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This subreddit is for the StarDrive series. 4x space strategy games by Zer0sum Games.StarDriveStarDrive 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 enemiesStarDrive 2tarDrive 2 is an exciting and evolutionary step forward for the StarDrive franchise. In this eagerly anticipated sequel, the core mechanics have evolved to incorporate a turn-based strategic layer, featuring spectacular realtime battles.
As the galactic ruler of your race you will lead your people into a procedurally-generated galaxy, exploring and expanding your space empire to greatness. Exploit planets, navigate asteroid belts and overcome deep space dangers while handling interspecies relations to gain the upper hand. Conduct diplomacy and espionage, make alien friends that will deliver thriving trade treaties – or enemies that will seek to exterminate you at all costs. Research new technologies and design powerful warships to defend your claims.
Discover the extensive lore of the StarDrive universe by encountering many dozens of anomalies, heroes, and galactic mysteries that will ensure no two games will ever play the same.StarDrive 2: Sector Zero DLCThis baby takes the base game of StarDrive 2 and overhauls it with massive changes to the structure of the galaxy. First and foremost, the galaxy is now divided into Hexagonal Sectors, providing new resources, terrain features, chokepoints, and reasons for you to commit genocide on the friendly plant people. New deep space construction mechanics allow you to fortify sectors with battlestations, mining outposts, science stations, and more. Sectors are jam-packed with new anomalies to explore, quests to unlock, and dangers to bravely run away from.StarDrive 2: Shipyards Content PackThis content pack expands upon the base game by adding new ships, heroes, and features.Official channels.(#StarDrive #StarDrive2). This is a collection of my own thoughts, as well as suggestions proposed by, &.It should be noted that I did not play StarDrive 1, so I am viewing this game from a fresh perspective.Real Life Additions or Changes:.Asteroid Belts - Change them to be a complete circle in the orbital plane, as opposed to just a fraction of the orbital plane.Ort Clouds - similar to the proposed changes to the Asteroid Belts, however unlike the Asteroid Belts the Ort Clouds can only be used to mine resources/production. You are not able to colonize them.Moons - should have some impact on planet selection.
Perhaps related to stabilizing the axial tilt wobble; thus creating more stable weather systems.Rogue Planets - These are planets which have been bounced out of a solar system and are now free floating in space. These would be available for mining, but not colonization. Perhaps could contain side-missions or special science research projects.Black Holes/White Holes - Blacks holes are a must add in my opinion.
In the second hour, theoretical physicist Jack Sarfatti argued that the technology behind the Tic Tac UFO (2004 incident off the USS Nimitz) is not mysterious at all- it folds space into a warp drive in such a way as to get to where and when it desires with tiny amounts of energy. Sarfatti claimed we can build our own Tic Tac-style craft. StarDrive 2 Gold Pack includes: StarDrive 2 StarDrive 2 - Shipyards Content Pack StarDrive 2 Digital Deluxe Content StarDrive 2: Sector Zero StarDrive 2 StarDrive 2 is an exciting and evolutionary step forward for the StarDrive franchise. In this eagerly anticipated sequel, the core mechanics have evolved to incorporate a turn-based strategic layer, featuring spectacular realtime battles.
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They could be a special research project. White holes are speculative right now, so how they are implemented in game is up to the developer.Gas Giants - They are almost completely useless in the current game. How can that be? Certainly in 1000 years we would have some use for them.
(Credit: & )Significant Changes:. Research Tree - Not a big fan of the technology tree. In my opinion the best way to do research would be to do a slider system where your civ puts a certain percentage of funding into different fields of science. This is an expanded version of the random research/special project options currently available. In real life no civ or nation is putting 100% of research into anything. Nor do we really know what we will discover.Example: Having your sliders at, 22% medical, 34% military, 12% economic, 32% planetary exploration would advance progress along all 4 of those tech branches at once, with an increased likelihood that the next technological unlock will be related to military or planetary exploration.GNN Broadcasts - These need to be greatly expanded upon.
