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The Political Machine 2020 is Now Available - Let the Campaign Begin!

The Political Machine 2020 is Here It's time to enter the race! Buy on Steam | Buy at Stardock Win the hearts and minds of America’s voters and take the 2020 presidential election by storm in Stardock’s popular political strategy game. Choose a candidate and run against a computer opponent or a candidate controlled by another person over the Internet. Candidates include current Democratic front-runners like Joe Biden,... [read more]

3/3/2020 By Tatiora in Political Machine News

Political Machine election roll-out schedule

For this election cycle we have a ton of updates in store between now and election day. Below is a tentative schedule: ## Spring 2020 ## Steam Workshop support for creating and sharing your own political ideologies. This year is a total, 100% rewrite of the game and while doing so we revisited everything about the game. The feature we like the most so far are the ideologies which will bring immense replayability to the game. Most of the candidates have their own ideology with ... [read more]

2/29/2020 By Frogboy in Political Machine News

COMING SOON: Star Control: Origins Earth Rising Part 4 - Earth Rises

Stardock announced the final installment of its 4-part expansion to Star Control : Origins today. Earth Rising - Part 4: Earth Rises introduces players to exciting new adventures, including bar fights at Kapteyn’s Bar, the reluctant return of a God, a search for a missing Commander, and more. Star Control: Origins is set in the late 21st century. The player is the Captain of Earth's first interstellar starship with the mission to explore the galaxy, f... [read more]

2/18/2020 By Tatiora in Star Control News

Star Control: Origins - Earth Rising, Part 4: Earth Rises

Heir to the Scryve In Star Control: Origins you had a chance to save the galaxy and meet some very dangerous, troubled, strange (and overly friendly) aliens along the way. There may or may not have been some cannibalism involved. After the successful completion of Origins, the threat was stopped and the galaxy was at peace. What is there for a snarky ship commander to do? Expand the influence of Earth, of course. It's time to get out into the solar system and to start becoming a galact... [read more]

2/13/2020 By DerekPaxton in Star Control Journals

Community Newsletter #9 - 1/31/2020

We're Only Just Getting Started We are back everyone! For this edition of the community newsletter we have news on new games, new tournaments, new mods and well everything that is new for a new year, new decade and maybe I should stop with this whole new thing now... The Horizon The Political Machine 2020 This month we announced the latest and most hotly debated The Political Machine 2020 . Who are the candidates? What do they want with... [read more]

1/31/2020 By SchismNavigator in Stardock Community Newsletter

GalCiv III v4.0 Plans

The 'big cleanup' is in the works for GalCiv III 4.0. Development on 4.0 is a work in progress as developer time becomes available (btw, we are hiring new C++ devs here..). So as we've discussed in the past, we'd really like to find a way to make modding more robust, though that's easier said than done because of the way we did our data structuring early on (there are tons of directories that the game pulls from, which all depend on which expansions you have installed). Whe... [read more]

1/28/2020 By Frogboy in GalCiv III News

Save over 80% on Stardock games and software during the Steam Lunar Sale!

Siege of Centauri $14.99 Now $11.24 - 25% Off Star Control: Origins $29.99 Now $9.89 - 67% Off Galactic Civilizations III ( Includes FREE: Retribution Expansion, Crusade Expansion and Mega Events DLC) $39.99 Now $15.99 - 60% Off Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation $29.99 Now $9.89 - 67% Off Offworld Trading Company ( Includes FREE: Jupiter's Forge Expansion) $29.99 Now $1... [read more]

1/23/2020 By Tatiora in Stardock Entertainment Announcements

COMING SOON: The Political Machine 2020!

Let the Campaign Begin! Stardock announced its new political strategy/simulation game today, The Political Machine 2020 . The PC strategy game allows players to choose a candidate and run for President against either a computer opponent or a candidate controlled by another person over the Internet. Candidates include the current Democratic front-runners including Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg, as well as Internet favorites such as And... [read more]

1/15/2020 By Tatiora in Political Machine News

Save Over 80% on Stardock Games and Software During the Steam Winter Sale!

