Galactic Civilizations IV News

Hello everyone! For today’s Dev Journal, I will be going over Resources in GalCiv IV.

In the past few Dev Journals, we've been exploring new features introduced by GalCiv’s latest DLC: Megastructures. However, for my first Journal of the new year, I want to take a step back from the late-game-focused expansion to cover some GalCiv fundamentals.


GalCiv IV has no shortage of Resources, and I’d like to focus on the five most common Resources you will encounter while expanding your empire across the galaxy.

These Resources are:

• Durantium
  
• Promethion
  
• Elerium
  
• Antimatter
  
• Thulium
  

[h2]What are they Used For?[/h2]
Let’s go over what each of these Resources is used for, starting with Durantium.


Durantium is a highly valuable Resource, particularly important in the early game. This is because Durantium is required for the construction of most Orbitals and several powerful Manufacturing and Military Improvements.

A steady supply of Durantium will invariably accelerate the development of your colonies and allow you to increase their Manufacturing capabilities.


Similarly, Promethion is extremely valuable as it is a required Resource for most Research Improvements and Research Missions.


A solid cache of Promethion can help you outpace the competition in terms of research speed and technological progress.


While Durantium and Promethion are highly valuable for colony development, Elerium, Antimatter, and Thulium are crucial for Ship Construction.

Elerium is used to construct ships with powerful Beam Weapons and Shields, Antimatter is used in Missile Weapons and Evasion systems, and Thulium is used in Kinetic Weapons and Armor.


This isn’t to say that Durantium and Promethion don’t also have a role in ship construction. Durantium is used to construct powerful Carrier Modules and is required for the Extended Reinforced Hull Flagship upgrade, while Promethion is used to increase a ship’s Moves with several Drives.


All Resources and the current amount held by the player will appear at the top of the screen in the Resource bar for your convenience.


[h2]Resources On the Map[/h2]
Each Resource can be found scattered across the map as you explore.

The first two Resources, Durantium and Promethion, can both be found spawned around stars of any color. Durantium specifically tends to spawn near stars with long asteroid belts (though it can be found around stars without them), while Promethion tends to favor stars without asteroid belts, with some exceptions.


Thulium is more limited, spawning exclusively around blue and purple stars.


Elerium and Antimatter are unique in that they don’t spawn around stars but are found inside Nebulae and around Blackholes, respectively.


[h2]Collecting Resources[/h2]
Resources found around stars and on the edges of black holes can be collected over time by well-placed Mining Starbases.

Constructor ships are used to build these Mining Starbases. When flown to a desired tile, they can be converted into the Starbase of choice. Starbases come in four varieties: Mining, Economic, Military, and Communications. Mining Starbases will only appear as an option if a minable Resource is within that Constructor/starbase’s radius.


When establishing a Mining Starbase, it pays to position your Starbase between as many Resources as possible. Upgrades to Mining are applied to every Resource in range, and later, Starbase range can be upgraded to reach Resources that may have previously been just out of reach.


Another viable way to collect these Resources is by using the Galactic Bazaar. The Galactic Bazaar is unlocked by the Universal Translator technology and allows you to purchase or sell any of the five staple Resources alongside a rotating group of four other Resources.

The Resources available to you can vary based on what Resources spawned in your sector or near your colonies. Thus, the Bazaar can be an ultra-convenient way to earn credits by selling Resources held in excess and gaining access to Resources otherwise not available to you.

Be careful, however; the more you buy a Resource, the more expensive it becomes, and the more you sell a Resource, the lower its value.


[h2]Other Resources[/h2]
There are over a dozen other Resources that you may collect or encounter during play. Most of these Resources can be found on random planets and harvested via specific Improvements or Orbitals.

Many of these Resources can be purchased on occasion from the Bazaar, earned through Events, or traded for with other civilizations.


These additional Resources are commonly used to construct various Improvements and are generally not as critical as the main five. However, they can still provide significant advantages and should not be overlooked.

[h2]Resources: Conclusion[/h2]
Understanding and effectively managing Resources in GalCiv IV is crucial for the successful expansion and development of your empire. The five primary Resources - Durantium, Promethion, Elerium, Antimatter, and Thulium - each play distinct roles in enhancing your colonies, advancing research, and constructing powerful ships. By strategically placing Mining Starbases and leveraging the Galactic Bazaar, you can ensure a steady supply of these vital Resources, giving you a competitive edge in the galaxy.