Currently they are all exactly the same. Additionally, they spoil which other civs are in the game.Voice Acting - If done right this would be a HUGE boom for this game. Would add alot of personality to the various civs.Master Race - They either need to be changed, expanded upon or scrapped altogether.
I would prefer them to be refined and altered, because I think they do have a place in the game. However, currently they are simply a massive annoyance.Randomize Events - Play-through feel too similar with events happening almost at the same times across different games (Wormholes appearing, AI invasion, master race etc).Ground AI Sucks - Easy to win almost every-time by waiting for the AI to get close, have every solider put down a shield, then shooting the AI while they just blast the shield.
AI doesn't seem to try flanking or doing anything besides shooting the shield.(Credit: ).Non-Domination Victory Types - Understanding that the core of the game is ship design and ship battles it still would be nice to not have to completely annihilate every other race out of the galaxy. (Credit: ).Spies Overhaul - This section of the game needs a lot of refinement. Spies are too easy too mass produce, too easy to kill, too limited in what they can learn about other civs. (Credit: )Artistic Interface Changes:.Ship/Freighters route line - The current route lines (or paths) that you place to tell your ships where to go are very outdated. Giving them a major overall would greatly improve the aesthetics of the game.Scoreboard - pretty self-explanatory, user would have the option to hide it if he/she wanted.Planet histories - This would add to the lore and depth of the game. Each planet, or at least each star system, should have a description and history.Uncolonized Planet Tiles - Make it exactly the same as a colonized city with no buildings.
No reason you wouldn't be able to see this from space.Ground Combat - Numerous complaints about moving units to the wrong square, or miss firing weapons. Part of the issue seems to be the colours used.Max Population in Planet Overview - Currently no way to see the max population of planets while in the empire overview screen. Makes it difficult to mass manage populations. (Credit: ).Full Production Queue View in Planet View - Should be able to see the whole construction queue when in a planet's main view screen. Having to click inside the planet production menu just to see what you have planned is annoying.
(Credit: ).Custom Ships Label in Empire Management - Should be able to hover over custom built ships to see what they are called, rather than just seeing 'Military Vessel'. (Credit: ).Shipyard Font Size - The numbers on the damage graph are too small to be seen comfortably with the font that's used. (Credit: ).Roster Limit Cap - The ship roster limit of 10 seems like a needless limitation since there's no limit to how often you can swap them out. (Credit: ).End of Game Screen/Cinematic - Players play hundreds of turns only to be unsure as to whether or not they have actually beaten the game.
That is very discouraging. Be creative with this, make it worth our while.Gameplay:.Freighters - One of the most confusing aspects of the game for new users is how the Freighters operate.Production Alerts - News feed alert that 'Colony 'X' needs new production orders'.Colony Growth Alerts - News feed alert that 'Colony 'X' has grown'.
This is needful because you need to micromanage which slot (food, production, science) you want each worker in.Border Growth Alert - News feed alert for both your own civs borders, and also when your neighbors borders expand into your own. We want to know everything that is happening. Literally everything!.Idle Ship Alerts - After 'x' number of turns in free space (i.e.
Not garrisoned) ships and construction vessels should remind you that they are doing nothing. Sometimes we forget about them.Wonders - Unique buildings of which there can only be one of in the world. Require specific techs, significant production to build, but provide valuable bonuses.Auto-Resolve Estimation - Auto-resolving battles should give you an estimated guess at how many ships (and which ships) will be lost for each side. Same for ground battles.No auto-withdraw - Have to load the battle then hit start then jump away, even though they can't really ever hit you or do damage.(Credit: ).Ship Path Waypoint - Seemingly simple addition of a waypoint system for routing your ships from point to point.Ship Battle Formations - Either have pre-set battle formations (flank, box, ring, etc.) for ship fights or allow user to make their own. Additionally, individual ship attack styles (Stationary, Moving, Front-side, Broadside) should be saved with the ships data so you don't have to alter it every time for every ship.Dragging Citizens Fix - Currently it is difficult to select and drag exactly the correct number of citizens from one planet to move them to another planet in the Empire Overview. This is especially true when the planets have over 12 population and you want to more more than 2 of them to a new planet.Old Construction Ship Projects - Ability to destroy/reclaim objects made by construction ships. (Credit: ).Armour vs.