Siege of Centauri $14.99 Now $11.24 - 25% Off Star Control: Origins $29.99 Now $9.89 - 67% Off Galactic Civilizations III ( Includes FREE: Retribution Expansion, Crusade Expansion and Mega Events DLC) $39.99 Now $15.99 - 60% Off Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation $29.99 Now $9.89 - 67% Off Offworld Trading Company ( Includes FREE: Jupiter's Forge Expansion) $29.99 Now $1... [read more]

12/19/2019 By Tatiora in Stardock Entertainment Announcements

New Star Control: Origins Benchmark Focuses on Measuring DirectX 12, Vulkan Performance

Stardock Entertainment released a benchmark on the Star Control: Origins game today. The benchmark is set on an alien world that is generated on-the-fly as the scripted lander travels over it. The objective is to measure high-end PC gaming performance using DirectX 12 and Vulkan, while putting as much stress on the CPU as possible also. The DirectX 12 and Vulkan APIs differ from previous generations of graphics APIs in that they were designed from the ground up in order to allow... [read more]

12/12/2019 By Tatiora in Star Control News

Over 80% off on our most popular titles during Steam's Autumn Sale

Siege of Centauri $14.99 Now $10.49 - 30% Off Star Control: Origins $29.99 Now $9.89 - 67% Off Galactic Civilizations III ( Includes FREE: Retribution Expansion, Crusade Expansion and Mega Events DLC) $39.99 Now $15.99 - 60% Off Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation $29.99 Now $9.89 - 67% Off Offworld Trading Company ( Includes FREE: Jupiter's Forge Expansion) $29.99 Now $1... [read more]

11/26/2019 By redskittlesonly in Stardock Entertainment Announcements

NOW AVAILABLE: The Europa Wager Expansion for Soren Johnson's Offworld Trading Company

Offworld Trading Company Releases Brand New Expansion "The Europa Wager" Get it on Steam or Stardock today! Travel to the smallest of Jupiter's Galilean moons and carve out a name for yourself against your competition! Head to the frozen moon of Europa, where numerous cracks on the moon's surface and multiple methane geysers will make building and sustaining structures a whole new challenge. Made of silicate rock and possessing a water-ice crust, ... [read more]

11/21/2019 By Tatiora in Offworld News

NOW AVAILABLE: Hunter / Prey Expansion and v2.9 Update for Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation

New Hunter / Prey Expansion and v2.9 Update Are Now Available New units, base defenses, orbital abilities, a new scenario, balance updates, stand ground command, and much more View the complete v2.9 Changelog Get it on Steam | Get it at Stardock Expand your strategic options, wield devastating new units, and turtle up with some fierce new defenses in Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation - Hunter / Prey! Haalee and her Substrate army are back wi... [read more]

11/14/2019 By Tatiora in Ashes of the Singularity News

Galactic Civilizations III v3.96 Now Available

v3.96 Improves Planet Visuals, Gameplay, and Several Bug Fixes Change Log Planets The planetary map generation system now prefers placing tiles near the equator. The result is fewer, isolated tiles near the poles. Change does not affect the total number of tiles placed. Improvements to the planetary material system that allows for greater detail and color. Continent shorelines blend better with the water. City lights on the dark side of some planets... [read more]

11/7/2019 By shaw in GalCiv III News

COMING SOON: New Hunter / Prey Expansion and v2.9 Update for Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation!

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation New Hunter / Prey Expansion and v2.9 Update Announced Enjoy new strategic depth with new units, base defenses, and a scenario Today, Stardock announced the new Hunter / Prey Expansion for its massive-scale RTS game, Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation. New Substrate units and PHC base defenses add depth to players’ strategic options in skirmish, multiplayer, campaign, and scenarios. “This expansion further differ... [read more]

11/6/2019 By Tatiora in Ashes of the Singularity News

NOW ANNOUNCING: Strange New Worlds DLC for Galactic Civilizations III!

