v2.1 - Executive Orders

from GalCiv4 Forums

This thread is to review the standard executive orders. I won't cover a lot of niche ones, and may forget some of the later techs one, but this cover the common core you see in a lot of games. I'll use this general guide system:

S - very very good, maybe OP.
A - solid, very useful throughout the game.
C - It has a niche but tends to scale poorly.
F - very poor scaling or just flat out too expensive for its use.

Galactic Festival - A, very good booster if you have a wide civ. Would be an S but its incredibly long cooldown means you will always always want to activate it...but you can still only do it rarely.

Invite Leaders - A, probably the gold standard to me of a generally good EO. Its got a solid cost and cooldown for what it offers, and the offering is very useful throughout the game.

Forced Overtime - C/A, its very expensive....but in the right circumstances it can be very powerful, so I go back and forth on C or A.

Illicit Deals - A, the crime bonus is often easy to mitigate (as there are so many crime reducers in the game). Its cheap and one I use often. Like Galactic Festival its cooldown prevents it from being an S.

Exhort Governers - C/F, loyalty is a precious commodity, and it takes expensive harmony crystals to boost back up. Yes this can be a lot of money all at once, but phew -12 loyalty is a lot, and its a pretty decent chunk of control as well. If this was control cheap I'd rank it higher.

Draft Colonists - S, for some races that are slow growing especially, this is a godly EO, as even though its critical for the expansion race, its still amazing for just adding pop to your big worlds out of nowhere.

Pressure Scientists - C, if you get it early its a solid EO that has terrible scaling, and quickly falls out of use. While I can see the argument for an F, for certain dumber races I might give it 1-2 uses in a game, but then never again.

Telescope Takeover - F. I can handle scouting with probes and the like, its hard to justify my precious EO on this one.

Print Money - C. Its important and useful early on, but the approval cost is steep and the control cost later on steeper, it doesn't maintain enough oomph to keep using.

Exploit Resources - F. Only if I'm desperate for money, pollution is hard to mitigate, and this is a VERY control heavy operation for a lot less money than the other options.

Goodwill Tour - C. If your really focused on diplomacy its never bad but its not amazing either.

Defense Sentinels - F. Its just too control expensive, and the sentinels do not scale at all, so the enemy quickly outpaces it.

Impress Foreign Fleet - C/A. This one is situational, as you have to have the right fleet go through your borders at the right time (aka when you have a whooping 100 control at your disposal). But on the other hand, taking over a powerful advanced fleet can swing entire games. So I debate a C or an A, its very situational, but one of the most powerful EOs in the game if used at the right time. I will say its likely the most "maniacal laugh" worthy EO, its never more fun than when I pull this one off.

galactic civilizations iv
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Reply #1 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

Hard disagree on Telescopic Takeover, it is S tier to start the game and should always be used on turn 1, huge mistake not to do this.  You can reveal 3 or even sometimes 4 systems with one use and that is a complete game changer for early scouting, especially if you play on higher difficulty or with a crowded map.  You can open 2 colony ships and transition right into the 3 more from your first pick if you get a good enough setup revealed from it.

Unfortunately it has a long timer on it and by the time you can use it a second time its only real value is to contact species that are in remote sectors to open up trade with them but even when used for that it is a C tier since there are not many other ways to do this if you are playing with many sectors.

Reply #2 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

I could give you one use of this in the first few turns I'll grant you, but as you said I'll never use it again. I just think an EO should be a thing that has that kind of extremely limited use. If that's the case, have everyone start with a relic that does that and just remove the EO.

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Reply #3 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

I would say the problem is more that scouting an enemy should be an extremely valuable ability like it is in just about any other game I've ever played.  Scouting in this game is a bit too easy, it is too easy to get open borders and you do not get punished enough for going through peoples territory when you don't have open borders.  You also get real time updates on military strength for every civilization though the prestige system.  Finally ships move so fast by mid game that there really isn't much outmaneuvering other people unless the empires in question are massive and the way culture works means you can't really strike deep into someone's territory effectively so they don't have to protect the middle planets in general.

But yes if they gave everyone a one time use of this ability to start the game you could probably just remove this EO the way the game works now.

Reply #4 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

Thanks all for the input and feedback on both executive orders and opinions on the current state of scouting/border interaction. We are always trying to make the game better in the most effective way possible with the resources that we have and player feedback plays a big role in this. We are planning on diversifying warfare, diplomacy, and border interaction in a free update alongside our Warlords expansion in spring of 2024, so your input on that will help us better tailor our efforts. 

Also, I personally really like telescope takeover early-game as well. It's a turn 1 use every new game for me so i know where to send my colony ships |-) .

-Max (GC4 Product Manager)