On of the key issues of Star Ruler seems to reside on its scalability going from 1 star system to up to thousands comprising down to just a few ships fighting to a thousands of simultaneous fighting ships.

The tech tree will be as detailed or as simple as the player will like it to be, the AI will be as challenging as the user desires, ship designing is as simple or as complicated as you wish, and so on.  BMS states that the approach taken to the ship layout and diplomacy systems also will help to add a unique flavor and pacing to the game.

Star Ruler is real-time with a time-multiplier.  The game can be slowed down from it's default speed or up to ten times more its default speed at the user's option.

It promises to be mod-friendly. The developers say also that they will provide many post-release upgrades  and promise also that the game will run well on both new and old computers.

• Vast, Procedurally Generated Galaxies
• Intricate Ship Design and Exciting Combat
• Unique Research System
• Easy to use interface, complex gameplay
• Engaging AI Opponents
• Extensive Modding Support
• Multiplayer: Co-Op, Team, and Free-for-all
• Original Soundtrack

Interview with Blind Mind Studios

Gamesquad as made an interview with Blind Mind studios about Star Ruler. Check it out here.

Star Ruler is scheduled for release at 21st August 2010 and is already available for pre-order. For more information go to the Star Ruler official website. You can ear the entire original soundtrack here.

Buy Gratuitous Space Battles Complete

Gratuitous Space Battles is a Space Strategy Game developed by an UK indie developer named Positech Games. It's a strategy and simulation game that does not contain all the traditional elements of a 4x space strategy game but rather concentrates in ship design and space battles.

In Gratuitous Space Battles you assign your ships, arrange them into fleets, give them upfront orders of engagement and then site down and watch the result of your deployment strategy: It's all about wondering if all the decisions have been done right and if you can come out victorious from battle.

Ship Design

Spaceship design is the heart of the game since the construction decisions you make can ultimately mean the difference between victory and defeat.

You begin by choosing a Hull for your ship, that can be a Fighter, Frigate or Cruiser, these are the three ship hull classes available in GSB. Each hull contains a certain number of slots that can be of two types: standard modules (squares) or hardpoints (exagons). The hardpoints can be used to put weapon modules, the standard slots are used to insert the other type of modules.

Spaceship Design Modules

When designing your ships you can insert several types of modules. These are: "Weapons", "Defenses", "Engines" and "Other" .

In Weapons you can insert several types of missile launchers, and a collection of energy beams (lasers, plasma, proton beam, etc). In Defenses you can insert several types of Armor and Shields.

In Engines you can choose from a variety of engines, but beware that the bigger and the faster they are the more crew and energy they will require.

Finally there are the Other modules. These vary from a range of modules like crew modules, energy modules, tractor beam, auto-repair systems, etc.

In the original GSB there are 4 races the player can choose from: The Federation, the Rebels, the Alliance and the Empire. Each race has its own art work which reflects into different hulls and different modules styles. This variety alone is enough to provide a different game experience to the player.

(Races from left to right: Federation, Rebels, Alliance, Empire)

Spaceship combat is the core (and probably the single) gameplay mechanic of GSB. This is where everything happens. The player can choose from a set of missions that will be unblocked as soon as the player finishes the previous mission.

There are three difficulty levels to choose from: Easy, Medium and Hard. The harder the challenge the more enemies you have to fight for to win the battle. In the Harder difficulty level you aren't even allowed to know the size of your opponent.

Once you hit the "Fight!" button the battle begins and all you can do is watch it unfold. All your decisions have to be made upfront before everything begins in the fleet deployment panel. Decisions to be made account the types of ships you will use, the formation of these ships, the specific orders you can set to each ship and the amount of ships you will ultimately use. However the more ships you use the less honor points you receive. Honor points can be used to unlock new modules, ships and races as I will explain next.

Among the different orders you can assign to your ships for instance you can instruct your fighters to escort your frigates and tell your frigates to protect your cruisers. There are many orders you can issue: Rescuer, Protector, Formation, Vulture, Escorter just to name a few.  So that's why GSB is more about strategy than tactics since all decisions have to be made before the battle begins. After you start the battle you cannot instruct your ships to attack A or B neither you can give orders to specific modules of the ship, albeit you can see what each module status is, what they are aiming to, recharge rate, damage, etc.