Galactic Civilizations III: Strange New Worlds Announced Enjoy improved graphics and explore a slew of brand new world types Today, Stardock announced the new Strange New Worlds DLC for its massive sandbox space 4X strategy game, Galactic Civilizations ® III. The DLC contains a plethora of new planet types to explore, adding new strategic options for long-time players, while also offering exciting new experiences for people picking up the game for... [read more]

10/31/2019 By Tatiora in GalCiv III News

GalCiv Dev Journal: Thinking about starting conditions

The first impression of gameplay in a 4X strategy game tends to be what the opening choices are. And this is something we have tried our best to optimize in GalCiv III. In version 3.96, we are giving players the shipyard again by default (which we used to have back in 1.0). The presence of the starting shipyard has everything to do with having meaningful starting decisions. For example, here is v3.96 without the shipyard as an option now: We added a n... [read more]

10/26/2019 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Community Newsletter #8 - 10/21/2019

Higher Stakes A new expansion is announced for Offworld Trading Company, Stardock goes to a streamer meetup, and highlights from content creators are all part of this edition of the community newsletter. The Horizon New Expansion "The Europa Wager" Announced for Soren Johnson's Offworld Trading Company! Travel to the smallest of Jupiter's Galilean moons and carve out a name for yourself against your competition! Head to the frozen moon of Europa, w... [read more]

10/21/2019 By SchismNavigator in Stardock Community Newsletter

New Expansion "The Europa Wager" Announced for Soren Johnson's Offworld Trading Company!

Offworld Trading Company Announces Brand New Expansion "The Europa Wager" Add it to your Steam wishlist today! Travel to the smallest of Jupiter's Galilean moons and carve out a name for yourself against your competition! Head to the frozen moon of Europa, where numerous cracks on the moon's surface and multiple methane geysers will make building and sustaining structures a whole new challenge. Made of silicate rock and possessing a water-ice crust, Europa's atmosphere is ... [read more]

10/14/2019 By Tatiora in Offworld News

GalCiv Dev Journal: October 2019

We're putting the finishing touches on GalCiv III v3.95 which includes both balance changes and new game options and some quality of life updates. Originally we were going to go right from v3.6 to v4.0 but we've broken the tasks down into smaller chunks, hence v3.7, v3.8, v3.9, v3.91 and now v3.95 But we've also been working on v4.0 which has a heavy modding emphasis. Now that the major expansions to III are over (we will still be releasing DLCs, but all new FEATURE changes will happen in ... [read more]

10/8/2019 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Save Over 75% during our Publisher Weekend

Stardock's Publisher Weekend is here with over 75% off on our most popular titles! STEAM KEYS ARE PROVIDED WITH PURCHASE Star Control: Origins $29.99 Now $10.19 - 66% Off Galactic Civilizations III ( Includes FREE: Crusade Expansion and Mega Events DLC) $29.99 Now $7.49 - 75% Off Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation $29.99 Now $9.89 - 67% Off Offworld Trading Company $19.99 Now $9.99 - 50% ... [read more]

9/26/2019 By Tatiora in Stardock Entertainment Announcements

Stardock Releases Earth Rising - Part 3: The Syndicate for Star Control: Origins

Stardock Releases Earth Rising - Part 3: The Syndicate for Star Control: Origins Get the Earth Rising Expansion Now Play Part 1: Aftermath, Part 2: Return of the Lexites, and Part 3: The Syndicate today! Stardock released Part 3 of its expansion to Star Control : Origins today. Humanity’s alliance is fraying and their plans for expanding into the galaxy are waylaid when they are faced with a new threat. Earth Rising - Part 3: The Syndicate in... [read more]

9/24/2019 By Tatiora in Star Control News

Community Newsletter #7 - 09/20/2019

A Time For Heroes Siege of Centauri comes out of early access, the first Turinium Cup has its first champion and more Star Control is on its way! The Horizon Saving Centauri After three phases of beta testing in we are proud to announce that Siege of Centauri has officially come out of early access. Communications to Earth's first interstellar colony in Proxima Centauri have gone dark. In response, Earth has dispatched the Carpathia to ... [read more]

9/20/2019 By SchismNavigator in Stardock Community Newsletter

Siege of Centauri is Now Available!

Siege of Centauri is Now Available! Play Stardock's Take on the Tower Defense Genre Get Siege of Centauri Today Also available at: Stardock Communications to Earth's first interstellar colony in Proxima Centauri have gone dark. In response, Earth has dispatched the Carpathia to investigate. Upon arrival, you find a colony under siege. Your mission: save the colony from these brutal alien invaders. Siege of Centauri puts you in command of the defense of E... [read more]

9/12/2019 By Tatiora in Siege of Centauri News

Siege of Centauri: The Week Before Release!

