Galciv 3: Crusade expansion aims to fix late-game grind
Spies and new factions
Galactic Civilizations III [official site], the excellent space strategy game, has just received its biggest expansion yet.
The Crusade expansion pack adds new factions, spies, and powerful individual citizens that can take starring roles in your colonies.
It looks like a fundamental shift to how campaigns will play out: spies will gather information on your enemies and steal technology, while the citizens can be promoted through particular skill trees to unlock new gameplay mechanics.
I'm particularly excited about the three new factions, especially the Slyne, who are "space amoebas" that look a bit like translucent blue monkeys with glasses.
You can also create your very own faction with a unique backstory and upload it to the Steam Workshop for others to play with, which is neat.
New content aside, Crusade overhauls some of the game's core features. The economy, the diplomacy system and planet invasions have all been given the once over with the aim of "fixing the late game grind", developer Stardock said.
The game was rather good at release and has only got better thanks to a bunch of new content in 2016. If you haven't yet picked it up, this expansion might be the perfect excuse.
It's £14.99/$19.99 on Steam, GOG, and the Stardock store – and you can find bundles for the original plus the expansion at all of those links.
Check out a full trailer below.
