History VideoGame / GalacticCivilizations

** ''Painfully'' averted on the larger maps, especially if there's been a speed limit law enforced.

** Ends up being an aversion, however, because even though they are both merchant races, their similarities end there. The Korx were analogous to being a Space Mafia who were willing to sell anything, even their mothers, while the Iridium Corporation just really, really likes free-market capitalism, to the point that their whole society IS a corporation. While the Korx were almost pure evil, the Iridium are neither good nor evil, and while generosity might be somewhat unusual in Iridium society, it is understandable enough that it didn't stop them from electing their current leader, who is known for his great generosity.
* TechnologyUplift: the Arceans gave humanity the blueprints to a Warp Gate, which suspiciously had no "off" switch, but instead humans combined it with their fusion technology (which the Arceans may have wanted to take by invading) to develop a ship-portable hyperdrive. They then gave hyperdrive and fusion to every sapient species they could contact, and then the game begins.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Terror Stars. Yes, they can blow up entire solar systems, but first you have to research them (which takes five different techs, each of which takes about a dozen turns if you set your entire economy to research), build them (which takes six Constructors and includes a 10 week waiting period between completion and actually being able to use it) and get them to the target (they move 1 parsec a turn and have no defensive weapons without using up even ''more'' valuable constructors). All in all, it's quicker and easier to just conquer people the traditional way.
** On the other hand, there are a lot of systems with no inhabitable planets, which would really be more useful if they were just asteroid fields for your space miners. When empires get rich and bored enough, and have constructors to burn, Terror Stars start looking like big mining charges.
** At full strength, Terror stars have significant defense while producing influence. Sending a pack of them allows you to gradually take over the galaxy.
*** Only in the first game. In the second expansion to the sequel, Terror Stars are their own type of starbase that can't be upgraded with weapons, defenses, or any other types of modules specifically to avoid this, requiring you to have a powerful fleet on hand to protect them.
** And end wars with one shot.
** Building lots of fully equipped starbases will give you massive bonuses to your economy, industry, influence, military, and ascendance crystal mining, but believe me when I say that it will take you a looooong time (or a lot of planets constantly churning out constructors which presents its own problems) to fully equip so much as a single starbase much less multiple.
*** That or money. Lots and lots of money.

* EasterEgg: The second game has Terror Stars, which [[ApocalypseHow destroy stars]]. It is possible to get a game over by [[TooDumbToLive using Terror Stars on your own civilization]], which produces [[http://i.imgur.com/8mDrQ.png a unique game over message.]]
** Building one for the first time in a game also treats you to a brief FMV with the description advising you to "watch out for that exhaust pipe".
* EasyLogistics: One branch of the TechTree, Logistics, allows the player to field bigger fleets and more starbases.
** Mind you, the larger fleets only applies with regards to unitary task groups; you can field 200 or more battleships without ever learning about more advanced logistics. Likewise, starbases become more expensive to build once you start exceeding your logistics stat.
** Somewhat averted with trade; there are actual freighters that automatically ping-pong between the two planets involved, and they're generally defenseless in times of war. Their income also fluctates depending on where they are on the route.

In the sequel, the player could take control of any one of 10 civilizations, or make his own. This was increased to 12 in the first expansion pack.

** If the rumor is correct, a group of humans with Dread Lord tech is going to be the BigBad of Galactic Civilizations III. The subversion still hits, as this is after humans were nearly rendered extinct due to rampaging Drengin, and these guys are [[WellIntentionedExtremist simply acting on survival instinct now]].

** The Terran Alliance, in name, emblem and design philosophy, bears a notable resemblance to the [[BabylonFive Earth Alliance.]]
** Building on the previous point, this is spelled out completely by the Destroyer template for the Terran Alliance. It's an Omega Destroyer from [[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]

** Also, the description of one of the hyperdrive technologies says "A trip of a million miles will feel like a light year" (Though, given the tone of the descriptions, this is certainly intentional).

For a good series of [[AfterActionReport after action reports]], and to get a feel for the game, check out [[FanWorks/GalacticCivilizationsTFrancisVolOne these]] [[FanWorks/GalacticCivilizationsTFrancisVolTwo two]] articles by Tom Francis from PC Gamer.

* BreakTheCutie: The Drengin do this to the Torians in the backstory.

* CharacterAlignment[[invoked]]: An actual game mechanic. There is a Karma Meter for every civilization (1 is pure evil, 99 is pure good, 50 is neutral), and picking different sides gives different benefits. Note, however, that each of the below is merely a default alignment. If the player is in control, there's nothing stopping them from making the Drengin into the nicest guys in the universe or the Altarians into bloodthirsty psychopaths.

* EvilPaysBetter: Literally. The Evil option in random colonization events gives you the best bonuses while the good option will give you penalties or nothing most of the time (Neutral, of course, is somewhere in the middle). Though in a few cases the evil option will have a small cost, typically the lives of some of your people, but population is incredibly easy to replace in the game.
** However, when it comes time to choose a definitive alignment for your civilization via the Xeno Ethics technology, Neutral is the clear winner in terms of advantages bestowed. Also, some civilizations like the Altarians and Drath in the ''Twilight of the Arnor'' expansion gain better technologies through Good than they would with other alignments, and don't have to take the Good choice in random events since their KarmaMeter is already set to that alignment.

* ImportedAlienPhlebotinum: Found a Precursor artifact? Research bonus! Or a free ship! Precursor ruins on your newly-colonized planet? Extra productivity!

