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GC3 Founders: Crusade Preview

GC3 Founders: Crusade Preview

 

Greetings GalCiv Founders.

 

This week, we will be announcing Galactic Civilizations III: Crusade.

 

Here are the six major bullet points:

 

#1 Civilization Builder

Players can, from the main menu, design a civilization from scratch.  That includes the default ships they use, what they say in diplomacy and how the AI will make use of them.

 

Crusade-2 Crusade-30

Completed civilizations can then be uploaded to Steam workshop for others to download.  This differs from the custom race feature in GalCiv III in that this is all-inclusive – ships, techs, flavor text, everything in a single package.

 

#2 Citizens

This is the most far-reaching change we’ve made to Galactic Civilizations.  The production wheel is gone. Both the the planet and globally.  Instead, you will customize your civilization based on what you do with your citizens.

Crusade-6

Citizens are born on your home world every so often.  What you do with them is up to you.  You can train them as leaders, spies, diplomats, merchants, scientists, engineers, technicians, etc.  It all depends on how you want to run your civilization.

The screenshot above is misleading because it only shows the 3 default specializations (production, research, wealth) but others will be showing up as well as the game progresses (such as shipyard building, etc.). 

You can also send citizens to specific worlds to boost their production in a particular area.

 

#3 Espionage

This works somewhat similarly to GalCiv II.  You can use spies to learn what other civilizations are up to and steal their tech and  you can use them to disable important planetary improvements.  You can also use them to eliminate spies that show up on your planets.

image

 

 

#4 Invasions

No screenshot for this yet, it’s programmer art.  Invasions now require a lot more thought and effort than before and also are interactive. 

First, soldiers come from your citizenry.  You can’t just load up population from a given planet and send them over.  Instead, they come from your available citizens.  You can also train citizens to be soldiers which makes them that much more effective.  Of course, once a citizen is killed, it’s gone forever. 

When you invade a planet, you get a map of the planet and have to decide where you’re going to land your troops.  If the defender has citizens on that planet (and often, they will not making invasion pretty easy), they will get to place their defenders.  Neither side knows where the other has placed their units until the battle begins. 

The invasions are, in effect, a very fun mini game.  Late game, when the stakes get really high, the invasions become pretty nail biting.

 

#5 Crusade

Crusade is the story that puts it all together.  It introduces a few civilizations and finally gives the player a clear understanding of why the Altarians and Humans are similar. What the Bane is.  Why the Thalan went back in time back to stop the humans and so forth. 

image[24]

 

#6 New UX

Across the board the user experience is being updated.  The  units look better, the user interface is new, the way things work is cleaner.  Overall, the goal is to make the game more approachable to new players as well as make it much easier to deal with a larger empire.

Crusade-1[6]

I will be writing, at length, a series of dev diaries over the major features for Crusade.  One per week.

Stay tuned.

106,802 views 186 replies
Reply #126 Top

Great news :D

As I've said many times before, the dedication you & your teams put into Stardock games is what makes me a loyal customer.  You actually care about the end product.

This is going to be like a whole new game - can't wait to give it a spin.

Reply #127 Top

Wonderful, and I'll remind everyone that with it being under NDA we should only discuss things in this private founders forum.

Reply #128 Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 125

Working.

Very.

Very.

Very.

Long hours.

Short version: We expect to have a Founder's Build to you tomorrow.

I will be posting the password in this forum so that only those who understand it's under NDA will be talking about it.

Feature wise, it's basically done.  But there's so much polish and AI stuff still that makes all the difference in the world.

 

You guys an gals are awesome! Hope your not working yourselves to hard tho :O Rather it be a week or so later then early and you and your team half dead :(..

Reply #129 Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 125

Working.

Very.

Very.

Very.

Long hours.

Short version: We expect to have a Founder's Build to you tomorrow.

I will be posting the password in this forum so that only those who understand it's under NDA will be talking about it.

Feature wise, it's basically done.  But there's so much polish and AI stuff still that makes all the difference in the world.

Thanks for taking the time to let us know! Goes a long way. Looking forward to checking things out tomorrow!!! Thanks again.

Reply #130 Top

Great Stuff

Reply #131 Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 125

Working.
Very.
Very.
Very.
Long hours.
Short version: We expect to have a Founder's Build to you tomorrow.
I will be posting the password in this forum so that only those who understand it's under NDA will be talking about it.
Feature wise, it's basically done. But there's so much polish and AI stuff still that makes all the difference in the world.

