Armchair Dragoons Forums

News:

  • Connections Online 2024 will be held 15-20 April, 2024 ~~ More Info here
  • Buckeye Game Fest will be held May 2-5, 2024, with The War Room opening on 29 April ~~ More Info here

News

Buckeye Game Fest will be held May 2-5, 2024, with The War Room opening on 29 April ~~ More Info here

Author Topic: Galactic Civilizations IV  (Read 24234 times)

Martok

  • Patreon Supporters
  • Lance Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 6771
  • Tilting at windmills
Reply #60 on: April 13, 2022, 05:16:51 PM
Galactic Civilzations IV is releasing April 26 on the Epic Games Store: 


https://www.galciv4.com/article/511536

https://cogconnected.com/2022/04/stardock-unveils-galactic-civilizations-iv-release-date-april-26th/






I confess I'm a little surprised by the news, as I wasn't expecting the game to come out until May or June.  Good for them, though. 


Now I just have to wait another year until GC4 is (hopefully) available on Steam/GOG... 



"I like big maps and I cannot lie." - Barthheart

"I drastically overpaid for this existence." - bbmike


Undercovergeek

  • Sergeant
  • ***
  • Posts: 2075
Reply #61 on: April 13, 2022, 06:45:13 PM
I’m enjoying DW2 enough not to need another space 4x



bbmike

  • Warrant Officer
  • Lance Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 7444
    • My Own Worst Enemy
Reply #62 on: April 13, 2022, 06:46:54 PM
I’m with you, Martok. I can wait for this to come to Steam.

"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplace of existence."
-Sherlock Holmes

My Own Worst Enemy


Yskonyn

  • Jr Lancer
  • ***
  • Posts: 324
  • Running an online thing is like herding cats
Reply #63 on: April 14, 2022, 02:36:58 AM
I feel they release early too.
The problem of designing ships with an intricate ship designer, to have them only be reduced to rock, paper, scissor combat in the game is still a feature which is dissapointing.
They have done some work to try to prevent tiny / small ship hull spam however.
But I can’t help to think that a proper ship role system would add so much more to the combat in their games.


Martok

  • Patreon Supporters
  • Lance Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 6771
  • Tilting at windmills
Reply #64 on: April 20, 2022, 06:49:37 PM
Final pre-release dev journal? 


https://www.galciv4.com/article/511557



It's nothing special -- pretty much just screenshots with a bit of commentary from Brad about the game's features.  I always appreciate reading his insights, however, even if I don't always agree with them. 

I'm also digging the visuals, which has clearly received an upgrade (as opposed to GalCiv3, which was accused -- not without cause -- of looking too similar to GalCiv2).  The art design is admittedly starting to feel a bit stale -- I would love to see Stardock do something a little more stylistic, similar to their Fallen Enchantress/Sorcerer King series -- but the art team appears to be doing good work based on the current concept(s). 




I did have to roll my eyes, however, when Brad posted the screenshot of the combat-viewer.  In its current iteration, it displays the battle *after* the results of the fight have already been posted -- and apparently with no way to skip it, at least at the moment.  ::)  :doh:  I'm sure that will change/be improved after release, but it's utterly baffling to me as to why it was ever implemented that way in the first place. 



"I like big maps and I cannot lie." - Barthheart

"I drastically overpaid for this existence." - bbmike


Martok

  • Patreon Supporters
  • Lance Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 6771
  • Tilting at windmills
Reply #65 on: April 25, 2022, 07:55:53 PM
Video from their pre-release Community Q&A #3 stream is up: 






It was an interesting listen, but I didn't think there was anything particularly surprising or profound answered or discussed.  There's no comment on when (or if) the game is coming to Steam (it was the very first question asked); presumably Stardock is legally barred from discussing the topic during their exclusivity period with Epic. 

On the eve of GalCiv4's release, my impression continues to be that it doesn't appear it will ever come close to topping my "Best 4x Games" list.  However, it does look very good (probably the best entry in the franchise so far), and I'm looking forward to purchasing it next year. 



"I like big maps and I cannot lie." - Barthheart

"I drastically overpaid for this existence." - bbmike


Yskonyn

  • Jr Lancer
  • ***
  • Posts: 324
  • Running an online thing is like herding cats
Reply #66 on: April 26, 2022, 03:10:48 AM
Same, although I am already in.

The game looks absolutely stunning. The gameplay is classic GalCiv ‘boardgame’ style and the AI is much more on the level of GC1 and GC2 again, which is great.
Planetary development is more interesting this time, which was one of their goals. That succeeded imo.

But like we discussed before, combat still is very generic.
Considering the awesome ship designer in the game I feel its such a waste, but Derek and Brad keep insisting that they want GalCiv to be a strategic game instead of a tactical one.
In my opinion that reduces the ship designer to a ship vanity wardrobe, which is a bummer.

