Galactic Civilizations IV

[jztemple2]

I look forward to your take on it. Usually I'm all in day 1, but money is an issue now. And I don't think I ever played the last add-on to GalCiv3 (but I have it).

I really wish it was coming out on Steam. I've got it on Epic, but Epic doesn't have the nice features that Steam does, like screenshot hosting and forums. I'm on the GC4 Discord server, but I've never liked Discord because it's like being in a room with a bunch of people shouting at once. If folks would use the "reply" feature to answer questions it would help, but too few folks bother doing that, assuming I'm going to scan through a couple of page of crackpot remarks to see if someone really addressed my question.

[Jeff V]

I look forward to your take on it. Usually I'm all in day 1, but money is an issue now. And I don't think I ever played the last add-on to GalCiv3 (but I have it).

I really wish it was coming out on Steam. I've got it on Epic, but Epic doesn't have the nice features that Steam does, like screenshot hosting and forums. I'm on the GC4 Discord server, but I've never liked Discord because it's like being in a room with a bunch of people shouting at once. If folks would use the "reply" feature to answer questions it would help, but too few folks bother doing that, assuming I'm going to scan through a couple of page of crackpot remarks to see if someone really addressed my question.

Maybe I'll check it out on Discord. I use it for a guild I'm in with another game (and it's rather underutilized, less than have the guild (30 people) participate. I'm not sure what Epic is...isn't that the company that used to make sims of freak sports like downhill skiing?

[jztemple2]

I look forward to your take on it. Usually I'm all in day 1, but money is an issue now. And I don't think I ever played the last add-on to GalCiv3 (but I have it).

I really wish it was coming out on Steam. I've got it on Epic, but Epic doesn't have the nice features that Steam does, like screenshot hosting and forums. I'm on the GC4 Discord server, but I've never liked Discord because it's like being in a room with a bunch of people shouting at once. If folks would use the "reply" feature to answer questions it would help, but too few folks bother doing that, assuming I'm going to scan through a couple of page of crackpot remarks to see if someone really addressed my question.

Maybe I'll check it out on Discord. I use it for a guild I'm in with another game (and it's rather underutilized, less than have the guild (30 people) participate. I'm not sure what Epic is...isn't that the company that used to make sims of freak sports like downhill skiing?

Epic is the Epic Game Store. A less friendly, less useful version of the Steam store. If you don't know about Epic, it most likely means you haven't been downloading the free games they have been giving away each week

And this is the release trailer, not worth watching for any gameplay, since it has none

[Jeff V]

I don't really have time to play the games I have, free or not. So no, I haven't used them at all.

[jztemple2]

I put in a couple of hours on the latest beta and I have concerns about this game being ready for a planned release in less than two weeks. My biggest is that there is no diplomatic summary screen, in other words a screen which displays the current relationships between civilizations (war, treaties, nothing, etc) using some graphic representation. GC3 has a nice one, but GC4 has nothing. I posted on their Discord channel and the answer I got from a couple of folks is "nothing there now, maybe in the future...?".

Another item is that there are upgrade symbols for starbases on a display that says that I can upgrade that starbase. Except you can't, since at this time I don't have any spare modules to use to upgrade the starbase. But that upgrade symbol stays there, which means I can't be sure when I can really upgrade that starbase.

Another issue is that I've had events where I've gotten some kind of ideological awareness points, but I don't know what they are since I can't find anything that's changed after I accept that event. I go to the Civilization Ideology page but nothing there has apparently changed.

And then there are ship upgrades. Apparently when a ship gets enough experience points through encounters or surveying they can get any one of a series of upgrades. Some of the upgrades cost resource points, but some are free, like getting +1 move or 20% more hit points. And apparently there is no limit to the number of times you can get that upgrade. Seems odd.

And there is no in-game encyclopedia. I don't want to have to go searching through a wiki, especially since what is listed as the official wiki is almost barren.

And I hate that the game is not available on Steam.

Maybe a lot of my concerns will be addressed when the version 1.0 is released on April 26th, but until I get a good look at the 1.0 release I'd caution those who aren't ardent GalCiv fans like I am to wait until I can give the 1.0 a thorough test drive.

