Let's Play: StarDrive!

[Graal]

I'm doing a Let's Play for this on the NAG forums, but I thought I'd share it here for you guys as well.

StarDrive sets a new benchmark for the ‘4X Space Strategy’ genre. Starting with a single planet and a small number of space-worthy vessels, you must venture forth into the galaxy, conquer new worlds, build new colonies and defend your very existence against those who would take what is yours. How you play is your decision. Use diplomacy or brute force. Trade, spy and research your way to galactic domination. Make friends, or create mortal enemies…

The heart of StarDrive is its ship design and combat engine.

StarDrive takes a modular approach to ship design, allowing the player to create custom ships where the composition and placement of ship modules really matters to the performance of a ship.. In combat, if your portside armour is taking a beating, then rotate around and show them the starboard side! Hide behind a friendly capital ship’s shields; warp into and out of the fray, launch fighters, lay mines, and so much more.

Key Features:

• Real time gameplay with a seamless zoom from a grand strategic view to a close-up action view
• Choose from 8 beautifully rendered alien races or design your own to lead into the stars; interact, negotiate and forge allegiances on your way to victory
• Expand your empire and colonize all kinds of planets, terraform and populate them and build them into specialized centers of trade or industry
• Research and unlock an array of technologies to improve your military and industrial capabilities
• Control your ships with classic real time strategy commands or jump into the fray by taking direct ‘arcade’ control of any ship in your empire
• Create your unique ship designs with the modular ship design system and determine your own fate in battle
• Create custom fleet formations and set rules of engagement in the easy-to-use fleet editor
• Steal technologies, incite rebellions, or rob your enemies blind with a rich agent-based espionage system
• Deploy ground troops from orbit to defeat the enemies’ last planetary defenses in ground combat
• Explore the rich universe that comes alive with random events, remnant elements, hidden treasures, deep space terrors and late-game threats

I'll be doing a Let's Play of this in image form over the next few days/weeks/months. I know the MyGaming forums tend to ignore some of the more incredible niche games that come out every once in a while, but for the few people who tend to enjoy the occasional non-AAA niche titles, this is for you.

I'm new to Let's Plays and doing one in image form is a bit harder than doing a video, but I'll try not to spam it up too much with uninteresting/irrelevant screenshots.

[Graal]

Gameplay options chosen:

Galaxy size: medium
Solar Systems: Normal
Opponents: 5
Game mode: Sandbox
Pace: 100%
Difficulty: Normal



As my race, I settled on the majestic Kulrathi, partly because of their military and engineering prowess, but mostly because BEARS! In space! They are the Kodiak Empire hailing from the Bear System and their military strength makes other factions tremble in fear! They are a bit honest, making attempts at espionage a bit more difficult, but since when have bears required subtlety?

So let's hit the engage button then.



And this day shall forever be marked as the start of the Kodiak Empire!



First things first, I set my scout ship to automatically start exploring the galaxy.



Then it is time to choose a governor type for my homeworld, as well as start building up a fleet to attack the pirates my scout just spotted in the next star system.

And that is where I shall stop for tonight. In my next session I shall attempt to expand my empire so that when I meet my first opponent they shall take note of the Kodiak Empire as a force to be reckoned with.

[Graal]

So it is time to set the Kulrathi's finest minds to the task of improving our empire. Let's have a look at the research available.



Hmm, interstellar governance? Increased tax? Well, an empire cannot thrive without money, so interstellar tax it is then.

Meanwhile, those pesky pirates have destroyed our fleet! They shall pay for this insolence! (I tried to take screenshots of the fight, but the starting ships are literally so small that you cannot properly see what is going on.)

But what is this? Our scouts have discovered something of interest. Or rather, someone.



[Discuss]

"What is that device you are manipulating?"

"Oh! This? This is a sonoboard, of course! Every time I play a note it releases a powerful blast of synthesized sunlight. It's good for us, but perhaps not so much for you!"

[Negotiate] (Respectful)

Non-aggression pact. Trade treaty.

"I am sorry, but we do not yet know you well enough to accept."

[End]

[Graal]

Hmm, well that did not exactly go desirably. Perhaps it would be helpful if we were to dedicate some time to studying xeno linguistics?