Still,  its not out of the question we might see some less abstraction coming in an expansion.

There is no doubt the foundation of this GalCiv is much better than the previous iteration. Made by a classic GalCiv team.

As a multiplayer game this version is pretty awesome too I feel. Its plays rather snappy.
Perhaps we can whip something up in future.
« Last Edit: April 26, 2022, 03:13:13 AM by Yskonyn »



Martok

  • Patreon Supporters
  • Lance Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 6771
  • Tilting at windmills
Reply #67 on: April 26, 2022, 03:38:19 AM
I'll ping you in a year.  :D 


"I like big maps and I cannot lie." - Barthheart

"I drastically overpaid for this existence." - bbmike


Martok

  • Patreon Supporters
  • Lance Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 6771
  • Tilting at windmills
Reply #68 on: April 26, 2022, 04:24:32 PM
Brad reveals a bit more of the universe's lore, which covers events in both GalCiv3 and GalCiv4.  Whatever I may think of the games, I always enjoy reading these: 


https://littletinyfrogs.com/article/511830/galciv-iv-dev-journal-18---the-dawn-of-the-24th-century



"I like big maps and I cannot lie." - Barthheart

"I drastically overpaid for this existence." - bbmike


Martok

  • Patreon Supporters
  • Lance Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 6771
  • Tilting at windmills
Reply #69 on: April 30, 2022, 03:58:14 AM
Tentative roadmap covering the first few planned updates: 


https://littletinyfrogs.com/article/511922/galciv-iv-dev-journal-19---the-roadmap



A lot of the features listed are things requested by the community, but the team wasn't able to implement in time for the 1.0 version (so they're being added post-launch instead).  It's nice to see Stardock continuing to be responsive to the players. 


One thing that stands out to me, however, is that GalCiv4 currently doesn't have support for any other languages; and that even with v1.3 (which is when other languages will start being added), the game is only going to support French, German, and Russian.  It strongly suggests -- yet again -- that Stardock rushed the game out the door, at least sooner than they might have otherwise.  I have to wonder if that's so they can exit their Epic exclusivity window that much sooner next year(?). 



"I like big maps and I cannot lie." - Barthheart

"I drastically overpaid for this existence." - bbmike


Martok

  • Patreon Supporters
  • Lance Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 6771
  • Tilting at windmills
Reply #70 on: May 27, 2022, 03:32:37 AM
Update 1.03 has dropped.  Alliance victory has been added, a bunch of new events, and players can now share custom civilizations with each other via the workshop. 


https://www.galciv4.com/article/511962/galactic-civilizations-iv-103



"I like big maps and I cannot lie." - Barthheart

"I drastically overpaid for this existence." - bbmike


bob48

  • Smeghead.
  • Warrant Officer
  • Lead Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 11716
Reply #71 on: May 27, 2022, 06:22:14 AM
Dunno why, but I just can't seem to get a handle on space 4x type games. Lack of spatial awareness, maybe?

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


Martok

  • Patreon Supporters
  • Lance Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 6771
  • Tilting at windmills
Reply #72 on: May 27, 2022, 12:51:05 PM
Yes, I'm sure that must be it.  :P 


I think it's fair to say that, quite simply, not all settings within a genre are going to appeal to everyone.  The reasons for why that is may vary from person to person, but it's still true regardless. 


As for myself, I've been fascinated with outer space for as long as I can remember.  I also have fond memories of watching episode re-runs of Star Trek: TOS with my dad in the evenings when he was home, which only further amplified my obsession.  When I later discovered my love for strategy games as a young adult, the combination of these two infatuations -- space 4x games -- had me immediately hooked & enthralled. 



"I like big maps and I cannot lie." - Barthheart

"I drastically overpaid for this existence." - bbmike


Martok

  • Patreon Supporters
  • Lance Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 6771
  • Tilting at windmills
Reply #73 on: June 10, 2022, 02:37:41 PM
In this week's dev journal, Derek fires up the game with a preview build of version 1.04, which (among other things) adds a long-requested change: the ability for military starbases to protect planets within their radius from invasion.  He also takes a closer look at the Xeloxi, one of the many new playable races in GC4. 


https://www.galciv4.com/article/512848/




It's fascinating and all, but I confess I'm already getting a bit impatient for Derek to start work on his fantasy 4x game that he's wanted to do for so long.  I want to see what he's got planned for us, dang it! 



"I like big maps and I cannot lie." - Barthheart

"I drastically overpaid for this existence." - bbmike


Martok

  • Patreon Supporters
  • Lance Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 6771
  • Tilting at windmills
Reply #74 on: June 16, 2022, 05:21:39 PM
Version 1.04 is out.  Additional Executive Orders, a powerful new Colony Upgrade, and Military Starbases are finally worth a damn: 


https://www.galciv4.com/article/513001



"I like big maps and I cannot lie." - Barthheart

"I drastically overpaid for this existence." - bbmike