Galactic Civilizations 4is the latest addition to a 30-year legacy of sci-fi 4X strategy games originally kicked off in the dorm room of Brad Wardell. Inspired byCivilization, theGalactic Civilizationsseries answers the question, “What wouldCivilizationbe like if the game continued after the rocket launch?” Decades after its initial development for IBM’s OS/2,Galactic Civilizationshas become a staplePC gamefor fans of grand strategy in space. It’s more than justCivilizationin space, however, with some features and ideas that have helped push the genre forward.
Game Rant recently sat down with Brad Wardell ahead ofGalactic Civilizations 4’s major 3.0 update that will introduce hyperlanes to the galactic landscape. During the interview, Wardell weighed in on some of the reasons he feelsGalactic Civilizationssets itself apart in the broader 4X genre, including its movement, map generation, and perhaps most significantly, its powerfuluse of generative AIto assist players in crafting fully realized custom civilizations.
Galactic Civilizations 4’s Free-Form Movement Opens Every Door
Although simple at face value, the first feature Wardell pointed to wasGalactic Civilizations' free-form movement. Rather than a map driven by a web of spacelanes or star nodes, fleets can move absolutely anywhere inGalactic Civilizations. With less predictable routes and a map that doesn’t dictate where players can or can’t go, this movement style opens up several new strategic considerations. Wardell points out that this meansprocedural map generationtech needs to be top-of-the-line in order for things to play out well:
“A few things. One is our free-form movement. Most 4X games have fixed movement—phase lanes or node connections. We don’t. It’s open. You can go anywhere. That’s harder to program, but it gives the player more freedom. It also means your map generation has to be better, because there aren’t chokepoints built in by default.
Another thing is custom civilizations. A lot of people now play with entirely custom civs. You can make full rosters that interact with each other—like, “Oh, we hate this other custom civ because they betrayed us during the war of the twin suns,” or whatever. It’s all dynamic, and it gives people a sense of ownership.”
Another aspect ofGalactic Civilizations 4, in particular, that stands out to Wardell is how it handles custom civilizations. While some 4X games, such asEndless Space, offer pre-established civilizations, players have immense freedom to create and generate custom civilizations. On top of that, there’s a robust ship builder where creative players are free toremakeStar Trek’s Enterpriseif they so choose.
Generate Entire Fictional Universes With Galactic Civilizations 4’s AlienGPT
Galactic Civilizations 4’s custom civilizations are in a league of their own thanks to thegame’s use of generative AI— known as AlienGPT — which is capable of generating absolutely every detail about a civilization, including its appearance. Wardell notes that some players create entire fictional universes with deep, interconnected lore thanks to AlienGPT:
“Some players only play with custom civs. They create their own settings, their own lore, and build whole interconnected universes. It’s incredible.
Because of how the game is built, it feels handcrafted, even though it’s all procedural. They’re not scripting it line by line—it’s just the systems interacting in a really compelling way.”
The system isreminiscent ofDwarf Fortressin how it’s able to generate believable factions, lore, and relationships with each new world. While some 4X games allow players to create custom civilizations, few of them offer this level of depth and ease of use. Of course, players are free to go hands-on and manually craft a custom civilization to their liking, but it’s fascinating to see how entire galactic cultures can spring up based on a simple text prompt.
