GalCiv IV: Species Pack Update and Feature Breakdown

June 27, 2024 10:00 AM from

Last week we released the Species Pack DLC and today we've made updates to that pack that include; more species, multi-selecting portraits, and adding the ability to 'copy species'.

All GalCiv IV players will see minor tweaks to the base species, improved AlienGPT image generation, and some bug fixes. See the full changelog below.

For clarity on what's included in Galactic Civilizations IV versus what's exclusive to the Species Pack, please refer to the chart below:

Feature

GalCiv IV

Species Pack

Species (Exclusive to Species Pack)

New default Species have been added with unique characteristics that utilize more of the new Phenotypes.

NEW! Elesaran

Avian Phenotype with low Diligence and Resolve but high Social.

NEW! Glendorian

Humanoid Phenotype with high Resolve and lowered Expectations contrasted with their decreased Social.

NEW! Phaelerian

Reptilian Phenotype with high Intelligence and an accelerated Growth Rate but lower Social and increased Food Consumption.

NEW! Seculoid

Molluscoid Phenotype with increased Diligence and drastically higher Intelligence but a lower Growth Rate.

NEW! Truskar

Reptilian Phenotype with high Resolve and raised Diligence but a decreased Growth Rate and vastly lower Social.

NEW! Zpherian

Mer Phenotype with higher Intelligence and Diligence paired with drastically higher Expectations.

NEW! Ganthari

Mammalian Phenotype with a very high Intelligence, raised Diligence, and high base Approval but a drastically decreased Growth Rate.

NEW! Unirix

Insectoid Phenotype with slightly lower starting Expectations and a very high Resolve, making up for their equally low Social.

Astral Amphibians

Amphibian Phenotype with slightly higher starting Expectations, Resolve, and Social paired with slightly lower Diligence and Intelligence.

Stellar Spiders

Arachnoid Phenotype with higher starting Expectations, lower Intelligence, but increased Resolve and Diligence.

Conscious Clouds

Gaseous Phenotype with low Resolve and Diligence but high Social and Intelligence and lower starting Expectations.

Mushrooms

Fungal Phenotype with low Resolve but very high Social and an increased Growth Rate but very strong aversion to Pollution.

Star Nautiloids

Molluscoid Phenotype with high Diligence and a vastly increased Growth Rate but strong aversion to Pollution.

Mammalia Galactic

Mammalian Phenotype with slightly increased Growth Rate and slightly higher Diligence.

Create a Species

Owners of the Species Pack DLC will have access to the Create a Species feature which allows the player to define a completely new Species. The player will be able to define the traits that define a Species from Phenotype to their feelings about Pollution along with their relative capabilities in each Skill. This is the biggest element of the DLC. The Editor gives players a lot of flexibility in designing their species to better fit their play style and Custom Civilizations. Players will be able to Name and give Descriptions to their new Species so they can give them their own place in the Universe.

Create a Species Editor

Upload Species

Owners of the Species Pack DLC will be able to share their creations by uploading their Custom Species to the Workshop.

Upload a Species

Phenotype

Phenotypes are a sub-classification of Biology and are replacing Biology across the game. Population growth method and preferred planets are driven by Phenotypes. This allows players with the Species Pack to design species of a specific Phenotype to have the intended gameplay for that Phenotype’s biology.

Fungal

Carbon Based Biology with a preference for Arboreal and Jungle Worlds.

Gaseous

Ammonia Based Biology with a preference for Toxic Worlds and Worlds with High Pollution. They don’t require Food, instead their Growth is affected by how Polluted their World is.

Arachnoid

Carbon Based Biology.

Molluscoid

Carbon Based Biology with a preference for Terrestrial and Oceanic Worlds.

Amphibian

Aquatic Based Biology with a preference for Tropical and Jungle Worlds.

Humanoid

Carbon Based Biology

Reptilian

Carbon Based Biology with a preference for Desert Worlds.

Cybernetic

Synthetic Biology that don’t require Food and don’t have a natural Growth Rate, instead they have to be built on Planet via the Manufacture Populace Project.

Avian

Carbon Based Biology with a preference for Arboreal and Jungle Worlds.

Mer (previously Aquatic)

Aquatic Biology with a preference for Oceanic Worlds and an aversion to all other Worlds.

Insectoid

Carbon Based Biology with a preference for Jungle Worlds.

