Galactic Civilizations IV News

[p]In the popular book “Guns, Germs and Steel”, author Jared Diamond argues that geography is destiny. The reason why the “Old World” colonized the “New World” and not vice versa was because the Old World lacked the kinds of resources necessary to build advanced civilizations. Cows, horses, chickens, sheep, wheat, rye, barley, pigs, etc. were not present in the New World. Obviously, the map generator for Earth was pretty badly written.[/p][p]One of my complaints with Galactic Civilizations III and IV has been how resources are distributed. Specifically, Elerium, Anti-Matter and Thulium. These are special resources needed for the development of beam energy weapons, explosive energy weapons and kinetic weapons respectively. If you lack the corresponding resource, it will be tougher to produce the starships that make use of these weapons. My complaint is that the resources are tied to natural phenomenon which themselves are randomly scattered across the galaxy.[/p][p]Anti-matter is linked to the edges of black holes. Elerium forms in nebula and Thulium is the result of super-massive planets that fail to create a fusion reaction forming into a super dense dead world. I have no quibble with the Sci-Fi. It is what it is. But I do quibble a lot with the fact that geography plays less of a role in strategic decision making than it could… until now.[/p][p][/p][h2]Version 3.1[/h2][p]So in the course of putting together the 2026 roadmap for Galactic Civilizations IV, we’ve been reading through the forums, Discord, Reddit, etc. but also we have our own list of things that bug us and this was near the top of my gripes. So, what to do? The answer is that in version 3.1, going into Preview shortly, these resources can be spawned in clusters rather than requiring a blackhole or a nebula to form. Not just that, but when a cluster of Elerium formed, it actively repels the formation of Anti-Matter or Thulium in the same area. [/p][p]As a result, players will tend to have a lot of one resource, but less so than others. Moreover, because they cluster, as opposed to being scattered, it makes certain areas of space interesting. Especially if we update the AI to care about these clusters a lot. Having a group of 3 self-supporting starbases harvesting 5 Elerium in a single area is a lot more interesting than 5 isolated starbases out there randomly. It also means that what weapon and defense system one designs their ships around becomes more interesting because players will generally, we hope, have equal amounts of all 3 resources as they do now.[/p][p][/p][h2]Balancing[/h2][p]Now, we still do allow nebula and black holes to form their corresponding resource. It’s just a lot less frequent. So while we have tried to ensure that the # of resources remains the same as before on a given map size, the clustering changes things.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]So take a look at this screenshot of a medium sized galaxy. The red resources are Durantium and they are still randomly distributed. Everyone needs this resource. But take a look at the Yellow, Blue and Cyani resources. See how they cluster?[/p][p]Now, the occasional Nebula or black hole will still result in a random lucky resource showing up but you can see where one tends to cluster, the others do not.[/p][p]How this plays out during the upcoming Preview builds remains to be seen. BTW, the numbers are all moddable so they can adjusted, but we will be tinkering with these a lot in the forthcoming weeks.[/p]

[h2]Stardock Entertainment announced today Expansion Pass 2 for the acclaimed space 4X strategy game Galactic Civilizations IV[/h2][p]The first content drop, "Tales of the Terran Alliance," will launch December 4, 2025. This new expansion focuses on humanity's tumultuous 23rd century and the formative conflicts that shaped the Terran Alliance into a galactic power.[/p][p][/p][h2]Humanity's Defining Moment[/h2][p]“Tales of the Terran Alliance” takes players deep into Earth's pivotal era of interstellar expansion, exploring the political intrigue, technological breakthroughs, and military conflicts that forged humanity's place among the stars. Players will experience firsthand the events that transformed Earth from a single-world civilization into a formidable galactic presence, starting with the infamous Xendar War, which is included in the DLC as a fully playable civilization.[/p][p]"This expansion is a love letter to Galactic Civilizations fans who have been asking for deeper human lore," said Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock Entertainment. "Tales of the Terran Alliance delivers not just new gameplay mechanics, but a rich narrative experience that explores what it means to be human in a galaxy full of ancient, powerful civilizations."[/p][p][/p][h3]Tales of the Terran Alliance Key Features:[/h3]

• [p]Play as the Xendar: Experience the civilization that shaped humanity's first interstellar war.[/p]
• [p]New Human Technology Tree: A unique tech progression designed specifically for the Terran Alliance.[/p]
• [p]Expanded Human Story Events: Encounter new narrative events that explore the origins, politics, and ambitions of humanity’s interstellar expansion.[/p]
• [p]New Planetary Improvements, Weapons, and Defenses: Build and equip your worlds and fleets with Human-focused advancements.[/p]
