Announced back in January, Sid Meier’s Starships, an interstellar companion to Civilization: Beyond Earth, launched Thursday for the iPad and Mac.
Available in the App Store and Steam for fifteen bucks each, the premium strategy game published by Firaxis and 2K Games has you assuming command of a starship fleet.
You’ll be discovering beautiful new worlds and completing various missions to preserve intergalactic peace while building a planetary federation and strengthening your fleet to secure your homeworld.
“Build and command a fleet of starships and travel between planets as you explore, build, negotiate, and fight to preserve your vision for humanity,” teases the blurb. Created by the legendary game designer Sid Meier, Starships is set in the universe of Civilization: Beyond Earth, after the age of the Seeding.
Although Starships is a standalone game experience, Civilization fans will be pleased to learn that the game features cross-connectivity between the two titles to enhance the experience for those who own Beyond Earth and also buy Starships.
Here’s Sid Meier discussing the strategy aspect of Starships.
Like many other strategy games adorned with Sid Meier’s seal of approval, Starships employs turn-based 4X combat. Combat missions are dynamically generated, starships are customizable and new tech can be researched to advance through missions.
Diplomacy plays a major factor in Starships, just like in the Civilization series.
The iPad version of the game is a 532-megabyte download. The PC and Mac edition can be pre-purchased on Steam and is launching later today.
Key highlights include:
- Tactical Space Combat: Encounter unique tactical challenges in every mission, with dynamically generated maps, victory conditions, and foes.
- Fully Customizable Starships: Create an armada that fits your tactical plan with modular spaceship design.
- Diplomacy, Strategy, and Exploration: Expand the influence of your Federation and gain the trust of the citizens of new planets. Use the unique abilities of the each planet to enhance your fleet and Federation, and keep your opponents in check. Build improvements on worlds to increase the capabilities and resources of your Federation.
- A Galaxy Of Adventure: Explore the galaxy as you lead your fleet to distant worlds and complete missions to help the citizens of these planets. Fight pirates, protect colony ships, destroy rogue AI, and more.
- Multiple Paths To Victory: Will you win by conquering the greatest threat to the galaxy? Or will you unite a plurality of worlds in your Federation? Perhaps you will lead your people to push the frontiers of science. Each choice you make carries consequences on your path to victory.
Starships is a premium game release so there are no In-App Purchases or in-game advertising to spoil the fun.
Download Sid Meier’s Starships from the App Store and Steam now.