Galactic Civilizations III Released!

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jztemple2
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Well I'm not a happy camper. I got the bundle to get the few DLC I hadn't gotten before, plus I got the new DLC. I started a new game, played for an hour or so, no problem, and now I've had four crashes in thirty minutes. I've done the integrity check twice and each time it found corrupt files. I've posted on the Tech Support forum over on Steam, and I guess I'll be waiting for a patch.

Damn it all to hell, I have free time tomorrow and everything :grund:
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Well, the "good" news is that I've been able to make the crash repeatable. It occurs every time the game tried to display my one and only shipyard. I've tried to work around a need to select it but it's too hard to play with that restriction. So I can start a new game and hope this is a one time problem, accepting that maybe I'll have the same thing happen, get a ways into the game and start having constant crashes. Or I can start playing something else.

:grund:
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by Isgrimnur »

Aren't there some sand dunes you need to be driving over?
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Isgrimnur wrote: Tue Nov 13, 2018 10:21 am Aren't there some sand dunes you need to be driving over?
I'm waiting for the bike physics update for Dakar 18, if that is what you mean.

Otherwise I'd have to say that where we go to the beach, the beach patrol frowns on people driving over the dunes :D
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

jztemple2 wrote: Tue Nov 13, 2018 1:21 am Well, the "good" news is that I've been able to make the crash repeatable. It occurs every time the game tried to display my one and only shipyard. I've tried to work around a need to select it but it's too hard to play with that restriction. So I can start a new game and hope this is a one time problem, accepting that maybe I'll have the same thing happen, get a ways into the game and start having constant crashes. Or I can start playing something else.

:grund:
The devs got back to me and using a save game determined that the problem was a missing ship type that I probably screwed up when doing some custom fleet building. I've since uninstalled and deleted all the associated game folders then did a clean install. I'd start a new game but now I'm into CKII for a while :roll:
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by Island Dog »

Glad they were able to help. Hope you can jump back into it. :)
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by Island Dog »

Galactic Civilizations III v3.2 takes faction personality traits into account, improves game AI, and more.

More info and changelog: https://www.stardock.com/games/article/492219
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

I'm trying to get back into GC3 after some time off and I have some questions about Galaxy Settings.

One area where I've always felt like I've made the wrong decisions is on the Galaxy Options. As you (might be able to) see, I've adjusted all settings to "Occasional". As an occasional (hah!) player, does this make sense, or am I making it a lot harder to get back into by doing this?
Image

Another area is Victory Options. If I disable some of these options (as I would like to do) does the AI also ignore those options? Or does the AI always assume all victory options are valid?
Image

My final question has to do with Tech Trading and this is more of a "what do people think?" kind of situation. I realize that trading tech gives a player more to give and ask for in negotiations, but I feel that sometimes it feels like I'm zipping through the tech tree since I manage to gull some sucker civ that likes me into giving me some tech that would take me a lot of effort to discover. So in the past I've usually turned off tech trading, but does this handicap the AI? Or perhaps me?
Image

Thanks for any responses :D. Even though I've played all the GC games since it came to Windows, I still feel like I'm not really getting it all correct. Food, farming and cities still confuses me :roll:
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by Kraken »

I turn off tech brokering but leave tech trading turned on. There's very little point to trading at all if you turn it off. In galaxy setup, I like to make habitable planets uncommon and extreme planets rare. On larger maps, it makes them more precious and helps avoid empires with too damned many colonies to manage.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by Jeff V »

I'm playing this again (with the latest add-ons but not yet the new patch). One very annoying thing that ought to be addressed is failure for one remaining civ to capitulate when all is clearly lost. It can take hours in a pointless exercise to subdue every last planet, and this is not fun at all.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by Jeff V »

Kraken wrote: Sun Dec 16, 2018 12:00 am I turn off tech brokering but leave tech trading turned on. There's very little point to trading at all if you turn it off. In galaxy setup, I like to make habitable planets uncommon and extreme planets rare. On larger maps, it makes them more precious and helps avoid empires with too damned many colonies to manage.
Are you playing with the latest add-on? Some of the rare planetary resources now have use and accumulate in quantities. There are things you just can't do without certain resources. Also, starbases now can be improved as long as you have stocks of certain raw materials (such as promethium). They are no longer improved by sending more constructors. Playing with a low number of planets or limiting what you have to offer in exchange for these resources (limiting tech trading) would certainly be a handicap.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Jeff V wrote: Tue Dec 18, 2018 1:43 pm Also, starbases now can be improved as long as you have stocks of certain raw materials (such as promethium).
These requirements have made the Market a godsend. I used to have to use diplomacy to check which empires had a certain material and whether they would trade it to me, now I can just keep some cash in reserve and buy what I need and sell off any large surpluses. It also helps to know the Market price of items when some other ruler comes calling to offer me some magic beans for my cow...

