February 20, 1995 -- GIBRALTAR MICHIGAN, USA. Stardock Systems Inc., the
makers of Galactic Civilizations announced Shipyards for GalCiv today.
Shipyards gives GalCiv players and the computer players the ability to
design star ships from scratch.

Currently, users are given "pre-made" ships such as Battle Hammers, Stealth
Cruisers, etc. With Shipyards, users can use existing technologies like
phasors, warp drive, photons, etc. and create a brand new type of ship.

For example, you could build a custom ship called "Galaxy Class" which has
4 banks of phasors, 2 photon torpedo bays, Hyperspace drive, Tri-Andrium
armor, Barrier class shields, etc.. The only limitation is how advanced
you are technologically. The larger the ship you build, the more expensive
the ship becomes. Larger ships can take more damage and carry more
weapons. You can also decide how the ship looks by choosing one of the
many different ship hull types.

"During the later stages of GalCiv development, many beta testers liked how
you could design your own types of ships like in 'Masters of Orion'. We
believed that such a feature in the base game would give GalCiv an overly
militaristic feel to the game. But with Shipyards, users now have this
ability and more." said Brad Wardell of Stardock Systems.

Furthermore, Shipyards has an AI module in it that allows the computer
players to design their own ships. So you will have to contend with a
virtually infinite number of alien ship types as the game progresses. The
ships also have their own unique sets of graphics so Shipyards' owners
will see brand new ships flying across their screens.

Because Star ship designs are treated as unique technologies, users will be
able to trade ship designs and steal ship designs from other players.
Moreover, you will also be able to keep track of how successful your ship
designs are by viewing sales reports in the Shipyards report screen. This
screen shows how other ship building companies are doing. The more of your
ship designs are being built, the more money your ship building company
will make.

It also comes with "ItemEdit" which will let you modify the various
components that go into the ships. For example, you could edit range and
power of Phasors or decide that you get TransWarp drive when you achieve
BattleShip technology instead of Warp Drive. Users will have maximum
control over the components that they and the computer AI have. The AI
will automatically adjust its strategy to take into account the modified
values.

The documentation also includes the GalCiv technology tree.

A number of snapshots from Shipyards are available on hobbes.nmsu.edu in
the /incoming directory. The file is Shipyard.zip.

Shipyards is available from Stardock Systems for $14.95. Shipping is $2 for
USA and $5 outside USA.

Stardock Systems also sells Galactic Civilizations for $59.95.

Stardock Systems Inc.
13405 Addison
Gibraltar MI 48173
Phone:  (313)/782-2248  9am to 4pm EST
Fax:    (313)/782-9868
Email:  Wardell@ibm.net
Cserve: 75763,3515
On Compuserve GO STARDOCK
Visa and Mastercard are accepted.

 ============================================================
 From the 'New Product News' Electronic News Service provided
 via AOL (Keyword = New Products) & Delphi (GO BUSINESS PROD)
 ============================================================
 This information was processed from data provided by the 
 company or author mentioned. For additional details, please 
 contact them directly at the address/phone number indicated.
 All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
 ============================================================
 All submissions for this service should be addressed to:
 BAKER ENTERPRISES,  20 Ferro Dr,  Sewell, NJ  08080  U.S.A.
 Email: RBakerPC (AOL/Delphi), rbakerpc@delphi.com (Internet)
 ============================================================
