed an empty entity shell. Shortly there after they began experiments to transfer their minds into the new limitless shells. Successfully transferring their consciousness into this creation they started to thrive. Having no limit on lifespan the Voufan began to spred their new idea of life throughout the galaxy.

Voufan Creator on Steam Workshop

Necrons [Warhammer 40,000] by NEXUS

For your consideration,this Hallowen… some undead space Egyptians. Whilst there are many great recreations of the WH40K races for GC3, I have to admit some personal bias when it comes to these grumpy metal mummies.

Order. Unity. Oberdience. We taught the galaxy these things long ago, and we will do so again.

The Necrons are a race of mechanical warriors, created from the Necrontyr. They have lain dormant in their stasis-tombs for sixty million years. They are ancient beyond reckoning, pre-dating even the Eldar. At long last, however, they are beginning to awaken, seeking to reestablish the supremacy of the Necron Dynasties over the Galaxy once more.

Necrons on Steam Workshop

Denvarien Confederacy by Darkurthe

Here we have a very pragmatic race of starfaring people in the Denvariens.

A proud warrior people whose acceptance of outsiders is minimal, the Denvarans are polite, formal and exude violence when not treated either way.

Denvariens on Steam Workshop

One of the greatest aspects of having a mod friendly game is seeing the awesome, creative designs our users come up with. Whether it's a design inspired by your favorite universe, or a unique design pulled from your brain - I'm always impressed. From the smallest designs to the insanely detailed, you can find a ship design for any occasion.

Today I'm sharing some of the most popular designs submitted through the Steam Workshop. With all the content for GalCiv it's difficult to narrow it down to just a handful of ships, but I do what I must. If you don't see one of your designs included today be sure to keep an eye on our social media channels. We showcase user created content all of the time.

Without further adieu, I give you the featured ships:

Overlord Battlecruiser (Warhammer 40k) [Download]
Created by [ph7]Ghazef
A powerful Ship of the Line, seen in many Imperial Navy fleets.

As a huge Warhammer 40k fan, I've had my eye on this ship for some time now. The level of detail Ghazef put into this design really helps to bring it to life. You can easily combine this ship with some of the 40k based civilizations and get lost in the Grimdark.

There are a number of Warhammer 40k inspired ships and collections on the Steam Workshop if you want to bring the universe to life in GalCiv. Just remember, there is only war...

Imperial Star Destroyer [Download]
Created by Ya Girl Juniper
A terrifying ship that acts as both a Capital ship and a Carrier. A fleet of these is everything an Empire needs to conquer the Galaxy.

Star Wars is a franchised loved by many, so it's no surprise that people are creating ships and content inspired by the lore. It's difficult to browse the Steam Workshop and not see at least a few designs inspired by the cinematic universe. This particular design from Ya Girl Juniper is one that's been in the workshop for some time now and is still used by many players. The level of detail in this ship makes it a cool one to take a spin around the galaxy, and maybe blow up some rebel scum.

SR2 Normandy [Download]
Created by Omnibus
A powerful Ship of the Line, seen in many Imperial Navy fleets.

Mass Effect has solidified its place as a sci-fi favorite regardless of how you feel about the ending of the trilogy. The detail and accuracy of this design makes it unmistakable as the SR2 Normandy as you are commanding it to move through the galaxy. All we need now is Commander Shepard!

If you like this design from Omnibus you can see more here: Complete Omnibus Collection

Aeon Mothership [Download]
Created by =SM=Guy Incognito
The Aeon Class Mothership serves as the flagship of the Iconian Navy. A vessel of tremendous size, it is the ultimate guarantee against Yor aggression. Normally operating from the heart of a fleet, lone Aeons have been known to act as a sole naval garrison of some systems, with its murderous laser fire and swarms of fighters and attack craft enough to deter enemy aggression.

When you take a minute to look at the intricate design of this ship, it's no surprise that it's so popular on the Steam Workshop. Guy Incognito did a great job of making a ship that looks very formidable in space. Based on the information from the designer, this ship took about 21 hours to complete.

If you want to see some of the other ships that compliment the Aeon Mothership, be sure to check out the collection here: Iconian Fleet Collection

Sovereign Class [Download]
Created by Airmaster
Star Fleet Sovereign Class Heavy Cruiser.

Airmaster is another designer in the community who doesn't really need an introduction. As you can see from the Starfleet ship design, this one is coming in hot from the Star Trek universe. This is one of the many Star Trek designs you can find on the Steam Workshop. There are also a number of civilizations if you are looking to create the entire universe.

You can see more Star Trek designs from Airmaster here: Star Trek Collection

Ships, galaxy maps, civilizations and other mods are at the heart of the GalCiv community. I want to say thank you to all the creators out there who spend time making these designs!

Rebalance

The v2.93 opt-in continues to receive updates. Over this month we have added some new graphical improvements. But more excitingly we are in the process of a large rebalancing effort. Some of the changes being planned include some alterations to the Substrate to bring them more in line with overall army balancing.

