It's basically a 4x space game. Currently I've got a map based on 4 players. It's sort of a weird combination of aurora and neptunes pride. Research will play a large role, like
many all 4x games, but the catch is that you can research almost anything. Based on the tech you have when you start research, you'll get bonuses/penalties to the research. This generally means that hopefully players will tend to specialize in certain areas, rather than being good at everything. For example, researching better lasers if you already have lasers is much easier than jumping to ridiculously powerful lasers from the start.
All planets will be inhabitable for simplicity, and the goal is to either be the last one standing, or control a large majority of the planets. Planets will vary in size. Size of a planet effects how much resources are available, how much population can live on it, and how cheap it is to upgrade. Planets have 4 stats, though only 3 of them will matter most of the time. Health, Economy, Industry, and Science.
Health determines how much damage it takes to completely annihilate the planet. Economy determines how much money you get from that planet per cycle. Industry determines how many resources can be processed per turn on that planet, and at higher levels causes less resources to be needed per task. Science determines how many research points you get from that planet per cycle.
Resources are simplified to 1 type, and although more may be added in the future, 1 seems to be enough micromanagement for a game that isn't program based.
Armor works similarly to aurora, so here's a basic picture of that.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/di1igjykhsw6qg6/armor.pngCommunication will be difficult at the start due to distance between civilizations and low tech, which should prevent early teams.