Thanks, Brad, for letting us know!

And of course for the hard work in the first place ;)

Reply #132 Top

Brad's reassuring not withstanding, I'd like to state a few things.

First off, I think GC3 Founders and any Founders for any Stardock games do matter first for their respective Founder games...we're the ones that partially funded the games to development you know, that's always important for a company, hence kickstarter and the like privileges and why companies bother to fund themselves through similar means. A Founder is always a Founder, you can't change that(unless you use that to the company's detriment in some way - and even then potentially, but I don't want to get there).

We got a lot of features and privileges the least of which is to get all the game stuff and more on publish day or even previously(and possibly at a discounted price, since after Crusade, comes another expansion on politics and diplomacy and who knows how many DLC's).

If a product is in its early days of development and such so you'll experience game crushes or other stuff that might even fiddle with your PC well being it should be best to not try to push a company to rush a product(for what? to whine "it's rushed!! Why did you bring it to us? Life on Mars sucks! S-U-C-K-S!"). Companies know when its for the best of their customers to get a product. Some may have the luxury of having two or more PC's so they can try stuff, but most don't.

Also I fully expect those that were the most eager to get it to be the ones reporting the most bugs or what doesn't seem to work that well, starting when we get it, in a constructive way. Don't expect it to be a finished product, as in you get to play first as a sort of privilege(that would be rather unheard of and I don't expect from any company to do that. Usually you get to play something and the company benefits from your playing experience to improve it.

We got to play the Alpha and Beta early. We got extra stuff(Founder only and for loging in). We got art and music and early other concepts. I mean were does it stop. Let's be appreciative of what we're given for a change. It's not like they didn't want to give it to us(plus earlier shipment helps with customers, meaning cashflow if its a final product and getting an alpha or beta, dunno what we'll be getting, helps to improve the program faster. But it does have to be stable and provide at least a limited gameplay value, so people know what to report about it, most of us aren't working in the industry).

Be glad to get it, especially if it's when Brad said. But I'll not be mad if it isn't - or if it's only when its the final or close to final version or something. It's a company and Brad's decision to give us something and much better if that is a win-win for us and for them too, you know.

Reply #133 Top

Yeah with crusade the founders price is almost the same as the main game and the 2 expansions at release, let alone the dlcs and I doubt this will be the last expansion.

Reply #134 Top

The level of stuff provided from Founder's program and the level of improvement shown with GalCiv3 and Elemental - it's why I upgraded my free Star Control from Servo to Founder's. 

Even if a game doesn't turn out well at launch, Stardock has shown that they will make it right and good in the end.   Over the years they've earned my trust- and it's rare for me to give that trust with my money.

 

Hopefully I can start looking at Crusade today. ^_^

Reply #135 Top

Quoting Alstein, reply 134

The level of stuff provided from Founder's program and the level of improvement shown with GalCiv3 and Elemental - it's why I upgraded my free Star Control from Servo to Founder's. 

Even if a game doesn't turn out well at launch, Stardock has shown that they will make it right and good in the end.   Over the years they've earned my trust- and it's rare for me to give that trust with my money.

 

Hopefully I can start looking at Crusade today. ^_^

 

+1

Reply #136 Top

They originally said we were going to get 3 or four, so im expecting at least three. Free star control can you clarify.

Reply #137 Top

It was a make-up for those folks who bought Servo from Stardock (only from Stardock) because that game got scrapped.

 

 

 

 

Reply #138 Top

Wait...we can be founders of Star Control? Where is that sign up sheet at?

Reply #139 Top

https://www.starcontrol.com/starcontrolorigins#preorder

 

Reply #140 Top

I have to say, I'm quite excited... as always, thanks so much for the hard work, Stardock! And if you don't get it to us today, that's okay--as others have said, we'd prefer you take your time and do what's best (and being a family man, I'd hate to think that my entertainment was at the expense of your time with family). Keep up the great work!

Reply #141 Top

there's also two levels of founder there-regular and "lifetime" (lifetime=gal civ III elite founder).  There is also an ACTIVE NDA.  You are more likely to get into testing if look for a certain thread AFTER becoming a founder.  Probably a higher likelihood if you are active on forums and have modding experience.  Other than that, my lips are sealed.

