The playable alpha for Galactic Civilizations III is getting a major upgrade today, introducing the ship designer feature that's essential to the franchise experience. The game's designer will also be hosting a live stream at 3 p.m. EST to show off the ship builder and answer fans' questions.
Galactic Civilizations III is Playable Now in $100 Early Access Edition
The ship-building feature is a fun tool on its own, and adds a lot to the gameplay itself. In Galactic Civilizations, you research new technologies like in other strategy games, including new ship parts such as weapons, engines, shields, and support systems. The ship designer lets you put together custom vessels using your new parts, but there's a capacity limit you cannot exceed when building.
The researched technology comes into play as the parts become smaller and more efficient, which leads to more choices about what to include. If you want to make a high-powered attack ship, for example, it may have to forgo more shields or better engines. Choosing between these options yourself rather than picking from generic ships is what can make the difference between losing particular battles, and the success of your empire on the larger scale.
Check out Screenshots of Civilization: Beyond Earth as Famous Series Goes Sci-Fi
Galactic Civilizations III's lead designer Paul Boyer will be on hand at the developer's Twitch channel (video embedded below, will go live when it's online) to talk about the game and demonstrate the ship designer in action at 3 p.m. EST. The early access alpha will be updated with the ship designer an hour after the live stream begins, so you'll be able to try the new feature out for yourself shortly.