Frogboy and I have detailed the highlights of the v2.2 update in the past three developer journals, so today we’re going to take a quick look at the Return of the Korath mission included with Tales of Centauron. This DLC added dozens of new Events, new ship components, Executive Orders and Improvements for Core Worlds, and to cap it off and tie it all together the DLC comes with a new Mission featuring a heavily upgraded and even more deadly incarnation of the legendary Korath Clan.
Missions tend to utilize a static, predetermined map instead of the procedurally generated ones typical to a normal game of GalCiv. Aside from making a change to the usual proc-gen maps, these can be a nice way for a player to challenge themselves with different playstyles as they’re getting to know a specific Core Civilization, as they can test their progress through the scenario and measure their performance against previous attempts.
To prevent spoilers, I’ll refrain from posting any shots of the Mission’s map, but we can have a quick look at some of the toys that the Korath get to play with.
This new scenario pits the player, as the dreadful Korath Clan, on crusade to purge the sector around them of six rival civilizations who ain’t gonna know what hit ‘em! Purge is one word for what the Korath Clan do best, and extermination is another. That’s right, these Dread Lord-altered former Drengin don’t take no prisoners, literally.
Where the Drengin are the galaxy’s most terrifying slavers, the Korath Clan seek only to eradicate every other species from the galaxy. Hell, they don’t even see them as species, they’re verminous insects fit only for extermination. As a man named BATTLEMODE, of course, I wholeheartedly approve of this approach!
As the Mission starts, we’re treated to a treatise on the philosophy of extermination by the Korath themselves. Once these excuses are out of the way, the player is free begin the mission and approach the single victory condition of “Extermine the other civilizations” in whatever way they see fit.
The Korath play rather differently to the other Civilizations in Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova, in that they’re not only hyper-focused on war, they’re also hell-bent on eradicating everybody around them, and have the tools to do so. v2.2 Ethnology updated many of the Core Civilization’s to include more thematic (and fun) planetary Improvements, Executive Orders and other mechanics, and the Korath Clan were no exception. Here with the DLC’s contents too, we can see a whole new breed of evil to play with!
In the screenshot above we can not only see the new Volcanic planet biomes added in v2.2, but also one of the Korath Clan’s new unique Improvements, the Battle Thrall Arena. These act like the Entertainment District but give a larger Approval bonus and enhance Military-producing Improvements adjacent to them too.
The new Death Camp improvement is a one-time build Manufacturing oriented Civilization Achievement that also instantly spawns a number of Ruined Torians. These poor wretches have had all the spunk kicked out of them, and as a consequence have no capacity to either complain or reproduce. Zero Approval is a really nice feature for a slave, and since their Growth rate is almost zero too, they’re completely unsuitable for colonizing Core Worlds. They make great slaves though, and excellent colonists for Colonies not intended for upgrading to a Core World.
Remember how I told you the Korath take no prisoners? Meet the Spore Ship, the Korath’s preferred method for taking enemy worlds. This evil weapon will capture an enemy planet in a single turn, and completely eradicate any Citizens living there, leaving only your own Soldier who was transported there as a passenger.
As you can see, the Korath Clan are a force to be reckoned with, and their very presence in a sector should be enough to put every other sentient species on high alert.
We hope you enjoy the Return of the Korath mission! As always, let us know what you think of these new features in the comments section below.
Cheers!
