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[Drakale]

Really digging the old-school art/UI style, add proper diplomacy and you got me sold.

[Iosyn]

Hey Hoverdog. This actually looks kinda fun and the art is cool (is that a mech in one of the spoiler images?) and frankly hex based combat is a pretty good standard. I'll be looking forward to this with intrest. May I ask how much customization will be available to your units/Fleets/Government/Populations etc?

First things to note: Yeah, micromanaging a massive empire or something along those lines can be very tedious (e.g, GalCiv2, Total war series etc) and take more time than you get to actually play the game. However it's still nice to see how your cities/fleets etc are developing or change something like your government type.

Last thing to note: Trading, Missiles, point defences, shields, kinetic weaponry, planet busters, superweapons etc.

[Hoverdog]

Hey Hoverdog. This actually looks kinda fun and the art is cool (is that a mech in one of the spoiler images?) and frankly hex based combat is a pretty good standard. I'll be looking forward to this with intrest. May I ask how much customization will be available to your units/Fleets/Government/Populations etc?

Ships: right now, we are planning on having seven basic hulls: frigate, carrier, destroyer, cruiser, dreadnought, capital ship (which are of similar size but vary in terms of speed, armor, etc.) and a special design for each race.

Population: like in MoO, you divide it in Farmers (produce food), Workers (goods), Scientists (research points), Builders (build stuff) and Traders (sell surplus, gain galactic currency).

First things to note: Yeah, micromanaging a massive empire or something along those lines can be very tedious (e.g, GalCiv2, Total war series etc) and take more time than you get to actually play the game. However it's still nice to see how your cities/fleets etc are developing or change something like your government type.

Yes, that's the point: we want to remove the unnecessary babysitting without sacrificing complexity and a sense of growth.

Last thing to note: Trading, Missiles, point defences, shields, kinetic weaponry, planet busters, superweapons etc.

Of course!

[Hoverdog]

A new post on our site, about race selection & map generation screen

[Demonbutter]

It looks so slick. Great job on the interface and style. What's biodiversity? Alien species on the planets?

[Hoverdog]

It looks so slick. Great job on the interface and style. What's biodiversity? Alien species on the planets?

Thanks! The explanations for those options are in the blog post, I'll paste them here:

1. Size of the generated star map.

2. Shape of the newly formed galaxy, influences how stars are placed.

3. Number of planets – how many planets orbit each star on average.

4. Biodiversity – determines planets’ overall habitability – the better the biodiversity, the more hospitable the planets.

5. Mineral richness – as above, but influences how abundant in resources the planets are.

6. Number of opposing empires.

7. Neutral races – defines whether minor, neutral factions are generated on the map.

8. The level of technology that every empire begins the game with. Higher levels mean more starting colonies and a quicker game.

9. Game difficulty.

[Kaje]

Ah, I'm in love. Love the style, and if it ends up as in depth as you say, then this will be an instabuy and an instalove.

[Xantalos]

Intriguing. PTW.

[Demonbutter]

It looks so slick. Great job on the interface and style. What's biodiversity? Alien species on the planets?

Thanks! The explanations for those options are in the blog post...

Oh, I'm sorry.

[Mephansteras]

Looking good!

[Hoverdog]

Another update! DIPLOMACY. You can read it here and discuss here (or you could also read the text under spoiler tag and post your comments beneath)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Diplomacy, theoretically, should be an extremely important field in games that are all about the clash of mighty interstellar empires. However, in most 4X, relations with AI (and even human if there’s no outside communication) factions are overly simplified and, thus, bland. Most of the time, it boils down to exchanging technology, agreeing on non-aggression pacts or alliances, and, of course, declaring war. It’s the shallowest area in otherwise deep and sophisticated games (see MoO2). Playing a diplomatic race isn't that much different from playing a despised one, you are just less likely to be attacked.

Starlife aims to overhaul diplomacy completely. We want to make it into an important factor that you always have to take into consideration, even when not directly parleying with others.

The main element on which the system is based on is Intention. You could also say that intentions are one of the bases of the whole game, because you place them on almost every field (for example, you ‘intend’ to colonize a specific planet, which results in civilian migrations), but its impact is most visible in diplomacy.

Let’s illustrate it on an example. You are at war with another race, and decide to ask for peace. When sending emissary, you have to choose why you’re doing so, like:

1. Intention: War preparation. You want to regroup and continue the war at your leisure.

2. Intention: Improve Relations. You no longer wish to pursue combat with this race, maybe because they’re more powerful.

3. Intention:  Espionage. You covet their secrets and plan on stealing them.

Each intention gives an appropriate bonus (like faster ship construction in example 1).  Obviously, the enemy doesn't know your true plans, but – if they managed to infiltrate your empire – can learn them and respond properly.

Each intention has a goal you need to achieve connected. If you choose Espionage, you are supposed to send a number of spies to enemy territory; if you decide on War preparation, you are to declare war within specified time gap.

Now you could of course try to meta-game and pick only false goals to stump the AI. However, breaking your objectives comes with penalties. Intentions are what you communicate to your subjects. So, when you choose War preparation, the entire empire commits to constructing a powerful navy. When it turns out that you had no plans of going to war, they are confused and angry at you. The penalties for breaking objectives won’t be too harsh, but enough to make you think twice, especially if you break your promises willy-nilly.

Another example. You’re at war with two AI races (A and B). You make peace with A with the intention to go to war again, and with B to just shake hands and restart trading. You start to build a new fleet. This makes both A and B uneasy for obvious reasons. They both may have spies – let’s say A learns your true intentions but B doesn't. Now, A can start a preemptive war on you, and B joins in because it thinks you’re might be dangerous to them (it doesn't know you want peace with them and won’t believe you).

[Majestic7]

The intention system has sold the game to me. I hope you can make it work in an organic, plausible and fun way.

[Iosyn]

*snip*

mmm, dat Racegen screen. 

Yeah, I'll probably pick this up-- and I'm intrested in how the diplomacy/intention thing will pan out ingame.
Well, I'll just lurk here for more updates for now.
I'll still try the demo first though.

[hermes]

Liking the look of this so far.  Mechanics and UI/art style look promising.  PTF.

[Hoverdog]

We've got a question for you guys: what feature would like to see implemented in our KS demo?