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Developer Stardock Entertainment has released Galactic Civilizations: Expanded Universe, a free expansion pack for their award winning strategy game, Galactic Civilizations today. The game is set near the dawn of the 23rd century. The player takes on the role of leader of the human civilization and must compete against dozens of alien civilizations in the creation of an interstellar empire. Players must combine their military might, diplomatic skill, economic know-how and technological prowess to survive in a hostile galaxy. The expansion pack includes hundreds of new features, tweaks, and enhancements based on player feedback. These features include:

• Rally points. Players can now set rally points to automatically send ships to different positions in the galaxy.
• A new integrated Encyclopedia. Players can now instantly access a built in technology tree navigator, information on ships, planets, stars, and ships, and other data via hyperlinks within the game.
• Updated graphics for stars, sector drawing, space anomalies, and more to enhance the visual appeal of the game.
• Enhanced Governors that allow players to obsolete older ship designs and more effectively manage a vast interstellar civilization including an explored star list, slider locking, and other UI enhancements.
• “Dungeon Master” mode (cheat keys) that let players tweak the game on the fly to create a more customized experience.
• A host of new technologies, random events, new anomalies, new ships, and more.
• Hundreds of new sectors in the largest galaxy size.
• And much more (complete list at: http://sdcentral2.stardock.com/public/gc1/beta/history.htm)

Galactic Civilizations is available at most retail outlets. However, it is also the first major retail PC title that allows users to purchase and download the game directly from the developer’s website: http://www.galciv.com. Buyers can opt to get a CD-ROM package or go purely electronically.

Stardock delivers its software electronically via a recently released content delivery and management technology called Stardock Central. It seamlessly handles ensured-version control, anti-piracy, and anti-cheating features regardless of whether the game is purchased directly or via a retail store. Stardock Central includes SmartDownloading technology that allows users on a dial-up to begin being able to play Galactic Civilizations with only 20% of the total game downloaded.

“Because of Stardock Central’s anti-piracy technology, our customers aren’t burdened with any CD copy protection. Our customers can literally install the game onto their laptop and main PC without any hassles,” said Brad Wardell, President & CEO of Stardock Entertainment. “Our goal is to reward our customers create an incentive to purchase the game in the first place. The convenience and ease of Stardock Central along with regular updates to our software we feel create that incentive.”

Players can download the expansion pack via Stardock Central. Players who don’t already have Stardock Central can obtain it at http://www.galciv.com/download.asp.