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Stardock today released Galactic Civilizations IV: Federations & Empires, an expansion that replaces the series' single government track with four completely distinct forms of government. The base game gives players one way to govern. Federations & Empires rebuilds the entire Government screen around each form's own resource, core loop, and free hero ship, so picking one means playing what feels like a different strategy game. The expansion is available now on Steam and it ships alongside a free Version 4.0 update for every Galactic Civilizations IV owner.

"Our goal is that each government type changes the way players play the game," said Brad Wardell, Lead Designer of the expansion. "Each government has its own special ships, resources, improvements, and more."

Players now have five distinct ways to govern a civilization in Galactic Civilizations IV: the free Colonial Charter included in Version 4.0, and four new advanced governments introduced in the expansion.

The Governments include:

• Colonial Charter: the starting government. Light-touch, flexible, and approachable for existing players and included for free in v4.0.

• Oligarchy: three Councilors split power across Commerce, Industry, and Governance. Market forces shape the destiny of the civilization, and the player focuses on investments, equities and political favors.

• Technocracy: a continuous Optimization Grid replaces policies. Run simulations to preview outcomes. Players construct massive Optimizers to send to their worlds who execute the player's instructions.

• Empire: Imperial Decrees that scale with the size of your domain. Vassal management, rebellions and a general focus on extracting as much as possible from vassals to empower the homeworld.

• Federation: the apex civilian government. Players must build consensus with their worlds with the reward being partner worlds that are greater than the sum of their parts.

Federations & Empires introduces four Political parties: Militarists, Progressives, Traditionalists and Industrialists, whose influence rises and falls based on what is actually happening in your empire. Parties make demands, form coalitions, and put pressure on which policies you can pass.

Elections, coups, popular revolutions, and secession crises are driven by game state, not random rolls. Run an Empire badly enough and the people rise up. Let your military faction grow too strong during an unpopular war and your general may seize power. The player always has a meaningful choice in the resolution.

Every Galactic Civilizations IV owner receives Version 4.0 at no cost. That update is also where the Colonial Charter ships, alongside the following.

• Map Editor: Players can place stars, clusters, anomalies, and home worlds by hand and save the result as a reusable map.

• Custom Maps: Players can start a game on any hand-built galaxy instead of a random one. They can also trade maps with the community!

• Turn Notifications: Everything that needs attention each turn now surfaces directly on the main screen.

• Mini Map: A whole-galaxy overview is always available in the sidebar.

• Institutions: Leaders can be assigned to run Institutions that boost a civilization's science, manufacturing, military, and more.

• Diplomacy & Trade: The deal-making screen has been redesigned so players can assemble and read multi-item trades at a glance.

• AI Improvements: Opponents are smarter across exploration, warfare, diplomacy, and government play.

Galactic Civilizations IV: Federations & Empires is now available to play on Steam. The free v4.0 base-game update has also been released simultaneously to all Galactic Civilizations IV owners on all platforms.