Siege of Centauri comes out on September 12th. It's less than a week away! I know we have all been playing for a while, and I genuinely appreciate everyone who joined us for the beta, and especially those that provided feedback. All that goes into making sure it is the best possible game next week. So what does the development team spend our last week doing? You can see the full list of things we are working on for release day here: https://forums.stardock.net/496769/siege-of-cent... [read more]

9/6/2019 By DerekPaxton in Siege of Centauri Dev Journals

Siege of Centauri Release Date Announced

Stardock announced a September 12th release date for its take on the tower defense genre, Siege of Centauri, today. Set in the Ashes of the Singularity universe, the player takes on the role of defender of Earth's first colony on Proxima Centauri. In Siege of Centauri, players defend their colony against relentless waves of thousands of enemies. In the campaign, they will follow the story of Earth’s defenders and progress through increasingly difficult s... [read more]

9/5/2019 By Tatiora in Siege of Centauri News

AVAILABLE NOW: Villains of Star Control: Origins for Galactic Civilizations III!

Star Control: Origins villains come to Galactic Civilizations III in exciting new DLC New Alien Civilizations bring their own ship styles, unique race traits, diplomatic quirks, AI personalities, and more! The Villains of Star Control: Origins DLC pack introduces four major new civilizations to Galactic Civilizations III. All of the new alien factions come equipped with a unique leader, ship, music, and traits that make each civilization look and play differently from the existing ma... [read more]

8/27/2019 By Tatiora in GalCiv III News

Villains of Star Control AAR - Scryve Empire

For the release week bnof Villains of Star Control, I absolutely had to show off the Scryve. Ah the Scryve. How I wish we had thought of them before. Thirty years ago, when I was 18, I came up with the Drengin Empire. They are a pretty good villain for the Galactic Civilizations universe. But the Scryve? Ah, there is something magnificent about a race of demigods whose species is slowly dying out. An empire that was once as idealistic as any col... [read more]

8/26/2019 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Villains of Star Control: Origins AAR - Xraki Chaos

This is part 2 of a 4 part series on the villains of Star Control DLC for Galactic Civilizations III. You can see the...unpleasantness that took place in part 1 here . Mistakes were made. In Star Control: Origins we wanted to make sure that humanity's opposition wasn't simply a set of cartoon bad guys. Each opponent has a pretty strong motivation and a rationale...except for the Xraki. The Xraki are insane. They're not "evil" they were driven insane by events in ... [read more]

8/26/2019 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Villains of Star Control: Origins AAR - The Phamyst

Greetings! For this After Action Report I'm going to be playing Galactic Civilizations v3.9 with only the Heroes of Star Control civilizations. I'll be pointing out notable and interesting things as I go along. The Setup I'm going to play as the galaxy's classiest cannibals, the Phamyst. The Phamyst have the Ravenous ability which results in them receiving food after every battle which can be used to build cities. However, this food spoils after 25 turns so use it... [read more]

8/25/2019 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Siege of Centauri Dev Journal: What Makes A Good Tower Defense Game?

We love Tower Defense games at Stardock. We’ve played our fair share, and many have served as inspiration and reference for our work on Siege of Centauri. Before I started on Siege, I went on a Tower Defense binge to analyze and understand what makes for a good Tower Defense game. Here are the pillars that I think are critical to developing a good tower defense game. Variety of Creeps Tower Defense is inherently a repetitive genre, and generally without much narrative punch to ... [read more]

8/23/2019 By GGTheMachine in Siege of Centauri Dev Journals

Beta 3 for Siege of Centauri is now available!

Beta 3 is now available for the massive-scale tower defense game Newest update adds scenario workshop, endless mode, and much more Set in the Ashes of the Singularity ™ universe, Siege of Centauri places the player in the role of commander of the defense of Earth's first colony on Proxima Centauri. Beta 3 adds a scenario editor where players can create and share their own missions, and a new endless mode that allows users to see how long they can last against... [read more]

8/22/2019 By Tatiora in Siege of Centauri News

COMING SOON: Villains of Star Control: Origins for Galactic Civilizations III!

