Galactic Civilization 3 Receives Update, First Major DLC

Improvements to AI, UI, increased soundtrack options, and more have come to 4X strategy game Galactic Civilizations 3, developer Stardock announced today.

Update 1.31 was released to address issues brought on by update 1.3, as well as add some fan-requested improvements like improvements to enemy AI, a more easily navigable UI that is designed to make empire management simpler, and a “more streamlined” system of sorting and grouping planets and ships.

Highlighting update 1.3 was the addition of German, French, and Russian language options to the game.

"With over a hundred thousand words, translating Galactic Civilizations 3 is like translating a book,” said president and CEO of Stardock Brad Wardell in a press release. “It was important to us that every civilization in the game have their own technology tree and its own diplomatic dialog. But doing so made it a real challenge to translate it."

Update 1.3 was also the patch the laid the groundwork for the first major DLC for Galactic Civilizations 3, Revenge of the Snathi, in which players control a “pirate-looking squirrel race” while they attempt to break free of Precursor prison.

Earlier this year, Stardock added Steam Workshop support to Galactic Civilizations 3, giving players the ability to share custom ships and maps with other players.

Developer Stardock also updated another one of its games, Sorcerer King. The update adds what Stardock calls “Shard mechanics.” Shards can be placed on the map by a player and whenever a shard is attacked, it will alert the player to the enemy’s position. Alternatively, when Shards are attacked, the Doomsday Counter increases, which brings the Sorcerer King’s titular antagonist “one step closer to world domination.” Other additions and modifications to Sorcerer King include spell enchantments, the removal of the planetary focus wheel, and improvements to load times during multiplayer sessions.