Every system on this page is in the game now.
A slow galaxy for people who'd rather think than click. You give orders, and at a fixed, scheduled moment the galaxy resolves them all at once, every empire together, under the same rules. Ticks run on a schedule and every galaxy has its own tick rate. Nothing below is flavour text and nothing below is a promise. It is what the game does today, while it is still in development and not yet open.
Exploration is a commitment, not a reveal
Surveying a warp node tells you exactly two things: which node it pairs with on the far side, and the name of the system that node sits in. It does not tell you what is in that system. For that you have to warp through and scan it from the inside. And the node you arrived at is not a way home until you survey it too, from this side.
- A survey reveals the paired node and the destination system's name, nothing more
- System scans are the only way to see a system's interior, and you must be there
- The node you arrive at is not a route home until you have surveyed it yourself
- Survey, warp, scan, survey again. Each is one tick
- Every hop outward is a decision about how far you are willing to be from a way back
Worlds that are hostile to you specifically
Every planet and moon is described across six environmental axes: temperature, pressure, atmosphere, gravity, radiation, toxicity. Every species has its own comfort range on each, set by the homeworld it evolved on. So habitability is relative. There is no universal good planet, and two players can look at the same world and reasonably disagree about whether it is worth having.
- Six axes on every world, and a comfort range per species on each
- A world that would kill one empire's colonists is another empire's paradise
- Settle somewhere hostile and your colonists start dying, unless you build the specific structure that answers that specific problem
- One structure fixes one axis and nothing else, so a world that is wrong in three ways needs three answers
- A harsh world is a real option, just an expensive one
Population that actually lives there
Colony population is simulated every tick, not stored as a number that ticks up. It grows where you have built to support it, and it dies where you have not sheltered it. It never grows by exactly the same amount twice, because the world scales it and a little variance moves it again.
- Simulated every tick, not a counter climbing in the corner of a screen
- Two colonies founded on the same day drift apart
- You can load colonists onto ships and move them
- That is how you get a young colony on its feet instead of waiting years of ticks for it to grow
- Settle carelessly and a colony can die
Ground war, not just space battles
Winning the space above a colony does not take it. You train garrisons of infantry, armour and artillery, carry them on troop transports, and land them. An invasion resolves over two ticks: you establish a beachhead, and the fight resolves after.
- Garrisons of infantry, armour and artillery, trained like anything else you build
- Troop transports carry them, and you land them where you mean to hold
- Two ticks to resolve: beachhead first, fight after
- The defender gets a tick to react
- Invading is a commitment rather than a click, and a well-garrisoned colony is genuinely expensive to take
Fleet combat you decide before it starts
Fleets fight when hostile forces meet. You set each fleet's stance and your empire's standing toward others ahead of time, because you will not be awake for every contact. Every battle is resolved by the game itself, under identical rules for everyone, and you read the battle report afterwards.
- Set each fleet's stance, and your empire's standing toward other empires
- Order a fleet to hold fire
- Order a fleet to attempt to disengage
- Read the battle report afterwards and work out what it cost you
- There is nothing to out-click. No reflexes, no twitch, no reward for happening to be at the screen
A galaxy that is already inhabited
NPC empires are not scenery and not obstacles, they are empires. They hold colonies, expand, build, run supply routes, defend themselves and fight each other, using exactly the same orders and rules a player uses. They get no special privileges: an NPC colony obeys the same climate and the same costs as yours. A new player arrives into a galaxy with history, not an empty board.
- Same orders, same rules, no special privileges
- They hold colonies, expand, build and run supply routes
- Different characters: some settle, some explore, some raid, some just drift
- They form factions and go to war with each other
- They are the ones testing the game today, while the doors are still shut
Ships you design
Beyond the stock hulls, you design your own ships from hulls and modules. Validate the design, then build it in your shipyards. What you field is what you decided to field.
- Stock hulls are the starting point, not the ceiling
- Design your own ships from hulls and modules
- Validate a design before you build it
- Build your own designs alongside the stock ones
Automation, so having a job is not a disadvantage
A tick-based game should not punish you for sleeping. Colony managers, order queues and standing logistics keep your empire developing while you are doing something else, and Caretaker covers you when you are gone a long time.
- Colony managers: hand a colony a build priority and it keeps developing without you
- Order queues: plan orders ahead, then reorder or edit them while the tick is still open
- Convoys, patrols and standing routes re-issue themselves each tick, including routing across multiple warp jumps
- Caretaker: if you are away a long time your empire is looked after and kept developing rather than left to rot
- Caretaker hands your empire straight back the moment you return
Play by Discord
Discord is not just the community, it is a way to play. Link your account, and you can run your empire from Discord without opening anything else.
- Link your account once
- Check galaxies, and join one
- Submit and cancel orders, and review what is pending
- Get your turn sheet
Accessibility as a way to play, not an afterthought
Reports can be delivered as email, in a large-print format with a complete plain-text version. It is a supported way to play. The tick already means a player in a different timezone is not at a disadvantage, and this extends the same fairness to players who cannot sit at a screen.
- Reports delivered as email
- A large-print format
- A complete plain-text version, not a summary of one
- Supported, not bolted on
- Fair to players in any timezone, and to players who cannot sit at a screen
Follow it while it's being built
The Discord is where development happens in the open, and where the first galaxies will be announced.
In development. No launch date yet, and no sign-up to play.