Galactic Civilizations III - Mercenaries Expansion Pack DLC

I bought this to fix the bugginess of the original game that I liked. This fixed the problem but the game is different. I prefer the original version. I dont see a way to play the game with out the mercenaries, and the planets seem to be crammed much tighter together than they were before.

Its ok, not great but ok. With this expansion also came a huge update to the game for free. The Bazaar is interesting enough and the two races are interesting and bring some new traits. There are also a few new music tracks. There are also some nice mods like improved aI which need this expansion. Its expensive but if you like the game its well....ok.

Good expansion pack it is worth 10 bucks The mercenaries are good in the beginning and cheap you get a massive scout,a good trader,a good scientist but after a while you dont need them you have your own fleets

The best expansion/DLC for GC3 so far. The mercenaries alone are worth the price IMO. Yes, you get two new races (Torian and Arcean) and their two new tech trees, with campaigns, and those are great. And I have to say, the Torian and Arcean ship designs are the best; I use them for my custom factions I like them so much. But the real gem here is the mercenaries. The mercenaries have some ships that really add a lot of flavor to the game. They're require cash and resources to buy, so they are really well-balanced. And because of the resource costs, you can't just splurge and buy all you want early in the game. You really have to pick and choose. They come in three tiers that are unlocked as you reach the three ages, so there's additional constraints on the more powerful ships. Some examples of mercs: A survey ship that earns +100 credits for every anomaly surveyed. Nice to have at the start of the game, or later when a galactic event triggers and anamolies are scattered everywhere. Ships that add +100% (or more) to Research, Wealth or Production. These ships are great when stationed on your homeworld or main wealth/research planets (or Precursor planets). The bonuses are fantastic and well-balanced with the resources required. A ship that can colonize extreme worlds (Barren, Water, Frozen) before you have the tech unlocked in the research tree. A ship that make a trade route that earns double. If it gets destroyed en route to the target world, it respawns back at your homeworld. And my personal favorite: a ship that earns +5 Malevolent Ideology points every time it, or the fleet it's in, wins a battle. And there's more. There's a whole host of combat ships with powerful offense/defense, etc. The only problem with most of the combat ships is that they are Escorts, which mean they get targeted first by your enemy's ships during a battle, so they tend to die first. You can offset that a bit by building Escorts yourself and having some in the same fleet, but it's no guarantee that your mercenary escort ship will still not be targeted first. I wish the mercs weren't listed as Escorts, but I think Stardock probably did it for balance reasons to keep them from being overpowered. I guess the best thing I can say about this expansion: I can't imagine playing GC3 now without it.

A very average expansion, thats a bit pricey. I am still recommending it as with this expansion comes many free updates as part of the 1.6 patch and the following 1.7 patch (currently in beta). Other studios would bundle these free improvements with the expansion to almost force you to buy, but stardock gives you the freedom of choice. If you don't think two races are worth the price, don't bother buying or wait for a special. The core game is still getting better and better and feature complete. Personally the two aces add enough new variety to just just be worth the price for me. With 1.7 constructor spam has mostly been fixed and the game is now the best in the series in my opinion.

Overall a decent expansion. I got it on sale, but even if not I enjoyed the extra content enough to recommend it. The mercenaries do add another layer of strategy to the game. For instance I could save up and get a great scout ship with very large vision and bypass (or delay) researching radar techs. Or pickup up a combat vessel that provides bonuses to a whole fleet (my favorite is the evasion bonuses) and form the basis of my offensive fleets. AI will use the mercenaries too.

I'm not keen on this expansion. First, it bothers me that I have to get a DLC to have two races that have been in the games since the beginning of the series. Secondly, I don't think this fits thematically. Play a game where everyone's just started FTL exploration...yet there's this vast, organized group of people offering advanced ships and their experienced captains? It bugs me from a writing perspective. The mercs themselves can be pretty impressive. There's an interesting assortment of abilities, from guys that are just nasty in combat, to armed survey ships, to ones giving onuses to research, production, etc. They can have a significant impact on the game. The downside is that if you want to try to ignore them, you really can't. You'll have to take advantage of the bazaar, because your enemies certainly will be.

Well I got the expansion for 10€ and it's good. First I was sceptical and a bit disapointed by the new mercenary ships. But after some games I have to say that mercenaries are very useful especially in early game. They can give you much needed abilities like - powerful and fast survey ships to explore anomalies and shipyards - fast sensor ships to explore your surroundings - powerful combat ships - invasion forces - boost to raw production, manufacturing and influence But the requirements are also high. It mostly depends on how ressource rich the galaxy is and how many of these you can grab early on. It goes from 1000 credits and 1 durantium to 7000 credits and 7 durantium + 7 elerium. Also you can unlock more powerful mercenaries If you progress to the 2nd and 3rd technological age. If your map has only few ressources mercenaries are too expensive, and one should spend the ressources on special buildings ( durantium refinery etc. ). There are only 3-4 merc. which only require money.