• [p]Additional Ship Components: Enhance your ships with new modules tailored to Human strategies.[/p]

[p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][/p][h2]Expansion Pass 2: Years of Galactic Adventure[/h2][p]“Tales of the Terran Alliance” is just the beginning. Expansion Pass 2 will deliver five substantial content drops from late 2025 to 2027, each expanding the rich universe of Galactic Civilizations IV: [/p]

• [p]Tales of the Terran Alliance (December 2025): Explore humanity's defining era and the rise of the Terran Alliance.[/p]
• [p]Federations & Empires (2026): Formation of governments, elections, agents, and more.[/p]
• [p]Ascension (2026): Uplift minor civilization, genetically modify your own species, build breeding programs.[/p]
• [p]Hegemon (2027): Client states, United Planets, several new major civilizations uplifted from minor status.[/p]
• [p]Underworld (2027): Navigate the shadowy realm of criminal syndicates and black markets.[/p]

[p]Each pack will continue to develop Galactic Civilizations IV's deep strategic gameplay while adding new lore, civilizations, mechanics, and content for both veteran players and newcomers alike.[/p][p]“Tales of the Terran Alliance” will be available in December 2025 for $14.99 USD. The DLC will also be included as part of Expansion Pass 2, which will offer access to all five packs at a discounted price; this pass will be available starting December 4.[/p][p][/p][h3]Tales of the Terran Alliance DLC Announcement Screenshots[/h3][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[p]The Phalenoids Advance are a Civilization of light loving moth-like creatures adapted to a world split into many month-long day and night cycles, and today we’re going to take a close look at their game mechanics to see how they play.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]As always in GalCiv IV, you can play them pretty much however you like, and you can even alter their Civilization Traits and Abilities here in the “Customize your Civilization” screen to make them play more like evil Drengin, or money-grubbing Iridia if you prefer![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Genocidal moths? Knock yourself out! There are endless options here and you can really go to town customising your own Phalenoids to play however you you want.[/p][p]That reminder aside though, let’s look at how the Phalenoid Advance are set up as a Core Civilization, and how their unique Civilizations Abilities and their traits go toward informing their playstyle.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Played with their Core Civ rules though, the Phalenoids are a Civilization made up of fundamentally good and well-meaning creatures, characterised by their intense delight in meeting new sentient life out in the galaxy. Their Civilization Ability Hopeful represents this, and Citizens in the Phalenoid Advance’s dreams of a peaceful galaxy keep them working hard when the going gets tough around them. The diplomats of other galactic powers pick up on this optimistic outlook too, and can be persuaded into signing deals they might not normally agree to. In game terms, this means you’ll get more out of diplomatic trade with rival Civilizations and this helps support a more peaceful style of play.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]However, the Phalenoids have access to a rather dramatic and unique Civilization Ability in Nocturnal. Every 15 months, the Phalenoid Advance will enter a new cycle. Each of these two Seasons grant the Phalenoid Advance a significant boost to two Planetary Output values on all their planets.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]During the Season of Waking, your Core Worlds improve, with more Citizen Growth and industrial projects springing up. In the Season of Dreaming, you’ll get more Research done and your borders will grow out from your Culture production assets more quickly.[/p][p]This gives the Phalenoid Advance a certain ebb and flow to their game. As if often the case with Galactic Civilizations IV, you’ll notice the effect of this more or less at various times of the game. If you’ve got neighbors with borders pushing aggressively into you, you’ll be grateful for the Season of Dreaming, but you’ll also notice the relative lack of Manufacturing and Citizen Growth, when you might want that extra economy to find other, less peaceful solutions to the problem.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]I’ve found that the Phalenoid Advance really want to lean into these cycles as much as possible. The Season of Waking can be leveraged to build a Galactic Wonder before your opponents do. Set your Civ Focus to Manufacturing to get even more of industrial power out of your Civilization. And if you’re not in immediate need of construction projects or Ship building on your Core Worlds in the Season of Dreaming, set the Civ Focus to Research, and set your shipyards to construct Research Missions and beat your enemies to an expensive, advanced Tech that’ll give you an advantage.