GalCiv IV Dev Journal #123: The Galactic Roadmap - Fall 2026 Edition

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1357210/view/667250959956574377
from GalCiv4 Forums

We just finished version 4.1 which itself was a pretty big update with custom maps now working in multiplayer, steam workshop support for custom maps and lots of balance updates.

So what's next? I'll divide this between the free updates and next DLC, Galactic Civilizations IV: Ascension

The free updates, continuing to improve the user experience, performance, balance, and help make the existing DLCs mesh together better and better, is going to focus on these three things:

  • New Planet UI.
  • New Shipyard UI
  • Redesign of Ship Design

New Planet UI

Here is a mockup. What we want is to have a multi-tab UI where the overview screen lets you still do all the main stuff you'd want to do on a given turn but lets users go into the nitty gritty about a particular planet. Mostly informational.

Even the OS/2 version from 1993 had multiple tabs for planets:

With stats and everything. We want to make the planets more immersive. This is largely cosmetic (i.e. we're not looking to add micromanagement to the screen just provide more ways of making better decisions).

New Shipyard

The shipyard would become one of the tabs on the planet. Clicking on a shipyard would take you two it but the goal is to make managing planets and ships more convenient.

Redesign of the Ship Designer

Right now ship design falls into a gap I think between it being too simple for the serious ship makers but also too complicated for users who just want to configure up a ship.
It's the ship designer that is our biggest focus because I think it's one of the most distinctive features of the game.\

Month Version Details
October 4.2 General balance pass across the boad, performance boosting, better map setup controls
November 4.3 Ship Designer Update
December DLC: Ascension Uplift those Minor races
More to come!    
Stardock Galactic Civilizations IV GalCiv IV Dev Journals Type: Dev Log
186 views 1 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Calling the planet screen largely cosmetic undersells it. Information is where decisions come from, so anything that changes what sits in front of me on an ordinary turn changes how I play, whether or not a single rule moves.

The tabs are the part I would watch. A tab is a decision about what you are willing to make people click for, and anything behind a click stops getting checked after a while. I look at three or four numbers per planet per turn, and the risk is that the overview keeps the interesting ones and moves the dull ones somewhere I have to go and find them.

On the ship designer, the diagnosis sounds right to me and the fix may not be one thing. Someone configuring a ship quickly wants good defaults he never has to think about. Someone building seriously wants to put two designs side by side and be told which one is better against what. Those are different features that happen to share a screen.

Uplifting the minor races in December is the line I am most curious about, since they have mostly been scenery with a vote attached. I will keep my opinion until there is something to read.