GalCiv IV: Supernova Dev Journal #30 - Ability Visibility

Published on Thursday, November 2, 2023 By BATTLEMODE In GalCiv IV Dev Journals

One of the most common complaints that we’ve received regarding the user interface in Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova is one of visibility of the various characteristics for each Civilization in play.

Most notably, players were reporting that after selecting a Civilization, there was no way to check their own Civilization Abilities, Traits and other attached information, without exiting to the main menu, starting a new game and checking those details in the game-setup screens there. This information was visible in the Diplomacy screen once the player had unlocked Universal Translator and commenced in some intergalactic hobnobbing with their neighbours. At the start of the game however, the new game setup screens were your only option.

This was frustrating, to say the least. I should know: as a Youtuber making videos for GalCiv4: Supernova, I was one of the people complaining about it.

To address this problem, we’ve added a new “Civilization” information screen to the in-game Data Bank.

Summarized here are the most important of your Civilization’s statistics, including your Cultural Priority (your main Ideological focus), Civilization Traits (including Biology type and Civilization Abilities too), Character Traits (which determine the behaviour of the AI when its playing this faction), some basic background lore and information on its Citizens too.

You also get a video feed of a rather patient looking DL Bradley, or whatever noble/dreadful/bizarre creature it is that leads your budding galactic empire.

Next up, we’ve improved the visibility of these same critical statistics for your rivals too. Previously, this information was available only in the Diplomacy Screen, again locked behind the Universal Translator technology.

To eliminate the need to enter the Diplomacy screen purely to check up on an enemy’s vital traits, we’ve added a handy tooltip to the Summary tab on the right box of the main screen. Just hover over the Civilization you want to check out, et voila!

On top of the Abilities, Biology, Traits and Cultural Focus, we’ve included their Prestige score (a reasonable indicator of how well they’re doing in-game), your current relations score and any modifiers listed below. Note that you can scroll this tooltip if there are more modifiers than would normally fit into the box.

Let us know what you think of these changes!

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Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova Dev Journals