Maybe next time things will go a little more smoothly.

But wait, what is this? Yet another scout has found some intelligent life. Is this entire galaxy infested with these damn-



Ooh, I foresee negotiations going very well between our races!



Wait a minute...



O.o

[Graal]

[Discuss]

"Why are you using holograms?"

"What? You can see that? Blasted holochair is always on the fritz!"

"Tell us about your people."

"Life is a game, Kulrathi. Not a child's game, of course, but a real one with serious consequences. To us, winning means unlocking the secrets of the universe. This is our highest aim."

[Negotiate] (Respectful)

Non-aggression pact. Trade treaty.

"Almost not good enough, but very well, we accept."

[End]

[Graal]

This is merely a short write-up to explain some of the game systems.

Firstly, the game is an RTS. This threw me a bit because I initially thought it was going to be a TBS game. I generally prefer TBS 4X titles, but it's not too much of an issue.

The game makes use of 'turns' as time measurements. Each turn is essentially five seconds and it is only used as a time measurement, nothing more. Research might take 150 turns, which would mean it takes 150 x 5s to finish. I have no idea what the reasoning for calling it 'turns' and not just using seconds or minutes is.

The game takes place both both on the space map and on the planetary interface. Each planet can generate up to three resources; production, food and research. Food feeds your citizens, research is used to complete research faster and production is used for building structures, ships and ground troops. When you start a new colony you can have freighters carry excess resources from one planet to the newly colonized planet to help get it up and running. This is very important because planets can devolve into a spiral of unhappiness rather quick, which could lead to rebel forces emerging and attacking your colony. This can lead to the loss of that planet.

The diplomacy screen allows you to contact discovered races as well as hire agents to carry out espionage and sabotage missions. Contacting an alien race allows you to Declare War on them, Discuss their race, their goals, what they think of you, what they think of other races. Then you can negotiate with them. Most of the standard negotiation features are there (give colonies away, open-borders, trade treaty, non-aggression pact, alliance etc), but you can choose to submit your demands in three ways, pleading, respectful or threatening.

Ship design is pretty decent. You get different slots on different ships designs and you have to balance everything out so you have adequate protection, adequate power distribution (you might need to use some slots for power conduits on larger ship blueprints). You can even kit your ship in such a way that the starboard side contains all the ordnance and the port side has all the power and storage, then set the default ship behaviour to try and keep enemies to the starboard side. The whole thing is a bit tricky, but I'll get the hang of it eventually.

So, yeah, I think that's more or less it for now. Should clear up some things in the Let's Play.

[Graal]

I have finally driven the pirates from Nymede. I was vastly outnumbered, but it seems their losses were too great so they fled the system.



I then proceeded to colonize Nymede II, which is very mineral-rich.

"Thunder and lightning! We CALLED that last system! Mean Kulrathi!"

Shortly thereafter, my scouts came across yet another spacefaring race.



Aha! Finally a race we can relate to!

Discuss:

"Do you have any grievances with us?"

"Grrr, why do you have to use such big words? We don't have problems with Kulrathi yet."

Okay then.

Negotiate

Non-aggression pact.

[Graal]

"Yes, this will help make pack strong."

For now I don't want to engage in a trade treaty with them, as they are halfway across the galaxy. I don't want my ships taking that long to start becoming profitable.



The Kulrathi empire is growing, albeit a bit slowly. The green at the top of the minimap is the Pollops. The game has assigned us both the same color, for some reason. We are growing a bit worried about them as they are expanding very fast. They did ask us for an open-borders treaty, which I accepted out of fear of them declaring war on me.

My Frigate research has also complete in the meantime;



I have also designed my first Frigate and I am very eager to test it out soon.



Shortly after rolling out my first frigates, I encountered the Ralyeh Devoted.



They worship the Elder god and their main aim is to gain the knowledge to defy death. They also just want to see the universe burn. I ralyeh don't like them all that much, so I didn't enter negotiations with them.

[Graal]

So, sorry for the slight overload in posts, but I started last week Thursday and just wanted to post this up here for anyone interested in what has happened so far.

[Lupus]

Interesting looks a lot like Solar Empire mixed with some Star Control. Hmm did you get it off Steam?