So keep an eye on the opt-in as we continue to work on it in October.

Publisher Sale

We had our publisher sale this month. Among the games on offer was also Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation. We want to welcome our new players who got the game during the sale. Every neophyte is a ne

A good place to go for Ashes is the official discord server. We regularly host community games there and it is where the majority of our active community members hang out.

The Wiki

Work on the wiki rework is ongoing behind the scenes. Most of it has been tidying up what we started with. With the sale now done with and the rebalancing of Ashes in the next patch continuing we are starting to look at wider changes to the wiki.

The most requested updates coming will be for the unit stats. Of course, this is in flux right now so we want to be careful and this will likely be one of the final things we do with the wiki before its official re-launch.

We are also working on some lore background and adding concept art to the wiki. This work should ramp up in October and we hope to have the wiki done with a final pass for unit stats once the in progress patch comes out of opt-in.

Discord Community

The discord community will be receiving a rework along with the rest of our servers this year. There are a few new features that the discord people have added, and we want to make sue of it. Our hope is that after these updates it will make the overall experience easier and more accessible for players wanting to find others and sharing their knowledge, victories, and spectacular losses.

Hard to believe there are only 6 weeks until election day! With a new slew of issues on everyone's minds, we thought it would be a good week to make some additions to bring the state of the game in line with the state of the race.

New Issues

• National Mask Mandate: Should the federal government or regional authorities be in charge of determining the laws of mask wearing during a pandemic?
  
  
• Additional Stimulus Checks: Do you support sending citizens a second stimulus check and risk a ballooning deficit, or does the rebounding stock market mean the economy is doing fine as-is?
  
  
• Defunding the Police: Protesters have called for the dismantling and defunding of Law Enforcement, but opposition points to National Rioting as the exact reason we need that Law Enforcement.
  
  
• Prosecuting Rioters: To protest is American, but what happens when those protests turn ugly?
  
  

Updated Issues

• #BlackLivesMatter: After the death of George Floyd, national protests thrust the #BlackLivesMatter movement back into the spotlight.
  
  
• Filling Supreme Court Vacancy: The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg last weekend has flipped the 2016 script, with Republicans looking to fill the vacancy during an election year, and Democrats looking to prevent it.

Happy campaigning - it's coming down to the wire!

The Political Machine has always been a game that gets users excited for the upcoming election. It also allows users to make the calls they wish our politicians would make... here are a couple of high viewed, interesting videos from the community.

*The views and opinions expressed in these videos are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of Stardock. Any content provided by bloggers or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.

New Patch

This month we have been at work on some re-balancing, graphical improvements, and minor bug fixes in the v2.93 patch for Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation. This patch is still a work in progress and we are keeping it in the oven until we think it is ready.

The Patch notes (not exhaustive of all changes) can be found here when we update the opt-in: https://forums.ashesofthesingularity.com/500042

Our regular community games often include having this opt-in enabled so we can test out some of the new changes and ensure it is not causing unforeseen issues for players.

Fan Art

We got some amazing fan-art from Lord Raven on the Ashes discord server.

Also available to share via our twitter: https://twitter.com/ashesgame/status/1294183391924031493

The Wiki

Finally we have begun work on updating the Ashes wiki. It is still early on as we figure out how we want the layout and presentation to work. Expect updated stats, lore and more as we work on it in the coming weeks!

Time: 22^nd August, 1600 UTC / 12 PM (1200) EST

Lobby Name: Cosmic Chaos

Slots: 6-10

Type: PVP / PVE

This weekend we are playing some simple, plain, unmodded Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion. Our games will be started at the listed time, but will open the lobby a few minutes before start.

We will aim to do a team PVP game running for roughly 2-3 hours at accelerated speeds.

Please be in voice chat on the Sins of a Solar Empire official discord server. The specific channel in discord will be linked when we are ready for players to join.

Stream

Get Ready, Pundits!
The Founding Fathers DLC & HUGE Update Have Arrived

Battle for your spot in the White House against the founding fathers of America! In the new Founding Fathers DLC, you'll play as political heavyweights like George Washington, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and more. Do you have what it takes to go down in history?

Get the DLC Now: From Steam | From Stardock

DLC FEATURES

New Candidates 
None of the founding fathers could predict where the world would be some 200 years later, but some of their ideals are still applicable anyway! All of the new candidates’ ideologies have been adjusted to tackle current real-world issues. The founding fathers included in the DLC are:

• George Washington
• Thomas Jefferson
• Alexander Hamilton
• James Madison
• John Adams

New Ideology Tree - Democratic Republican 
States’ rights and a way to keep the national government in check were the cornerstones of the Democratic Republican party’s ideals. Founding fathers Thomas Jefferson and James Madison will take on real-world 2020 issues like lower taxes, Wall Street regulation, liberty, and much more!