Come to think of it, a nice update for the game would be to display the latest Market price of commodities in the trade window. I find it annoying that when I am offered those magic beans, I have to turn down the trade to go to the Market screen to find the current price. I posted that request over on the Steam Gamplay Feedback discussion forum.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by Kraken »

Jeff V wrote: Tue Dec 18, 2018 1:43 pm
Kraken wrote: Sun Dec 16, 2018 12:00 am I turn off tech brokering but leave tech trading turned on. There's very little point to trading at all if you turn it off. In galaxy setup, I like to make habitable planets uncommon and extreme planets rare. On larger maps, it makes them more precious and helps avoid empires with too damned many colonies to manage.
Are you playing with the latest add-on? Some of the rare planetary resources now have use and accumulate in quantities. There are things you just can't do without certain resources. Also, starbases now can be improved as long as you have stocks of certain raw materials (such as promethium). They are no longer improved by sending more constructors. Playing with a low number of planets or limiting what you have to offer in exchange for these resources (limiting tech trading) would certainly be a handicap.
Yes, I know all that. "Uncommon" still yields scores of habitable planets on an enormous (huge? I forget the size names) map, vs. hundreds if you make them common. I don't want to babysit 100 colonies once I start rampaging across the galaxy and AIs start surrendering.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by Jeff V »

I think I only played on the humongous map once - I was a little annoyed that some of my enemies were so far away as to be unreachable. Eventually I was able to overcome, but it sure took a long time.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Jeff V wrote: Tue Dec 18, 2018 4:58 pm I think I only played on the humongous map once - I was a little annoyed that some of my enemies were so far away as to be unreachable. Eventually I was able to overcome, but it sure took a long time.
I only played on a truly giant map back in the original GC1 days. I actually had to keep paper logs since I was supporting three or four theaters of war. I had to keep my production tied to the needs of each theater and be sure that the proper ships were being forwarded to the proper theater. This was back when I still had the energy to do that, now it sounds like a lot of work.

Mind you, I am thinking of ordering some RAM so I can play on the two or three biggest map sizes, just because :mrgreen:
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Question, is there somewhere in the game I can display a list of the types of ships I currently have and the number of each? I'm trying to tweak a design I've been using and want to know how many of that ship it will affect if I implement it. Thanks!
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by Brad Wardell »

Been working on AI stuff over the holidays (that's my vacation treat). Hopefully we'll be able to get some of these improvements out in v3.3 early next year. A lot of it is in the area of the AI using starbases better than it currently does.

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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

I just realized that nothing has been posted here for a month, so now it's time to break the news about the newest expansion coming down the pike, err, Hyperlane :wink:, Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution Expansion. Release is planned the first quarter of 2019, which can't be soon enough for me.
About This Content
What started as a crusade has become a war of retribution.

Across the galaxy, ancient alien artifacts are being discovered, giving civilizations powerful new capabilities. Meanwhile, as civilizations try to carefully balance building an economy, funding an ever growing war machine, and engaging in diplomacy, the humans of Sol III have invented a game-changing new technology - Hypergates - which, when connected, allow for rapid transit across the galaxy.

With two new major civilizations and the concluding campaign to the Galactic Civilizations III backstory that serves this massive space 4X sandbox game, Retribution asks the question: How will you rule your galaxy?