Shields Balance - Armor needs to suck less. After researching shields, it just slows my ship down for very little benefit compared to shields. (Credit: ).Ground units don't heal - They should be at 100% health after each engagement, makes no sense. This is so bad I really considered labeling it as a glitch. (Credit: )Diplomacy & Trading:.AI Settling in your Lands - Other races shouldn't be able to colonize in your territory without declaring war. (Credit: ).Bargaining Feature - There should be a 'What will you give me for 'X'?'
, or 'What do you want for 'Y'?' Buttons.Denounce/Condemn - There needs to be increased interaction and relations with other civs. We want to let them know when we are not happy with them. Even better would be an option to denounce them for doing 'X', so we can have the satisfaction of letting them know how awful they are.Trading Values - The trade values (of techs, colonies, treaties) should be listed in the side panels so that you don't have to add them to the trading block to see what they are valued at.Exact Credit Trading - Add the option to enter an exact number of credits, instead of having to use a slider. The slider is very inaccurate with large sums of money (Credit: ).Increase Minor Race & Pirates Diplomacy - You should be able to interact with the pirates/raiders. One suggestion might be paying them to raid other races.
Minor races also need to have more of a purpose, other than just taking up really awesome planets in your systems. (Credit: )Bugs/Glitches/Exploits. Planetary Defense Withdraw Exploit - If you withdraw from planetary defense you just do it over and over again. Therefore a couple ships with long range guns can just fire a volley and then withdraw over and over, eventually killing enemy.(Credit: )EDIT: Thanks for the wealth of suggestions so far everyone. Exceeded my expectations. I am going to look into getting into contact with the dev and forwarding these ideas to him. Thanks for all your thoughts, and enjoy the game!EDIT 2: I have posted this list in the StarDrive 2 Forums on Steam.
Agree, and the pirates don't really act like pirates. They try to directly assault planets defended by starbases, that doesn't make any sense.Pirates should roam around, trying to pick off freighters and merchants, maybe occasionally attacking a small military fleet if they outgunned/outnumbered it. But they should run away from larger military fleets that they know they will lose to. Their ships should also be fast with decent armament, but relatively low defense as a tradeoff.
Basically ships designed for hit-and-run raids that can likely outrun your cruisers and may need to be fought off with frigates.tl;dr - Pirates should be about raiding for money, not suicide attacking heavily defended planets. I like all of the ideas in the OP. I also haven't played stardrive 1 and I'm having a blast so far, despite what the length of my post may lead one to believe.I should be able to see the whole construction queue when I'm in a planet's main view screen. There's more than enough room on the right side to list what you have in the queue with the smaller icons.
Additionally, in the 'view all colonies' pane i should be able to hover over custom built ships to see what they are called, rather than just seeing 'military vessel'. The shipyard ui also needs some love. The numbers on the damage graph are too small to be seen comfortably with the font that's used. Also, id like to be able to have more than 10 roster slots, seems like a needless limitation since there's no limit to how often you can swap them out.In battle, double clicking a unit should select all units of that type. This seems to work with everything but fighters. I'm a little tired of having to search through my huge fleet to try to only select my fighters in the middle of a battle.The subspace highways really need an 'at a glance' way of figuring out which way they are oriented.
Maybe change the animation that they already have to point in the direction that the highway is oriented? Also, having a fleet snap to a highway and follow it to the end would be wonderful.Rally points! I'd really appreciate it if i could set a planet to send a ship to a location after it is built. I'd also like to be able to rally new ships built to a fleet so that when i lose corvettes i can just commission them from the planet the fleet is from instead of micromanaging it all.It would also be great if we could have a way to customize a fleet and tell a planet to build that fleet. Say, I want a fleet with two different battleships, a few cruisers/frigates, and corvettes.
