The game is currently being developed by the respected development and publishing studio Stardock who previously developed prior Galactic Civilizations games.

The game is coming exclusively to the PC and is targeting a April 2015 where it will be made available via digital download. The game isn’t expected to get a release at retail and nor is it likely to cross platforms.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

Galactic Civilizations III was first announced to be in development when Stardock announced that the game, which would be serving as a sequel to 2006’s Galactic Civilizations, was in production and was actively being developed.

The game was set to be released in April 2015, but it has already been released on PC via Steam in the form of a pre-release build which was used to gather information and feedback from the gaming community. This pre-release build was launched on March of 2014 on Steam where it has since gathered 245 reviews which have resulted in the game being tagged as “Mostly Positive”.

Although the developers are targeting an April 2015 release date, they are avoiding giving any specific date. Talking about the games release on the official Gal Civ III site, the developers have said “We’re targeting an April 2015 release date. That gives us six months of beta testing via Early Access, which we have found to be a good amount of time to work out any kinks and nail down both the balance and technical sides of the game.”

The pre-release build of the game does reflect one aspect of the final build which is that the game requires, and will only run, on a 64-bit PC. Those running an operating system that isn’t Microsoft Windows on a 64 bit PC simply cannot play the game.

Speaking directly via the games official website, the developers have addressed the requirements for the game, saying “It will require a 64-bit version of Windows 7 or 8 along with a DirectX 10 or 11 compatible video card. There will be no 32-bit version. Most PC gamers in 2015 have this kind of hardware, and it allows us to create the best game possible for the majority of our customers.”…”We want Galactic Civilizations III, and future expansions, to be able to handle extremely large galaxies with a very high resolution graphics and large data sets for the computer AI to make use of. It allows us to design the best game possible without being constrained by the limitations of older hardware.”

When answering why the game doesn’t make use of DirectX 9, the developers said, “DirectX 10 and 11 allow us to easily have multiple threads touch the graphics card simultaneously. This results in much higher-quality font rendering, HDR lighting, makes it a lot easier to support advanced UI scaling, and makes the game less CPU-bound which will be important for giving the artificial intelligence engine more processing power to execute VCSS’s (Very Complex Strategy Simulations). As with the decision to be 64-bit, it allows us to create a better game for the majority of players that already meet the requirements.”

Story

This game is a sequel to 2006’s Galactic Civilizations II and takes place 10 years later where “The Drengin Empire reigns supreme”. The story in Galactic Civilizations is exceptionally extensive and has many small nuances that are only discovered by gameplay. The player can effectively craft their own story for the game, much in the same way you would do in a Sid Meier’s Civilisation Game.

Gameplay

Galactic Civilizations III is a 4X Hex Turn Based Strategy game. The game is also a considerable improvement over its predecessor and as the developers themselves say, “There are too many additions to list here” in regards to the new gameplay elements. But the gameplay is, fundamentally speaking, the same as it was before.

The player takes control of their units in a turn based, hex based universe that sprawls out in every direction. Given that the game has been built from the ground up on all new technology, the player can now build “the ship of your dreams”.

Planetary management and overall diplomacy have been revamped to allow for a better and deeper experience. The overall sense of depth in the universe map has also been reworked to give the player a greater sense of scale and control. The game is also set to feature a new species of Aliens, The Iridium are an all new playable species that are effectively “space-faring super capitalists”.

Characters

Players in Gal Civ III don’t take control of any one particular character, rather they represent one of many species. They are:

The Terran Alliance
The Yor Collective
The Drengin Empire
The Altarian Republic
The Drath Legion
The Torian Confederation
The Arcean Empire
The Dominion of Korx
The Iconian Refuge
The Thalan Empire
The Korath Clan
The Krynn Consulate

The game also features a number of minor races, but they take very much a back seat from a player perspective. The player may form alliances with the minor races as the progress further into the game.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

Galactic Civilizations 3 opens itself up with a short CGI trailer with the purposes of getting the player immersed in to its world. As this was in noway an actual representation of its gameplay nor was it designed to be, the cinematic presentation was enjoyable at the most. With the following two choices of game modes split between new game and quick start, the game leads you to it’s civilization selection screen, with its four sets of civilizations to choose from with another four being unavailable at the current time.

"Galactic Civilizations 3 opens itself up with a short CGI trailer with the purposes of getting the player immersed in to its world."

These four are divided between the Iridium Corporation, Altarian Resistance, Drengin Empire, and the Terrain Alliance. Each choice presents a short detailed Bio of who each one is, where they originate, their appointed leader, and their race traits and abilities. What’s actually worth taking note of here are the race traits as these have a direct effect on gameplay.