Thank you for reading this Dev Journal. I hope it provides you with valuable insights into Resource management in GalCiv IV. Stay tuned for more updates and tips in future journals. May your empire thrive and conquer the galaxy!

The Ringworld is the final and most mighty of the titanic projects available for construction in the new Megastructures expansion for Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova, allowing the fabrication of a perfect artificial world in the shape of a ring, wrapped around a hosting star, for the people of your Civilization to settle and work on.

While not quite the crown of the Megastructures research tree (that accolade is reserved for the final level of Augments for the Stellar Nexus) the Ringworld is hi-tech stuff and takes a significant research investiture to achieve.


The Ringworld will also require a non-trivial amount of Gigamass to manifest, both for the Megastructure itself and to construct the Dyson Sphere required to power it. As such, the undertaking of such a magnificent project must not be taken lightly and you’ll need to decide whether a new super-planet is a better fit for your Civilization’s current needs than a Stellar Nexus with Augments or a set of Stellar Gates. While the performance enhancing bonuses granted by an Augment will be game-changing, it’s also quite difficult to quantify just how useful a massive, highly customizable artificial planet-like structure can be on your game.

Here’s a virgin Ringworld, pristine and sparkling with potential, before a clumsy uncultured barbarian like myself has had a chance to maul it with his crude designs.


You’ll note that this creates a colonized “planet” with very high Planetary Input values, and 39 tiles to build on, with a mix of useful tile types to allow you to really get the most out of that landmass. What you build on this magnificent Megastructure, is completely up to you!

Do you build one out of necessity, because your exploding Mimot population has colonized every last world in your territory and you’re not quite ready to go to war with a neighbor for their own planets? Or do you plan on building an almighty armada to bring a war of destruction to all around you, and so fabricate a world dedicated to industrial might and shipbuilding?

Let’s take a look at a couple of Ringworlds built for different purposes, and hopefully whet your appetite for the possibilities they offer in a variety of situations.

Firstly, let’s take a look at one I built in my own game as the Corporate Sector.


As you can see from the screenshot, this was right at the close of the game with the CS, where my main goals were to accumulate enough Credits to keep my greedy money-grubbing Iridium Citizens happy and ensure I had the proverbial “Sinews of War” to ensure no other Civilization could best me in a war. Unless you’re solely relying on Supply Ships, constructed and flown in from off-world, you’ll often want some Industry on a Core World to get everything else up and running.

Over at the east end of the planet I built a fairly solid core of Industrial Districts surrounding a Stellar Forge, for a substantial Manufacturing score. I used Supply Ships to get this going quickly, while interspersing this industrial development with Housing, allowing Citizens who were outgrowing their own worlds to be transported over to rapidly fill this new planet. You’ll not usually get such a high Manufacturing score unless you manage to conquer the Yor’s homeworld of Iconia, or find a very high class planet and dedicate it to industry and Workers.


The rest of the planet was then filled with Income boosting Districts and Improvements, with a substantial proportion of the population assigned over to the Entrepreneur Job. Sure, there are some big end-game technologies in play here, such as Individual Divinity, and the boost that’s giving to Citizens is inflating these Planetary Outputs a little, but you’ll see that this one Ringworld is producing a massive 431 Credits per month alone (taxed at about 40% for 151 Credits per month).

If you really want to, you can fill it full of Approval boosting Improvements to get that tax-rate up even further, but even without those, I pushed the tax-rate to the maximum of 75% here, and despite this eyewatering assault on our Citizen’s wages, we’re still able to get a respectable 71% Approval rate and a 324 Credit per month Income, just for this one planet.


And I’m not even trying here: I’m sure all you minmaxers out there are going to have a lot of fun figuring out how to really powerhouse your economy with these Ringworlds. If you dropped the industry, relied on Supply Ships and then just covered the planet with Housing and economic assets, I’m sure you could do a whole lot better than this.

Now let’s take a look at Ringworld dedicated to a completely different purpose.


I don’t need to explain this one too much, it’s built to pump out the biggest, most dangerous battleships as fast as possible, while still generating some Wealth, with some Entertainment Districts to counteract the inevitable Pollution that accumulates on a big dirty industrial world like this. You’ll note there are no special industrial Improvements here, this is mostly just Manufacturing Districts and a bunch of Workers.