The Villains of Star Control: Origins Arrive in a Galaxy Near You on August 27th! Next week, Stardock will be releasing a brand new DLC for Galactic Civilizations III called Villains of Star Control: Origins. The Star Control universe is filled with beings of all shapes and sizes, and now some of them will be coming over as playable races for Galactic Civilizations III! Each race comes with their own unique abilities, ship styles, and theme music. Check out the 4 new playable races c... [read more]

8/20/2019 By Tatiora in GalCiv III News

Villains of Star Control: Origins is coming to Galactic Civilizations III

Last year we released Heroes of Star Control: Origins , and it proved to be so successful that we're following it up with Villains of Star Control: Origins DLC. The DLC arrives on August 27th and comes with 4 new playable races, each with their own unique abilities, ship styles, and theme music. The Star Control: Origins multiverse is filled with beings of all shapes and sizes. Here is a preview of some of the darker species coming over to Galactic Civilizations III. The Measured ... [read more]

8/20/2019 By Frogboy in GalCiv III News

Siege of Centauri Dev Journal: Strategy & Mayhem - Dichotomy of Design

Strategy and mayhem are the core of what makes a tower defense fun to play. Tower defense games need to pose meaningful decisions to the player, but while also containing tension and frenzy. Siege of Centauri went through different iterations internally as we tried to find the perfect mix of strategy and mayhem. Strategy and mayhem aren't inherently at odds with each other, but inevitably will be at times. Each tower defense game has different leanings, but there's always a balance to strike and... [read more]

8/16/2019 By GGTheMachine in Siege of Centauri Dev Journals

FREE WEEKEND: Try Galactic Civilizations III on Steam August 15th - 19th!

PLAY FREE ON STEAM THIS WEEKEND ONLY Also save 84% for a limited time!* Build a civilization that will stand the test of time in the largest space-based strategy game ever! Choose from dozens of unique races and make a name for yourself across the galaxy through diplomacy, espionage, technological advances, and more. Galactic Civilizations III is a 4X space strategy game set in the 23rd century. Humans and aliens compete against each other for domination of the galaxy through... [read more]

8/15/2019 By Tatiora in GalCiv III News

GalCiv III AAR 2019: Whispers of a dying empire

The Setup Large map, 12 random civilizations. The Expedition: the backdrop In 2253, the milky way galaxy had settled to roughly this configuration. Blue: Terran Alliance Purple: Yor Red: Drengin Empire Green: Torians Yellow: Arceans Cyan: Altarians With the other major civilizations being located in the vicinity. Back in the year 2178, humans invented hyperdrive which made per-ship faster than travel possible. This technology replace... [read more]

8/14/2019 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

Siege of Centauri: Beta 3 Changelog

*** RELEASED 08/22/2019 *** New Features Endless Mode - The onslaught doesn't end. See how long you can last against increasingly more difficult waves. Covey - Five paths lead down from the north toward your colony. Can you defend against them all? Mendel - A huge desert map gives plenty of room to build defenses. And you will need it against a wide variety of attackers. Ulrath - An arctic forest with dispersed resources. It will be hard to defend your Colony, Metal Ref... [read more]

8/12/2019 By DerekPaxton in Siege of Centauri Dev Journals

Galactic Civilizations III: Ascension

GalCiv3 has come a long way since release. It has added governments, mercenaries, citizens, thousands of free to download ships and factions to play as and more tools to manage your growing empire. I sat down to play some today with the 3.8 patch and decided to have some fun. One of the new features in 3.8 is the Galactic Ascension Status. So I wanted to play a game where I pursued an Ascension victory. I picked the Altarian's since they get a boost from Precursor Artifacts, I set my universe... [read more]

8/8/2019 By DerekPaxton in GalCiv III Dev Journals

The continued refinement of Galactic Civilizations III

Greetings! Thanks to you guys continuing to buy our DLC we are able to keep developing Galactic Civilizations III with new features and improvements. The last few updates have been focusing heavily on quality of life and the latest version, v3.8 continues that trend. Below are some of features we've recently added that we hope you find useful. Adjust difficulty mid-game Finding yourself doing really well mid game or struggling more than you thought? Under the option... [read more]

8/8/2019 By Frogboy in GalCiv III Dev Journals

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