[Jeff V]

Thanks for the update. It's not like Stardock to release a half-baked game, and doing such is nothing I will support with my $$$. I'll wait to see if this has been addressed, or if this has to wait for sometime in the future when it's more fully baked.

[baelthazar]

I appreciate the update as well. I had my finger on the “buy” button but wavered because something felt off. The price was good ($39.99) but the lack of buzz, the speedy and sudden release date, and the overall forum tone felt like a warning.

I really want to get this one, but after being disappointed with Distant Worlds 2 being half baked, I don’t want to be fooled again.

[jztemple2]

I'm on the road right now and won't be able to look at the released version of GC4 till either late Thursday or something Friday.

On the bright side, today I got to scratch the nose of a baby (but still six foot) giraffe. And I got slobbered by buffalo. So a good day all around

[Jeff V]

I've a birthday coming up around a month from now, I could always appeal to my wife for permission to buy it. Still...I want to know if it's worth it!

[jztemple2]

I put in a couple of hours on the latest beta and I have concerns about this game being ready for a planned release in less than two weeks. My biggest is that there is no diplomatic summary screen, in other words a screen which displays the current relationships between civilizations (war, treaties, nothing, etc) using some graphic representation. GC3 has a nice one, but GC4 has nothing. I posted on their Discord channel and the answer I got from a couple of folks is "nothing there now, maybe in the future...?".

So I got a chance to check out the released version of GC4 tonight. They are still missing that diplomacy summary screen. I posted my concern to the official GC4 forum and got this answer from a moderator:

You mean being able to see all relations between civs? That would be cheating.

Hmm, it existed in GC3 but now in GC4 the answer is that having that screen would be cheating? Sounds to me like a missing feature instead. If you don't have it then you have to use scratch paper and jot down every time some civ asks you to go to war against another civ. That would at least tell you that they don't like that civ . But it's crappy compared to how diplomacy was displayed in GC3.

My other observations mentioned above haven't been addressed either. The wiki is bare and there is no in-game encyclopedia. There is in-game help of sorts, "space clippy" shows up at times to point you towards various screens where you can take action. But it's not a tutorial.
click to enlarge

There is a roadmap posted of anticipated future updates.

With Galactic Civilizations IV now generally available it’s time to talk about…THE FUTURE.
First, we’re really glad you guys seem to like the game. Releasing a game, especially one where people have been working on for years, is, as you can imagine, very stressful. This is doubly true when the game tries out so many new things.
Below is a very tentative roadmap of what we expect to release and in what order. This is all subject to change based on feedback, scheduling and costs.
Version Features / Changes

v1.1 • Event dialog can be minimized.
• Executive order for placing orbital defense sentinels to target planet.
• Map Setup screen to support min/max variables (for sector sizes for instance).
• More anomaly event types.
• Planetary project to build Colonial defense sentinels that can then be used to upgrade colonies.
• Sandbox MP.
• Custom Civilization sharing in the Workshop.
• More Events.
• Add Alliance Victory.

v1.2 • Research Center screen to differentiate between techs that are close to breakthru (giving a 25% cost discount) and all the others available techs (that are normal cost. (i.e. no tech focus wheel).
• Accuracy and Dodge used to determine the floor of the attack/defense rolls.
• Survivor Mode MP.
• More Events.
• Military starbases will automatically attack enemies that enter its area of control (so you can fortify incursions from other sectors, protect your stuff).

v1.3 • Additional Mod sharing in the Metaverse Workshop.
• Military starbases automatically protect nearby colonies / core worlds from invasion (you have to take it out first).
• German language support.
• Russian language support.
• French language support.
• Updated trade screen with more detail on how the AI values different specific trade items.

In the case of what you see here, many of these are ideas that came from the community late in development (too late to get into 1.0) but we think are great ideas and want to see added to the game.
We’ll continue to update this as we get more information.

To me, what you're playing is something in early access. It's not ready for prime time IMO. Buy it if you want, but be aware there will be a lot of wondering about what things mean. And being told to go post a question on Discord isn't a solution.

