In recent developer journals, we’ve examined some of the new Improvements and homeworld Events added to the original Centauron sector races introduced in the first Galactic Civilization’s games way back in the mid 1990s. This week, we’ll ask the Torian Regime to step forwards into the spotlight and take a bow, as we examine some of the new tools and toys they get to use in their own efforts towards becoming the greatest galactic civilization!
The Torians were a peaceful Aquatic species that became subjugated by the Drengin Empire very early on in the history of Galactic Civilizations. After fighting a dreadful war of rebellion, they broke free of their shackles and now are free to take their own destiny into their hands. Never again will they be slaves, and their mistrust of those other civilizations in the galaxy lies at the heart of their core skills. Fertile ensures they expand and populate their worlds very quickly, while Unwavering ensures they’re difficult to Culture Flip and have diplomatic abilities to both Persuade and Threaten when necessary.
Let’s take a look at the new Civilization Achievement and Colony Unique Improvements available for construction on Toria (or elsewhere, if you’re patient and have a plan).
First up is The Great School, a magnificent university attended by the smartest of Torians, immediately grants a 50% research boost to the world, allowing rapid traversal of the Tech trees. As a bonus, it’ll give a +1 to All Adjacency Bonus to reflect the utility in placing a university full of academic swots next to your other various economic and industrial zones.
The Tide Pools is a Colony Unique Improvement that provides a +10% bonus to Influence Growth and Approval respectively. Influence Growth can be crucial to fast expansion of borders, while the Approval bonus can help offset those sad feelings that Aquatic Citizens might feel being stuck mining Durantium by hand on a baking hot, dry Volcanic world long after moisturizer cream supplies have run out.
The next Civilization Achievement Improvement available for construction at the beginning of the game is The Grand Resort, a luxurious dream vacation destination for any sentient creature in the galaxy. This provides a 50% bonus to Tourism and +10 Culture Points, with some additional Wealth and Tourism benefits if carefully located. Again, a +2 Level to All Adjacency Level Bonus ensures that the Torians can squeeze even more out of adjacent Districts and Improvements.
Next up is a new homeworld Event that gives the player the choice between three new Improvements to be placed on their homeworld. You don’t get to choose where these go as they are randomly placed, so you’ll need to consider your existing infrastructure when choosing (remember, these Events can be temporarily set aside by clicking on the “Decide Later” arrow at the top right of the Event window, in case you want to go examine your homeworld first).
Note that to balance out getting a powerful and free Improvement, having it randomly placed will shake up your homeworld’s layout a little and perhaps force a rethink of your usual optimal design plan. These can be deleted afterwards if they’re not so useful and placed in a tile you had planned to fill with something even more important.
The Torian Telescope here gives a +10 boost to Sensor Range, and more if located next to other Research Districts or Improvements, while helping to boost those attached zones too.
The Drengin Tech Cache grants the Torians access to some of the advanced technology left behind during the occupation by the Drengin Empire, granting nice early +5 Research Bonus and allowing the Torians to make a tidy profit from manufacturing and selling these in their financial Districts too, granting a Research and Wealth bonus to attached infrastructure.
The Torians were always cultured lot, and picking the Cultural Revival Initiative will give each Citizen born and bred on Toria a +5 Social Skills boost. This is a powerful effect, especially used in tandem with the Tide Pools colony Improvement, allowing the Torians to mitigate many of the worst effects from Crime, Pollution and other effects that hit Approval hard. Another option, perhaps, is to focus their efforts on building a strong core group of Traders, and the increased Income they generate across your empire.
Armed with these new tools in combination, your options as the Torian Regime open up in a big way. Do you leverage their Fertile trait to rapidly expand your territory, utilizing their increased Influence output to peacefully coerce the galaxy into the Torian way of life? Or stay small but technologically advanced, relying on your new high Intelligence and avoiding the jealous gaze of your rivals until the time is right, striking them hard and fast with your deadly fleets before they’ve realized quite how strong you’ve gotten?
Let us know what you think of these improvements, and we’ll catch you next time!
Cheers!