The Intrigue expansion that was announced back in January for Stardock"s 4X turn-based strategy title Galactic Civilizations III is now available, which brings along a wealth of new features to the game such as the ability to form a government, grant commonwealth status to worlds, as well as special crisis events to resolve, elections, a galactic news network, and even a galactic market to trade resources in.
On how the new systems function and affect gameplay, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell said:
"In Intrigue, once you settle your second planet, your people begin to demand some sort of government that recognizes that you have a significant offworld population. We have so many governing styles to choose from. You could rule democratically, but then you need to make sure to win your elections. Or you could just enslave your working class under an Owner Aristocracy, and the opinions of your people don"t matter. You just have to deal with some potential civil unrest."
Meanwhile, alongside the expansion also arrived a free update to the game in the form of v3.0, which introduces a number of improvements to the game, such as a new tutorial, as well as several new features like taxes, tourism, and farming. Extreme world encounters will also be much more common than before. Those interested in reading the update"s full changelog may head over here.
The Intrigue expansion comes in at $19.99 and is available for purchase via the Stardock store and Steam. Also, there are sales running for Galactic Civilizations III base game on Steam as well as on Stardock until later today, with both stores pulling down the regular $39.99 price to $13.59, giving an excellent opportunity to pick up the turn-based title.
Disclaimer: Neowin"s relationship to Stardock