When you’ve founded a new colony and are trying to manage its development, you’ll notice a number of new additions. The most obvious is the switch to hexes over the series’ traditional squares. In gameplay terms, that means that structures that afford bonuses to specific kinds of adjacent buildings can enhance more structures at a time. There’s also a greater variety in the planets you find, each boasting different layout for its resource tiles and a distinct look. Wealth, research, and industrial manufacturing specialization also got a facelift. Now, resource allocation is handled with an allocation wheel, with numbers that change in real time to help you decide which approach is best when laying out a plan for your empire’s economic development. You also have the option to change your manufacturing output from planetary improvement to starship production and vice versa.

Extermination is the last of the four X’s, and it’s currently the only path to victory in the Galactic Civilizations III beta; diplomacy, trade, and minor civilizations haven’t been implemented. Stardock also plans to add a cinematic camera to battles so you can get a front-row view of the destruction, but for now, battles are fairly dry affairs.

Galactic Civilizations III is still rather rough, but it’s potential shines through. More tactical play, more strategic and economic options, and even micro-scale planning are all helpful and built around solid mechanics. Only time will tell if it can live up to the fantastic games that came before it.