*** In rare scenarios if the Dread Lords are present, and you are not at war with them and are able to contact them, trading stuff for their massively advanced phlebotinum can give you a terrific boost in tech levels.

* ReinventingTheWheel: The tech tree gets reset every time you complete a mission in the campaign; it's possible (if you don't get bored first) to research everything up to and including Doom Rays in the first mission, but you'll still only have Lasers I in the second. Thankfully, though, each mission starts out with a more-advanced set of technologies already researched.

* ISurrenderSuckers: Can be done by negotiating peace with an opponent, then attacking again a short time later. Said opponent will [[GenreSavvy never again consider peace talks with you]].

** The Drath, with their ability to persuade other races to go to war, and the Altarians, who can get others to fight in their defense, tend to be the biggest causes of this sort of thing -- not least because they're bitter rivals. Other than that, there's the good old Bismarck special, where A attacks B because B attacked A's ally C, who attacked B's ally D because one of D's citizens killed C's leader. Its like [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne Sarajevo]] [[RecycledINSPACE in space]].

** The Yor Collective is Evil (25), with a hatred for all organic life driving them to exterminate other races when they can, or avoid them otherwise. They are however less inherently evil than the other evil races.

* KilledOffForReal: Due to events in the second game's storyline, the the Drath are extinct and the Korx are ''nearly'' extinct (a few remnants joined up with the Krynn or hang on as independent black market operators) as of the third game, their civilizations no longer playable. The Korath, the Torians, and the Arceans are also unplayable, but canonically the latter two still exist (there is no word on the Korath), they've just been hammered so hard by the Drengin that they're no longer galactic powers. The first proper expansion for ''III'', ''Mercenaries'' brings the two back (the Torians even with a campaign of their own).

For a good series of [[AfterActionReport after action reports]], and to get a feel for the game, check out [[http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=161570&site=pcg these]] [[http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=195920&site=pcg two]] articles by Tom Francis from PC Gamer.

* KilledOffForReal: Due to events in the second game's storyline, the Korx and the Drath are extinct as of the third game, their civilizations no longer playable. The Korath, the Torians, and the Arceans are also unplayable, but canonically the latter two still exist (there is no word on the Korath), they've just been hammered so hard by the Drengin that they're no longer galactic powers. The first proper expansion for ''III'', ''Mercenaries'' will bring the two back (the Torians even with a campaign of their own).

* CharacterAlignment[[invoked]]: An actual game mechanic. There is a Karma Meter for every civilization (1 is pure evil, 99 is pure good, 50 is neutral), and picking different sides gives different benefits.

*** The above, however, are all default alignments - if a human is controlling a civ, it can take any morality, no matter what it goes for by default.

* CharacterAlignment: An actual game mechanic. There is a Karma Meter for every civilization (1 is pure evil, 99 is pure good, 50 is neutral), and picking different sides gives different benefits.

* KilledOffForReal: Due to events in the second game's storyline, the Korx and the Drath are extinct as of the third game, their civilizations no longer playable. The Korath, the Torians, and the Arceans are also unplayable, but canonically the latter two still exist (there is no word on the Korath), they've just been hammered so hard by the Drengin that they're no longer galactic powers. Stardock is considering bringing them back in future expansions.

** The Terran Alliance is Neutral (50), with the humans valuing their personal benefit above all and acting in enlightened self-interest. They will make strong alliances and trade relations willingly, but only when they also gain from the protection of their allies or the profit garnered from trade.

** The Drath Legion is Good (75). Though they are inherently pretty nice guys, they are also highly passive-aggressive, and will use the [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative skills]] they've honed over the history of their civilization to indirectly harm anyone who opposes them. Generally, this means getting everyone to attack the Altarians.

* ComicallySmallBribe: You can absolutely offer another race the interesting opportunity of giving you all of their ships, planets and tech for 1 bc. The AI *will* treat this as the deliberate insult it is. On the other hand, while the AI is pretty damn good at managing its economy and using its money to the fullest, it hardly ever makes cash reserves (or blows them all the second a war starts anyway) which often leads AIs on the losing side of a war to sue the player for peace, please, they'll give you all they have ! Here, take these 5 bc !

** Some planet names, too. One campaign mission features the worlds of [[RiftwarCycle Midkemia and Kelewan]] (which might have something to do with the developers being called [[WizardingSchool Stardock]]).

** The Drath, with their ability to persuade other races to go to war, and the Altarians, who can get others to fight in their defense, tend to be the biggest causes of this sort of thing. Other than that, there's the good old Bismarck special, where A attacks B because B attacked A's ally C, who attacked B's ally D because one of D's citizens killed C's leader. Its like [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne Sarajevo]] [[RecycledINSPACE in space]].

** It is mentioned in the descriptions of some of the technologies unique to the Altarians that they are not the same ''species'' as the humans, but that they *are* more genetically similar to humans than they are to any of the other species on Altaria. To the highly religious (but in a good way because their religion is all sunshine and rainbows) Altarians this is no accident and that their gods have reunited them with their long lost brothers. To the Humans, who are much less religious, this is one of the greatest mysteries of the universe. Most of the other races who care either way agree with the humans.

''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owdjizoiqVY Galactic Civilizations III]]'' was revealed on Stardock's [=20th=] anniversary. Announced new features include multiplayer, political intrigue, and more mod support.