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The natural inquisitive nature of the Phalenoids is well directed into their preferred Ideology, Progressivism. While the Research bonuses gained from the Season of Dreaming are only reaped through 50% of your playthrough, heading into the Progressivism tree can be very rewarding regardless of the Season you’re in. During their night cycle of course, you’ll gain even more benefits from research but efforts here will work regardless of Season. If you can grab the capstone Ideological Trait for Progressivism, Singularity, you’ll be well on your way to victory.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Of course, pressure from the other Civilizations often makes greedy like this play difficult and so you’re going to need to balance things with adequate military development too. One natural benefit of playing such a strong Research faction is that you’re going to get access to some of the best Ship components in the game well before many of your rivals.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The Phalenoids aren’t particularly oriented towards warfare, but they can quickly arm themselves for it very quickly during the Season of Waking particularly, while the Season of Dreaming’s Research push can help you reach those larger and stronger Ships and Components much earlier.[/p][p] [/p][p]Also, playing the Phalenoids in their trademark friendly manner will bear fruit in Diplomacy too. Positive bonuses quickly stack up as you help your neighbors during the many Events that pop up during the course of play, and the more friends you have in the game, the better you can race for one of the more peaceful victory conditions.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]You can keep monsters like the Korath Clan off your back for a while if you have cunning Diplomacy, but you’ll also get better deals from Diplomatic Trades if you keep your other neighbors sweet. You can dominate the game by carefully navigating the various wars and alliances that form around you.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]If you do end up in a situation like this, where the Manti are being squashed into a corner by our powerful Influence output and are constantly warring with us to take back their territory, you’re going to have to move towards a war footing and build ships. That will flatten your economic growth curve significantly, and so carefully chosen Trade Routes with the right neighbors will not only boost your Credit production, but strengthens diplomatic ties even further: while the Phalenoid Advance’s advanced Ships can often fight more than one enemy at once, many of the other Civilizations have Abilities that make them very dangerous in war and so you’ll generally want to keep yourself to just one conflict at a time.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Building your diplomatic bonuses up through Research goes hand in hand with a strong Influence game, as you need good Diplomacy if you’re going to steal enemy territory and not have constant warfare. The Manti here are close to entering Rebellion with several Core Worlds, and since they’re incredibly difficult to kill in their own borders, defeating them culturally is a sound option. Building your Diplomacy bonuses high can delay a declaration of war until it’s too late for your victim to do much about it.[/p][p]Phalenoid Citizens are interesting too. They get even more Approval bonuses from sharing a world with Citizens of other Species. Conquering other worlds and sending your moths off to live there can quickly negate the Approval penalty you get for such aggressive behavior, and if you find some other way of gaining other Citizen Species into your Civilization, they can make up for their relative fragility without penalty.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Research and keeping your Citizens happy will not be a problem as the Phalenoid Advance but they do have one downside as a Species.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Invasions are not easy as the Phalenoids though: while not overtly pacifistic, they are not strong.[/p][p]Your Influence output may put you at war with a neighbor you’d rather not be at war with, and so you must prepare for this. You don’t have to invade to take Colonies and Core Worlds from an enemy, waiting instead to peace out and then let your borders and Culture do the job for you, but sometimes you don’t have time, or a War of Annihilation is declared on you.[/p][p]Then, your Phalenoid Soldiers are going to have to get their hands dirty, and because their Resolve is generally low you’ll be aiming for Techs like Stellar Marines and Killbots to help their rather weedy abilities at planetary assault.[/p][p]The Phalenoid Advance are a fun Civilization to play if you want to lean towards a more peaceful style of play but you like to have a mailed fist hidden inside that velvet glove, and depending on how you have set your game up, you’re going to get a lot of fun out of them as you decide who is on the receiving end of your friendship and who gets the nasty end of some of the most high tech weaponry the galaxy has ever seen![/p][p]If you’ve played these guys and have any hints or tips on how to get the most out of them, leave a comment below![/p][p]Cheers![/p]