[Jeff V]

Thanks for taking one for the team, JZ. To help squelch my growing interest, I started a game of GC3 for the first time in forever and will just enjoy that for now.

[baelthazar]

Thanks for taking one for the team, JZ. To help squelch my growing interest, I started a game of GC3 for the first time in forever and will just enjoy that for now.

This might also help squelch your interest: IGN Review of Galactic Civilizations IV. I tend to find that IGN is more "honest" in their reviews than some major outlets - rating lower, on average, than similar pages. This review makes it pretty clear that - if you enjoy Gal Civ 3, then there doesn't seem a lot of new stuff here to merit upgrading. Even more damning, their basic gist is - after Stellaris, games like this feel pretty bland.

[jztemple2]

This might also help squelch your interest: IGN Review of Galactic Civilizations IV. I tend to find that IGN is more "honest" in their reviews than some major outlets - rating lower, on average, than similar pages. This review makes it pretty clear that - if you enjoy Gal Civ 3, then there doesn't seem a lot of new stuff here to merit upgrading. Even more damning, their basic gist is - after Stellaris, games like this feel pretty bland.

Now I find that conclusion, that there doesn't seem to be a lot of new stuff there, wrong. There are new concepts in the gameplay, such as sectors on the map and the use of citizens in so many roles, plus others. And features like how buildings are added to the planetary maps have been rethought and cleaned up. In fact except for a few choices I find that most of the changes have been improvements. My objection is that sometimes it is all a bit obscure on what does what and how something affects other things. Crusader Kings III should be used as the best example of how to convey to the player information on how the game works. If I have to go to a wiki or to Discord I think that's an issue.

Also, it has always been something mentioned throughout the Galactic Civilizations development that the game isn't another Stellaris and was never meant to be. I've played Stellaris a little and I find it all a bit overwhelming. GC3 and now GC4 were intended to be more abstracted, cleaner playing games. That's a matter of taste in my book.

And remember this exchange I posted before?

So I got a chance to check out the released version of GC4 tonight. They are still missing that diplomacy summary screen. I posted my concern to the official GC4 forum and got this answer from a moderator:

You mean being able to see all relations between civs? That would be cheating.

Well, a number of people have posted that they agree that the diplomacy screen should be there. But this is the important one:

I have added it to the roadmap.

That's from Frogboy, aka Brad the guy behind the game

[baelthazar]

Now I find that conclusion, that there doesn't seem to be a lot of new stuff there, wrong. There are new concepts in the gameplay, such as sectors on the map and the use of citizens in so many roles, plus others. And features like how buildings are added to the planetary maps have been rethought and cleaned up. In fact except for a few choices I find that most of the changes have been improvements. My objection is that sometimes it is all a bit obscure on what does what and how something affects other things. Crusader Kings III should be used as the best example of how to convey to the player information on how the game works. If I have to go to a wiki or to Discord I think that's an issue.

That is good to know. I always value your estimation, since we tend to have similar tastes in games (and similar gaming ADHD, wanting to try out ALL THE GAMES! ). What bothers/worried me is how under-cooked the game sounds. It really feels like this is an Early Access release, rather than a full release. That isn't a bad thing, but they should have said so.

Also, it has always been something mentioned throughout the Galactic Civilizations development that the game isn't another Stellaris and was never meant to be.

No doubt about that. In fact, Gal Civ was always a game that was not (insert X game here). It was always a bit more high-level than MOO2, a bit more economic-simulating that the competition, but less granular than others (like Space Empires). This is part of my draw to is as well - you planned with a broad brush and jumped into key minutia in places where it counted.

That said - I love Stellaris and space 4X games will all have to compete with gaming time against it. This is the same thing as saying Civilizations/Humankind isn't supposed to be Crusader Kings 3 - but I tend to play this type of game when I want a "paint the map my color" game. Since I tend to get only a few hours a night to game, I tend to lean towards CK3 than the others, due to the complexity and interactivity involved.