As said above the player can win honor points if he fights battles with lower odds and came victorious (that is if he wins battles with less spaceships than the ones he was allowed to use). The player can trade these honor points later in the game Fleet HQ.

The Fleet HQ is a panel screen where the player can trade his honor points to unlock new modules (new weapons, more potent shields, stronger armour, etc), new ships and new races.

Since the original GSB came out three expansion packs have already been released. These are called: The Tribe, The Order and The Swarm. Each of this expansion packs brings a new race with corresponding fighter, frigate and cruiser hulls, new modules, ship bonuses and new scenarios to fight for.

(From left to right: the Tribe, the Order and the Swarm)

The Music score of GSB is certainly a plus feature. The battle sequences music transmit a dramatic feeling which helps the player to forget that he's just watching the battle and not really taking any action. The sound is also good. From the big cruiser beam weapons firing to the small fighters blasters. Graphics are also good. In conclusion aesthetically GSB sounds and looks nice which is very positive since if this would not be the case the game appeal would drop significantly since the battles don't require the player actions and the player must be kept entertained by other means.

GSB ultimately is a fun game to play. Since I begun reviewing the game I may have fought now 90% of all the available scenarios straight on so you can get the feeling of how addictive the game really is. Most of this addictive factor comes from the honor points and the desire to trade them for new toys and new races. The introduction of the three new expansion packs have brought another degree of depth to the game since now there are more ships to fight with, new modules to unlock and new scenarios to fight.

Considering that the game has been developed by an Indie company and the fact that the gameplay is quite limited, since you cannot fight your battles but rather take only the decisions and design your ships, it is quite an achievement for Positech Games to have developed such an enjoyable game that will keep you entertained for many hours. Haa.. and I almost forget, you can also play online by establishing challenges and then connecting your friends to them which is another good feature that indeed enhances replayability.

For more information on Gratuitous Space Battles check the official GSB site at positech games.

Currently under development Sword of the Stars 2 will be the sequel 4x Sci-Fi game to the Kerberos Productions acclaimed title Sword of the Stars. The game was announced back on January 2010 and by then I made an article on SpaceSector.com to cover that. Check it out: "Sword of the Stars 2 Announced".

Targeted for release on Q1 2011 SotS2 promises to take the series to a new level at the same time keeping some essential features and gameplay mechanics of the original title. I invite you to watch the video below where Martin Cirulis (Kerberos productions CEO) introduces many of the game aspects, its similarities with the original title and what new content to expect in SotS2.

Check out also some screenshots and also the latest news obtained during the E3 (Electronic Entertainment Event) held at Los Angeles on 15-17 June 2010.

SotS2: Interview with Martin Cirulis (Kerberos Productions CEO)

Some recent media coverage about the game at E3

Big Download got a chance to ask some questions to Kerberos Productions' CEO and creative director Martin E. Cirulis: "E3 2010: We learn more about Sword of the Stars 2"

Gamespot visited the Paradox Interactive booth at E3 2010 and got the following: "Sword of the Stars II Impressions"

Strategy Informer's brings you straight to the show floor at E3, where they made an interview with Paradox Interactive about Sword of the Stars 2: "Strategy Informer's Sword of the Stars 2 Interview"

Don't forget to check out the official SotS2 Paradox Interactive site for news and developments about this promising 4x Sci-Fi game.

• Extensive memory usage optimization. Large games now consume much less memory which should resolve the crashes related to Out of Memory and crashes during save/load.
• Added an AutoSave feature with a variable save interval between 10 and 60 minutes.
• Fleets now respond properly to manual control and will not automatically disband
• Added new buttons in the Fleets screen: Repair and Refuel selected fleet, Retrofit selected fleet
• Several interface and functionality improvements including how retrofitting and ship design works.

• 4x Real-Time Strategy
• Less Micromanagement on an Epic Scale
• Special emphasis in Exploration and Expansion
• Research, Diplomacy and Espionage
• Spaceship and Starbase Design
• Lots of feedback, information and help provided through tooltips
• Galactopedia (with additional information and help)

Mike Strobel, the creator of Star Trek: Supremacy, will be attending the Las Vegas Star Trek convention in August 5 - 8th 2010. He will talk about Birth of the Federation and the development of Star Trek: Supremacy.

To find out more about Supremacy check the SpaceSector.com articles "Star Trek Supremacy – Open Source Free Game in Development" and "Interview with Mike Strobel | Star Trek Supremacy Lead Developer".