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Galactic Civilizations IVNewsDev Journal #122: Choosing Your Starting Government?
Community

Dev Journal #122: Choosing Your Starting Government?

Galactic Civilizations IV · published 12 Aug 2026, 14:30 UTC

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I've been having a lot of fun with the map editor.

And it's let me make some interesting maps as well as find things to improve on it (looking at you default star names!)And while playing the game with the new Federations & Empires expansion I have come to realize that I would really prefer NOT to be forced to play as the Colonial Charter at the start of the game. I want to be able to start (if I want) as a Federation or Empire or whatever.So when setting up the game, I want to be able to select the starting government. The other government types would be still gated by their given cultural trait but this way, I am not forced to go down some cultural path just to get the government I wanted.There is also the head canon part.I want to know that I am playing against the Drengin EMPIRE from the start.So this is something we're looking at adding to the first update to the Federations & Empires expansion pack. We really hope you're liking it. I feel like there's a lot of interesting places we can take it as time goes on as it's just such a terrific opportunity to make the game play distinctly based on your play style.Plus, I really like when I play as an empire laying mines but that's a different story.Anyway, what do you think about the option to start with one of the new governments?

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Sale1 Oct 2026Autumn Sale: Up to 75% off Galactic Civilizations titlesUp to 75% off Galactic Civilizations titles during the 2026 Autumn Sale See all Deals Newly Released: Galactic Civilizations IV deals: Galactic Civilizations III deals: Other Galactic Civilizations deals: See all DealsCommunity24 Sep 2026v4.1.1 Update Now AvailableVersion 4.1.1 is now available. This is a focused follow-up to 4.1 aimed at late-game performance. The most noticeable change is reduced lag when ending a turn in a large, late-game empire. We have also fixed a handful of crashes and made it harder for rivals to culture-flip your planets. Engine · Fixed late-game lag ending a turn due to stat calculations when colonies changing hands. · Fixed l…Community17 Sep 2026Dev Journal #123: The Galactic Roadmap - Fall 2026 EditionWe 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…