Introduction

Galactic Civilizations III is a 4X space strategy game set in the 23rd century. Humans and aliens compete against each other for domination of our galaxy.

Players begin with only their home planet and must research new technologies, explore the galaxy, and colonize new worlds. All the while, players engage in diplomatic intrigue with other races and will likely be drawn into (or start) wars of both survival and expansion.

The gameplay of Galactic Civilizations has evolved over the years, but we at Stardock have always prided ourselves on making conquest only one of several entertaining routes to victory. In Galactic Civilizations II, for example, players can wage multi-decade cold wars for the hearts and minds of neutral planets – or even expand their culture’s reach to the point that each others’ colonies are the soft-power battleground. Players can conquer the galaxy without ever firing a shot through a combination of shrewd diplomacy and ever-expanding cultural influence.

Another popular feature of Galactic Civilizations III is the ability to design amazing ships and watch them battle other fleets. Ship design isn’t just cosmetic, nor is it just a matter of putting the most powerful weapons and defenses on a given vessel. Victory often goes to the player who looks carefully at the types of weapons and defenses their opponents are deploying and designs ships to counter them.

And finally, strong computer AI has always been a major focus for Galactic Civilizations. The original Galactic Civilizations (for OS/2) was the world’s first commercial 32-bit multithreaded computer game. That meant it could multitask within itself which allowed the computer players to “think” while the player was taking his/her turn.