Using the Drengin Empire as an example here which are known for being exceedingly clever, while at that same time being a vicious set of people built for war and militant purposes. Their race traits favour Brutal, Tough, Fast, Militant, Courageous, and Adventuresome. Taking this into comparison with the Iridium Corporation who are firm believers in the power of free markets that specialize in economic and cultural growth, as noted by the game’s description. The race traits here consist of being Productive, Clever, and Influential Traders.

Moving on to the Galaxy settings screen this menu works as a hub for the rules and regulations for how the game will play out. Giving the player full control to tweak and adjust various options in the game. This is where the game becomes a little more detailed and really let’s the player know what kind of game they’ll actually be playing. The player can set the size and shape of the galaxy itself, aswell as it’s physical properties, the frequency at which black holes, asteroids, resources, and interstellar rifts make an appearance within the game.

"Their race traits favour Brutal, Tough, Fast, Militant, Courageous, and Adventuresome."

For a newcomer these will undoubtedly sound overwhelming and make absolutely no sense. On the other hand it may actually build up interest within the game, but frankly if it does sound overwhelming or in any way turn you off, then it’s clear you’ve picked up the wrong game anyway. It’s elements such as this which make Galactic Civilizations 3 the game it sets out to be, and it’s coherently linked directly to its gameplay structure.

Other available settings included in this menu are adjustments to the game’s difficulty, opponent choices, and victory conditions. Victory conditions presents something of interest as the conditional choices available seem to have a direct link to each of the character civilization traits from the previous menu. Conditions such as using diplomacy to bring peace, crush and dominate your enemies, and the reclaiming of precursor relics in order to ascend to a higher plane of existence that all directly feed back into their traits.

After my initial interest within the game and what it apparently had to offer through the description provided, not to mention its emphasis on character description traits, and the freedom of player customizability of the match settings, this is where everything came to a halt. Throwing the player directly in to the game without a tutorial as to how you actually play the game, coupled by no mission goals or directives isn’t exactly the best way to keep people interested or expand your audience.

"Throwing the player directly in to the game without a tutorial as to how you actually play the game, coupled by no mission goals or directives isn't exactly the best way to keep people interested or expand your audience."

With two ships, four planets, a shipyard, and an asteroid field laid out before me topped off with a rotating moon attempting to present a sense of ongoing life within the game. I hadn’t the fairest idea of what I was meant to do. Now while one could argue that the big title across the screen so appropriately labeled “BETA” should let the game of the hook, I refuse to accept that.

The first thing that should have been set right was a gameplay tutorial so the player gets an idea of how their actual enjoyment within the game will be decided. With nothing extra at my disposal for figuring the game out, other than a truckload of UI tabs with sixty percent of it labeled as “Coming Soon” and an intergalactic checkerboard that seemed to make up its own mind as to when and where I could navigate my ship around the grid, it wasn’t long before I found myself trapped in an asteroid field.

Safe to say the game isn’t exactly user-friendly at this point and the only people who might have the slightest idea of what’s going would be veterans of the previous games. After tinkering around for a brief period of time and exploring what else the game had to offer while may ship lay dormant in an within a floating pile of space rocks, I was more concerned with the final product rather than it’s early stages.

"Safe to say the game isn't exactly user-friendly at this point and the only people who might have the slightest idea of what's going would be veterans of the previous games."

The message I’m actually receiving from the game doesn’t do much justice when almost sixty percent of it is unavailable to play. Wealth, research, and the manufacturing of goods and trading across different planets is what the player is here to engage in. Accomplishing and maintaining this is down to player choices, income, and resources that are attained through the means of interacting with the other civilizations.

Whether that be war, discussion, or mutual respect and trading. The only problem however which I can’t seem to emphasize enough, is the non-existent tutorial or introduction that tells you how to do so. I guess you could expect the input/keyboard controls menu to lend some assistance with this, and yes you’d be right to presume so, but sadly you’d also be let down.

With almost the entire key binding selection being mapped to the switching and manipulation of the camera’s view point, and the only noticeable distinctions being mapped to the scaling of designing your own ship, I literally felt lost in space. Yes pun intended.

"Whether that be war, discussion, or mutual respect and trading. The only problem however which I can't seem to emphasize enough, is the non-existent tutorial or introduction that tells you how to do so."

At this point in time my initial impressions with the game are at an all time low, with my main concern laying with the final product. There’s nothing user-friendly or at all intuitive that makes me want go back to the game or at all recommend it to a friend, upon it’s actual release. The excuse here that many people would provide is to wait for updates as it’s still a work in progress.

But since the game provides no direction for newcomers as to how you would actually play the game and launched itself as public BETA, then that in itself already presents a barrier of entry and could possibly leave the game floating off in to a dark corner of the galaxy, with nobody except it’s already established fan base exploring what it has to offer. Which at this point in time appears to be nothing other than promotion for “Coming Soon”

This game was previewed on the PC.