Features
Artifacts - Powerful items buried on planets across the galaxy will give your civilization instant-access to new abilities.
Hypergates - Construct powerful gateways that, when linked, allow your fleets to travel even faster across hyperspace.
New Major Civilizations - The Drath and the Korath are back! The manipulative Drath pull the strings across the galaxy while the Korath rely on extermination. Each has its own set of special abilities, bonuses, and ship parts.
Cargo ships - No longer do your planets act just as islands in space. Cargo ships can be constructed to deliver goods and services to your other planets to aid in their development.
New Technology Tree - A top to bottom overhaul of the technology tree adds depth and sharpens the strategic choices in your research options.
Retribution Campaign - The climactic final battle players have been waiting for. The malevolent Drengin Empire thought humans were soft and peace-loving. They made a terrible mistake that may now end in their extinction.
I'm really stoked about this expansion because there are quite a lot of fundamental changes to the game system. For instance, population growth rate has been slashed, so that early colony rush might not be a good idea. Also stars and planets are further apart, making the development of those hyperlanes important for getting from place to place. And the tech trees have been tweaked, as the dev notes: "You'll also notice that most of the optimization techs (where you would choose one of three) are gone". That's good, I never did like those.

For a lot more information and some excellent explanations of the details of Retribution, see the following two dev journals:

Galactic Civilizations: Retribution Journal #1 - Some good background info here about the past expansions and the significance of their changes, plus an introduction to the new features of Retribution and just as important, what is changing in the base game to make those new features so critical.

Galactic Civilizations: Retribution Journal #2 - This entry gives a nice narrative description of a new game started under Retribution. It shows some of the new features such as Hyperlanes. It will be continued in the third journal entry.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by Freyland »

Because major changes in game mechanics went over so well for Stellaris.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Freyland wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 1:46 am Because major changes in game mechanics went over so well for Stellaris.
Well, since I'll be a Day One purchaser, I'll let you know how things turned out 8-)

And I think some of those changes are for the better. For instance, the population growth has always seemed (to me at least) to be way too fast early in the game, it would be nice to see a new approach.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by Paingod »

That's an interesting update. It's been years since I played GalCivIII and I think I like everything I just read. I'm curious to see how it plays out.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution Journal #3 is up with a continuation of a game playthrough started in the second journal entry. I've also been following the first journal entry thread where aside from the usual endless to and fro of people who what to argue what the game should have been are some great posts from Frogboy about the new expansion.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Pre-release Trailer. Release is now scheduled for February 21st.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Journal 6 is a good introduction to those who haven't been following the development of Retribution, although the first journal entry really kicked things off. I'm going to be picking up the DLC on release but it is going to take some time before I have some real impressions.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Galactic Civilizations III: Retribution Expansion is now available on the Steam Store, on sale for 10% off for the next week.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by Island Dog »

Thanks for posting!

Brad also had a couple more journals for Retribution available.

#7 - https://forums.galciv3.com/493538/galac ... the-korath
#8 - https://forums.galciv3.com/493483/galac ... -the-drath
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Galactic Civilizations III v3.5 & Retribution Mega change log
Spoiler:
Galactic Civilizations III v3.5 & Retribution Mega change log!
Today we are proud to be sharing Galactic Civilizations III v3.5 and our newest expansion pack, "Retribution" with you. This build should go live around 1pm EST. Here are the changes you'll discover:

Retribution Expansion

## Major New features ##

Artifacts. Artifacts are scattered across planets in the galaxy. You research them similar to how you'd build an improvement. Researching creates "charges" that can be used to do a variety of large scale effects.
Hypergates / Hyperlanes/ Building Hypergates allow you to build Hypergates or superhighways through the stars. Ships move substantially faster while traveling on Hyperlanes.
Supply Ships. New ship type that can send production between planets in your empire
Technology tree has been overhauled to adds depth and sharpens your strategic choice.
Two new factions (Drath and Korath)
Major technology tree and gameplay update.
New Retribution Campaign. 4-part campaign.

## Retribution only Gameplay Changes ##

Nano-Fabricator provides adjacency bonuses.
Most improvements are now destructible.
Fusion Power plant removed (redundant)
Technology Capital cost reduced from 500 to 200
New Wonder: Dimensional Observatory (increases Hyperlane speed)
Aid Economy cost reduced from 200 to 75, benefit reduced from 50 to 25. Now available at the start of the game.
Supply Depot added. Improves early game morale.
Added ability to repeat Durational projects in the planet window.
Updated Improvement graphics
Military Academy is a player wonder (only 1 world can train your legions, was being abused by AI).
Big boosts to influence based improvements
Civilization Capital raw production bonus reduced from 2 to 1
Civilization Capital influence increased from 4 to 10
Civilization Capital population cap increased from 5 to 8
Civilization Capital sensor power increased from 12 to 16
Civilization Capital no longer provides free tourism
Space Elevators now requires Space Elevators tech
New Improvement: Colonization Center. Early game player achievement.
Xeno Medical Center and other related improvements now provide a % population growth
increase rather than a flat one.
Default population growth is 0.01 per turn instead of 0.1 (New immigration based techs will increase this as well as certain wonders).
Supply Module given a manufacturing cost (100) and mass. Requires Space Elevators
Advanced Resource Mining moved from Age of Ascension to Age of War
Space Lab tech cost reduced from 200 to 120
First level techs increased from 24 cost to 36 cost
Removed Xeno Irrigation tech (seriously, space irrigation? what were we thinking?)

