Hello Ashes fans!

**2.75 Update**

I've been very active with play testing on the upcoming 2.75 update and it's gone through a few iterations. Thanks to all the community members who have been testing it with me and offering me great feedback, Chronopolize in particular. Most of our updates don't have the opportunity for this much play testing, so I'm really excited about these changes and how the community will receive them. There's some other cool things happening in 2.75 that I haven't yet mentioned in the March Dev Journal.

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April 2086

Good afternoon.  Thank you for attending this meeting.  We have been taking your questions via the Google document.  If you will enable your FaceGoog implants to turn to the topic of Precursors from the 2085 lecture we can begin.

We will assume you have gone over the classified materials from the recent Emdrive test.

As a reminder, the general public has not been brought up to speed on everything that was found on Ceres.  The rumors of the so-called "Arilou" consultant working with Darius Robotic on the emDrive remain just that -- rumors.  Today will focus only on the facts and not rumors. Suffice to say, we do not have little green men running around Darius Robotics.

Prototype EmDrive powered ship "Discovery"

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To this day, Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation is still receiving balance updates. You may be wondering - since Ashes is not a competitive game like StarCraft - why there is all of this effort being put into balance. There can be a misconception that balance is esoteric and only matters to high level players, but I don't think that's accurate. Today I'll be exploring why balance matters for all players and how it's crucial in making an RTS fun.

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You know the phrase, “Space is big”.  Today, let’s walk through just how big space really is, and how its scale fits into the Star Control multiverse.

Star Control: Origins takes place in a sector that is 120 by 120 light years.  This is a staggeringly big area, but it is nothing compared to even our local super-cluster.

Let’s zoom out. Way…way out, and we get to Lanikea:

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Galactic Civilizations III is one of the largest strategy sandboxes ever made. It's newest expansion, Intrigue, released today. In Intrigue, you'll choose your government, lead your civilization through terrible crises, and earn the trust and faith of your people. The free v3.0 update brings support for Intrigue’s new features while providing a richer experience with the same unrivaled scale. View details here.

Galactic Politics and Government Have Arrived in
Galactic Civilizations III: Intrigue

Galactic Civilizations III is one of the largest strategy sandboxes ever made. Start with a single world
and expand across the galaxy through diplomacy, trade, cultural hegemony, or military conquest
in this single-player or multiplayer 4X strategy game. Send spies to infiltrate enemy civilizations,
encounter mysterious anomalies and events across space, let your citizens help
lead your civilization into a golden age, and so much more.
Get GalCiv III for 66% off now!

Choose your government, lead your civilization through terrible crises, and earn
the trust and faith of your people in the newest expansion, Galactic Civilizations III: Intrigue!

The free v3.0 update brings support for Intrigue’s new features while providing a richer
experience with the same unrivaled scale. View the details below.

INTRIGUE'S KEY FEATURES

Form your own government Rule with a gentle touch - or, with an iron fist Choose from 20 available government styles and set your civilization on a path to greatness. Each style of governing has advantages and disadvantages. You can rule democratically, but you’ll need to make sure to keep the favor of your people so you don’t lose the next election. You can also adopt an Owner Aristocracy to enslave your working class, or choose an Interstellar Plutocracy and allow your corporations to rule, and then the opinions of your people don’t matter! Of course, there’s the potential for civil unrest, but you can handle that - right?

See your people through crises Choose your own adventure Special events that have certain triggers throughout the course of gameplay can pop up and throw a wrench into your plans for your civilization. These events, called "Crises," are navigated through a series of choices that you make. You might have to quell a group of violent revolutionaries, or rally your forces against a massive space creature lurking at the fringes of your empire. How you decide to handle each situation will affect what events, options, opportunities, and rewards become available to you.

Establish a commonwealth Put your colonies on a path to self-sufficiency As your empire grows, worlds on the outskirts will want to become independent.These subject-states will do as they're told without you having to lift a finger. By granting these worlds a status of commonwealth, they will be converted into an ally with a favorable disposition and will be inclined to implement your requests on the galactic scene, as well as provide a substantial stipend back to your home civilization.