Reply #142 Top

I just hope they'll let us know if the release has slipped from today, and no problem if it has, just would be nice to hear as I already feel silly for how long/much I've sat in front of my computer hitting F5... :blush:

Reply #143 Top

Quoting Avatar137, reply 142

I just hope they'll let us know if the release has slipped from today, and no problem if it has, just would be nice to hear as I already feel silly for how long/much I've sat in front of my computer hitting F5... :blush:

 

Right?

Reply #144 Top

Quoting Larsenex, reply 138

Wait...we can be founders of Star Control? Where is that sign up sheet at?

I actually got mine last weekend, starcontrol.com 

Reply #145 Top

Quoting Alstein, reply 134

I upgraded my free Star Control from Servo to Founder's. 

Wait Servo was cancelled, I was just waiting for it to be released to go back never realized it was cancelled.  I was a founder too was there something special for the founders that was given out?

Reply #146 Top

Quoting Aematheon, reply 132

We got to play the Alpha and Beta early. We got extra stuff(Founder only and for loging in). We got art and music and early other concepts. I mean were does it stop. Let's be appreciative of what we're given for a change. It's not like they didn't want to give it to us(plus earlier shipment helps with customers, meaning cashflow if its a final product and getting an alpha or beta, dunno what we'll be getting, helps to improve the program faster. But it does have to be stable and provide at least a limited gameplay value, so people know what to report about it, most of us aren't working in the industry).

Again, I don't think a lot of people were angry about not having the Crusade beta yet, it was more: "Where is the communication?". When a company delivers a date to its fanbase, and can't make it, a communication is expected and not unreasonable. Even then though, I think the founders have been pretty reasonable in all of the threads I've seen.

A point on Founding in general. Ultimately being a Founder is about two elements:

1) Economics
2) Prestige

Economics is the "access to all Gal Civ 3 things till the end of time". In this arena I think the money was a sound investment.

In terms of Prestige, the founder "stuff" I think was neat...but not really that prestigious. Playing the Alpha/Beta and giving feedback was...but that's been gone for a long time.

In bringing back the Crusade beta to the Founders, they have rekindled that prestige. It feels cool to be a Founder again for a while, and as a Stardock repeat customer, it was what I was looking for. Things like this definitely peek my interest for new foundings in the future. 

Reply #147 Top

I suspect that it might happen by midnight tonight, since Brad said they were working very.very.very. long hours :)

 

That said, I agree with the sentiment on the thread - if it can't come out today, then that is what it is, but I would sure like to be told so that I'm not refreshing the page every few minutes for an afternoon.

Reply #148 Top

Quoting Stalker0, reply 146
...Again, I don't think a lot of people were angry about not having the Crusade beta yet, it was more: "Where is the communication?". When a company delivers a date to its fanbase, and can't make it, a communication is expected and not unreasonable. Even then though, I think the founders have been pretty reasonable in all of the threads I've seen...

Quoting haldiron, reply 147
That said, I agree with the sentiment on the thread - if it can't come out today, then that is what it is, but I would sure like to be told so that I'm not refreshing the page every few minutes for an afternoon.

 

Exactly this. Many of us here have no problem with waiting until things are ready to be released to us, all we are asking is for communication. I wasted my entire day refreshing the page (my choice) hoping to get a little exposure to it. If they knew it wasn't going to happen today I sure would have appreciated hearing that as there are other things I could do have I known it wasn't going to happen. Again, it was all my choice what to do based on the info I had. Lesson learned.

 

EDIT: To add insult to injury, I decided to go play some more in my last game that I started and noticed that we got a 13.5mb download today. Now I can't get rid of the launcher and my game won't start. LOL Oh well, I guess the universe is trying to tell me today wasn't meant for any version of GC3.

Reply #150 Top

Quoting Avatar137, reply 148

EDIT: To add insult to injury, I decided to go play some more in my last game that I started and noticed that we got a 13.5mb download today. Now I can't get rid of the launcher and my game won't start. LOL Oh well, I guess the universe is trying to tell me today wasn't meant for any version of GC3.

That was the Crusade DLC, Avatar, are you enjoying it already? :D

Obviously SD needed more time to polish the beta build... so hopefully today?