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Star Control: Early 2022 Status Update

Greetings! It's been awhile since we've done an update so I figured it would be a good time to tell you where things are. Star Control: Origins News Before Covid, we had started porting Star Control: Origins over to XBOX One.  However, all that went out the window when the pandemic hit since you can't take the kits home and everyone was working from home.   However, this past Fall we were able to get restarted on it and we now have the game in pre-certification for X... [read more]

1/28/2022 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

Galactic Civilizations IV is Now in Beta

 Galactic Civilizations IV Enters Beta The beta unlocks all previously blocked civilizations from the alpha and adds the new Terran Resistance   Join the Beta View the Beta Guide Here   |   Full Beta Changelog Seek out new star systems and discover the exciting potential of the subspace realm in Galactic Civilizations IV! You are the all-powerful leader of a spacefaring civilizations and will discover thousands of worlds and dozens of civ... [read more]

1/27/2022 By Tatiora in GalCiv News

The Galactic Civilizations IV BETA Guide Tour

**NEWEST  WALKTHROUGH HERE ** Introduction If you’re coming from Galactic Civilizations III, you’re in for a treat. And if you have never played a Galactic Civilizations game before, then know this: this game is specifically designed to answer to the question, “I want to play a space 4X game, what game should I start with?” Read on to learn what this game is all about, who made it, and why we made it. A little about the team The highest rated space ... [read more]

1/25/2022 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

GalCiv IV Dev Journal #15 - Internal Factions

A million years ago in the 1990s when I was designing the OS/2 versions of Galactic Civilizations I gave the player sliders to adjust what they were spending their resources on.  This system lasted right on through Galactic Civilizations II for Windows. GalCiv I for Windows   GalCiv II for Windows GalCiv III v1.0 for Windows While highly useful for min-maxing a relatively simple economic system, it suffered from being pretty opaque in how it worked and was pretty ... [read more]

1/10/2022 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

GalCiv IV Dev Journal #14 – Pacing Comparisons

Pacing in 4X strategy games is crucial.  So I decided to look at GalCiv II, GalCiv III and the GalCiv IV alpha to take a look at how fast things move along.   T urn       GalCiv II (Twilight of the Arnor) GalCiv III (Retribution) GalCiv IV [Alpha] 1 · Researched New Propulsion Techniques [7 turns] · Planet Project: Innovation Complex [16 weeks] · Music: Haunting · Startport: Rush bought Co... [read more]

12/23/2021 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

Save up to 75% on Stardock games, DLC, and software during the Steam Winter Sale!

Steam's Winter Sale is here with up to 75% off* on Stardock's most popular games, DLC, and software! STEAM KEYS ARE PROVIDED WITH PURCHASE Star Control: Origins $29.99 Now $13.49 - 55% Off Galactic Civilizations III ( Includes FREE: Crusade and Retribution Expansions, Mega Events DLC) $39.99 Now $19.99 - 50% Off Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation $29.99 Now $13.49 - 55% Off Offworld ... [read more]

12/22/2021 By Tatiora in Stardock Entertainment Announcements

GalCiv IV Dev Journal #13 - The Vault

The Galactic Civilizations games are known for their ship design features. But ship design occurs before the ship is made.  What about after?  Galactic Civilizations IV will be introducing a new feature for upcoming Beta version (this Winter) called “The Vault”. The Vault is a set of special items the player either produces or, more commonly scavenges across the galaxy.  Destroying the monster ships, pirates, enemy fleets, etc. will result in scavenging th... [read more]

12/20/2021 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

Galactic Civilizations III v4.21 Brings AI and Map Density Updates

AI and Map Density Get Update 4.21 also brings a number of long requested balance updates Play GalCiv III Now What players will probably notice the most, however is how much better the AI is at putting together fair trade offers. This may only merit a single line in the change log but represented the bulk of the engineering time for this update.     4.21 Changelog All versions: AI is now significantly better at putting together trade offers with... [read more]

12/15/2021 By redskittlesonly in GalCiv III News

GalCiv IV Dev Journal #12 - AAR Drengin Human Wars I Part 1

For many years,  I have put the Galactic Civilizations games through their paces to see how well a given game does at feeling like a story.  I do this to help nitpick things we need to change.  With the beta for GalCiv IV just around the corner, I thought I’d see how well the game stacks up so far. I also will be inserting comments that normally we would have at internal meetings, but for you aspiring game developers I wanted to show some of the feedback the team gets fro... [read more]