## New Techs for Retribution ##
Deep Field Inspection
Subatomic Organization
Beam Weapon Miniaturization
Warhead Miniaturization
Hyperfield Mass Launchers
Energy Defense Miniaturization
Counter-Targeting Computers
Armor Materials Science
Ministry of Alien Affairs
Department of Colonization
Spatial Manipulation
Space Elevators

## Retribution Specific Balance Changes ##
Galactic Council influence per turn increased from 1 to 25
Changed the base repair rate for ships, starbases, and shipyards to 1/turn
Prolific trait reduced from +0.2 flat growth increased to +50% growth increase
Added the Arnorian Relic Study starbase module
Added the Precursor Observatory starbase module
Drengin: now have Militant 1 and Brutal 1 instead of Influential 1 and Brutal 2
Iridium: now have Handy 2 and Adventuresome 2 instead of Influential 1
Onyx Hive: now have Adventuresome 2 instead of Influential 1
Personality traits on some factions have been adjusted
Fix for refreshing the stats of colonies when transferring a citizen to your home planet.
Strategic Command improves military production on the planet by 50%
General pass on ship design templates for AI and player to make for better designs.
Carrier modules cost more but carriers are now available early game.
Drengin given Influential trait
Altarians lose Peaceful trait, given Aggressive trait
Iridium Corporation loses Handy trait and Adventuresome trait, given Cultural and Influential traits
Onyx loses Opportunistic trait and given Cultural trait
Onyx loses Adventuresome trait, given Influential trait
Arceans lose Trader and Diplomatic traits (because they're neither)
Generals now available with Militarization Tech

## Changes below will benefit all players ##

Recommended memory requirements for map sizes reduced based on memory savings.
AI manages tax rate with more focus on how it affects approval which in turn affects productivity.
AI uses tiny hulled ships to build defenders to help dissuade easy conquest.
Fixed bug that was preventing AI from stationing garrisons.
Cruel AI personalities are more focused on weapon tech
AI is more conscious of existing enemies before declaring war on more.
Going to war with most favorit-ish civ penalty changed from a 25% penalty to a flat 0.1 to
goods and services.
UI update that changed it so that the bonuses will show a decimal place if the decimal value is greater than zero. E.g., +2.5% shows up as +2.5% but 5% does NOT show up as 5.0%.
"Defiant Civilizations" list in the UP details now scrolls correctly
General Lighting update for battle viewer.
Added Commonwealth race trait that gives +5 diplomacy bonus to the Commonwealth
Updated the description for Corrosive worlds.
Fixed the icon of corrosive worlds in the base game.
AI is more likely to build transports
Shipyard size reduced slightly
AI is more aggressive towards destroying shipyards and starbases (you asked for it...)
Added a defeat message when another player achieves an ascension victory.
Carrier modules use a bit more space.
Shipyards and Starbase base HP increased from 50 to 100 (as the AI is attacking them pretty aggressively now).

Hull Changes:
Tiny hull: Reduced hp from 10 to 5, Cost changed from 40 to 25.
Small hull: Reduced hp from 20 to 10. Cost changed from 60 to 40.
Medium hull: Reduced hp from 60 to 30, increased mass cap from 64 to 72.
Large hull: Reduced hp from 100 to 80, increased the mass cap from 128 to 144, decreased tactical speed from -10% to -20%, decreased acceleration from -10% to -40%, decreased Durantium cost from 10 to 5
Huge Hull: Increased manufacturing cost from 600 to 800, increased mass cap from 256 to 300, increased logistics cost from 18 to 24, decreased tactical speed from -20% to -50%, decreased acceleration from -20% to -80%, decreased Durantium cost from 20 to 10
Cargo hull: decreased manufacturing cost from 24 to 16, removed maintenance, reduced hp from 10 to 3, increased tactical speed from -90% to -50%, increased acceleration from -80% to -20%

