Crusade Expansion Coming For 'Galactic Civilizations III' This Spring

Last year, Stardock Entertainment announced the first expansion pack for Galactic Civilizations III, “Mercenaries.” The studio has released four minor packs of downloadable content (DLC) since. For 2017, the studio announced that another expansion, “Crusade,” will debut in the spring.

The Crusade expansion includes a new campaign that introduces some new alien civilizations. In addition to the factions that you can play in the game, there will also be an option to create your own civilization, and even the ability to design your own ships that will represent your ever-expanding empire.

Within each new civilization, the expansion will introduce citizen units, which are produced every few turns. According to Stardock, these citizens will take the place of the numerous dials and sliders that you used to manage your economy. You can use each citizen to specialize in empire-wide initiatives, or have them focus on a single planet under your control.

Other than strengthening your infrastructure, you can also use citizens for espionage missions. These include destroying enemy improvements, eliminating enemy agents, or even stealing advanced technology. Once you’re in a prime position to take out another civilization, you can assign units to take over an enemy planet. The expansion will also let you participate in “Interactive Invasions,” where you can take the fight to the planet surface. Both sides will choose where to deploy troops before starting combat.

These aren’t the only features coming with Crusade. Stardock teased some other aspects, which include a new graphics engine, resource system, and changes to combat, enemy AI, and the overall user experience. Additional information will be released over the next few weeks through multiple developer diaries. A specific release date wasn’t announced, but the expansion will cost you $20.