Galactic Civilizations IV: Combat fleets, invasions, and logistics guide

Your travels in Galactic Civilizations IV will, no doubt, lead to conflicts. If you can’t keep other factions happy and influence flipping is out of the question, then your only recourse is to go to war. Here’s our Galactic Civilizations IV guide to help you with combat fleets, planetary invasions, and increasing your logistics.

Note: We’ll have a Galactic Civilizations IV guides and features hub soon, so stay tuned.

Galactic Civilizations IV – Combat fleets, planetary invasions, and logistics guide

Warfare techs

From small fighters to medium-sized cruisers and gargantuan dreadnoughts, your combat fleets in Galactic Civilizations IV will eventually become a force to be reckoned with. As a rule of thumb, most offensive and defensive capabilities are found in the Warfare tab of the tech tree. Another thing to consider is the color scheme of weapons and defenses:

• Red – Kinetic weapons and armor.
• Yellow – Missiles and countermeasures.
• Blue – Lasers/beams and energy shields.

Shipyards

Your Galactic Civilizations IV playthrough will always begin with your faction in control of one Shipyard next to your home planet. From there, colonization and the creation of core worlds will allow you to construct more Shipyards. These shipyards allow you to build Colony Ships, Survey Ships, Freighters, Probes, and, of course, your vessels for void war.

Note: Ships that survive combat earn XP, subsequently gaining upgrade options (i.e., at the bottom of a column when you have a ship selected). Likewise, you may outfit your vessels with different armaments by opening a Shipyard’s screen and clicking on the “New Design” button.

Commanders

You may also field additional units for your navy by checking the “Leaders – Commanders” tab. A select few options are available by default. But others will only get unlocked once you have the Ministry of Defense and Precursor Origins techs.

If you want to turn a leader into a commander, take note of the following:

• Diligence stat (purple) – Increased ship HP.
• Resolve stat (red) – Increased attack.
• Extra perk – Mouse over a ship to see if it has a unique perk (i.e., +75% chance to escape from battles).

Combining fleets and increasing logistics

Attempting to engage a hostile force with a lone craft probably won’t end well for you. As such, it’s better to combine several ships into a single combat fleet. This is easily done by having multiple units group up in one hex.

However, this is also limited by the logistics system in Galactic Civilizations IV. Lower-tier ships might only require a single logistics point, but better ones can be costly (i.e., you’ll only be able to field a single craft that’s separate from the rest).

A reliable way of increasing logistics in the game is by researching techs. Specifically, you’ll want to go to the Warfare tab for the techs in the Fleet Resupply Doctrine row.

Long-range engagements and going all-in

If you see a hostile fleet nearby, it’s possible to draw them out before a major clash. Simply click on a ship/fleet and select a weapon system that it’s using. For example, the “Short-Range Missile Volley” can hit a target that’s three hexes away.

Alternatively, you could power through by using a combined fleet’s might to strike a target, be it a ship or a starbase. Move your unit to the hex that an enemy occupies, and you’ll see the battle summary, including any vessels that were lost.

Note: There’s a button that allows you to watch the battle that just concluded for that cinematic feel.

Planetary invasions

There are some key differences between core worlds and colonies. One of these is that conquering a colony can be done by any ship (as long as it has a single attack point/weapon system).

Conversely, core worlds (i.e., planets that have governors/are manually handled by the player) will require an invasion force. To do this, you’ll need the Planetary Invasion tech (at the bottom row of the Warfare tab). This lets you build Transports using your shipyards.

Try to have multiple Transport vessels attached to a strong fleet. Then, have that fleet attack a core world. This will begin a siege, which can last for several turns depending on the planet’s defenses or upgrades. While this is going on, try to watch out for hostile navies that may appear. You don’t want to get waylaid while you’re trying to conquer new domains.

Lastly, it’s often a good idea to guard a Subspace Stream by going near one and clicking “Sentry Mode” on a ship/fleet. Ideally, you’ll want full control of a sector, so that you can fully prevent enemies from breezing through your defenses if they start traveling via Subspace Stream wormholes.

Galactic Civilizations IV is available via the Epic Games Store.