Starbase Module changes:
Starbase Defense Systems: Removed Durantium, Elerium, and Antimatter cost to make building SB defenses easier.
Base Starbase is now more fragile.
Advanced Starbase Defense Systems: Reduced Durantium cost from 2 to 1, removed Elerium cost, removed antimatter cost
Omega Starbase Defense System: increased Durantium cost from 3 to 5, removed Elerium cost, removed antimatter cost
Economic Ring starbase module: removed maintenance
Starbase factory: tech prereq moved from Xeno Manufacturing to Orbital Manufacturing
Cultural Forum starbase module: tech prereq moved from Translator tech to Cultural Exchange
Information Hub starbase module: cost reduced from 200 to 100
Interstellar Exchange starbase module: cost reduced from 300 to 100, Promethion cost reduced from 4 to 3
Interstellar Embassy starbase module: cost reduced from 400 to 100, Promethion cost reduced from 8 to 4
Interstellar Ministry starbase module: cost reduced from 500 to 100, Promethion cost reduced from 10 to 5
Added the Indoctrination Center starbase module
Added the Hive Mind Starbase module
Removed Maintenance from all Starbase modules except rings and certain mining modules.
UI
Starbase resource mining display now has a 0.n precision.

## Tweaks ##
Removing"jitter" when basic UI controls unhide
Changed setup label from Galaxy Type to Galaxy Setting
You can now search for techs based on their searching for its flavor text name
Increased size of offer text in the Conversation window
Added Military stat to the Colony summary list screen.
Asteroid context window now shows hotkey to build a mining base
Taxes changed to "Tax rate"

## Cool Addition ##
Battle viewer shows damage on screen.
Resourceful trait gives +1 adjacency benefit everywhere.

## Bug Fixes for all users ##
Carrier fighters are not accounted for in displaying ship battle stats outside of battle
Fixed starting event that gives you a scout when it's not supposed to
Fixed a common MP desync on starting a new MP game during map generation.
Fix for missing translation for Subspace Resonator B improvement.
Fixed crash related by spawning a new planet.
Fixing a couple of potential crashes from the AI getting awarded a starbase when it doesn't
have a place to put it.
Prevent two planets being generated on the same tile. Gets awkward real fast. Fix for random crash using a destroyed object.
General MP love.
Fixed a MP desync where diplomacy wasn't be calculated the same for all players.
MP crash fix (peer was looking for non-existent colony)
Fixed the bug that was allowing players to build multiple wonders. Hopefully, this bug is now dead forever.
Fixed the Neutral option of the Precursor Artifact starting event
Fixed error descriptions after game within a game (cannot build a starbase within %d bug)
Fix for MP shipyard crash
Deleting a starbase in scenario mode in the map editor no longer does bad things
Update arrows on the Headers in the Ship Design window.
Show the updated turns for the overflow from shipyard overflows
Changed Specialty ships to default to being unfiltered, not just when there are no favored ships
Improvement tool tip precision increased to show tiny population growth changes.
Fixed a typo on the Relic starting frequency dropdown (Precusor >> Precursor)
Added Divide by 0 check for production, preventing a crash

## Changes for users who have Crusade or better already ##
Changed the base repair rate for ships, starbases, and shipyards to 1/turn
Prolific trait reduced from +0.2 flat growth increased to +50% growth increase
Added the Arnorian Relic Study starbase module
Added the Precursor Observatory starbase module
Fixed an error in the text string for the ancient Ability trait
Drengin: now have Militant 1 and Brutal 1 instead of Influential 1 and Brutal 2
Iridium: now have Handy 2 and Adventuresome 2 instead of Influential 1
Onyx Hive: now have Adventuresome 2 instead of Influential 1
Personality traits on some factions have been adjusted
Fix for refreshing the stats of colonies when transferring a citizen to your home planet.
Strategic Command improves military production on the planet by 50%
General pass on ship design templates for AI and player to make for better designs.
Carrier modules cost more to deal with exploit.
Show the planet class in the unit transfer screen
Drengin given Influential trait (same as Retribution)
Altarians lose Peaceful trait, given Aggressive trait (same as Retribution)
Iridium Corporation loses Handy trait and Adventuresome trait, given Cultural and Influential traits (same as ret)
Onyx loses Opportunistic trait and given Cultural trait (same as ret)
Onyx loses Adventuresome trait, given Influential trait (same as ret)
Generals now available with Militarization Tech