Oh dear. Stardock I love you but this is overpriced garbage (£14.99 at time of purchase). All this expansion adds is the Arcean and Torian races (which were surprisingly not in the base game) and the Mercenaries function, which allows you to buy some mercenaries which have differing effects (+5 bc per turn / massive scanner / starlab) etc to customise your initial start. It's slightly novel but has very little effect on the base game and there is still no easy management of starbases or useful management of planets. This is a really naff expansion pack and you will be disappointed. :/

I don't often write reviews, but I am going to try making a **large** one that basically says what's in it exactly, which should help anyone buy. Basically this is less like a review, more of an explanation, for people who see the price and wonder what it includes. I'm not that bothered about rating, just explaining what's available and hopefully giving Stardock something to think about if they ever read. --- Mercenaries is an expansion pack for Galactic Civilzations 3, named as the 'first' expansion due to the size increase from all previous content. It is in essence like the base game - Cool and fun, but pricey. However I would say the price is justified since there has been a focus on a 'funding' type role, and from the money towards Stardock even players of the base game have recieved nice new features including depth of field (something I REALLY wanted, it helps show scale well) as well as bug fixes and AI tweaks galore. The main additions of 'Mercenaries' are two new races complete with new ship styles and tech trees, a new campaign level, and of course the Galactic Bazaar where you can hire mercenaries. Also included are some new racial abilities like recieving one free merc per game. ____The Races____ 1. Torians An amphibian race, with a very useful tech tree to match (I had a few amphibian custom races over time that could use it). Visually they sit between Iridium, Iconians and Kyrnn, and after seeing enough of their structures you will get an 'elven' sort of vibe. I will say their ships put a smile on my face, like when people saw Iconians for the first time. Gold and green sort of theme and UI, nothing special but not bland either. 2. Arceans A fan favourite species, the Arceans have ships a bit like the Iridium especially in their shiny gold appearance. Arceans are known like the 'Anti-Drengin'. That is to say, they are hulking warriors that free slaves rather than take them. Love the might of the Drengin but don't like evil? Play as the Arceans. Oh, and the UI is alright, it's mainly sandy colours and it works well. ____Campaign____ The campaign scenario is better than nothing, in fact (I think) it's longer than any single base game mission. You play as the Torians as they free themselves from the Drengin, and will learn how to hire mercenaries and control the first amphibian race in GC3. Terrans and Arceans will appear, but they'll be more for interaction than actual combat support. Still more fun and more story than a 'New Game' skirmish! ____The Bazaar____ A survivor of a race from earlier in the series contacts you, offering a card-deck-looking screen of hirables. One unique merc is recruitable in the campaign scenario, and the rest are all bought with money and the galactic resources which are finally relevant. They are split into the three 'ages' of a game in increasing cost and power, and range from ex-pirates to unarmed miners. Mercenaries are chosen from a large pool, with more variation than always using the same recruits without the dull and buggy look a randomised ship would have. Mercenary and ship backgrounds are given too, which is immersive and allows you to hire people based on morality if you wish. ____New Ship Parts____ I'll keep this simple since many people just play the game. The new ship parts are cool; better than the Snathi parts. Not as numerous as the base game pieces, but there are two races and dozens of merc ships made from the new parts so you know there's enough! After writing that, I looked through and saw some cool Mercenary style parts like glowing signs and cargo crates, which are very useful for detail. Best Parts: - Very useful amphibian tech tree, which modifies how you play, like the Yor synthetic tree. - Arceans the star-faring Paladins. - New, useful pieces go beyond just hunks of metal and glass. - Whereas the Precursor Worlds DLC was tiny, this has even more than was planned. More pieces and tweaks have been made than were even revealed. - Mercenaries are more creative than "JubJub the Bounty Hunter". For example, I bought 'The Starlab', which is a movable orbital station that improves planetary research rates. How it could be improved: (Stardock pls) - Ability to toggle or alter the Bazaar in custom game setup, for people who don't want the galaxy drowning in Boba Fett in long matches after getting the DLC. - Bazaar salesman could possibly be a leader foreground. I know this is a very tiny thing, but it's also a tiny suggestion. I doubt he's the last remaining Korx outside the Syndicate. - If the price was slightly lowered when the staff and tools have been paid off after the big update, you might even get more buyers. I think that's it. Mercenaries doesn't make anything worse, and doesn't make many mistakes. TL;DR Mercenaries doesn't change the game so much as expands upon it. Mercenaries should maybe be toggleable, but otherwise this expansion gives more depth and play time to a game which just got graphical and gameplay upgrades for free. Not totally expecting this to be read, especially since it took so long to look at ships, generate new mercs e.t.c. that a ton of reviewers got in before me buuuuut I hope I helped someone decide on a purchase decision! Peace.