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The next game from the mind of veteran Civilization designer Sid Meier has been revealed. 2K and Firaxis Games have announced Sid Meier's Starships, an interstellar strategy game.
Scheduled to arrive in early 2015, the turn-based game is coming to PC, Mac, and iPad. Pricing was not announced, nor were any details about a possible Android version.
In the game, you'll control a fleet of starships as you journey through the galaxy to complete missions, protect planets and their inhabitants, and build a planetary federation.
As you trek through the stars, you'll be challenged to expand your federation's influence and reach. You'll also amass futuristic technology and take part in turn-based combat using a deep roster of customizable ships, some of which you can see in the image gallery above.
2K adds that the missions you'll take on have their own unique maps, featuring "dynamically generated tactical combat" that should boost the game's replayability.
"When designing Starships, I was intrigued by the idea of exploring the next chapter in the story of Civilization: Beyond Earth," Meier said. "What happens after we colonize our new home and eventually build starships to take to the stars? What has become of our long-lost brothers and sisters from the planet Earth?"
"My goal was to create an experience that focuses on starship design and combat within a universe filled with interstellar adventure, diplomacy, and exploration."
2K also teases that Beyond Earth and Starships will feature cross-connectivity for people who own both games. The developer isn't talking specifics, but says that this integration will "enhance and expand upon both game experiences."
Starships was developed by Meier and a small team at Firaxis. Check back later this week for an in-depth interview with Meier about his new development team, and lots more.
And a YouTube teaser video.
Spoiler:
Looks interesting so far, although very little real info yet. I like the idea of it being like a continuation of Beyond Earth. I guess they couldn't call it Beyond Beyond Earth, though.
"Through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see.
One chants out between two worlds: Fire, walk with me." - Twin Peaks
"You listen to me. While I will admit to a certain cynicism, the fact is that I am a naysayer and hatchetman in the fight against violence. I pride myself in taking a punch and I'll gladly take another because I choose to live my life in the company of Gandhi and King. My concerns are global. I reject absolutely revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method... is love. I love you Sheriff Truman." - Twin Peaks
If that's the release date, then it's due out in less than six months. That would imply that it's already spent considerable amount of time under development. And since it's supposed to be compatible with Beyond Earth in some fashion, and Beyond Earth was released not all that long ago, that would imply that the compatibility was intended from the get-go, and was likely built into Beyond Earth when it was released.
And interestingly, the write-up seems to read somewhat differently than your standard MOO-style 4X game.
Promising, if they focus on space exploration theme it would make me incredibly happy. Although I'm not quite sure who or what they intend to put as adversary, factions with different affinities from various seeding efforts, alien civilization and so on.
A bit sad they didn't put out an expansion for Beyond Earth first, I have fun with it but certain aspects could really use improvements. Either way I expect great deal from their new work and hope they'll deliver it.
This sounds like quite a different type of game to C:BE.
Glad to see the company coming out with something new, I was a bit disappointed with BE in that it just followed the template of Civ 5 with some fancy new graphics and space bugs.
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Wish I could get excited for this, I like Sid's subject matter, but Civ 5 and BE we're too glitchy, to the point that it made them not fun. And the multiplayer community is awful. It's impossible to find a decent online match.
"Bringer of death, speak your name, For you are my life, and the foe's death." - Litany of the Lasgun
Logged onto Steam last night. Saw the ad on the front page for SM's Starships. Took a glance to see if anything was new, noticed that it was now up for pre-order...
... and is only retailing for $15!?
That tends to make me think that it's not going to be the be all and end all of 4X video gaming. But it ties into Beyond Earth, which I already own. So, why not?
Logged onto Steam last night. Saw the ad on the front page for SM's Starships. Took a glance to see if anything was new, noticed that it was now up for pre-order...
... and is only retailing for $15!?
That tends to make me think that it's not going to be the be all and end all of 4X video gaming. But it ties into Beyond Earth, which I already own. So, why not?
I went ahead and purchased the pre-order.
Ya from the start they were sending out vibes that this wasn't going to be as big and extensive as people would expect. The impression I have is that it's just the starship, so little to no city management.
Huh, $15 is a surprise. Still looking forward to it, though.
"Through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see.