[p]View Entire Sale[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h2]Galactic Civilizations III deals:[/h2][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h2]Other Galactic Civilizations deals:[/h2][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[p]Every Core Civilization in Galactic Civilizations IV plays quite differently and has Civilization Abilities, Traits and many more mechanics that are tuned towards a specific playstyle.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]What’s great about this system is that you’re not generally hard-locked into that playstyle, which suits GalCiv as a sandbox style 4X and allows you to experiment with different ways to play with that one Civ. There aren’t very many Civilizations that outright lock you out of certain mechanics for this reasons, although the Navigators unable to form diplomatic treaties being one notable exception that provides a very specific game experience for players who want to go it alone in the Galaxy.[/p][p]Despite this, some of the Core Civilizations do have a very noticeable and strong core theme, such as the Mimot’s huge reproduction rate and ability to build twice as many ships with each production run as anybody else, and the Baratak Grove, examined in this dev journal, can be included in that set.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The Baratak are sentient plant or tree-like creatures who exemplify an arboreal and agricultural lifestyle and have Abilities and Traits to perfectly suit this.[/p][p]Fundamental to their playstyle are the Baratak Citizens themselves. Let’s take a quick look at them, to see how they shape the way the Baratak Grove play.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The Baratak have a high productivity with +3 Diligence and slightly lower research and approval and influence task weight too. They need this high productivity because they cannot abide Pollution, suffering three times the penalties for it as a Human would, and so heavy industry is usually a bad idea for them.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]You’ll see above, even with just 10% Pollution the Baratak get a 10% penalty to Approval, which unless offset in other ways, inflicting crippling damage to your Planetary Output and stunting your economy overall.[/p][p]The Baratak generally rely on a Citizen based industry instead of Manufacturing Districts, and if you’re not used to it, this is quite a shift from the way the other Civilizations tend to play.[/p][p]Let’s move on to their Civilization Abilities.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Intuitive ensure that the Baratak get a head start down the Ideology branch of your choice and grants them some useful Diplomatic options, with +5 Deception being useful in Events and access to the Xeno Anthropology Center to rapidly expand Influence borders and a whole host of useful Adjacency Level Bonuses too.[/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p][/p][p]Baratak are one Civilization that will greatly benefit from rapid border expansion because their second Civilization Ability Spores rewards rapid exploration. Fortunately, they also get the Traits Explorers (+1) and Productive (+1), throwing Probes and Colony Ships out into the galaxy faster and father, while revealing more of the map as they go than their rivals.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]They defend their world’s very well too. Once they’ve grown that beautiful garden world, they’ll fight to the death over it![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]And let’s take a look at Spores too:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]We’ll mostly ignore the “Blocks…” stuff for now beyond stating that it’s common for certain Civilizations to get exclusive access to various Techs and Improvements, and to be denied access to others in a thematic way, as fits their lore and playstyle. The Baratak are agrarian and fundamentally opposed to Pollution, both in real physical terms, and on a philosophical level too, and this means that the worst Pollution causing Improvements tend to be locked off.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]As you see, the Baratak can seed Dead Worlds and create a useful Colony from them. If you’re using this properly by maximising your Cultural Progression, the Baratak’s Core Worlds will usually have access to more feeder Colonies than usual. The extra resources these bring in help offset the huge penalties their Citizens suffer from even quite small levels of Pollution, which limits the number of Industrial Districts and other such Improvements you can lay down.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The Baratak themselves gain a decent Approval bonus if they’re assigned as Farmers, and this means they’ll naturally support a large and thriving Citizen economy. In most games, unless you’re rather starved of good Agricultural worlds, you’ll usually have enough Food to sustain many Citizens and their high Diligence means you’ll not need quite so many polluting Manufacturing Districts as other Civilizations tend to need.[/p][p]If you do build Manufacturing Districts to get your economy going early, any Pollution reducing Techs and Improvements will be very valuable to you, and should be chased early. The Baratak can live with some Pollution, but you’ll have to find a way around the large Approval penalties it causes until you can reduce it directly.