Crystalline

Silicon Based Biology that don’t require Food that instead use stored Promethean to affect their Growth Rate.

Silicon Based

Silicon Based Biology that don’t require Food that instead use stored Promethean to affect their Growth Rate.

Plantoid

Carbon Based Biology with a preference for Arboreal Worlds.

Mammalian

Carbon Based Biology.

Radiotrophic

Ammonia Based Biology with a preference for Radioactive Worlds and Worlds with High Pollution. They don’t require Food, instead their Growth is affected by how Polluted their World is.

Download Species

Players will be able to download new user created Species from the Workshop either through the platform’s game center or in-game menus.

Download a Species

Full Changelog:

v2.7

AlienGPT 

Improved Species image lookup with better handling of traits and species

Core  

Fixed a crash related to Ship upgrades 
Fixed crashes in Chinese

Species

Added details to Insectoid description to indicate they get a Resistance bonus
Updated Aquatic to be referenced as Mer to reduce redundancy with Aquatic Biology
Updated Cyborgs not to have Growth
Updated the Scryve to be Reptilian
Renamed Cybernetic Phenotype to "Artificial"
Renamed the Silicon Phenotype to "Onyxine"
Updated the Manufacture Citizen Executive Order and the Manufacture Citizen Planetary Project only to produce Citizens of the Civilization's Species.

Species Pack DLC

Added Eight new Species for owners of the Species Pack:
- Elesaran: Avian Phenotype with low Diligence and Resolve but high Social. 
- Ganthari: Thanks to their powerful memories, the Ganthari are known as one of the galaxy's wisest species. However, they are not overly popular, as the Ganthari will never forget a grudge.
- Glendorian The Glendorians are a mysterious and aloof species. They are known to seek solitude and prefer isolation. With the galaxy at arm's length, they've kept many secrets.
- Phaelerian: The Phaelerian's appearance hides a vicious and opportunistic nature. Their quick wits and surprising speed make them shockingly competent warriors and allow their scientists to maintain an edge in the arms race. 
- Seculoid: Seculoids, having adapted to drastically shifting climates over millennia, can make most environments habitable. Their extreme intelligence makes them some of the most competent scientists, and their versatile tentacles can adapt to almost every task.
- Truskar: A species of trophy hunters, the Truskar takes pride in defeating powerful foes. Single-minded and tenacious, the Truskar will forsake most things if it means achieving victory.
- Unirix: The Unirix are a paranoid and untrusting species of insects. Their survival instincts are unmatched, in part due to their experience with discrimination among other species.
- Zpherian: Intelligent, charismatic, fickle, and cruel, the Zpherians are compassionate allies and vindictive foes. 
Added support for multi-selection of Species portraits 
Added details to Arachnoid description to indicate they get a Soldier Ability bonus
Hitting the "back button" while in the Choose Species screen now provides a popup if a change has been made to confirm the player wants to exit.
A "Copy" button was added for the "Choose Species" screen.

galactic civilizations iv galciv iv news

24,000 views 4 replies

Reply #4 July 7, 2024 4:27 PM from

GalCiv4 Forums Top

I can start on a broad level: it goes back to Stardock just being Stardock, going back to the days of Elemental. You've gotten this feedback before: not fixing glaring issues, not responding to player feedback, but then going on and selling new enhancements in DLC. Adding a second story to a house with a cracked slab.

But for specifically this one, the real gameplay issue is not that there aren't enough species, but that your citizens for any single game are all alike. Recruiting citizens of other races is uncommon, and there is only minor variance in the stats. All you did was offer more & different ways for all your citizens to be all alike; same strengths & weaknesses. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs and the Altarian special citizens (empaths?) are still not worth much. Where's the strategy in that? If my non-xenophobic race could research Stellar Immigration and have a way to recruit Navigators to man my Tech capital, now things start to get interesting. Or if I ran low on food, but I could ally with a synthetic race and do a cultural exchange. There's more richness in gameplay to that.

Plus, the intended design of some species being slow-growth/others fast-growth isn't working now, and I don't see that changing in the pack. I can buy a couple recruiting stations in orbit right now, and pretty much populate the entire galaxy with that (even with no promethion). They grow a citizen every turn.

Stardock has been doing that for awhile now: not improving on the real issues and going off and doing something else (for a price). Plenty of other games have had highly unpopular expansions before, but this is the only line I can think of where the majority of expansions, I simply didn't want.