Stardock is pleased to announce the release of Galactic Civilizations IV v2.9, titled the 'Starview Update.' This update focuses on enhancing the player experience with a variety of quality-of-life improvements, visual upgrades, and gameplay refinements based on community feedback. 

In this substantial update, players can look forward to a range of key changes designed to streamline gameplay and improve immersion. "We’re committed to continuously refining Galactic Civilizations IV based on player input," said Brad Wardell, lead designer of the GalCiv series. "With the Starview Update, we’re not only addressing bugs and balance issues but also enhancing the overall experience to make it even more enjoyable for our players." 

Major Updates: 

• Revamped Yor Ship Designs: The Yor Singularity ships have received a visual upgrade, while the classic designs remain available as "Classic Yor" for nostalgic players.  

• Polished Artifacts and Game Events: Various artifact effects and game events have been refined for better balance and consistency, with deprecated technologies removed from the tech tree to streamline research.  

• UI Enhancements: The Shipyard and Starbase screens now feature dynamic backgrounds showcasing the galaxy, along with a cleaner and more intuitive interface.  

• Streamlined Civilization Policy Management: The Civilization Policy screen has been redesigned for better organization, introducing a tax slider for more precise economic control and improved access to Rally Points via dedicated hotkeys.  

• Offline Access for DLC Owners: Players who own any of the DLC for Supernova will no longer need to be online to access that content. 

• Gameplay Improvements: A significant batch of gameplay updates, including bug fixes, balance changes, and general polish, enhances the overall experience. 

For a comprehensive list of all changes and improvements in the Galactic Civilizations IV v2.9 “Starview Update” update, see the full changelog below. 

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Key Features  

• Updated the Yor Ship Design visuals (old Ship Designs are still available as "Classic Yor")

• Polished many artifacts effects and game events for balance, consistency, and fun.  

• The Shipyard and Starbase screens have had their fixed backgrounds removed and now display the galaxy behind the UI from their location in space.   

• Updated Starbase Screen so that the Module, Targets, and Effects have been reconfigured to be cleaner and easier to parse.

• Updated the Civ Policy Screen and Main Dock to streamline the UX of Rally Points, Tax Rate, Trade Routes, and Fleet Commands. 

October 7th, 2024 Updates

Art 

• Fixed Yor Assault Carrier model  

Graphics 

• Fixed hard edges displaying in the fog of the Shipyard Screen 

UI 

• Player can now navigate directly from Shipyard Screen to Planet Screen from button on Shipyard Context Window

October 3rd, 2024 Updates

AI

• Fixed an issue where the AI was not upgrading Starbases and building orbitals on planets.

Art

• Updated Tech Icons.

• Updated Event images 

Core

• DLC no longer requires active online access.

• Fixed a stuck turn caused by a lost unit.

• Fixed a problem with Colony Ships and Transports that prevented them from reaching their destination.

• Fixed Multiplayer desync when one player is on a Shipyard screen and the other is not when the turn ends 

• Fixed Multiplayer desync when one player is on a Starbase screen and the other is not when the turn ends 

Gameplay

Artifacts

• Updated text to better match their effects.

• “Echoing Heartstone” effects now appear in the tooltip.

• “Broadcast Culture” now appears in the tooltip.

• “Neural Link” now awards EXP.

• “Chaos Beacon” now adds Crime.

• “Prototype Warhead” has been debuffed to match Alt-weapon type equivalents.

• “Tactical Thruster Upgrade Module” was changed from +1 to +25%.

• “Enemy Destabilizer Module” now adds Crime.

• “Modify Planet” is now Colony specific.

Balance

• Manufacture Population (Yor) cost reduced from 120 to 50.

• Recruiting Station Colony Growth reduced from 20 to 5 (hat-tip Draver).

• Citizen Threshold Mult changed from 1.5 to 1.2 (hat-tip Draver).

• Prisoners now apply the proper bonuses.

• Updated several Operation Abilities to give multiplier bonuses instead of flat.

Executive Orders

• Re-formatted text and updated effect descriptions

• Fixed Mitosis constantly spawning Containment Citizen and not player species to work with Custom irradiated species.

• “Illicit Deals” - now gives the correct Crime Effect.

• “Exploit Population:” Balanace adjustments:

  • Reduced +200% to +150%.

  • Added 15 Turns of -10% Approval.

  • Raised Control Cost from 20 to 30.

Events

• Updated many events for balance and bug fixing.

• Fixed effects that were mis-scoped or mistargeted.

• Corrected inaccurate descriptions/tooltips.

• "Precursor Food Processing Discovery" no longer has duplicated options.

• Fixed a misspelled tooltip text key for the "Ancient Library Satellite" event.

• The "New Generation" event now provides the Scientist Citizen when you are playing as Arcean.

Factions

• Festron shouldn't be able to murder and replace citizens who don't have a food cost.

• Baratak's "Convert Dead Plant" artifact power now converts dead planets.

Improvements

• "Enforcer Den" -- rewrote the tooltip to include income and research bonuses as well as Enforcer trait specifics.

