The Galactic Code is a diplomatic agreement, tacitly agreed upon by space-faring empires, that forbids the use of superweapons on other empires. The code provides the assurance of fairness for all interactions between empires, to the degree that an empire is not doing permanent damage to the Galaxy. It is based around fair play, and because of this an AI empire will not break the Galactic Code. It resembles the Geneva Convention or the Outer Space Treaty. Diplomat empires occasionally talk about the Galactic Code when you ask them to give you their superweapon.
Breaking the Code[]
In order to break the Galactic Code, the player must use one of a handful of items and abilities, two of which come from a creature's Consequences from past stages leading to a Space-Stage Philosophy. Use of these Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) constitute overly aggressive actions against other alien races, breaking the Galactic Code when the other race is unable to defend itself, as it is seen as unfair to the peoples of the galaxy. This is similar to the real-life concept of "War Crimes".
These weapons include:
- Gravitation Wave - Destroys all buildings on a planet, killing all sapient inhabitants, even if they are not in the space stage. Obtained from having the Scientist philosophy, or by unlocking all Scientist equipment in Galactic Adventures.
- Fanatical Frenzy - Instantly takes over a colonized planet and its inhabitants. Obtained from having the Zealot philosophy, or by unlocking all Zealot equipment in Galactic Adventures.
- Planet Buster - Destroys the entire planet permanently. Purchased from the player's Empire or Warrior Empires, requiring either Conqueror 5 or Colonist 5 badges.
Consequences[]
Breaking the Galactic Code on any given planet will inflict a negative Relation bonus to any empires with a radius of 10.00 parsecs around the point of transgression. The maximum negative effect caps out at -200 after multiple infractions. This relations penalty is quite severe, capable of sparking multiple wars with nearby empires, even if the war-declaring empires were not directly affected. Even allied empires are also subjected to this penalty, straining relations and possibly breaking off an alliance altogether.
The Grox, however, are the sole exception to this relationship penalty, as they admire the breaking of the Galactic Code on other planets. Any use of a WMD on a nearby planet will boost their Relation Bonus with the player, up to a maximum of +50. They are also not opposed to the use of Fanatical Frenzy on their own planets, as long as their people are unharmed. Directly hitting one of the Grox's colonies with the initial blast from Fanatical Frenzy will still cause issues, being counted as using harmful tools and incurring the expected negative Relation bonus, so make sure to aim at a clear patch on the planet to avoid conflict.
Excluded Atrocities[]
While the Galactic Code restricts some weapons due to their inherent ability to do large-scale harm to other alien races, there are many items that can become equally damaging when misused for their intended purpose, but are not covered by the Galactic Code. Rendering a planet uninhabitable through use of Terraforming tools does not break Galactic Code; however, if the planet was owned by another empire, it will still heavily damage the relationship between the player and the target empire. This includes making a Grox Empire planet habitable for other races, as all of their planets are T0, which is required for them to live due to their unique physiology.
Static Cling, while temporarily disabling a planet's defenses, does not in and of itself cause the destruction of the race inhabiting the planet and hence does not break the Galactic Code, even if used offensively to begin capture of a planet.
In Civilization Stage, you can gain the Gadget Bomb consequence ability by completing Tribal Stage aggressively. If you use it against a city, all relationships with other cities will drop by 90 for "Using nuclear weapons". This is a similar system to using WMDs in Space Stage and getting a significant decrease in relationship for breaking the Galactic Code, but is ultimately separate since these crimes are ignored once the player enters the Space Stage.
Trivia[]
- When you want to convert into the Diplomat archetype, they will say that, due to the Galactic Code, you can't have more than one superweapon, so you will lose your old one.
- However, with Galactic Adventures expansion pack you can have more than one archetype special tool without breaking the Galactic Code.
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