I have 5277 hours invested in Galciv 3. When it first came out, it was virtually unplayable because of all the irks and bugs. Now it has become more playable, though there are still major game bugs that need to be fixed. The primary one, and one which I believe make immense games unfinishable, is the unaddressed file corruption problem.

My current game is set using Sid Meir's custom map, which means it is a huge spiral galaxy. I think I have met over 24 races so far. Since Galciv3 was published, I have never ONCE been successful in completing a game using an immense map and if somebody claims that they have, I would actually demand notarized proof. Sooner or later, around the 200 turn limit, the game slows and turns eventually do not complete. I've left the computer on all night and it still hasn't completed that turn in the morning. In the past, Stardock's only  answer was that the computer didn't have enough resources and to use a smaller map. Why have that option in the game setup if you can't complete it, I ask? In Galciv 2, I used to be able to complete the turn by finding a ship that had moves left, move it and the turn would complete. That no longer works in Galciv 3.

I think the problem lies in file corruption. I start steam and verify the integrity of the game files, run the game, complete ONE turn and exit. Verify the integrity of the game files again and find 5 corrupted game files. Every turn. Every time. Why? Why do the same 5 files get corrupted and what are the names of those files so we can check them? Is the game programmer not closing the file properly after writing to it? Do all those files NEED to be written to every turn? Is it just sloppy programming or ignorance? Maybe the file should be write protected as soon as the game starts to make sure it doesn't get scrambled. Maybe make a copy, use that and write-protect the original, rewriting to the original at game's end after verifying. All I know for sure is that at turn 168 of my current game, I cannot get to turn 169. Task Manager shows about 55% memory being used while the turn runs and the remainder of 32,768 MB of DDR4 should be adequate.

And it's no use getting a support ticket because the file their little utility accumulates is so huge that it can't be sent on the Internet. So I rather doubt that a quick fix is available. I suggest Stardock remove the three biggest maps from the list because they are a waste of our time. And they need to address the inherent file corruption problem in their programming. BTW, I have a background in programming so I know a little bit about hard some of this bug-chasing is, especially when you have to pump out new additions to pay the bills instead of improving the original.

So I will try loading a save from a previous turn and see if I can coax it to turn 200. Which will still leave the game only about 10% done.