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.

• 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)

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.

Languages Supported

• Audio: English
• Text: English

Minimum

• 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

Recommended

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

We would love to have GalCiv IV on as many platforms as possible; right now, we are focused on delivering the best game possible on Epic.

You might be missing key files from installation. Go to: C:\Program Files\Epic Games\GCIV and run VC_redist.x86.exe. If that doesn’t work, please contact support via our forums.

Galactic Civilizations IV has its own contained modding system. You are able to access the ship and civilization designers from the main menu and start creating right away.

Once finished, you can export your design locally (the game will show you which folder it saved in).

COMING SOON: Upload your mods so that other players can access them! You can browse designs directly from within the game.

Players can choose any species to play as (not just humans), but the game setting is centered in our area of the Milky Way galaxy in the 22nd, 23rd, and now 24th centuries.

We have over a dozen civilizations in the game ready for you to choose from. There are plenty of familiar faces – like the Drengin Empire, the Terran Alliance, the Torian Regime – as well as several new civilizations ready to take on the galaxy, from the cute and unassuming Mimot Brotherhood to the terrifying and conniving Festron Hunt.

Players can also create their own civilizations from scratch. You can then play as – or against! - your new creations to see how they hold up. If you’d like to share them with other GalCiv players, there will be an option for uploading them as well.

All but the Thalan. Their mission is complete.

Quite a lot!

Sectors allow you to experience a truly epic story, all told through your decisions and choices throughout the game. They give the map a truly galactic feel. You can also select the number of sectors you have on a map when you set up a new game, giving you control over the scope of your playthrough.

There is no campaign mode anymore – every game is a campaign, and campaigns have characters. Characters come in the form of leaders and citizens, all of whom have different strengths and weaknesses. Certain jobs take advantage of certain traits, meaning that who you choose to place in those roles is critical.

Having so many different characters with their own backstories, combined with what civilizations you’re up against, plus the simulated universe that the game runs on, gives you a unique story experience every time.

We know that for most people, you hear “depth” for a game like this and then you think “that must mean a lot of micromanagement.” That’s not the case in GalCiv IV – unlike in previous versions of the game, now you’ll only be managing what we call core worlds.

Instead of directly managing each planet or city in your empire like in most other strategy games of this genre, you will instead output the resources of less desirable planets into the good planets you find – in other words, your core worlds.

In a typical game, you might have 7 core worlds late game and another 28 colonies – meaning that each core world has about 4 colonies feeding it. In GalCiv III, you would have been managing all 35 planets even though 28 of them were low quality – now, you’ll only manage the 7 planets that matter while the others feed them resources. It’s so much better.

Each civilization is designed to play differently, which is a great feature in theory. We have noticed from GalCiv III data that most people either play the Terran Alliance or a custom civilization. We figured, if that’s the case, we’ll bring the alternative play styles right to you via policies. Policies let you customize your civilization mid-game, allowing you to change how you’re playing to suit your situation.

A new resource called “control” represents how much direct control you have of your civilization. You can spend control on executive orders like drafting colonists, taking over telescopes, or printing money. As you research new technologies or experience other actions and events, you’ll gain access to new orders.

Ideologies are more nuanced and divided into different categories in GalCiv IV. Each category has two paths, which will open up based on your actions and choices. How different civilizations get along depends on where they are ideologically. Adopting a given trait provides different benefits – and different consequences.

To solve the problem of “I’m going to win eventually, but this takes too long,” we have introduced prestige victories. These victories are available by tackling big galactic achievements that aren’t usually very easy to do unless you’re already dominating the game. Which ones are available varies depending on what characters and civilizations are present in your game. Completing an achievement will give you plenty of prestige points toward a victory, as well as providing some pretty cool story moments.

Galactic Civilizations IV maps are much, much bigger. However, unlike in previous GalCiv games where various star clusters would have a bunch of empty space (which meant a lot of drudgery late game), GalCiv IV introduces the concept of “star sectors”.

A Galactic Civilizations III tiny, small, or medium map could be considered a single star sector with its normal free-form movement between stars and such. In fact, someone could play GalCiv IV the same as GalCiv III in terms of setting up a single big star sector.

The most powerful player in a given sector is considered the sector owner and gains various bonuses for owning that sector.

However, there can now be more than one star sector, which are connected by subspace streams. Players do not know where subspace streams are at the start of the game, nor can they navigate them (they must be found and then researched). This allows players to effectively travel to other maps (star sectors).

Thus, map travel has 3 acts:

• Act 1: Star sector travel (just like GalCiv I, II, III)
• Act 2: Subspace stream travel (traveling to new star sectors via a subspace stream)
• Act 3: Quantum tunneling travel (entering subspace and exiting at a specific point)

Absolutely. A given sector can still potentially be very large.

The new technology tree is much bigger than in previous GalCiv games. The primary change is that only a select number of technologies are available to choose from to research at a time.

These technologies are chosen semi-randomly based on the innovation rating (think rarity) of the technology. Early game, this just works like previous GalCivs, since there are only 3 to 5 techs to choose from. However, as the tech tree explodes, the number of potential choices can grow far beyond that.

Players aren’t wholly reliant on the random number generator, however. If you're seeking a specific tech, you can “inspire” your scientists to brainstorm a new group of techs. You can inspire as many times as you want, but the cost of the tech increases each time you do so during a given turn.

Yes.

Not in the form they were before. Instead, we have policies which let you pick and choose elements you want rather than the previous “all or nothing” style of governments. With this method, you’re able to customize your civilization mid-game, giving you more flexibility and adaptability to unexpected situations.

There is quite a bit more depth with both ship-to-ship combat and invasions. For this reason, combat doesn’t necessarily conclude in a single turn.

In previous Galactic Civilizations games, combat and invasions always finished in a single turn no matter how many ships or soldiers were involved. Now, the number of turns it takes to complete a battle or an invasion depends on the forces that are involved.

Early game and many invasions will still be single turns. The difference is that now, an invasion of a major world might involve several turns as besieging forces must deal with the possibility of reinforcements arriving. Similarly, with massive fleets involved, retreating becomes possible, as well as new abilities and modifiers for optimizing short or prolonged battles.

We are so excited to release v1.0, but we know the work is never done! Your feedback has been invaluable to us as we work to make the greatest 4X game experience possible for our fans.

We will continue to add new features and adjust balance and mechanics over time. Thank you all so much for your support – we hope you enjoy Galactic Civilizations IV!

If you have additional questions, please ask in our forums.