And this is one of the Iridium’s prized War Bringer Battleship models, being pumped out in a mere two turns because of that massive Military score.


These are extreme examples I’ve shown you, where I’ve really tried to build for one specific effect. Now, you’re going to have to get your thinking heads on (or make a spreadsheet) if you want to work out whether the Manufacturing output you’d get from a Ringworld would be better value for you than a well Augmented Stellar Nexus and the product modifier it adds to you Manufacturing right across your Civilization.

Which one is better is going to vary greatly depending on your own in-game circumstances, but the Ringworld has some advantages that the Stellar Nexus does not.

Firstly, the Ringworld is much more difficult to remove from the game than the other Megastructures, as it must be successfully sieged and conquered. Of course, if you do lose it, your enemy can take it off you, and they’ll have access to all that infrastructure (and the Citizens) housed on it.


The other advantage is that the Ringworld can benefit you in a much more multidimensional way: you don’t need to pile everything into just Income or Manufacturing like I’ve alluded to here: you can build a more balanced Core World from it, and if you’ve saved some of the best Civilization Achievements for this world too, the Planetary Output values you can get from it can be truly staggering.

[h2]More Megastructures![/h2]
The latest DLC for Galactic Civilizations IV arrived earlier this month, introducing a host of powerful new Megastructures. In this week's dev journal, we're diving deep into another of this expansion's titular Megastructures: The Stellar Gateway.



[h2]Stellar Gateways[/h2]
Stellar Gateways are massive portals that utilize the reality-warping power of black holes to create connections between distant points in space. These powerful Megastructures are ideal for expanding to distant corners of the galaxy, establishing extended trade routes, or rapidly redeploying fleets.


Stellar Gateways are unlocked by the "Advance Nexus Augments" technology and are the third Megastructure to be unlocked by the DLC, following Dyson Spheres and Stellar Nexuses.


Stellar Gateways are constructed around the perimeter of black holes by new Stellar Architect ships using a resource called Gigamass. Each Gateway takes 8 turns to construct.



Building a Stellar Gateway requires 30 Gigamass, a finite resource collected by Planetary Harvester ships from dead planets. Each additional Gateway requires another 30 Gigamass, so you will need to consider the benefits provided by a new Gateway pair compared to other similarly priced Megastructures like Stellar Nexuses.

Once a second Gateway is completed, it will automatically pair with the first. Sending a fleet through one Gateway in a pair will instantly transport it out the other. Additionally, fleets will automatically consider Gateways when pathfinding/looking for the shortest route to a location.



To make navigating Stellar Gateways easier, we’ve added a convenient button to the Gateway Context Window. Clicking this button will instantly move the camera to and select the other end of the Gateway pair.

As you build more Gateways, you may want to reorganize, break, or form new gateway pairs. This can be done easily from a new tab in the Automation window accessible from the main screen hot bar.


Note: Stellar Gateways can be invaded and captured, and thus will need to be defended.

Fleets can be stationed on Stellar Gateways by turning them “on” or “off” via this toggle on the Stellar Gateway context window. While turned “off”, fleets will be stationed on the Gateway instead of being sent through - allowing you to fend off any would-be Gateway thieves. The Gateway’s current state can be seen at a glance using the icons overtop the Gateway itself. A Gateway being “off” will not prevent fleets coming through from the other end.


[h2]Transportation Network[/h2]
As stated before, Stellar Gateways are excellent tools for expansion, trade, and warfare. The ability to funnel new fleets straight from shipyards to far-out frontiers can be a game changer. Additionally, consider that the reverse is true - a military on campaign can return to the defense of your otherwise undefended core worlds and capital in a fraction of the time it would normally.

Having a strong network of Stellar Gateways can also be a diplomatic boon as you can establish the new Gateway Treaty with your allies - allowing them to use any of your Gateways and you theirs.


A well-placed Gateway will let you take your enemies by surprise with an invasion launched far behind enemy lines or it can allow you to resupply your invasion force with no delay. Altogether, Stellar Gateways are a powerful tool for any playstyle. The increased mobility that even a single pair of gateways provides can be extremely useful - especially on larger maps or games with multiple sectors.