Crusade players Map Sizes increased:
Tiny: 28 to 32
Small: 40 to 50
Medium: 50 to 64
Large: 70 to 72

(larger maps will be getting larger too if there's player demand)

## Ship Module Balance Changes ##
Crusade ship components balanced to reward rich civs with the ability to have greater survival-ability.
Crusade and up defenses are being buffed to make defenses more rewarding.
Thrusters cost increased from 7 to 30 while space used reduced from 8 to 1
Ion Thruster cost increased from 12 to 40 wile space reduced from 9 to 1
Field Thruster cost increased from 16 to 50 while space reduced from 10 to 1
Inertial Accelerator cost increased from 48 to 60 while space reduced from 12 to 1
Deflectors beam defense increased from 2 to 4
Shield beam defense increased from 3 to 6
Barrier beam defense increased from 5 to 8
Force field defense increased from 6 to 10
Invulnerability beam defense increased from 8 to 12
Armor and Point defenses get similar buffs


--
We hope you like these changes and can't wait to hear what you think!
And as happens when you release a huge update, things get missed :roll: (I can assure you, we were still patching Space Shuttle launch software for years after the first launch). So here's the info on the hot patch.

Galactic Civilizations III. 3.5 Hot patch (opt-in available)
Spoiler:
Hello,

We are working on a hot patch 3.5, largely focused on fixing problems in the new tech trees as well as restoring mod functionality. Read below for details.

To enable the opt-in, please do the following:

Select "Galactic Civilizations III" in your Steam Library list
Right-click and select Properties
Select the BETAS tab

From the dropdown, select opt-in and click "Close." If you don't see this option, restart Steam.

Change Log

Mods now load properly.
Fixed an issue keeping players from researching the "Hyperfield Projection" tree
Ancient factions can now research "Inherent Talent"
Ancient factions can now research the "Precursor Tradition" tree
Devout factions can now research "The Path" tree
Intuitive factions can now research the "Xeno Anthropology" tree
Scavenger factions can now research the "Recovery" tree
Vigilant factions can now research the "Stellar Forge" tree
Knowledgeable factions can now research the "Gravitonics" tree
Removed non-working Durantium costs on hull sizes (no actual impact since they weren't working anyway)
Re-assigned some ship classes to have the appropriate strategic icon (bombers now have bomber icons) which will sort them into their right category for the ship style set builder.
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
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Kraken
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by Kraken »

If I were to install the vanilla game from Steam, would I need to do that beta opt-in thing to get the latest patch, or will it be baked into a new install?
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Kraken wrote: Thu Feb 21, 2019 8:57 pm If I were to install the vanilla game from Steam, would I need to do that beta opt-in thing to get the latest patch, or will it be baked into a new install?
The opt-in is only for some post-patch tweaks, if you install the vanilla game you should get the full 3.5 patch content.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by Kraken »

jztemple2 wrote: Thu Feb 21, 2019 9:07 pm
Kraken wrote: Thu Feb 21, 2019 8:57 pm If I were to install the vanilla game from Steam, would I need to do that beta opt-in thing to get the latest patch, or will it be baked into a new install?
The opt-in is only for some post-patch tweaks, if you install the vanilla game you should get the full 3.5 patch content.
It'll be 2-3 weeks before I'm ready to play it again anyway. Maybe by then it will be out of beta.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

I played the new DLC for about four hours with the Terrans. It was interesting. The biggest thing you'll notice is the population growth rate. It has been nerfed from 0.1 pop per turn to 0.01 per turn. So if you are the usual Terran player and think you are going to colony rush, think again, you're going to run out of people fast. I was using all the default settings in the game and so there were some decent planets in range, but you had to carefully manage from which planet you took population for a new colony.

The tech tree has been altered so there are some new things to check out. It means you really need to think about what is needed some turns down the road. There are some immigration techs that will help make up for that slow pop growth, but you'll need to spend some time researching them, time that doesn't get spent researching weapons and engines, among other things.

