Stardock Games - Everything about Stardock Games

GalCiv IV: They're Not Squatters

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

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

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

Ashes II Video Blog: Turinium Victory

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

v2.1 Update for Ara: History Untold Now Available

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

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

Video Dev Journal: Sovereign Echo on Defenses & The Pirate Galleon | Sins of a Solar Empire II

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

Ashes II Video Blog: HQ Upgrades

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

Ashes II Dev Journal: Unit Production Feedback Updates

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

GalCiv IV Dev Journal #119: Spring Status Report

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

Sins II Behind the Scenes: Pirate Galleon Concepts!

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

Ashes II Video Blog: Observer Mode

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

GalCiv IV Dev Journal #118: Oligarchies in Federations & Empires

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

Now Out: Now Available: Treasures of the Magi for Elemental: Reforged

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

Sins II Dev Journal: v1.65 'ARES: God of War' Preview

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

Ashes II Video Blog: Combat Stats and Tooltips

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

GalCiv IV Dev Journal: Empires

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

Ashes II Video Blog: New Orbitals

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

Dev Journal #116: The Tech Tree in the Room

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

Now Announcing: Treasures of the Magi DLC for Elemental: Reforged

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

Video Dev Journal: v1.6 "UI Horizons" Update Pt. 2 | Sins of a Solar Empire II

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

Ashes II Video Blog: Hotkeys

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

Galactic Civilizations IV: Federations & Empires Brings Distinct Government Forms to Stardock's 4X Strategy Game

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

Video Dev Journal: v1.6 "UI Horizons" Update Pt. 1 | Sins of a Solar Empire II

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

v1.6 UI Horizons Update Now Available for Sins of a Solar Empire II

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

Ashes II Video Dev Journal: Orbitals

Orbitals in Ashes of the Singularity II Wishlist Now Orbitals are active use abilities designed to boost your economy, drop in new units or cause catastrophic damage to enemy armies and turn the tide of a battle you might otherwise lose. We've made some changes to the way some of our Orbital abilities work. Firstly, some of the larger direct damage Orbitals now cause Friendly Fire damage, meaning you need to be careful where you place them if you're to avoid damaging your own forces. ... [read more]

4/29/2026 By BATTLEMODE in Ashes Dev Journals

GalCiv IV Dev Journal #115: Opening Moves

Strategy games are all about the opening move. Galactic Civilizations is no exception. In RTS games we call it “Build Order”. Back in the day, I played some of these RTS games “professionally”. Today, being old, I can’t even get out of Diamond 1 in StarCraft 2. But it is build order that keeps me at least Diamond. Knowing what to do when. One of the things I like about Galactic Civilizations, something that we hope to continue evolving, is making sure players have multiple interesting f... [read more]

4/29/2026 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

Livestream: Watch the Developers Play Ashes of the Singularity II

Tune in for the Ashes of the Singularity II Livestream Event Mark your calendars | Wishlist Now Get an exclusive look at Ashes of the Singularity II, the sequel to the massive-scale RTS. Watch the devs play through two popular biomes, the frozen Ice Moon, Europa, and the volcanic planet, Artemis. 📅 Tuesday, May 5th at 1:00 PM EST 📍Location: Ashes of the Singularity II Steam Page In this massive RTS game, command vast armies fighting fo... [read more]

4/28/2026 By redskittlesonly in Ashes of the Singularity News

Elemental: Reforged v1.03 Update Now Available

Elemental: Reforged v1.03 is Now Available Changelog below | Get Elemental: Reforged Stardock has released v1.03 for Elemental: Reforged, a maintenance patch that corrects a long-standing issue with Fire magic, resolves a handful of crashes that were surfacing in longer campaigns, and tightens a range of tooltip and quest text. The most significant change is a fix to Fire spell damage scaling. Several Fire items and abilities had not been behaving as their descriptions im... [read more]

4/23/2026 By redskittlesonly in Elemental News

Sins II Dev Journal: New UI Horizons and Player Customization Pt 1

Our resident UI guru Paul Kiesling will be giving us part one of a two-part series on this UI revamp below: With this month's update comes a functional refresh of our front-end UI. We have spent the last several months really digging into the UI to improve the user experience and feel. We have moved away from the holographic stylization and towards a more hardened TEC feel, with emphasis on readability and organization. We went through every menu and intentionally lined up all of the univer... [read more]

4/22/2026 By Unikraken in Sins Dev Journals

Ashes II Video Blog: The Substrate Showcase Pt. 2

The Substrate Showcase Part 2 Wishlist Now Ashes of the Singularity II, the sequel to the massive-scale RTS, takes you to a world in the near future where three factions are fighting for the fate of the solar system: the United Earth Forces (UEF), the Post-Human Coalition (PHC), and the AI Substrate. Whether you're interested in the single-player campaign, multiplayer, or skirmish matches, the faction you fight for is in your hands. The Substrate are the children of Haalee, a rogue a... [read more]