One chants out between two worlds: Fire, walk with me." - Twin Peaks
"You listen to me. While I will admit to a certain cynicism, the fact is that I am a naysayer and hatchetman in the fight against violence. I pride myself in taking a punch and I'll gladly take another because I choose to live my life in the company of Gandhi and King. My concerns are global. I reject absolutely revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method... is love. I love you Sheriff Truman." - Twin Peaks
The game should be going live about now on Steam. But I'm at work. So no comments on it from me.
I will comment on Beyond Earth, though. There was a patch yesterday, and it seems that part of the patch was devoted to setting up the connection links for Starships. There's a new menu option to use your planet in Starships. And completing one of the early missions (I think...) caused a message to briefly pop up announcing that I'd unlocked a mission in Starships (something about Pilgrims, iirc). Beyond Earth now also includes a direct link to 2K Online, and offers a reward if you register (a Glacial Planet map). A comment in the patch notes leads me to believe that there might be a similar reward for logging in from Starships.
On the one hand, it's getting mixed to negative reviews on steam. On the other had, most of the negative reviews I've read have consisted of people saying it looks like a mobile game... Which isn't much of a review.
It's not what people were expecting it seems. Like for example there isn't a tech tree in the common sense. The games also run really fast too rather then many day affairs. Also no diplomacy it seems.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/03/13 02:12:29
The game's pretty simple. You're paying $15 (or whatever your local currency is), and you're not getting a new MOO. Or even MOO lite.
Basically, you control a single squadron of starships. You start with two ships, and can build more. Your opponents are the leaders from Beyond Earth. You can import your Beyond Earth save, in which case your starting planet is your Beyond Earth planet, your leader matches your in-game leader and affinity, and the other leaders all match up with the affinities that they had in your game. No, that last bit doesn't make much sense (how did the leaders on your world end up on other worlds?), but so be it. Game play on the star map consists of taking your squadron from one system to another. You enter a system, get assigned a mission (which you can ignore if you so choose), and perform the mission. If the system is uncontrolled, then the mission consists of one of a few options, along the lines of escorting ships, clearing unaligned enemy ships out of the system, or just surviving until the time limit expires. If the system is controlled by another faction, then you need to destroy their defense system ships (plus their squadron, if it's close enough). Beating a mission in an uncontrolled system gives you one or more points of influence in the system. Get four points of influence, and the system joins your star nation. If another nation's squadron performs a mission in the system, then they can get influence as well. And that influence can replace your own. Beating a mission in a controlled system gives you control of that system.
Improving ships is accomplished via a fairly simple rank up scheme. You pick the category on your ship you want to improve, and spend money. There's technology research that also works in a similar fashion, and a very basic economic improvement process for your star systems. You can also build wonders that give you advantages in combat.
Combat is fairly straightforward. Every map contains a planet at the center, and lots and lots of asteroids to block movement and lines of fire. You move your ship a certain number of hexes based on engine power. Shields block damage, and regenerate each turn. Armor boosts your hit points. You have long range and short range weapons. And can carry torpedoes that fire in a set direction, stay in flight for up to three turns, detonate when you tell them to, and cause AE damage. Cloaking hides your ships, and sensors spot cloaked ships.
Performing certain accomplishments in Beyond Earth will unlock extras in Starships. There are three additional missions that can be unlocked. You can unlock "hybrid" factions that allow you to pick the bonus from a secondary affinity in addition to your primary affinity. And there are a few other odds and ends.
Performing certain tasks in Starships also unlocks bonuses in Beyond Earth. The two that I've unlocked so far are Mercenaries (a colony population type that gives combat bonuses to cities and units in your own territory) and Mobile Emitter (a cargo choice that's a support unit that causes damage to nearby aliens). Presumably there are other bonuses. I wouldn't be surprised if they're all alternate start options, though I don't know for certain yet. Unfortunately, while Starships shows you a list of which options you've unlocked and which you haven't, Beyond Earth doesn't make that information available.
I don't like the way LOS works. Your ranges are so large, and cover doesn't prevent shots (most of the time, cover is randomized each mission.) It makes it really hard to position a ship where it can't be shot.
Most of your upgrade systems are just stacks of numbers. Your laser tech raises your lasers by 25%, ect. I think the game could use way more upgrades like the wonders that do things like let cloak missiles or let your fighters move max speed when lunched.
Hulksmash wrote: So does this require Beyond Earth to play? I'm interested and might pick it up if not. Thanks!
No, it does not. The setting is tied to Beyond Earth, and it unlocks bonuses in Beyond Earth (and vice versa). But having Beyond Earth is not required to play it.
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