Galactic Civilizations III, the third game in the hugely popular Galactic Civilizations space strategy series has officially entered it’s playable Beta state and is now available on Steam and Stardock.com for $44.99.

Galactic Civilizations III is a 4X game set in the void of space, but what’s 4X you ask? Simple, 4X the 4 key elements of gameplay; explore, expand, exterminate and exploit. Given that the  game is still only in Beta, there is a whole host of improvements still to come.

The game brings together a universe that is massive in scale, Online Multiplayer (a first for the Galactic Civilization series), Diplomacy, starship combat, trade and many other elements to try and create the definitive 4X space strategy game. But as of now, you can play the 64-bit Microsoft Windows build in entire sandbox games and compete in online multiplayer.

There’s no exact date for when Galactic Civilizations III will take to the stares, but it is slated to launch at some point in Spring 2015.

Online gaming is a big deal today, but it wasn’t always. In the beginning, before Steam was a thing, before Xbox Live had caught on, before Sony had even considered online, there was Blizzard. And Blizzard worked on Battle.net, their own online gaming service that is still used in all their games to this day, a service that defined what an online game service should have in its wake.

Now, Stardock- the folks who brought us the excellent Galactic Civilizations games, and the even more excellent Sins of a Solar Empire- have hired the one man who was perhaps the most responsible for Battle.net. You see, Adrian Luff, the man responsible for overseeing the growth of Battle.net during his 17-year tenure at Blizzard Entertainment, has now joined Stardock, where he will be helping them with Project Tachyon, something that will “manage the online infrastructure to provide the meta-game experience” for all of Stardock’s games. Tachyon will be integrated with Steamworks, and will run entirely from the cloud.

I can’t wait to see what kind of online functionality Stardock’s upcoming games have, with a man this visionary at the helm, but we’ll keep you posted on whatever it is. Stay tuned.

Planet earth is blue, just as can be expected. The galaxy generated for your game looks good even on low spec’d machines and spans out more than far enough to not feel cramped. Zooming into the playing field reveals finely detailed ships and visually functional play field features like movement blocking asteroid fields and visually stifling storms. Zooming out to get a wider view of the action makes things substantially more basic, almost wire-frame in fact, it does however bring more of the field into view and makes it easier to get the large picture of events.

"You might have to choose between a greater immediate payoff and killing half the native population of a new planet, or having more room to build it up, but losing out on the instant gratification."

While more nuanced sound design can probably be expected in the final, only simple tech bings and ambient, somewhat generic “space music” complement the action. The series is renowned for it’s enemy AI, but the alpha being what it is, lacks the nuance that can be expected in the full version, sticking to a rather hive minded, slow movement throughout the cosmos. Rarely would another ship be seen scouting the void, and it took hours for any enemy empire to become apparent.

Starting from basically nothing, players guide their civilization from a single planet and a handful of ships to explore the galaxy, colonize new planets, manage those planets to in turn produce more ships and research new technology in agriculture, weapons and defense for the empire. The early game relies heavily on fast moving scouts to map the universe, colony ships to bring new habitable planets under the empire and searching for artifacts across the galaxy to boost overall effectiveness.

Moral choices occasionally present themselves and they play into how you develop politically. You might have to choose between a greater immediate payoff and killing half the native population of a new planet, or having more room to build it up, but losing out on the instant gratification.

"A few control quirks do little to dull the promising shine, and the game feels like a fairly full product, despite still missing huge swaths of features."

Layers build upon each other, and only continue to get more intertwined as tensions escalate and empires clash. This barely functional alpha lacked features like any kind of diplomacy options, ship designing, combat viewer, any victory conditions outside of being the only one left alive and half of the tech tree, yet already plays more strategically than most games.

The game still controls a little strangely, particularly on a laptop’s touchpad. Moving around the map requires a strange click and drag motion, and any setup that lacks a reliable way to right click leaves you with little direct command of your ships. It’s not always clear where you’ll be allowed to move a ship, though more detailed stats will probably come with the full game.

Galactic civilizations 3 is shaping up into a force in the turn based strategy field. With a myriad of ways to pursue your conquest within a sole road to victory, the galaxy is as limitless as your ways to own it. A few control quirks do little to dull the promising shine, and the game feels like a fairly full product, despite still missing huge swaths of features. The cross section presents a very promising future product that any would be galactic emperors should look out for very closely.

You’ll get a look at the new user interface along with the usual hex-based movement and fleet warfare. The game still has no release date but is currently in the Alpha stage. Those who wish to access the game can pre-order the Founder’s Edition here. Others can just wait for the game to hit the PC via Steam.

What are your thoughts on the gameplay trailer above and the return of traditional 4X strategy titles? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and pray that the game doesn’t turn out like Master of Orion 3. Stay tuned for more details.