I was enjoying my game, except that I didn't remember to set Mega Events to None so at that fourth hour the damn Dread Lords showed up with two ships, each better than a fleet of mine. There was no point in continuing since every ship I would have moved from my core colonies would get eaten for breakfast :grund:

The new artifact system seems promising. You'll come across a planet that has an artifact which you might be able to use right away or you'll have to research a tech that "charges" it. It will add some randomness and motivate you to invade someone's planet, like you needed the motivation :D

The hypergates and hyperlanes aren't too big a deal, they just make a way to move ships around faster. They are handy however. The new supply ships are a definite help to allow a good planet to help a struggling planet complete construction in a timely manner.

Had the damn Dread Lords not shown up I might have continued my first try, although I had set the AI at beginner and only had three opponents in an immense galaxy. For my next game I'll step it up a bit. Oh, that's one more thing, they have tweaked how memory is used so that if you have at least 16GB of RAM you can play all but the vary largest maps without concern.
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Hyperlane, must have two or more sentient beings in vehicle to use:

Image
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Oh, I also didn't mention more about Artifacts. As the Terrans I started off with one artifact on Earth, it gives me one extra tile on one planet. Since I was just starting I held off on using it. However, on a planet I colonized there was another one which boosts morale for ten turns on all worlds. I used it after I had six colonies and since everyone is really, really happy, they don't mind playing a 100% tax rate :D. So this artifact was good for lots and lots of credits :dance:
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Image
This is my galaxy. That blueish smudge in the upper right is my current empire. That's a lot of stars to visit!
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Hey, this is interesting. One of the artifacts I found lets me spawn a space monster :dance:. However, once it is spawned, I have no control over it :doh:. It looks like this:
Image

Now I thought, "What possible use is this artifact if I can't control the monster?" and then it occurred to me, I can drop this monster anywhere, like next to the Drengin home world :twisted:
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by Tatiora »

jztemple2 wrote: Sat Feb 23, 2019 2:10 am Now I thought, "What possible use is this artifact if I can't control the monster?" and then it occurred to me, I can drop this monster anywhere, like next to the Drengin home world
Oh man...you ARE evil (but I like it!). :lol:
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

A look at my hyperlane layout later in my campaign.

Image

I was playing on the second to the largest map with all the galaxy setting at the default, but apparently with the new update the stars and habitable planets are farther apart. I faced the challenge of having opponent empires on each end of mine, where even with the hyperlanes it would take a few months to move from one front to the other. I really had to suck up to the south empire to keep it happy so I could concentrate on the war to the north.

One tactic I used was to build picket ships on cargo hulls, with lots and lots of sensors. I positioned them as a line on my war front to make sure I didn't miss any enemy ships moving towards my interior. I also built, when I got medium hulls, a small fleet of the fastest warships I could, with a couple of weapons each, so I could chase down enemies. Playing on a really big map is a heck of challenge to planning.

The AI still does dumb things. At one point one of my pickets way off on the edge of the war front spotted five enemy colony ships trying to sneak into my interior. I used my fast fleet to chase and destroy them. I guess it could be argued that the opponent wouldn't know that I had those picket ships and hoped to sneak in and create a few colonies to give me grief, but five at one time in one place seems a misuse of resources.

However, the AI is no slouch when it comes to launching attack transports with escorting warships. Two of his invasion fleets slipped pass my line before I had pickets in place and grabbed a couple of planets which I had figured to be too far behind the front line to fortify. I had to spend three or four dozen game turns assembling my own attack transports with a battle fleet and move them to retake the planets. Really got me to be more careful!
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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by Island Dog »

The v3.7 Anniversary Update for Galactic Civilizations III is here!

For the game's 4th anniversary, we've focused exclusively on a top-to-bottom series of improvements based on fan requests. These improvements are major quality of life changes that improve the overall experience of Galactic Civilizations III.

https://www.galciv3.com/article/494789

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Re: Galactic Civilizations III Released!

Post by jztemple2 »

Island Dog wrote: Tue May 14, 2019 2:16 pm The v3.7 Anniversary Update for Galactic Civilizations III is here!

For the game's 4th anniversary, we've focused exclusively on a top-to-bottom series of improvements based on fan requests. These improvements are major quality of life changes that improve the overall experience of Galactic Civilizations III.

https://www.galciv3.com/article/494789

Enlarge Image
From the change log: "The AI no longer uses the Government as "explorers." (aka fodder)". Yup, this is a good change, assuming they mean the ships provided free when you change government. I've come across these ships way far away from any place they would be of value to the AI.
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
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