Trade on the Galactic Market There's always a good deal at the market Well, maybe not always, but that’s what they’ll tell you, anyway. Sell Durantium before extensive mining drives down the price, or pay a premium to get some Elerium to construct that new prototype flagship you’ve been wanting. How steep the price gets depends entirely on how much is (or isn’t) available, so buy and sell with care!

Stay informed with the Galactic News Network In space, there is no biased reporting - that's because we've hired a robot to handle it Check the news to monitor who's allying with who, who's declared war on each other, and many other activities that are going on across the galaxy. Keeping up with current events and galactic happenings is the best way to stay one step ahead of your opponents.

Explore exciting new content Be prepared for anything From famine to protests, you’ll face new events that challenge your leadership and test your people. Certain governments and crises will award you with brand new ships that can’t be obtained through any other means. Your choices determine your path and what rewards and penalties you’ll have to deal with, so choose wisely.

________________________________________________________________________________

Galactic Civilizations III v3.0 - Top Features

• Taxes - You can now set your tax rate on the govern screen. Increasing it will decrease your civilization's morale, but it will provide more income for things like war or infrastructure. 
• New Tutorial - The game is now more accessible for newer players! v3.0 features a brand new tutorial and a re-worked user experience, while still retaining the depth that Galactic Civilizations III is known for.
• Tourism - Planets and starbases generate influence that will grow over time and capture a percentage of travelers that pass through the player’s area of control.
• Farming - All planets will come with arable tiles where farms can be built in order to generate food. Food will help to grow the population, which in turn will increase production.
• Extreme Worlds - The frequency of extreme worlds has been substantially increased. Certain species can now colonize particular worlds without tech - for example, carbon-based lifeforms can settle on a corrosive planet, but synthetic life can't.

To learn more about all of the new improvements in v3.0, view the full changelog here.

Get the newest expansion to Galactic Civilizations, Intrigue, today!

Missing some DLC in your collection? Get the rest for the complete experience!

Mercenaries Expansion |  Revenge of the Snathi | Precursor Worlds | Rise of the Terrans

Lost Treasures | Altarian Prophecy | See the rest here!

Remember when you bought a game at the store, took it home, devoured the user manual the first evening, and then played a game that you would slowly master?  Those were the days.

Today, games are much more sophisticated and today's gamers want to see their games evolve and improve based on their feedback.  That brings us to this walk-through of Galactic Civilizations III v3.

For the purposes of this walk-through, I will be using v3.0 with all expansions installed.  Your experience will differ some depending on what you have installed, but assuming you have the Gold Edition, you should be set.

Chapter 1: Setting up your game

1. Galactic Civilizations is a sandbox game.  That means each game is different.  We include a series of campaigns, but other than the tutorial, we recommend choosing "new game" first.
2. For your first game, choose the Terran Alliance.  Each alien civilization plays somewhat differently, but presuming you're human, the Terrans are probably the most relatable.
3. For galaxy size, stay with MEDIUM or less for your first few games. Medium requires a system with 4GB of memory.  Memory is the price we pay to avoid having "space lanes".
4. For everything else, keep to the default, and into the game you go.

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The species that are - in essence, talking meat - receive a great deal of attention, despite being an objectively inferior form of life. Today I will attempt to communicate to you humans the advantages of synthetic life.

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I love the fast-paced rush of StarCraft, the tactics of Company of Heroes, and the intricate micro of Command and Conquer. Although Supreme Commander is on the opposite end of the RTS spectrum, it resonated with me, and many LANs of my teenage years were spent playing it. To this day, Supreme Commander is still one of my all-time favorite RTS games and I play it on FAF (Forged Alliance Forever) from time to time. Supreme Commander is a large scale RTS from 2007; its meticulous design, backed by a massive budget, resulted in a huge amount of depth and strategic diversity, a superb art direction, and innovative quality of life features that streamlined the interface.

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Check out a brand new Star Control preview trailer

We’ve got less than half a year left before Star Control: Origins is set to release.  So much is happening!

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