I should be able to tell a planet 'make this fleet' and the planet automates the process for building the fleet with one button press.Some of the tech choices don't make much sense. Why do i have to pick between fusion power and engines? If my species has figured out fusion power, they should be smart enough to adapt the tech into engines and beam weapons.A few other points:Star base customization, or at least ability to see what it has equipped.Should be able to see fighter layoutsAbility to destroy/reclaim objects made by construction shipsShips should favor highways over wormholes in path findingHighlight fleets that are outside of your territoryOther races shouldn't be able to colonize in your territory without declaring war.Armor needs to suck less. I have no inclination to use it after researching shields, it just slows my ship down for very little benefit compared to shields.Paging and.
If you like Civilization style TBS games, but always wanted similar style empire building, but in space with amazing ship to ship combat. I highly recommend this game for anyone looking for a galactic empire building game featuring that 'just one more turn' itch that some of the great 4x games of the past have offered. This is definitely a game that can keep you up late at night, If you like Civilization style TBS games, but always wanted similar style empire building, but in space with amazing ship to ship combat.
I highly recommend this game for anyone looking for a galactic empire building game featuring that 'just one more turn' itch that some of the great 4x games of the past have offered. This is definitely a game that can keep you up late at night, constantly clicking end turn just to see what lies ahead in the development and struggles of the star nation you've spent hours carefully building. Right from the start, you'll be faced with interesting events, encounters, and anomalies that will drive you to spread your chosen species farther out amongst the stars. You'll research interesting technologies, some of them unique to your species and others totally random in nature. You'll find valuable resources to claim through colonization and exploration.
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You'll design and build your own starships to conquer your enemies and protect all you've gained. You'll engage in diplomacy and espionage with/against a variety of interesting and unique alien species all with their own agendas.
You'll meet minor species to either befriend, enslave, or exterminate. The combination of turn-based empire management with real-time space combat helps to break up the pace of the game into enjoyable yet distinct pieces. Being able to see a newly researched weapon help your ships blaze a path of destruction across an enemy fleet in real-time combat helps to tie the entire game together and makes it feel like every decision you've made matters. The ship designing and customization are definitely high points of Stardrive 2. The space combat is visually impressive and always fun to play.
The ground combat is turn-based, with an X-Com Enemy Unknown feel to it, which I've come to really enjoy as an entirely separate mini-game within Stardrive 2. Stardrive 2 starts out with the enticing possibility that it really is a modern answer to MOO/MOO 2. It doesn't take very long to discover this isn't quite the case.
The AI isn't just ultra-aggressive but also cheats more than just about any game in recent memory. Forget about winning - its impossible to even keep pace with the computer. And that's on the 'easy' setting. Many aspects Stardrive 2 starts out with the enticing possibility that it really is a modern answer to MOO/MOO 2. It doesn't take very long to discover this isn't quite the case. The AI isn't just ultra-aggressive but also cheats more than just about any game in recent memory.
Forget about winning - its impossible to even keep pace with the computer. And that's on the 'easy' setting. Many aspects of the UI are vague and difficult to figure out as well as lacking polish and even the most basic of 'smart' features. There are all sorts of side missions that recruited NPCs offer but they require playing an annoying turn-based tactical game ala Front Mission or X-COM.but at least you have a chance of beating them if you're careful. That's about the only victory you can hope to see in Stardrive 2 past the first couple of random encounters with space crystals or pirates.
Even the galaxy maps aren't very friendly. If you have multiple fleets around a star its sometimes impossible to click on one of them because they display in the exact same position.
There are a fair number of rough edges all round. Want to start a game with a custom race?
That's a crashin'. Actually winning a space battle in hands-on mode (i.e. Non-auto combat)? That's a crashin' more often than not. All that having been said, this is still an impressive effort from a small indie developer. The game probably just needs a bigger team and about another six months in the oven. The devotion to the 4X perfection of MOO2 is hugely appreciated and I have hopes that Stardrive 2 will be made playable in the near future.
Right now its a bit of a mess. Sidenote: there's some bathroom language in at least one NPC dialog which seems totally out of place in a game like this (and most games, if I'm honest).
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