Here at Stardock, we are always working on improving our titles by releasing updates, many of which are based on user feedback. Today, we are releasing version 1.4 for one of our most popular titles, Galactic Civilizations III.
One of the things that our player base has been asking for is the ability to more easily manage the hundreds of individual worlds that come under their control as they play through a game. We are happy to say that the team has adjusted the player's Planetary Governors so that they are now able to optimize building and spending on an individual world, leaving you to do the more important stuff -- like conquer the galaxy and eliminate your foes! There are a lot of other updates with this version that create more engaging challenges for the players when they choose to select an AI opponent.
To find out more, I spoke with the game’s producer, Patrick Shaw (pshaw).
"We have made some improvements to the AI to create more interesting challenges
for our players," Patrick said. "It will now more efficiently manage building its planets
and controlling its economy. We've also made improvements to the player's Governors,
which will also be able to identify how best to build up planets while the player can
manage planetary production through new spending foci."
The changes in v1.4 will allow for an AI opponent to create specialized planets instead of generic worlds, prioritize building starbases around planets instead of strictly claiming resources, and aggressively decommission ships when it starts overspending. In previous iterations of the game, the AI did not adjust or use spending foci, but the v1.4 update now allows them to do so, in addition to picking Governors based on planet bonuses.
[An example of Governor choices]
New Military Subsidiaries Planetary project that funnels excess social manufacturing production into a sponsored shipyard. There is also a new Moral Allowance planetary project that funnels social manufacturing production into boosting that planet’s morale.
The Planetary Governors add spending percentages to the manufacturing, research, and wealth tooltips. Social and military percentage info was also added into the manufacturing tooltip, which will help clarify the effects of the new spending foci.
The "planetary screen" has also been updated with spending foci; the players can shift their planetary production and divert 25% of the production to that specific area. Finally, there is also a "direct control" Governor (allows players to manually place planetary improvements) and a "balanced" Governor (builds worlds that are balanced between manufacturing, research, and wealth spending).
[An example of an AI-constructed planet.]
In addition to all of the AI improvements, the Galactic Civilizations III team has corrected several bugs, worked on balance, addressed some multi-player issues, and cleaned up the UI so that is easier to navigate. The adjustments to the game should lead to more exciting and thought provoking games for users who are playing against the AI.
You can view the full changelog here.
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