[Jeff V]

Thanks for taking one for the team, JZ. To help squelch my growing interest, I started a game of GC3 for the first time in forever and will just enjoy that for now.

This might also help squelch your interest: IGN Review of Galactic Civilizations IV. I tend to find that IGN is more "honest" in their reviews than some major outlets - rating lower, on average, than similar pages. This review makes it pretty clear that - if you enjoy Gal Civ 3, then there doesn't seem a lot of new stuff here to merit upgrading. Even more damning, their basic gist is - after Stellaris, games like this feel pretty bland.

Is Stellaris really the shit when it comes to 4X space games? My gaming has been on cruise control since I stopped writing about it...it's been Gal Civ and Civ for oh, around a decade now. I've bought others here and there but never really made and effort to get into them. My kids are more excited to try new things (and that kind of makes me sad). My 5 year old daughter has been asking me to teach her "the train game" (I have 4 train-themed board games) for months now...I keep telling her to wait for a rainy day, and she watches the weather in the morning and if there's a rainy day coming, she asks we could play.

[jztemple2]

I've begun a new game of GC4 using the "Quick Start" option to minimize the number of variables I might introduce if I try to make a custom game.

I've reached turn six. Here's my local sector. The galaxy is composed of a number of these circular sectors. Until you get the right technology you only can see your local sector. The GC3 map was one large sector... and to contradict the IGN review saying there's not a lot of changes, this is a big one, because if you control the links between sectors you can isolate other civs, and of course they can do that to you.
click to enlarge

Here's a closer look at my local neighborhood. I found a next door system with two good planets which I can colonize. And towards the bottom of the map, in the center, those green half circles? Those are space monsters
click to enlarge

And a closer look at my two new colonized planets. Xuange II is a Colony as it doesn't have a governor assigned. So it contributes those five "inputs" listed below the word "Colony" to the nearest Core World, which is Xuange I. The meaning of "Decay -2%" is that 2% of those inputs are lost when shipping them over to Xuange I. The concept of a colony in GC4 is that you don't have to manage it, build on it, or anything, it just contributes. This is different from GC3 where either you managed the planet by hand or made a governor setting of balanced or some other focus and that AI built buildings and did other stuff. Sometimes however it built or made the wrong stuff so a lot of the time in GC3 you'd switch back to manual control.


This is Xuange I, which is a Core World with a governor assigned. Having a governor changes how the world is run.


When I select the planet I get a detailed look at what is going on. Again, not to contradict IGN's saying that nothing much has changed , but we now have a character assigned to be governor rather than some nonentity AI. That new governor has her own quirks, strong and weak points, and perhaps her own agenda. Also, critically, they have a Loyalty rating. If that goes too low the governor might be tempted to switch the planet over to another civilization. This governor is negatively influencing the population cap and growth, so I might be replacing her... if I had the money to hire a new governor
click to enlarge

[baelthazar]

Is Stellaris really the shit when it comes to 4X space games?

I really love it. But it plays like a cross between Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis, and Master of Orion. It has a lot of flavor, because you get to choose the ethics and focus of your civilization. In reality, it boils down to a lot of numerical modifiers, but the theme is still strong. The part that is difficult with Stellaris is all the "you can do this... EXCEPT when you can't." Because it borrows a lot from Paradox's other titles, it has things like Causi Belli, limits based on civilization ethics/focus (e.g. a civ that espouses xenophile ethics can't enslave other aliens), and a myriad of other things - all of it somewhat difficult to assess. After you play for 100+ hours this becomes second nature, but some of this is frustrating when you are learning. It is also real time, which can throw people looking for turn based.

My 5 year old daughter has been asking me to teach her "the train game" (I have 4 train-themed board games) for months now...I keep telling her to wait for a rainy day, and she watches the weather in the morning and if there's a rainy day coming, she asks we could play.

My 6-year old (just had her birthday) love board games. We got a copy of Ticket to Ride for kids, and she loves that - highly worth looking into as a starter for more complicated train gaming. She also does pretty well with more complicated games, particularly if we help walk her through (My Little Scythe is a favorite). Cooperative games also tend to go very well, and Castle Panic is a constant request.