As you explore the new features of Galactic Civilizations IV: Megastructures, consider the strategic possibilities offered by the Stellar Gateway. Whether you're expanding your empire or bolstering your defenses, the Stellar Gateway provides a versatile tool to enhance your civilization's strengths.

We invite you to share your favorite new strategies with us. How will you leverage the power of the Stellar Gateway to shape your galactic empire? Will you focus on rapid expansion, military dominance, or perhaps a thriving economy? The choice is yours, and we can't wait to see the creative ways you'll use these Megastructures to achieve victory.

Stay tuned for more insights and updates in our future dev journals. Until then, may your civilizations prosper and your stars shine brightly!

The Megastructures expansion has two new resources for you to play with: Energy and Gigamass. We briefly covered both back in developer journal #84, but today I’d like to focus on Gigamass.


Gigamass is a limited, somewhat scarce and very valuable resource, being tied to the Dead Worlds found orbiting the various stars on the game map. Aside from a very small amount that can be gained from Events here and there, once the galaxy’s supply is used up, there’ll be no more.


The race to harvest Gigamass is important, and once you have laid your hands on some, the choices you make on what to spend it on is a key part of the gameplay. You’ll not usually own enough to build everything you could hope for in a single playthrough and that is by design, as the gameplay features that Gigamass offer are very powerful in their effect of boosting each of the core mechanics of GalCiv.


Whether that’s allowing you to field incredibly powerful warships to conquer your more peaceful neighbours, apply a huge boost to your economic or industrial output with Stellar Nexus, linking together distant parts of your civilization’s territory with Stellar Gateways and many more, the intention is for you to pick the aspect of your civilization that you want to enhance and then wisely spend your available Gigamass to achieve that purpose.

One of the challenges in making a space 4X game fun is ensuring that each playthrough is unique, even if you’re playing with the same faction or game settings each time. Procedurally generated content does the heavy lifting there but are some other tools to achieve a similar effect.


The various Strategic Resources in GalCiv IV, with their many uses and random distribution, is one way to ensure this: for example, a Civilization with naturally weak research can enjoy access to a plentiful supply of Promethium by spending it on Research Missions. That Promethium can further shape their ship-building program too, encouraging the construction of Cloaking Devices, Promethium Drives and so on.



If Elerium is more abundant, you’ll have great access to the very best Beam and Shielding technologies instead.

With Gigamass however, we wanted to add an even more scarce resource into the game that gave the player much greater power, but would require them to make tough choices on exactly how to spend it. Promethium and Elerium can be purchased from the bazaar, and so even a player without any mines of their own can build their economy up and often still buy those resources in smaller amounts, and it can often be traded with another Civilization who does have access to it.

Gigamass is deliberately more difficult to get: you can trade it with the other Civilizations but it is valued much higher than the other Strategic Resources in the base-game. We’re hoping that the fight to reach the Gigamass, and then control who owns or has access to it afterwards, will make compelling gameplay that not only gives you some very powerful tools to utilise in your playthroughs, but also provide a new, optional focal point to encourage you to really get engaged with the core mechanics in new and exciting ways.


You’re playing the Korath Clan and don’t quite have the Gigamass available to build one of those big, shiny Megastructure baubles the other Civilizations are showing off? Then spend yours on building some of the smaller, cheaper Civilization Achievements that require Gigamass and Energy to turbocharge your industry, and then spend the rest on a set of nearly invulnerable ships to go take those hi-tech treasures off them instead. That way you get the fruits of their labours too!

If you’re trying to play more peacefully, perhaps a short war to grab a Purple Star could be well worth the effort: a Stellar Nexus here could provide a huge boost to Influence, Tourism, Trade Routes or Diplomacy, depending on the Augment you pick for it.

In most games on medium maps with more standard settings, you’ll have to pick and choose which Megastructures you want, as you’ll be unlikely to be able to afford them all.


However, GalCiv is a sandbox-like 4X, meaning that it is highly customisable and gameplay can vary quite significantly depending on the game options you set. This affects Gigamass too: larger maps with less AI player populating it will generally mean you’ve got more Gigamass (and Stars to build your Megastructures around) than you would with a smaller, more densely populated one.


So, if you’re excited to play a game with the new expansion and you’d like the option to build more of those titanic, powerful construction projects, playing on a larger map, and/or reducing the amount of AI opponents is one way to guarantee more Gigamass for an epic playthrough with many powerful Megastructures available in your game!