12/13/2021 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

Galactic Civilizations IV Releases .65 Alpha Update

v.65 is here and brings two new civilizations, the Arcean Republic and Drath Freehold. The update also offers new policies, galactic bazaar, and supply ships. Arcean Republic Civilization The military is the backbone of Arcean culture. They start with access to the Tradition, Opportunity, and Harmony ideology trees. Their citizens are never pacifists, have a higher Resolve, and get an Approval bonus when they are specialized into Soldiers. Arcean citizens are also never overly Ideologi... [read more]

12/8/2021 By redskittlesonly in GalCiv News

GalCiv IV Dev Journal #11 - Combat AAR

In the previous entry , we discussed whether we needed a battle viewer.  That’s because combat in GalCiv IV works somewhat differently than previous entries. Specifically: Combat on the map can involve multiple (ranged) tiles which complicates things a bit. Combat can take multiple turns which complicates things After getting a lot of helpful feedback we think we’ve come up with a way to have our cake and eat it too: AAR (After Action Reports).  Whenever combat take... [read more]

11/24/2021 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

Save up to 75% on Stardock games, DLC, and software during the Steam Autumn Sale!

Steam's Autumn Sale is here with up to 75% off* on Stardock's most popular games, DLC, and software! STEAM KEYS ARE PROVIDED WITH PURCHASE Star Control: Origins $29.99 Now $13.49 - 55% Off Galactic Civilizations III ( Includes FREE: Crusade and Retribution Expansions, Mega Events DLC) $39.99 Now $19.99 - 50% Off Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation $29.99 Now $13.49 - 55% Off Offworld ... [read more]

11/24/2021 By Tatiora in Stardock Entertainment Announcements

Galactic Civilizations IV: Community Q&A #2 [22nd October 2021]

Before releasing Galactic Civilizations IV 0.60 we hosted a second community questions & answers session on our discord. This time we were joined by lead designer Derek Paxton. Questions were both submitted before and asked live in person by various members of the community. Derek Paxton – Lead Designer Henry Pailing – Community Manager A big thank you for everyone who were able to make the Q&A. Our team enjoys doing these and appreciate the key insights t... [read more]

11/8/2021 By SchismNavigator in GalCiv News

Galactic Civilizations IV v0.60 alpha releases today

Stardock's  Galactic Civilizations IV v0.60 Alpha is Here The newest installment of this award-winning space 4X strategy sandbox game series has had many new features added during the course of its alpha phase, and the features will just keep on coming as development continues.   As the all-powerful leader of a spacefaring civilization, you must seek out new star systems and discover the exciting potential of the subspace realm. There are thousa... [read more]

11/3/2021 By Tatiora in GalCiv News

Galactic Civilizations IV Beta 1 Community Q&A

It's time to leave the dockyards! We are preparing to launch  Galactic Civilizations IV into beta, and we can't wait to talk with you about everything that's shiny and new. When we launched the alpha several months ago , we knew you'd have questions - just like you probably do now. Which means it's time for another LIVE Q&A session with members of our development team ! We'll answer questions like: What have we been working on? How are things going to be different betwe... [read more]

10/13/2021 By SchismNavigator in GalCiv News

GalCiv IV Dev Journal #10 - Do we need a battle viewer?

Starting with Galactic Civilizations II, we allowed players to go and watch their ships fight it out in battle in a separate battle viewer screen.  But, what if we could show the battle on the main screen? That is, what if we could just zoom in on a fleet and rather than it being the leader ship with a number by it, it actually changed to show the entire fleet?  So if you wanted to watch a fleet fight it out, you would just watch it right on the map. Thoughts? __________________... [read more]

10/11/2021 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

GalCiv IV Dev Journal #9 - Onboarding

The process of getting a new player into your game and making that process an enjoyable experience can be the difference between success and failure for your game.  If you make a game for a publisher, you can assume there will be a milestone that involves the onboarding.  Let’s take a look at how GalCiv IV does it and what has changed since GalCiv III. Title Screen We went through many iterations for the title screen.  How many buttons should there be? Which butto... [read more]

10/4/2021 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

The Yor is back in the latest update to GalCiv IV

v.55 is Now Available Play as the Yor Our first non-organic species. The Yor have no growth rate and don't require food. Instead, they manufacture their population as other species manufacture buildings. They can also colonize a variety of worlds that can't sustain organic life right from the beginning of the game. Their citizens start out with generally weak stats, but they have access to unique technologies that upgrade the capabilities of all of their citizens and can make t... [read more]

9/23/2021 By redskittlesonly in GalCiv News

Save up to 75% on games, DLC, and software in the Stardock Publisher Sale on Steam!

