2019)

Published on Thursday, February 21, 2019 By Brad Wardell In Galactic Civilizations III

Hey folks,

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

New features

New Artifact Powers. 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 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)
New Retribution Campaign

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
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
New Techs:

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

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
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.
Show the planet class in the unit transfer screen
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)
Map Sizes increased:
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
Generals now available with Militarization Tech

Base game

Gameplay

Recommended memory requirements for map sizes reduced based on memory savings.
AI manages tax rate with more focus on how it affects approval
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.
Exterminators can now colonize toxic worlds
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
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 shipyards and starbases
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.
Hull Changes

Tiny hull: Reduced manufacturing cost from 40 to 25
Small hull: Reduced manufacturing cost 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%
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%
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 hull: increased hp from 50 to 250

Starbase Module changes

Starbase Defense Systems: Removed Durantium, Elerium, and Antimatter cost
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
Added maintenance cost to all the mining starbase modules
Removed Maintenance from all Starbase modules except rings.

Starbase resource mining display now has a 0.n precision.
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"

Bugs

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
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

Crusade Expansion

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.
Show the planet class in the unit transfer screen
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)
Map Sizes increased:

Tiny: 28 to 32
Small: 40 to 50
Medium: 50 to 64
Large: 70 to 72

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
Generals now available with Militarization Tech