4/22/2026 By wasabi_md in Ashes Dev Journals

GalCiv IV Video Dev Journal: A Look at the v3.3 Update

In this video developer journal for Galactic Civilizations IV, BATTLEMODE shows off some of the new UI quality of life and Adaptive AI features added in our recent v3.3 update. For more information on this update, check out Frogboy's developer journal here . [read more]

4/22/2026 By BATTLEMODE in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

Ashes II Video Blog: Army Cohesion

Army Cohesion in Ashes of the Singularity II Wishlist Now A major update to our pathfinding in Ashes II is now playable! Armies will now coordinate with all units within the army, attempting to move and arrive at destinations as a cohesive whole. We’re calling this technology ‘army cohesion’, and it’s a key tool in allowing players the freedom to create mixed-unit armies without having to micromanage their movement across long stretches of the maps. [read more]

4/17/2026 By Oxide_BrettN in Ashes Dev Journals

Elemental: Reforged v1.02 Update Now Available

Battle forecasts, expanded modding tools, and stability fixes View the full changelog | Get Elemental: Reforged Now The biggest addition is a new battle forecast system. The pre-battle screen now shows a predicted outcome before you commit to a fight, ranging from Crushing Victory down to Likely Defeat, color-coded green to red. If your champions are at risk of falling, it tells you. Modding support has been expanded. All game data can now be replaced by internal name, ... [read more]

4/16/2026 By redskittlesonly in Elemental News

Galactic Civilizations IV v3.3 Now Available

Galactic Civilizations IV v3.3 Now Available Buy now on Steam | Epic Games Store | galciv4.com This update brings a new AI system, a streamlined faction creator, faster controls, and a long list of gameplay, balance, and stability fixes driven by community feedback. Adaptive AI The biggest addition in v3.3. Adaptive AI is a new gameplay option that gives struggling AI factions gradual bonuses to stay competitive. The bonuses fade as they ca... [read more]

4/15/2026 By redskittlesonly in GalCiv News

GalCiv IV Dev Journal #114: The Evolving 4X Interface (and v3.3)

The Problem Nobody Talks About 4X games have a UI problem and it's getting worse. Not because designers are getting lazier. It's because the games keep getting deeper. Every year we add more systems, more resources, more decisions per turn. And the interface has to present all of that without making you feel like you're working air traffic control. I've been making 4X games since 1993. The original Galactic Civilizations on OS/2 had maybe 15 screens total. GalCiv IV has... I actually don... [read more]

4/15/2026 By Frogboy in GalCiv IV Dev Journals

Ashes II Video Blog: Substrate Mechanics

Substrate Mechanics in Ashes of the Singularity II Wishlist Now The Substrate faction has some unique mechanics in Ashes of the Singularity II. In this video dev journal, we’ll explore their Shield and Drone mechanics, discussing how they work and how they impact the gameplay for the faction. [read more]

4/8/2026 By Oxide_BrettN in Ashes Dev Journals

Sins II Video Blog: v1.51 "Hunt fer Booty" Update

v1.51 "Hunt fer Booty" Update Avast yer scurvy scallywags! The "Hunt fer Booty" update dropped at the start of March and it's time to take a look at what Sins of a Solar Empire II looks like with *proper* Pirates in the game. Bounties can now be placed on the heads of your rivals, Pirates have their own brand new Capital Ship, Minor Factions exhibit new Raiding behavior and two new Advent Minor factions enter the game too. We've reworked the Civilian Structure Capture system, and made a s... [read more]

4/2/2026 By wasabi_md in Sins Dev Journals

Ashes II Video Blog: Pathfinding Updates

Pathfinding Updates in Ashes of the Singularity II Wishlist Now Pathfinding is a tricky subject in RTS games, and especially if you’re trying to allow for maps that are more than just mostly flat spaces. In this dev journal, we’ll explore some of the updates we’ve implemented since Steam Next Fest to the pathfinding. We’ve been working on keeping units from clumping up, improving traffic control through tight spaces, and giving bigger units the priority to shov... [read more]

4/1/2026 By wasabi_md in Ashes Dev Journals

Elemental: Reforged v1.01 - AI Improvements, Balance Tuning, Stability Fixes

Elemental: Reforged v1.01 - AI Improvements, Balance Tuning, Stability Fixes v1.01 is now available. This update focuses on AI decision-making, balance adjustments, performance and stability fixes, and a long list of bug and text corrections reported by the community since launch. Get it Now | Full Changelog Smarter Non-Cheating AI The AI settles cities more intelligently and no longer picks barren tiles. Spell usage and outpost construction decisions have... [read more]

3/30/2026 By redskittlesonly in Elemental News

Stardock Game News