Explore, Trade And Conquer On A Galactic Scale – A Truly Gigantic World Is Opening Its Doors To You
You have beaten the campaigns in Age of Wonders 3, conquered for the nineteenth time the universe in Endless Space and Beyond Earth has no more secrets for you. And your hard-fought victories leave you wondering: are there new worlds to explore, to conquer and to settle in?
The answer is yes! And not just any world – the universe of Galactic Civilizations III is so incredibly vast that ruling over it all represents a truly daunting task... But, as a true 4X veteran, isn't this exactly what you are looking for?
1. You Will Never Play The Same Game Twice
Your rule starts here, but no one can predict where it will end.
Galactic Civilizations III is an immense sandbox. With every new game you start, you can never tell who will become your ally and who will end up being your enemy. You are not the only force to be reckoned with in this immense, randomly generated galaxy – the alien races that you share it with grow, trade, colonize new planets and fight each other in unpredictable, yet, when you think about it, logical ways.
2. Conquer The Galaxy As One Of The Eight Unique Races
The Yor are a race of sentient machines hell-bent on exterminating all organic lfie.
Just as its name suggests, in Galactic Civilizations III the player can rule the galaxy as one of the eight major races. Each of these factions has their own philosophy, history and technology, and because they are so unique in their own way, it's amost certain that you are going to feel at home with one of them.
Maybe you'll enjoy playing as the master diplomats Humans, or maybe the beautiful and mystical Altarians are more to your liking. The ruthless and cruel Drengin certainly appeal to some people, while others will choose a completely alien-looking and enigmatic race like the Thalans.
Or maybe you're having one of those days when you just hate everyone, and decide to go with the sentient but emotionless machines, the Yor, instead. Now you have an excuse to exterminate all life in the galaxy and not feel bad about it. It's not like the Yor can feel anything, anyway.
The campaign of Galactic Civilizations III continues the story where Galactic Civilizations II left off.
3. Become A Conqueror, A Diplomat, A Scientist... Or A God
Diplomatic relations is one of the ways to win a game.
There are several ways to win a game in Galactic Civilizations III. Some victory conditions are a staple of the genre, but a few are pretty interesting and unique.
Let's get this straight – yes, you could just become the biggest and baddest empire on the block and mow down the opposition. This is the Conquest Victory, and while we can certainly understand its appeal, there are also more subtle, and more challenging, ways to win.
For instance you could go for the Technology victory, turning your people into a civilization of brilliant scientists, or the Diplomatic victory, which requires you to ally with all the remaining major races to win. The challenge comes from the fact that some races will just never get along with each other, but you know, the victory condition does say “all the remaining races”. Tee hee.
Finally, a really interesting and unique way to win is the Ascension. The Ascension turns your race into godlike beings that transcend the mortal existence – just how cool is that? But this is also a challenging victory condition, as it requires you to capture and hold key positions in the galaxy that will generate Aura points, an essential resource required for this goal.
And to spice things up, still more different victory conditions are to come in future patches and DLC.
4. Discover The True Meaning Of “Massive”
And our colonization of the galaxy has only started.
Galactic Civilizations III offers the player to experience space conquest on an unprecedented scale. There is a good reason why the game requires a 64-bit system, and that reason is: up to 128 possible opponents on the same map!
It is simply mind boggling trying to imagine just how big must a virtual universe be to host 128 factions that are forming alliances, waging war on each other, exploring the space and colonizing new planets all at the same time. Yet Galactic Civilizations III accomplishes that feat.
You could spend hundreds upon hundreds of hours trying to conquer such a galaxy. The endless diplomatic possibilities are simply amazing and it is absolutely impossible to predict what you are going to encounter next in a universe so vast, thanks to the sandbox nature of the game.
5. Research An Extensive Technology Tree
And it's only getting more complex from here on.
Galactic Civilization III boasts an impressive technology tree that is almost as big as the galaxy itself. Everything you need to turn your fledgling empire into a technologically advanced military might that must be reckoned with can be researched here.
