Hot off the success of their most recent title, Civilization: Beyond Earth, grand strategy masters Firaxis are at it again with a new game, this one called Sid Meier’s Starships.
The news comes as a bit of a surprise, considering that the studio put out Beyond Earth as recent as last November. Beyond Earth received generally positive reviews, but caught some flak from critics and gamers for being too similar to previous Civilization games.
In any case, Starships will serve as a bit of a departure, no pun intended, from the Sid Meier formula of putting the player in command of a land-based empire. Instead, players will take command of a fleet of customizable and upgradeable starships, and the game will take place in the infinite expanse of space.
Despite the change in scenery, Starships will still abide by many familiar Sid Meier conventions. The game will follow a turn based format on a hex-based map, with players looking to expand their fleet to a full-blown planetary federation. There’ll be an increased emphasis on combat, though, with the game throwing random missions at you to accomplish, such as protecting a planet and its inhabitants from an attack.
The man himself, Sid Meier, had this to say about Starships:
When designing Starships, I was intrigued by the idea of exploring the next chapter in the story of Civilization: Beyond Earth. What happens after we colonize our new home and eventually build starships to take to the stars? What has become of our long-lost brothers and sisters from the planet Earth? My goal was to create an experience that focuses on starship design and combat within a universe filled with interstellar adventure, diplomacy, and exploration.
Most intriguingly, however, is that Firaxis are hinting at some kind of crossover functionality between Starships and Beyond Earth. This is a potentially cool idea that makes perfect sense, as Starships is a sequel of sorts to Earth. The studio hasn’t made any specific announcements regarding this, except to say that this feature will “enhance and expand upon both game experiences.”
More details on Sid Meier’s Starships are sure to follow in the coming weeks.