[Grifman]

From what I have seen, release on Epic for many games seems to be a form or early access. I'll just wait for this to hit Steam like I have for so many others.

[Zenn7]

Definitely waiting for Steam and a decent sale (which might have some DLC included by that point).

I was getting free games on EPIC but now it wants me to do the confirm I'm a human test, and for some reason, I can't pass their test no matter how hard I try. Haven't been able to get on in a long time (fortunately, all I have are free games on there and nothing I particularly cared about).

Thanks jz for the impressions/info/screenshots though. Does look interesting.

[jztemple2]

After two hours and twenty minutes of playing my current game, which is now at turn 31, here's how the sector map looks. I posted a question and got an answer on how to turn off the background image so it is easier to see the details. I've also enabled the hex grid.
click to enlarge

Here is something else much different in Galactic Civilizations IV from its predecessor . This is the Research Center technology selector. Unlike GC3, where you could just scope out the tech tree and decide what next tech you'll like to research from all the ones available, in GC4 the things work different. Basically each time you have the option to select a new technology to research, you get a choice of four possibilities, five once you assign a leader to be Minister of Technology. Those techs are taken from the tech tree (which you can still look at) and are ones available to research, in other words you've already researched the predecessor tech. But you only get those four or five choices, not every one.
click to enlarge

Now you do have an option to click that circle at the upper right of the screen. It will cause a new set of four/five techs to display, however the time it will take to research any one of them is now 10% longer. And so on if you ask for another set. So it's not the simpler system of GC3 and so you need to make some choices.

Of course you can also use the Diplomacy screen to go talk to your neighbors and ask to trade for tech. If they like you

[jztemple2]

Here is a review by PC Gamer.

Here's his lead off:

Galactic Civilizations 4 bills itself as the most accessible game in the series. This is true, in the same way that the tail is the most accessible part of a tiger. Stardock's long running 4X series officially has a tutorial now, in the form of a little robot helper accursedly nicknamed 'Space Clippy.' But Space Clippy doesn't help much when a game explains everything as if it's arrived from another dimension.

OK, fair enough. I've put in just under six hours in my current campaign and Space Clippy has shown up all of twice. So no, it's not a tutorial.

Here's his next gripe:

Take modules as an example. What are modules, you ask? Well, so did I. At first I thought modules were optional extras you could select to tailor your starbases (which act as both resource harvesters and deployable control points, with modules helping improve those functions in various ways). But then I ran out of modules, whereupon I realised they are in fact a consumable resource. Yet unlike almost every other resource in the game, which are either harvested in space or produced on planets, modules are constructed at shipyards.

Oh, and you can only construct modules once you've researched the relevant technology, another issue I'll get into later.

OK, again, a fair comment to a degree, but later on he notes in his verdict, "But there's little here that radical". However, modules that you have to research and build are a radical change from GC3 (again, sorry IGN, but this is also something you missed) and yet this author complains about how it wasn't obvious that modules are different than from GC3.

Here's his next point:

As with many other systems, GalCiv never properly explains any of this. Space Clippy just points you to various menus like a dismissive waiter in an alien restaurant. The irony is GalCiv 4 is not as obtuse as it seems. It's just terrible at communicating, which means enjoying the game at its best involves a lot of false starts.

This is a perfect explanation of what's wrong with the GC4 . It is so damn hard to figure out what is what, how this affects that, and why this doesn't happen until I do that.

Not that the game is altogether better than GC3... there are a number of features that I think, while not bad, aren't an improvement over GC3.

In fact I think the whole map sectors design is a step down from the GC3 way of doing things. Now this is my personal view of things and may be quite different from many folks, especially the designers who felt that folks don't like big maps and would rather play on smaller maps. But I hate the artificial feel of a circular sector that has boundaries and subspace streams/wormholes to other sectors. It just doesn't feel like endless space...