The tree is so complex that the player needs to have a clear vision of the direction they want their civilization to take. It takes a lot of effort to become advanced in a certain field, be it commerce or warfare, and if you decide to change your objective in the middle of a game, it might cost you a lot, as it would put you at a disadvantage against other civilizations.
This means that the game requires a lot of planning ahead, and not only is the common technology tree huge, but it varies slightly from civilization to civilization, since each of them is more proficient at certain things and less at others. Finally, each race has also access to race-exclusive technologies.
6. Give Your Civilization A Distinct Ideology That Will Make It Stand Out
Ideology is a feature that is unique to Galactic Civilizations III.
Essentially, ideology functions like a small technology tree, but the player does not need to research it. Instead, it is unlocked with ideology points which are obtained through certain ingame events, such as colonization.
Ideology allows you to further specialize your empire. There are three major ideologies: Benevolent, Pragmatic and Malevolent. They make focusing on diplomacy, trade or warfare easier by unlocking civilization-wide improvements.
Some ideologies can provide a minor yet welcome boost, but others can be real game changers. Entire strategies can be built around your civilization's ideology. For example, the Temple of Enlightenment, a building unlockable when your empire is Benevolent, generates enormous amounts of research, making it easier to achieve a Technology victory.
7. Design And Build Your Own Customized Ships
You can make your ships look any way you want – your own imagination is your only limit.
Thanks to a powerful in-game ship design tool, you have full control over how your civilization's ships look. A pretty neat feature that doubtlessly only adds to the game's longevity, as players who want to customize their race down to the most minute details will likely spend a lot of time creating their own custom designs.
If you aren't a 3D artist at heart, but still want your fleet to look cool, despair not! Ship designs can be shared, and you can download other players' creations.
8. Heck, You Can Customize Everything, Not Only Ships
Why limit yourself to ships? Sure, they can look amazing, but the ship editor pales in comparison with the fact you can pretty much build entire factions from scratch.
Don't like the default races in the game? Or maybe you've already played all of them and want your galaxy to be inhabited by a completely different alien lifeform?
Well you are in luck, for the game provides the player with an extensive Faction Creator tool. You can define your custom faction's look, ships, technology tree, traits and even the way it behaves towards other races (for instance, you can choose whether there is a race that your custom civilization considers their mortal enemy or on the contrary will ally themselves with at the first opportunity).
And just like ship designs, you can also share your custom races with other players! Galactic Civilization III is definitely a game that encourages creativity.
9. Use The Combat Viewer To Watch Your Armada Fight In Real Time
Watch giant battles unfold in real time.
Usually in 4X games, you build you units, equip them, merge them into armies and send them to fight your opponents. When two armies clash, the battle is automatic and all you can see is the result of the encounter on the world map (hi, Sid Meier's Civilization series).
In Galactic Civilizations III, although you can auto-resolve an ongoing battle from the map, you can also choose to observe it with the Combat viewer.
Not only is the Combat viewer epic in itself (who doesn't like watching two large fleets locked in a spatial battle?) but it allows the player to see how a specific encounter plays out and provides insight into why a fleet might be underperforming, and what can be done to fix it.
Armada battles are pretty impressive in Galactic Civilizations III.
10. Conquer Other Players With Your Superior Civilization
Although they are complex, deep and fun space conquest games, the Galactic Civilizations series has always lacked a little something. And that little something was a multiplayer feature.
So if you're a veteran of the franchise, you are in for a threat: for the first time, you can play online with (or against) your friends and people from all over the globe.
The titanic scale of Galactic Civilizations III applies to multiplayer as well – this means up to 128 potential human players in your game. If you thought fighting 127 AIs was a challenge, just wait to see the chaotic mess (in a good way) that can become a galaxy full of real opponents.
What do you think of the game so far? Leave your impressions of the game in the comments below.
