Terror Stars are one of the most powerful and difficult-to-acquire objects in all of GalCiv IV: each one can reduce entire star systems to rubble.
In this Dev Journal, I’d like to walk you through how you can unlock them, how they work, and why you might want to utilize the awe-inspiring power of a Terror Star.
Terror Stars: How Do You Unlock Them?
To unlock Terror Stars, players must acquire the “Terror Stars” Cultural Trait via the Nihilism Ideology Tree. “Terror Stars” is the capstone trait of the Nihilism tree which means that players will need to have acquired at least five other Nihilistic Cultural Traits before it can be unlocked.
Cultural Traits like “Terror Stars” are acquired by spending Culture Points. Culture Points can be earned from events and from player’s Capital City improvement which provides 1 Culture Point per turn.
Players can hasten the acquisition of various Cultural Traits by increasing their civilization's Awareness of each ideology. The more Awareness an ideology has, the larger the Ideology Discount for traits in that Ideology’s tree. Awareness can be increased through certain choices in events. To get to “Terror Stars,” players will want to make choices that add points of Nihilism.
Nihilism in particular has the Trait “Moral Relativism” which makes it so all event choices give awareness into every ideology which can greatly accelerate the growth of your Ideology Discount.
If you are planning to play a game with the goal of unlocking Terror Stars, I highly recommend playing as a Civilization with Nihilism as its Cultural Focus such as the Korath or Cosmic Contaminant. A Civilization’s Cultural Focus provides an additional 25 Awareness for that Ideology starting turn one - translating into a 25% discount for Cultural Traits in that tree.
As I said before, Terror Stars are a late-game unlock. In the game I played to gather screenshots for this Dev Journal, it took me until turn 77 to unlock the “Terror Stars” Cultural Trait. Once unlocked, I still needed to research the “Terror Stars” tech which would have taken 50 turns with my research.
Luckily, I was able to quickly ramp up the quality and quantity of Scientists, Research Districts, and Improvements across all of my worlds pretty quickly. When paired with a near-zero tax rate for maximum approval and various Research-boosting Policies, my Research per Turn scaled from around 90 to upwards of 500.
This leap in Research allowed me to unlock the Terror Stars technology on turn 99.
With the Technology researched, I now had the option to build a Terror Star Foundation with Constructor ship.
Before a Terror Star can be fully operational, you will need to complete the remaining four stages of its construction starting with the Terror Star Command. Each stage costs a handful of Credits, some Resources, and a Module to install.
Once complete, you’ll be able to move your Terror Star on the map like you would most ships and fleets. Terror Stars are fairly slow with only 3 Moves per Turn and are somewhat vulnerable. They can be defended by stationing fleets on them or toggling “Guard” from the Terror Star Context Window.
Also important to note is that you are limited to one Terror Star per Sector.
With all of that aside, what exactly can you do with your completed Terror Star?
Terror Stars: What Do They Do?
Terror Stars have what is called a “Terror Star Beam.” To use a Terror Star Beam, you will need to move your Terror Star within range of a Star at which point you will be able to select the Star as the target of the beam.
Once selected, the Terror Star will begin charging - taking three turns before being ready to fire.
At the end of the three turns, you will have a blocking event informing you that your Terror Star is ready to fire. Clicking it will initiate the attack.
After witnessing the destruction of the Star, you will receive a message from any Civilization with Planets destroyed in the blast professing their unending hatred of you. They will declare a war that will not end until either you or they are destroyed.
Closing this message will reveal the aftermath: all planets that once circled that Star have been reduced to Asteroids. Your Terror Star will need three turns to cool down before it can fire again.
Terror Stars: Why Would I Use One?
Terror Stars are the scorched-earth, nuclear option of warfare in Gal Civ IV.
Using one wipes entire planets and star systems off of the map. This can be extremely useful for players experiencing war in the late-game.
Standard conquest and war in Gal Civ IV can steadily increase the workload of the player as they capture more and more enemy planets, assign them governors, manage their shipyards, and defend them against enemies trying for a comeback. A player at war late enough in the game to have unlocked Terror Stars will likely be managing an already vast empire.
By removing entire Star systems from the equation, players can avoid taking on additional responsibilities and simultaneously stifle any opportunity for an enemy player’s resurgence.
All-in-all, Terror Stars are a tool for the most ruthless of conquerors. Even obtaining one requires focus and commitment.
And so, my question for you all today is this:
Will you Defend the galaxy from its most terrifying threat yet? Or will charge forward to rule with an iron fist?
