GalCiv IV Dev Journal #115: Opening Moves

Strategy games are all about the opening move. Galactic Civilizations is no exception.

In RTS games we call it “Build Order”. Back in the day, I played some of these RTS games “professionally”. Today, being old, I can’t even get out of Diamond 1 in StarCraft 2. But it is build order that keeps me at least Diamond. Knowing what to do when.

One of the things I like about Galactic Civilizations, something that we hope to continue evolving, is making sure players have multiple interesting first choices. Where do you put your capital? What do you do with Mars? Do you build a Scout or a Colony Ship? Lots of interesting choices.

Let’s walk through the various phases of a Galactic Civilizations game. You tell me if this matches what you run into.

The Colony Rush

Concept

The galaxy is finite. Habitable planets are the scarcest resource in it. Every planet your neighbor colonizes is one you can't have - and they'll use it to outproduce and out-research you for the next three hundred turns. The Land Grab says: get there first. Worry about making your empire good once you've made it big.

This is the default opening that most players drift toward naturally, but most execute it poorly. The difference between a loose expansion and a true Land Grab is discipline - you're cutting every non-colonization investment from your queue and accepting that your home world will be underdeveloped for the first twenty turns.

Build Order

Foundation

• Research: Colonization Tech (free) → immediately queue Colonial Policies

• Build: Colony Ship (your second one - you start with one) / Use the Executive Order to Colony Rush.

• Move starting colony ship toward the nearest high-quality planet. Don't wait to scout. Every turn counts.

So for me, I don’t build the Scout yet. And I do go for Mars and I take that Leader.

Extend the Reach

• Once Colonial Policies finishes, research Planetology (or whatever your civ calls it) to get better planet improvements.

• Build: Third Colony Ship. Ideally I've used the Telescope executive order to find somewhere worth sending it.

• Your starting survey ship is set to auto-find anomalies. But usually not before I have sent it off to the nearest yellow star.

The Rush

• Research: Modules. I want to start claiming resources and I am trying to expand my reach.

• Build: Fourth Colony Ship

• I pick only really high quality planets.

Securing the Perimeter

• Research: Asteroid Mining you need to start extracting resources from what you've claimed

• Build: First Starbase (place it centrally to extend ship range)

• Consider your fifth colony ship vs. your first improvement on the home world. If you still have unclaimed high-quality planets in range, build the colony ship. If the map is filling up, it's time to start developing.

Backfill Phase

• Slow down colonization, accelerate infrastructure

• Research: Research Districts, Xeno-Industrialization

• Build key improvements on your highest-quality worlds first: manufacturing base, then research, then wealth

• Your empire is now wide. Time to make it tall.

Ideal Map Settings

• Galaxy size: Medium to Large, but not bigger than that. I usually play only a single sector but will once in a while have two.

• Galaxy density: Occasional everything.

• AI count: As many as possible. I know I’m in the minority on this. I like a knife fight.

The Meta Question

What's the "correct" opening? In my experience, it depends on three things: your faction's traits, the map you rolled, and what your opponents are doing.

The Colony Rush is pretty standard in space 4X games. But it isn’t the only path. I’d love to hear your thoughts on two things:

1. What is your opening set of moves?

2. What could we do to give players more viable opening moves (Colony Rush is pretty hard to beat). By viable, I mean fun to play too.