Galactic Civilizations
A turn-based strategy game of galactic domination.
Galactic Civilizations is a turn-based strategy game from Stardock that came out in March 2003. It reworks an earlier OS/2 series with the same name. Players aim to take over the galaxy, which they can do through military conquest, spreading their culture, negotiating alliances, or outpacing everyone in technology. An expansion called Altarian Prophecy followed in 2004.
The game takes place in a future where humanity has met five other major alien species. Travel between stars is slow and costly, relying on jump gates that only connect two fixed points, so most of the galaxy remains empty. That changes when humans invent hyperdrive, allowing quick travel between any two stars. They share this breakthrough with the other races, but all contact then stops. Realizing this may have been a mistake, humanity braces for a rush to claim the now-accessible worlds.
Development began on OS/2 in April 1993, led by Brad Wardell. The original publisher went bankrupt without paying royalties, but fan support let Stardock release Shipyards, an add-on for designing custom starships. That revenue funded further work, and a simplified version was sold to IBM in 1995 as Star Emperor. The OS/2 game sold over 30,000 copies. A sequel, Galactic Civilizations II, arrived later that year with new features and tweaks, followed by another Shipyards release and an expansion in April 1997. Stardock eventually left OS/2 development as the market shrank, though the OS/2 versions can still run under emulation with Virtual PC.
The expansion Altarian Prophecy came out in 2004. The base game earned generally favorable reviews on Metacritic. By December 2005, it had sold 75,000 copies, which Computer Gaming World called impressive for the genre, and sales passed 100,000 by 2008. Computer Games Magazine named it the ninth-best computer game of 2003 and gave it a "Best AI" award tied with Halo: Combat Evolved, calling it the kind of game that stays on your hard drive long after others are forgotten. Computer Gaming World nominated it for Strategy Game of the Year, though Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic won, praising the game's deep strategic layers. The Altarian Prophecy expansion also received favorable reviews, though slightly lower than the original.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Galactic Civilizations
- Developer
- Stardock
- Publisher
- NA · Strategy First · UK · Empire Interactive
- Designer
- Brad Wardell
- Programmer
- Cari Begle / Scott Tykoski / Brad Wardell / Michael Duffy / Ian Hanschen
- Artist
- Alex Gounaropoulos / Scott Tykoski / Russ Schwenkler
- Writer
- Brad Wardell / Scott Tykoski / Alexander Antoniades
- Composer
- Eric Heberling / Eric Johnson
- Released
- NA · March 25, 2003 · EU · September 12, 2003Altarian Prophecy / NA · November 12, 2004 · EU · February 4, 2005
- Genre
- Turn-based strategy, 4X
- Modes
- Single player
- Platforms
- Windows
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The game is set in the future, where humankind has made contact with five other major alien races. Space travel is initially risky and expensive, requiring huge jump gates that only permit travel between two specific points, leaving the galaxy mostly uncolonized. The humans make a great discovery—hyperdrive—which permits fast travel between any two stars. They share this discovery with the other five major races, after which all communication stops. The humans consider that sharing their discovery may have been a mistake, as the galaxy is now open for exploration and a rush to claim uncolonized worlds begins.
Galactic Civilizations was first developed for OS/2 in April 1993 by Brad Wardell. Although revenue from the initial OS/2 release was never paid by the bankrupt publisher, popular support encouraged Stardock to release Shipyards, an add-on pack that allowed users to design their own starships. This provided enough revenue to support further development, with a simplified version being sold to IBM in 1995 as Star Emperor. The game sold above 30,000 units for OS/2.
Galactic Civilizations II was released later that year, adding several new concepts and tweaks. It was followed by another version of Shipyards and an expansion pack in April 1997, before Stardock was forced to withdraw from significant OS/2 development with the loss of their market. It is possible to run OS/2 versions of the game under emulation using Virtual PC.
Reader's Guide
Galactic Civilizations received generally favorable reviews according to Metacritic. By December 2005, the game had sold 75,000 copies, which Computer Gaming World's Bruce Geryk called impressive for its genre. By 2008, sales had surpassed 100,000 units. The game was named the ninth-best computer game of 2003 by Computer Games Magazine, and it won the publication's Best AI award, tying with Halo: Combat Evolved. A writer for the magazine called it 'the sort of game that will still be on your hard drive when all the other games you are playing right now are gathering dust on a shelf.' The editors of Computer Gaming World nominated Galactic Civilizations for their 2003 Strategy Game of the Year award, which ultimately went to Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic. They wrote that they 'found it impossible to ignore the [game's] almost overwhelming depth of strategy.' The Altarian Prophecy expansion pack received favorable reviews, although slightly less than the original, according to Metacritic. The game's legacy includes spawning a sequel series, with Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords released in 2006, Galactic Civilizations III in 2015, and Galactic Civilizations IV in 2022.
Did You Know?
- The game is a remake of an OS/2 series of the same name first developed in April 1993 by Brad Wardell.
- An add-on pack called Shipyards allowed users to design their own starships and provided enough revenue to support further development.
- A simplified version of the game was sold to IBM in 1995 as Star Emperor.
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