New Ideology Tree - Federalist 
A strong government and a powerful executive branch were the basis of every Federalists’ belief system. Founding fathers Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, and John Adams bring their beliefs into 2020 by fighting for things like free market capitalism, taxing the rich, subsidizing domestic industry, and much more!

New Customization Parts
Race for the White House in style! New customization parts from hairstyles to clothing choices give you more options when creating your own candidates.

v1.3 UPDATE FEATURES

In addition to the DLC, we're releasing the FREE v1.3 update today! v1.3 introduces a couple of new candidates and is packed with new features and game improvements that will spice up your campaign and get your voters fired up for the big election.

New Candidates
The 42nd President of the United States is the first new candidate to grace the election trail: say hello to Bill Clinton. He is joined by Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee from Alaska. They're both ready to fight to earn their seat in the White House!

Candidate Workshop
You've been asking to be able to upload your custom candidates to Steam, and now you can thanks to the Candidate Workshop. With just a few clicks, you can share your custom creations to the Steam Workshop - we can't wait to see all the presidential contenders that you come up with!

Dynamic Map
The electoral map is the ultimate source of information for you when you're playing, showing you which states you have a lock on, which states are battlegrounds, and which states your opponent is taking. Thanks to the new animated Dynamic Map system, you'll be able to get all of that information at just a glance. Now, states will bounce, flash, and visually inform you when a choice you've made results in a change.

Campaign Events
In order to give you more agency, we've changed the randomized campaign events system. Now, when you see a state with a bouncing yellow "?", you can visit there and receive a message from someone wanting to help your campaign. You can use these opportunities to earn more money, ideology points, political operatives, and more!

Fixer Notifications
In all the flurry of activity on the campaign trail, sometimes it can be easy to miss things like when someone takes out an operative who's been working for you. Now, when a fixer takes out an operative, you'll see a big newspaper headline letting you know.

To learn more about what's in v1.3, visit developer Scott's change log post here.

The Political Machine 2020: Founding Fathers DLC
is now available on Steam or Stardock for $4.99

Get the base game on Steam  |  Get the base game on Stardock

Changelog for what I'm working on for Ashes v2.0:

Structure Changes

• Quantum Archive radioactive cost increased from 300 to 400
• Quantum Relay radioactive cost increased from 300 to 400
• PHC Refinery radioactive cost increased from 300 to 600, time increased from 90 to 120.  This was done to decrease early game use of it.

• Mobile Nullifier radoactive cost increased from 500 to 700
• Nemesis (PHC sniper) radioactive cost increased from 100 to 200
• Hades HP increased from 1200 to 1400
• Hades radioactive cost increased from 180 to 240
• Harvester radioactive cost increased from 280 to 512 for same reason that the PHC refinery cost was increased. It is not intended as an early game unit.

• Buildings given an armor value of 4 to encourage players to choose building destroying units that can only target structures.  For example, a unit that does 5 damage per shot will have 4 of it absorbed by armor with only 1 point doing damage.  However, a weapon that have armor piercing will bypass this.

John McCain and Barack Obama
have entered the race!

Greetings from The Political Machine Development Bunker.  While Shelter-In-Place rules have us working from home, that hasn't stopped the updates from flowing! Today we released v1.2, with two new highly-requested candidates - each with their own unique Ideology Tree - and several quality of life improvements that should make fans pretty happy.

Read on to see what changes we've brought with the update!

NEW CANDIDATES

A blast from the Political Past, players can now recreate that epic 2008 campaign between the fresh faced Obama and the war-hardened Senator McCain. Each candidate has their own hand-crafted 3D assets, along with the custom Ideology Trees "Hope and Change" and the "Straight Talk Express".

INFINITE POINTS MODE

OK guys, we finally bit the bullet. When creating your custom candidate, you can now toggle an 'Infinite Mode' where you can spend as many stat points as you want.

Fair warning - any candidate that goes over the allocated points will not be available to play in Multiplayer mode, but it certainly will provide some fun local fantasy match ups.

IMPROVED NEWS TICKER

In mid to late game, we've always had the problem of notifying players when important changes happen on the map. There may be several battleground states that flip but go unnoticed for several turns.

To combat this, we're feeding Battleground info into the News Ticker, where you'll get color-coordinated ticker items as Battleground states pop-up or are claimed by either candidate.

A subtle but important tool for strategists looking for victory in specific states.

AUTOSAVES

One of the big changes to the 2020 version was, by default, bringing the turn count down to 21 weeks. We preferred gameplay sessions at the quicker pace, but certainly understand those players that want a long, serious, 41 week throw-down. To help ensure players of those longer games always have a fresh save ready we've hooked up Autosaves!

OTHER IMPROVEMENTS

After this update, it's full steam ahead to the 4th of July, when we're going to have some BIG new announcements relating to The Political Machine! In the meantime, have fun with the new candidates and keep the gameplay requests coming!

The Political Machine 2020 is available on Steam or through Stardock.
www.politicalmachine.com