Let us know how you get on with your own Megastructure projects, we’re excited to hear how you are incorporating them into your own playstyle.

Cheers!

[h2]Megastructures is Here![/h2]
The long-awaited DLC for Galactic Civilizations IV has arrived, bringing with it a plethora of powerful new Megastructures. In this week's dev journal, we're diving deep into one of the expansion's titular Megastructures: The Stellar Nexus.



[h2]Stellar Nexus[/h2]
Stellar Nexuses are colossal, versatile Megastructures constructed around stars. Each Nexus offers incredible bonuses to fleets and colonies across your civilization, tailored to your chosen Nexus Augment.


Unlocking Stellar Nexuses requires the “Megastructure Nexi” technology.


Once researched, your Stellar Architect ships can build Stellar Nexuses around Yellow, Red, Blue, or Purple stars. The color of your Nexus' host star matters as it will dictate the type of bonuses your Stellar Nexus can provide.


Building a base Stellar Nexus demands 50 Gigamass and takes your Architect 12 turns to complete.


Upon completion, you can manage your Stellar Nexus by double-clicking the Nexus or by clicking the “Manage Megastructure” button from the Nexus Context Window.

From the management screen, you can view the effects of the base Stellar Nexus and explore the list of available Nexus Augments. At its base level, the Stellar Nexus provides a not-insubstantial 5% boost to approval, research, and manufacturing for all colonies across your civilization.


In addition to enabling the construction of Stellar Nexuses, the Megastructure Nexi technology unlocks 16 base-level Nexus Augments—four for each star color. The list of Available Augments can be located beneath the Nexus' current effects in the bottom right portion of the Nexus screen.


Even at the base level, Nexus Augments provide substantial bonuses. An upgraded Stellar Nexus can significantly accelerate the development of your empire.

The cost of installing a base-level Nexus Augment is 15 Gigamass and 10 Energy, with the installation process taking 4 turns to complete.





There are 48 total Nexus Augments—12 per star color and 16 per tier. The Augments available to a Stellar Nexus are determined by the color of the star it's built on, with each star focusing on a different kind of bonus.



[h2]Here is a full list of all Nexus Augments:[/h2]









A unique feature of the Stellar Nexus is the ability to change the installed Augment at any time by choosing an Augment to Retrofit. This process takes the same amount of time as the initial installation, but you'll be refunded the Gigamass cost of the original Augment, ensuring you only sacrifice time, not resources.


[h2]Potential Uses[/h2]
Stellar Nexuses are designed to be flexible, adapting to your civilization's evolving needs as the game progresses. For instance, a civilization focused on colonizing new planets might prioritize the additional Food and accelerated Growth from the Flourishing Garden Augment. Conversely, a civilization engaged in warfare might opt for the Twilight Engine to expedite fleet production.


With sufficient Gigamass, players can construct multiple Stellar Nexuses for compounding or synergistic effects. Augments on stars of the same color often complement each other, such as the Subspace Lens and Galactic Gateway Augments on Purple stars, which can significantly boost your civilization’s tourism revenue.


Critically, bonuses from Nexuses can stack, allowing a focused player to construct multiple Nexuses with the same Augment. This can be a compelling strategy with a steep opportunity cost: requiring you to ignore other powerful Augments.


Finally, Stellar Nexuses are crafted to seamlessly fit into your preferred playstyle. Civilizations like the Phalenoids, who leverage Influence, can greatly benefit from the Subspace Lens. Research-focused civilizations like the Yor might favor the Quantum Mirror or Neoteric Spire, while the Mimot, reliant on rapid Growth, would find the additional Population Capacity from the Celestial Garden advantageous.

As you explore the new features of Galactic Civilizations IV: Megastructures, consider the strategic possibilities offered by the Stellar Nexus. Whether you're expanding your empire, bolstering your defenses, or advancing your technological prowess, the Stellar Nexus provides a versatile tool to enhance your civilization's strengths.

We invite you to share your favorite new combinations and strategies with us. How will you leverage the power of the Stellar Nexus to shape your galactic empire? Will you focus on rapid expansion, military dominance, or perhaps a thriving economy? The choice is yours, and we can't wait to see the creative ways you'll use these Megastructures to achieve victory.

Stay tuned for more insights and updates in our future dev journals. Until then, may your civilizations prosper and your stars shine brightly!