FAQ

Galactic Civilizations is a series of space-based 4X strategy games set in the far future where humans have started to colonize the stars. Earth has united after discovering the existence of alien civilizations and has invented a faster-than-light technology called Hyperdrive. Galactic Civilizations has always focused on the exploration, expansion, and inevitable conflict that arises from multiple civilizations all vying for the same thing: total galactic control.

We can't talk about everything coming in Supernova yet, but we have some amazing stuff to show off. For starters:

Create unique civilizations
Describe your civilization’s attributes – from their likes and dislikes to their goals and ambitions – using a few short lines. Then, using our AlienGPT™ technology powered by ChatGPT, sit back and let our AI do the rest of the work: it will generate unique lore, diplomatic dialogues, starship choices, and ambassador images. 

Sectors
Players now have the option to play with multiple sectors, each acting as a separate map, or continue with a single large sector if they prefer.

Executive Orders
Introducing a new resource, Control, which enables players to instantly execute actions across their empire by spending it as needed.

Cultural Progression
Throughout the game, civilizations gradually develop culturally, allowing players to select unique traits that set them apart from others. The cost of these traits varies based on the player's actions and choices made during gameplay.

New Combat System
Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova presents a brand new combat system for the first time since the original game. Now, various weapon and defense systems have distinct behaviors and damage-handling capabilities. Players can enjoy highly detailed battle views and access comprehensive information to assess their ships' performance in combat.

Governmental Policies
Besides traditional power levers like adjusting taxes, players can now select from a range of policies to influence their civilizations' functions. Opt for coerced research to accelerate technology gains, or implement mandatory conscription for more soldiers during wartime. These policies grant players unprecedented control over their civilization's development.

Leaders
Players can influence their civilization's functionality by recruiting leaders from across the galaxy and assigning them to key positions. Each leader has a unique backstory and traits that impact their assigned roles, adding an interesting layer of complexity and unpredictability to the game.

Multi-Species Civilizations
Population is represented by citizens with diverse strengths and weaknesses. These citizens hail from various planets and can create multi-ethnic societies in a galactic sense, as different species come to inhabit the same planets. Each species has unique natural abilities, making them suitable for distinct roles within your civilization.

Core Worlds
Habitable planets are now divided into two types: Colonies and Core Worlds. Players fully manage Core Worlds, while Colonies are minor planets that contribute resources to their associated Core Worlds. This system allows players to maintain vast interstellar empires without the burden of micromanagement or reliance on AI governors.

Starship Classes
The new Starship classes system offers players enhanced control over their starships' performance. Classes like Fighters, Cruisers, and Dreadnoughts have unique priorities during battle, encouraging players to build diverse fleets with careful consideration of composition, rather than simply amassing the largest ships possible.

New Research System
Galactic Civilizations games are known for their expansive technology trees. Galactic Civilizations IV offers an even deeper tree with more civilization-specific distinctions. Supernova introduces breakthroughs—technologies that a civilization is naturally attuned to and are significantly cheaper to research. While players can freely research any technology they have prerequisites for, breakthrough techs come with a 50% cost reduction, adding strategic depth to gameplay.

Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova is currently in Early Access via Steam or Epic.

GalCiv IV was fully released in April 2022 on Epic Games.

For players who never purchased or played GalCiv IV on Epic, GalCiv IV: Supernova is a sequel to GalCiv III (Supernova includes everything GalCiv IV has PLUS everything new to Supernova). For players who purchased GalCiv IV on Epic, GalCiv IV: Supernova plays as an expansion.

Early Access gives us the opportunity to get community feedback and make the game better as it gets closer to release. Your feedback is critical to creating a great game and the development team wants to know what you like, and don’t like. Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova is also a massive game with entire galaxies to explore and we want to give you the opportunity to explore it first.

No it will not. GalCiv IV: Supernova includes everything GalCiv IV has PLUS everything new to Supernova.

Yes, visit this page.

Check out a comparison list of what's new in Supernova here.

There's a lot of content in early access already, most notably our AlienGPT feature that lets you create entire alien civilizations by entering just a few lines of text. There's a lot more to come, too!

Check out our early access road map here.

• Simulated Universe
• Strong AI Opponents
• Rich Lore
• Multiple paths to victory
• Player customization: ships, civilizations, and more
• Over a dozen civilizations to choose from – from humans, to robots, to giant alien bug monsters
• Research new technology from huge tech trees and learn new abilities
• Build up planets to increase manufacturing and research capabilities
• Explore the galaxy and meet new alien civilizations
• Build alliances, fight wars, and invade planets
• Win the game through conquest, research, diplomacy, culture, or prestige (new in IV)

Steam Purchasers: Galactic Civilizations IV is included within Supernova.

Epic Purchasers: Those who purchased GalCiv IV on Epic can upgrade from Galactic Civilizations IV to Supernova for a highly discounted rate.

Nope, not at all! While there is some long-standing lore woven throughout the games, you make each play through your own unique experience. You don’t have to have any former knowledge of the series to play.

Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova is a turn-based 4X strategy game.

Unfortunately, no. We’ve made several improvements to the underlying system to allow for cooler-looking ships. Because of this, there isn’t a way to import older models into the game.

Modding (short for modification or modifying) is the process of editing or changing the structure, syntax, or code of a game. While you can certainly play with xml files and change the game around, we make modding the game accessible with our Metaverse Workshop. Using the tools there, you can create your own custom civilizations and ships without having to dive into any code.

The Metaverse Workshop is where you’ll add your own personal flare to the game. There are two big things you can customize in our workshop: ships and civilizations.

Ship design is a lot like playing with building blocks! We give you tons of pieces to put together in any way you see fit so you can create the vision you like, then provide you options for stats and improvements to include so that ship integrates well within the game.

Civilization design lets you create your own civilizations to play as or against. You can upload photos and images, choose your own abilities, and assign your own traits to create something truly unique.

In Supernova, we've harnessed cutting edge AI technology to expand how deep these custom civilizations can become.  Fully integrated with the Metaverse Workshop and Powered by ChatGPT, with our new AlienGPT technology you’ll be able to create a completely customized and unique-feeling alien civilization with a few short prompts and a couple quick clicks. 

Once you've uploaded your images and filled out all the civilization's traits and abilities, you'll be able to write a few short sentences of description to inform the AI about what kind of vision you have for your civilization. Are they shifty and suspicious? Cruel and malevolent? Kind and trusting? Filling in these details will send a prompt to the AI, which will generate the civilization’s history, slogan, and descriptions of their strengths and weaknesses. 

The AI is also fully capable of creating text for unique AI conversations for when you make first contact, declare war, instigate trade, and more. Don’t feel like filling out traits and prompts? No problem, you can bypass all of that and just generate a civilization completely at random. 

Stardock has been making space games for 30 years. So we have a fairly extensive library of aliens to train AI image generators on.

The problem resolves itself after one or two restarts of the application.

• Audio: English
• Text: English, German

• OS: Windows 10 64-bit
• Processor: Quad-Core Processor
• Memory: 8GB RAM
• Storage: 14 GB
• Direct X 11
• Graphics: 1 GB Video Card
• Resolution: 1920x1080

• OS: Windows 10 64-bit
• Processor: Quad-Core Processor
• Memory: 16GB RAM
• Storage: 14 GB
• Direct X 11
• Graphics: 1 GB Video Card