Here's my point in screenshots. I started a new GC4 game with the setting of the largest sector possible. That long west to east white-ish path is the the area seen by my probe as it crossed all known space in less than twenty turns. Actually it was several turns less as it had to run away from pirates and space monsters . It contains about sixty star systems.
click to enlarge

Now you can have multiple sectors of course, but then your game is tied to using the subspace streams which connect sectors. In endless space, having choke points like that seems odd, again at least to me.

Now here's the largest map possible from Galactic Civilizations 3. I selected the spiral galaxy type. The main map is a bit misleading, that little illuminated area in the top center is not just one hex, it's actually the Sun, Earth and the solar system and is several hexes across. The place to look is at the minimap in the lower right corner. The yellow trapezoid on the minimap is what you are seeing on the main view. The main map is showing probably sixty star systems as well and as you can see from the minimap, that's just a small portion of the whole, playable galaxy.
click to enlarge

So, what's my point? I don't know, I've forgotten it . Wait, I remember at least part of my point... the game is going to be challenging just to understand how to play it. So that's going to be something new players have to be willing to accept.

My other point is that the reviewers who keep saying that it's not that different than the previous game must not be that familiar with the previous game

[Jeff V]

My 6-year old (just had her birthday) love board games. We got a copy of Ticket to Ride for kids, and she loves that - highly worth looking into as a starter for more complicated train gaming. She also does pretty well with more complicated games, particularly if we help walk her through (My Little Scythe is a favorite). Cooperative games also tend to go very well, and Castle Panic is a constant request.

I think I still have my copy of Age of Mythology. When my nephews were young, they considered it a moral victory just winning one tactical battle in the game -- they couldn't really grasp grand strategy so never would actually win.

My daughter is clever and I think would get such things. My son, while he does awesome in school, not so much. My daughter wanted to play this weekend, but her brother is in Covid jail and thus a pariah to the rest of the family (not exactly, but they'll both be wearing an N95 mask if my wife doesn't get home in time and I need to bring him when I drop my daughter at school.

[baelthazar]

JeffV - best wishes and hope everyone stays well enough!

JZ - this is looking like a "wait to buy" situation - would you concur?

[jztemple2]

JZ - this is looking like a "wait to buy" situation - would you concur?

Definitely wait to buy. Their roadmap of planned updates continues to grow with new features and fixing things like the missing diplomacy screen. I'll keep on top of it and post the updates as I see them.

[Kraken]

My gaming has been on cruise control since I stopped writing about it...it's been Gal Civ and Civ for oh, around a decade now.

+0.5. In addition to those two, the Xcom games are also on my radar, along with Xenonauts, an Xcom clone that I'm playing now. I haven't even looked at the gaming forum for a year or more until tonight, so I was surprised and pleased to learn of an new GalCiv. I just played GC3 a couple of months ago. Still reading the thread, but so far I'm leaning toward waiting until version 1.1.

[wonderpug]

It's release day... should I be excited? Does this still need more time in the oven, or is it worth picking up?

[jztemple2]

It's release day... should I be excited? Does this still need more time in the oven, or is it worth picking up?

??

It came out of beta back in April. I haven't heard much except for small updates.

[wonderpug]

It's release day... should I be excited? Does this still need more time in the oven, or is it worth picking up?

??

It came out of beta back in April. I haven't heard much except for small updates.

Bah, thanks. I misread the "June 11, 2021" as being the release date for this year.

[Kraken]

JZ - this is looking like a "wait to buy" situation - would you concur?

Definitely wait to buy. Their roadmap of planned updates continues to grow with new features and fixing things like the missing diplomacy screen. I'll keep on top of it and post the updates as I see them.

OK, it's 2+ years later. I'm about to start a game of GC3 and I remember that GC4 came out, to very little excitement. Re-reading this thread, I don't see any reason to "upgrade." 4 sounds different from 3 without being any better. Anybody have opinions about that, or did everyone wander away and forget about it?

Of all the changes that you described, I don't like the idea of breaking the map into sectors...and I would want a proper tutorial.

Should I still wait to buy?

[jztemple2]

I haven't looked at it in months. I also haven't seen anything to change my opinion.