• "Freemind Center" – Ship Maintenance now scales with Resolve.

• "Stellar Forge" can no longer be built on a Capital World.

• "Tower of Endless Night" can no longer be destroyed and rebuilt multiple times.

• Fixed plural endings on single-use Wonders.

• Updated Improvement descriptions to better match their effects

Leader Traits

• “Dreadful Melody Leader” -- “Diplomatic Trade Offer” reduced from 0.9 to -0.1.

• “Nemesis Legacy Leader” -- “Diplomatic Trade Offer” reduced from 0.75 to -0.25.

• Traits with Control effects now give flat bonuses instead of per-turn bonuses.

• Reworked Leader/Citizen Traits text to reflect their effects more clearly.

• Standardized Influence Growth across Citizen Traits.

Policies

• "Look the other way" – now only gives +10% Crime.

• "Toxin Spreading" – removes the Diplomacy effect.

Ships

• Removed debug Nanite ship designs that weren't intended to be released.

• Laser Beam – Lowered Attack to 1.

• Particle Beam: Raised Mass from 5 to 6

• Particle Beam: Raised Manufacturing Cost from 5 to 7.

• Fixed "Thug bomber's" tooltip.

• Fixed issues with the Altarian Corvette and Frigates that caused them to sometimes disappear in the Ship Designer.

• Updated the Probe description.

• Updated Yor Ship designs.

• Older Pre-existing Yor Ship are still included as "Classic Yor" ships.

Ship Component

• “Shield Generator” shield strength reduced from 10 to 8.

• “Barrier Field” shield strength increased from 8 to 10 (swapped the Generator and Barrier to match the Tech Tree progression).

Species

• Phamysth: Intelligence increased by +2

• Phamysth: Raised Expectations from +10 to +15.

• Added Phenotype tooltip to explain better explain their abilities and stats.

Tech

• Eliminated deprecated Techs from appearing in the Tech Tree and Search Bar.

• Starship Refits now has an adequately scoped Movement effect.

• Political Capital now gives Diplomatic Capital.

• Interstellar Investments now gives Diplomatic Capital.

• Interstellar Markets now gives Diplomatic Capital.

• Colonial Capital Refit now adds the missing population effect.

• Fix some tech categories never getting picked for discount.

• Civs with the Cartographer's ability can get the Acquisitions tech.

Text

• Updated Tech Descriptions.

• Fixed French ship class names.

• Starbase descriptions updated.

• Removed unused Starbase descriptions.

• Corrected some language regarding the Influence of Egalitarianism.

• Added New Species Types to Galactapedia.

• Cleaned up Ship design descriptions.

• Cleaned up Policy descriptions.

• Iconian Players no longer receive Yor conversation responses.

Localization 

• Fixed text clipping across languages on the Starbase Modules tech 

• Fixed untranslated Custom Civilization trait in Chinese 

• Fixed Chinese Custom Civilization portraits from not displaying  

UI

Civ Policy Screen

• Changed the preset Tax Rates to a Tax Rate slider, allowing players to fine-tune and find a balance between income and approval for their civilization.

• Removed the Trade Route Breakdown and Fleet Wide Command buttons.

Fleets Details Screen

• Updated the look and feel of the Fleet and Ship details screen.

Multiplayer

• Replaced the label text “Biology” with “Phenotype” in the "Opponent Tooltip."

• The Diplomacy tooltip is no longer blank for human players

• The Shipyard Context Window now properly displays a “Manage” button 

Rally Points

• Updated the Rally Point window to fix clipping issues and match the updated style.

• Added a Rally Point button between the Galactapedia and Strategic View Settings buttons.

• Added a default “P” Rally Point Hotkey.

• Fixed overlapping text regarding “Destination” and “Tiles” in the Rally Point Set Ship Destination window. 

Shipyard and Starbase

• The new Shipyard and Starbase screens display each design inside the actual Shipyard from its location in space.

• The display of each Module, Target, and Effect has been reconfigured to be cleaner and easier to parse.

• Players can cycle between Starbases.

• Starbase Context Window updated with added decommission Starbase functionality.

• The Shipyard Context Window now properly displays a “Manage” button 

• Fixed text overlap in lower right-hand corner in Multiplayer when player enters the new Shipyard and Starbase screens. 

• Camera has been adjusted to stay centered on Shipyard and Starbase when exiting new screens 

Misc

• Added a visual marker to enemies in your territory.

• Moved the “Trade Route Breakdowns” to the “Trade Route” button on the hot bar

• Moved the “Fleet Wide Commands” to the “Automation” button on the hot bar

• Reduced the map’s Vignette opacity

• The Fleet tooltip now displays maintenance as a rounded float rather than reducing it to an integer.

• Fixed the left scroll button not working on Trade Route subentries.

• Tech entries no longer turn grey GWG.

• Prevent situations where the citizen promotion UI would get stuck beneath the planet window and above the research complete popup.

• Closed an exploit with the Galactic Bazaar.