Stardock's Publisher Sale is here with up to 75% off* on our most popular games, DLC, and software! STEAM KEYS ARE PROVIDED WITH PURCHASE Star Control: Origins $29.99 Now $13.49 - 55% Off Galactic Civilizations III ( Includes FREE: Crusade and Retribution Expansions, Mega Events DLC) $29.99 Now $9.89 - 67% Off Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation $29.99 Now $9.89 - 67% Off Offworld Tra... [read more]

9/13/2021 By Tatiora in Stardock Entertainment Announcements

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation - Core Worlds DLC Adds New Maps Based on Real-World Locations

New Core Worlds DLC Adds New Maps Based on Real-World Locations Get it on Steam | Get it at Stardock Stardock released the  Core Worlds  DLC for  Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation  today. The DLC adds new asymmetrical maps based on real-world geographic locations and distributes resources to offset the geographical disadvantages on each battlefield.    Each map is of varying s... [read more]

9/8/2021 By Tatiora in Ashes of the Singularity News

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation v3.1 Optimizes Game with Faster Load Times and Major Balance Updates

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation, Now with Faster Load Times and Major Balance Updates View the full changelog below! Stardock’s massive-scale real-time strategy game received an update today that reduces load times and improves combat balance and visuals.   Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation  takes place in a post-technological singularity world where sentient AI, known as th... [read more]

9/8/2021 By Tatiora in Ashes of the Singularity News

Stardock updates its fantasy civilization game, Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes, with new quests, champions, performance updates and bug fixes

Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes  Version 3.0 arrives! Version 3.0 of Stardock's fantasy civilization style game, Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes gets updated to add more quests, heroes, city upgrades and general performance and stability improvements. Conquer your enemies and explore the world of Elemental in Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes! We've updated this beloved classic with a new Tower of Knowledge faction structure, some h... [read more]

9/1/2021 By Tatiora in Elemental News

GalCiv IV Dev Journal #8 - Rise of the Commanders

“This is just GalCiv II but with better graphics,” was a comment some GalCiv fans made when GalCiv III was first released. That was no more true than saying Civilization V was just Civilization IV with better graphics, but we understood where they were coming from.  There weren’t a lot of big bullet item changes from the previous version. That was because most of our time and budget was spent building a brand new space 4X game engine. As good as GalCiv II was, it was bu... [read more]

9/1/2021 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

Star Control: Origins - v1.5 Preview

With more people coming back to the office work on the console version of Star Control: Origins has picked up.  The first part of this has been to do a pretty thorough revamp of the game’s underlying systems in order to optimize it for the XBOX One, PS4 and also next-generation consoles. During this process we greatly improved the quality of the texture maps throughout the game which includes aliens and ships. [click on thumbnail to enlarge] The team was also able to sub... [read more]

8/25/2021 By Frogboy in Star Control Journals

Follow the GalCiv IV Development/Release through PCGamesN

Follow the dev of GalCiv IV through PCGamesN, below are the first two articles, future articles will be posted below: Galactic Civilizations IV’s Manti Cluster want their children back Galactic Civilizations IV is out now, and there’s an entire galaxy’s worth of factions you can control as you try to conquer the stars in the newest 4X game from Stardock. We’ve covered many of the 18 playable civilizations, and with only a handful left to go we turn our attent... [read more]

8/23/2021 By redskittlesonly in GalCiv News

Galactic Civilizations III Releases Highly Requested Update

Galactic Civilizations III   Releases  Highly  Requested v4.2  Update Stardock released a v4.2 update today for  Galactic Civilizations III,  its massive space sandbox 4X strategy game. The update has taken a large amount of community feedback into account as it works to address the game’s balance.       The version 4.2 update focuses on balancing several existing elements within the gam... [read more]

8/5/2021 By Tatiora in GalCiv III News

GalCiv IV Dev Journal #7 - The Changing Face of Space Robots

Somewhere around here I have the original image of the Yor from 1992.  They don’t resemble the modern Yor very much.  When I wrote the Yor origin story back in 1987 (when I was in high school) the Yor followed the common trope of AI servants who rose up against their masters.  Their masters, in this case, were a race of beings known as the Iconians (who are also in the game). The Yor of 1995 Yor of 2021 As time has gone by, I’ve thought about making the... [read more]

8/2/2021 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

GalCiv IV Dev Journal #6 - Those First 20 Turns

One of the challenges we have in setting up maps is the question of how quickly should players be meeting other civilizations in the game?  How quickly should things show up? How much should the game direct you? I decided to take a hard look at GalCiv II and GalCiv III to see how different those first 20 turns worked out. GalCiv II: First 20 turns Turn 1: No on-screen direction but the UI is pretty clean and My ship is already selected to move. Selected ship has an a... [read more]