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]One strategy that I’ve discussed here before when discussing Pollution is to limit the number of heavily industrialized Core Worlds to just a few and fill them with Entertainment Districts to help offset the penalties from Pollution. The Growth on those worlds will be through the floor but you’ll have some nice Citizen hothousing planets instead.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p]By rapidly growing Citizens on these high Growth planets, you can make use of the game’s Citizen Transport system to transfer them over to the Industrial worlds. In turn, those heavily polluted worlds can send the ever useful Supply Ship back over to the Citizen growing worlds to help create more infrastructure. This trick can work for any Civilization, and can be especially useful if you’ve got a heavily polluted world that is otherwise useful, but struggles with Growth for generating its own Citizens.[/p][p]The Baratak tend towards a larger territory, as they expand very well. However, with Spores, they can get more Colonies from their territory than usual and so if they are cornered or surrounded by faster growing neighbours and limited to a smaller portion of the map than they’d like, they’ve got a better than average chance of surviving and becoming an economic powerhouse nonetheless.[/p][p]To further help their Manufacturing efforts, the Baratak Grove have access to the Father Tree and the roots that it subsequently grows across the world it grows on.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]This unusual structure is actually a Manufacturing Improvement and works a little like a factory, with a nice adjacency bonus that’ll boost surrounding Manufacturing assets. It also dramatically increases your Population cap and increases Culture point production, which helps them shoot through the Ideological Trait system and gain more charges for Spores of Yggdrasil.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The Father Tree also spawns a number of Father Root Improvements, which work much like free Research Districts with the small downside of not getting to choose where they are placed.[/p][p]The Father Tree and its Roots are crucial tools in the industrial development of Baratak worlds, and more than offset the downsides they have to live with when dealing with Pollution in the early game. The Core Worlds of the Baratak, if carefully planned, will become Industrial powerhouses filled with hard working Citizens, with the Father Roots somewhat offsetting their natural disinclination towards scientific pursuits too.[/p][p]If you work towards the terraforming Techs, the Baratak can build very large Core Worlds with huge Citizen populations. The Baratak are predisposed towards Collectivism as their preferred Ideological choice and this synergises nicely with large Citizen populations.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]It brings many useful benefits such as boosting the output of Minor Worlds, reducing Expectations and boosting Approval, extending the capacity of Housing Improvements and more. Aiming for the powerful capstone Ideological Trait Hive Mind can work very well with the large number of Citizens they can handle, and a large Baratak Grove Civilization will become incredibly powerful once this capstone is unlocked, with each Citizen becoming much more productive overall, especially with Post Sentience gradually improving Diligence over time, helping you bring your game to an end with a massive Manufacturing boost.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Citizens not only generate you a powerful economy, particularly Manufacturing with their large Diligence output, but do not mistake these farm-loving flowers to be peaceful hippies, as they have the potential to play very aggressively too.[/p][p]With a lot of Citizens at your disposal, often eventually causing you housing issues, they can also be sent off to fight and conquer foreign worlds too, in potentially huge numbers and to great effect. That Manufacturing bonus translates to rapid warship construction, with many Transports full of leafy Soldiers.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Once the Baratak are ready, if they do turn their mind towards conquest, like the Mimot their enemies can find themselves swarmed by more Transports and Soldiers than they can handle, but unlike the Mimot the Baratak make decent Soldiers and can potentially take a lot of territory very quickly.[/p][p]It goes without saying that the Cosmic Contaminant are mortal foes of the Baratak Grove and must be taken out of the game as fast as possible, lest they turn the Baratak’s beautiful gardens into radioactive cess pools. Their worlds are usually useless to the Baratak once conquered as they’re so heavily Polluted, but with some tender loving care, maybe a few of them could be regenerated into something worth living on once more.[/p][p]As you can see, the Baratak have some unique challenges but also the potential to be very powerful, and they do it in their own unique way. Getting the most out of Spores does require some significant investment into Cultural Progression and that in of itself is quite a challenge, but perhaps that’s a topic for a future developer journal.[/p][p]Let us know what you think in the comments below.[/p][p]Cheers![/p]