[Jeff V]

What JZ said, although I've haven't time to play anyway. Seems prudent to wait for it to be full-assed, not half-assed.

[Kraken]

So after 2+ years nobody cares? I think GC4 broke the franchise.

[Zenn7]

So after 2+ years nobody cares? I think GC4 broke the franchise.

2+ years? It was only released in April of this year, so 1/2 a year? Even the first post announcing it was coming on this forum is May 2021, 1.5 years ago?

While your timing is definitely off, the rest may not be. We can only hope it is wrong.

I wonder how much being an Epic exclusive may have hurt them. Could they have been pushed to release early for that? Are they not pushing continued development because of that? When it's off the Epic exclusivity and on Steam, likely going to get a significant cash flow increase. Will that push them to patch more/release some/more DLC? Maybe even doing that stuff to be timed with the Steam release?

[Carpet_pissr]

67 Metacritic FWIW (compared to low to high 80’s for previous versions)

[jztemple2]

So after 2+ years nobody cares? I think GC4 broke the franchise.

2+ years? It was only released in April of this year, so 1/2 a year? Even the first post announcing it was coming on this forum is May 2021, 1.5 years ago?

While your timing is definitely off, the rest may not be. We can only hope it is wrong.

I wonder how much being an Epic exclusive may have hurt them. Could they have been pushed to release early for that? Are they not pushing continued development because of that? When it's off the Epic exclusivity and on Steam, likely going to get a significant cash flow increase. Will that push them to patch more/release some/more DLC? Maybe even doing that stuff to be timed with the Steam release?

It did hit the streets as a beta in April of this year. The full(?) 1.0 release was in June, but with a promise of upcoming changes. The problem with releasing on Epic is that there is no client news feed like there is on Steam, although some games (like my current fav Dakar Desert Rally) don't take advantage of the Steam news feed feature, but most do. So the only info I've been getting is through Discord and according to their announcement channel the last update, 1.04, was in June. They do have a GalCiv IV News thread on their forum, but the last announcement was back in the beginning of August about an upcoming 1.05 release with the only reply posting asking where it was.

And the last posting on the Discord GalCivIV discussion channel was nine days ago. Seems rather eerie when a channel is that quiet. I've posted to ask which version people are playing...

And still not a word about my number one problem with GalCivIV, the lack of a diplomacy summary screen. Without that I'm not interested in playing.

I'm downloading GalCivIV right now on Epic (which is being painfully slow) so I can check the version number. But due to the lack of info being provided about the game, I'm really dubious about recommending the game to anyone.

[jztemple2]

And an update, the version of GalCivIV I just installed is 1.05 and the full changelog is here

[Kraken]

Sometimes I become unmoored in time. I was thinking it's 2024. Hard to believe you people are all still living in '22.

Regardless, it sounds like it's still a Pass. I'm sticking with GC3 unless my 2024 forum says otherwise.

[Jeff V]

Sometimes I become unmoored in time. I was thinking it's 2024. Hard to believe you people are all still living in '22.

Regardless, it sounds like it's still a Pass. I'm sticking with GC3 unless my 2024 forum says otherwise.

The 2024 forum says "cut the bait." Not sure how it applies here.

[Kraken]

Sometimes I become unmoored in time. I was thinking it's 2024. Hard to believe you people are all still living in '22.

Regardless, it sounds like it's still a Pass. I'm sticking with GC3 unless my 2024 forum says otherwise.

The 2024 forum says "cut the bait." Not sure how it applies here.

Alright, I'm going to go back to my own timeline. If I don't post here again, I probably bought the game and liked it.

[Zenn7]

Sometimes I become unmoored in time. I was thinking it's 2024. Hard to believe you people are all still living in '22.

Regardless, it sounds like it's still a Pass. I'm sticking with GC3 unless my 2024 forum says otherwise.

The 2024 forum says "cut the bait." Not sure how it applies here.

Alright, I'm going to go back to my own timeline. If I don't post here again, I probably bought the game and liked it.

Doesn't work that way. You go back to 2024 and buy it and like it, you have to come back and tell us when they patch/DLC it to a good game so we know when to join the party.