7/26/2021 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

Save up to 75% on Stardock Games and Software During the Steam Summer Sale

Make a Splash with Savings over 70%* on Stardock Games and Software! The Steam Summer Sale is Here STEAM KEYS ARE PROVIDED WITH PURCHASE Star Control: Origins $29.99 Now $13.49 - 55% Off Galactic Civilizations III ( Includes FREE: Crusade and Retribution Expansions, Mega Events DLC) $39.99 Now $12.49 - 66% Off Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation $29.99 Now $13.49 - 55% Off Offworld ... [read more]

6/24/2021 By Tatiora in Stardock Entertainment Announcements

Screenshot of the Week - GalCiv IV

Almost done claiming and colonizing all of the worlds around your home planet? Get ready to explore a new sector where a whole host of new worlds, resources, and opportunities await you.   [read more]

6/23/2021 By redskittlesonly in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion v1.96 Released

Ironclad Games and Stardock are pleased to announce the release of version 1.96 for Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion today. The full change log can be found at: https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/505490/ [read more]

6/22/2021 By Yarlen in Sins News

Screenshot of the Week, Sectors - GalCiv IV

When you're looking to rule the galaxy you need to be able to see everything - where your strongholds are, where your enemies are lurking, and where you have left to expand to. The new sector view lets you zoom out to view all of the sectors on the map so you can make better decisions on your strategy.   [read more]

6/16/2021 By redskittlesonly in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

GalCiv IV Dev Journal #5

During the development of a game, many ideas will look good on paper only to be found to not work out in practice.  Normally, these ideas get killed off before implementation and even fewer ever get seen by the public. In the case of Galactic Civilizations IV, because we’re going out in ALPHA, you will get to see some ideas fully implemented that we have already decided didn’t work out. Today’s example for discussion: The Ideology compass. Here’s how it ... [read more]

6/14/2021 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

Early Access is Now Available for Galactic Civilizations IV

 Galactic Civilizations IV Enters Early Access Players can now Play the Alpha Join Early Access Now View the Alpha Guide Here Stardock released an Alpha version of Galactic Civilizations IV into Early Access today. As the all-powerful leader of a spacefaring civilization, the player must seek out new star systems and discover the exciting potential of the subspace realm. There are thousands of worlds to colonize and dozens of civilizations - both old and new - to... [read more]

6/10/2021 By Tatiora in GalCiv News

GalCiv IV Dev Journal #4 - A Guided ALPHA Tour

For this entry, we are going to give you a tour of Galactic Civilizations IV as it exists, in alpha state, in June 2021.  We’re very excited. There’s a lot in here but so very much more to do. Note : I’m playing at 5K so I’m smushing my screenshots down so that they’re not quite so huge.   Choosing a Civilization For the Alpha, you can only play as the humans.  This is because we intend to make the civilizations much more distinc... [read more]

6/10/2021 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

GalCiv IV Dev Journal #3

With the benefit of hindsight… Every 4X game I’ve played struggles with the late game.  This is because they tend to become a micromanagement slog where the outcome of the game was known long before.  So how do you address this?  Well, the wrong way to do it is with AI governors or other such “help” from the AI. GalCiv IV flips the concept of governors on its head. In previous GalCiv games, you had to manage every single planet you coloni... [read more]

6/7/2021 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

Screenshot of the Week, Ideology - GalCiv IV

How you spend your culture points will determine what kind of leader you are and what type of civilization you lead: Authoritarian, Collectivist, Individualist, and Libertarian - with plenty of room to dance the lines between them.   Which way do you lean? [read more]

6/2/2021 By redskittlesonly in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

Screenshot of the Week, Research - GalCiv IV

Prioritize your research! It's tough to trade with other civilizations if you can't communicate with them - universal translator can help with that.   Which technologies would you research first? [read more]

5/26/2021 By redskittlesonly in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

Galactic Civilizations III v.Next - Beta Now Available

Galactic Civilizations III's next update is now in opt-in and ready to test out! Players can expect tons of improvements and user requested changes, check them out below:     GalCiv III v.Next Changelog Tiny hull receives +2 speed buff Small hull receives +1 speed buff Cargo hull cost increased Slight bump to improvement costs. Colony ships cost more Prototype hyperdrive requires anti-matter instead of Promethion Fixed bug that could cause an AI player to rush a ... [read more]

5/26/2021 By redskittlesonly in GalCiv III News

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