Starborne: Sovereign Space

Still in Open Beta (ie. Early Access), but it's free, a small download/install, and looks pretty interesting. Something to keep on your radar, anyway.

This video tells you pretty much everything you need to know:


More details:
It's quite a bit like a semi-persistent MMO version of Stellaris on a hex grid map (and with no de-synch issues). You log in, queue up orders for your ships and shipyards, and then watch then go about their business in real time. Some actions take minutes, while others may take hours or even days to complete. Your territory is automatically defended based on what you have built so no need to babysit it like its an unpaid job (so better than Eve Online in this regard). Unlike most MMO's, you can actually "beat the game" and then the server resets the map. You can team up with others and forge alliances; might be worth our time as it allows us to all play together regardless of schedules. Pretty much anyone should be able to play this game easily. I'm downloading tonight and will let you know my impressions.

 

What I've seen so far:

1) Individual servers run for 56-70 days and a new server is available every week. If you get wiped out early, you can join another at any time.


2) You start by picking your starting periphery sector (or choosing random) in the galaxy:

^If we choose the same starting sector, we will start in much closer proximity to eachother.

3) There is an optional tutorial you can quit at any time (but it's good to do it for additional rewards):


4) There are different hostile actions you can take against both NPCs and other players:


5) The maps are MASSIVE in scale. The inner sectors are where the big fish roam.

^I am a single tiny blip on periphery of the map.

6) There's a lot of similar gameplay elements to that of Stellaris (but obviously on a much larger player scale):


7) Actions in neighboring zones seem to take 6-12 minutes and you can queue up multiple orders at once so you don't have to babysit it as much:


8) The game is VERY generous with loot and rewards; PvE objectives are as lucrative as PvP ones:


9) This is the general layout of the game that you will monitor most of the time:

A few things worth noting:

• All actions have timers until completion; these vary by distance and complexity.
• Your building queue can be filled with up to 24 hours of activity, meaning this is still playable for even those with busy schedules. There is functionally NO grind to waste your time on!
• You expand your influence through building new stations and outposts, both of which have additional modules for further upgrades.
• All structures will automatically defend your territory; these defenses can be upgraded as well.

10) There are multiple paths to victory, each with a unique victor. Diplomacy and managing your logistics is just as important as raw combat:

 

One thing I should mention, it is remarkably easy to make friends in this game if you know how to engage people. I've already joined one of the top 3 alliances on the Beta#20 server. (friendlies are in blue with me in the top right at Thule Station)

 

how to get Steam interface working with non-Steam games:


NOTE!: When Steam asks to choose a program, you will need to manually "Browse" for the correct launcher file with Starborne.

The correct file can be found here:
E:\Program Files\Solid Clouds\Starborne\app\StarborneLauncher.exe

It should now pop up in your game library. If you want, you can rename as needed.
That's all there is to it!!

EDIT: I encountered some weird UI issues with this active and so had to disable it. You may have different results, though.

 

I am, but I highly recommend that if you do start now, don't take it too seriously. Just focus on learning the mechanics. Although the tutorial will teach you the basics, you WILL make mistakes on your first try. I sure did and I've had a lot of help. It is far easier and more fun to play this with an organized alliance... and judging by what I've seen so far, it doesn't take a ton of effort. Just the simple fact that we have a Discord puts us ahead of most potential competition. Ideally, when we are ready to do something coordinated, it would be far better to start on a fresh server. It's not that you can't be competitive on a server that already started, but it is far more preferential if the majority of us start around the same time.

So yeah, if you want to start researching upgrade cards (which are persistent) and learning the mechanics, by all means jump right in.

However, if you want the "optimal first experience", just wait to start on this game until we officially announce when we are starting as a community.

 

Continuing my impressions on the game...

JUMP-STARTING YOUR ECONOMY​

Like all grand strategy games, before you do anything, you need to establish a good starting economy. Starborne breaks everything down into basically five categories (+1 one additional I will get to later):
......Production..................Military...........Domain (aka Tech)..........Industry....................Unique


If we want to speed up our economy, we need to focus almost entirely on Production and Industry, but before we look at station buildings, we need to look at station cards first:

The first three on the left are permanent buffs. The last two are temporary.

• Core Schematics - will help you with your passive income as well as reduce cost of industrial buildings.
• Dozer Exosuit - decreases time of construction for industrial buildings.
• Flare Monitors - helps with solar harvesting (boosts "active" income).
• Willy Garnish (timed character) - boosts passive income and reduces cost of ALL buildings, but can only be used on Level 1 stations.
• Wither Crux (timed rune) - boosts passive income.

A word to the wise: do NOT horde cards. USE THEM. The timed cards can give significant buffs. For example, Willy Garnish is specifically designed to jump start the economy of Level 1 stations. Use him, immediately! By the time his 24 hr timer is up, if you did everything right, your station should already be at Level 2.

SURPLUS CARDS AND CREDITS​

Cards are the fastest way to buff your stations and fleets. They can be very powerful tools to tip the balance in your favor. Credits are an in-game currency you can use to "craft" more cards. While it may be tempting to spend all your credits at the start, DON'T DO THIS! You want to save your credits until you know what you are doing. There are, however, a few exceptions:

• The cards in the picture above shows all you need to start your game off right.
• If you feel you must craft new cards, stick to crafting Common cards until you know what you are doing.
• It costs nothing to install a card, but (for permanents) it costs credits to remove them if you want them back (you generally always want them back).
• Legendary permanents are the BEST cards to craft and can be gained relatively early if you prioritize saving your credits.
• You can use "Blueprint Fragments" to reduce the crafting cost of cards you craft frequently. Again, save these until you know what to do.
• Credits come slow at first, but they will come much faster in the mid-late game. Do NOT spend real money (or platinum) for credits.

PREMIUM CURRENCY​

Like all free-to-play business models, this one has a premium currency too called "Platinum". You can use it to buy some temporary buffs or cosmetic items. Some people have claimed the temporary buffs make this game "pay to win", but after playing this for a week, I see no evidence to support this fact. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the devs placed hard limits on how much you can spend. Also, the largest factor that seems to affect your experience is teamwork, not how much money you spent. Honestly, this game is far more laid back than most competitive circles I've been in. I recommend just focusing on having fun. You don't need to spend any money to have fun, but if you want to support development of the game, I recommend getting ONLY the Starter Pack for $5. It is very reasonably priced for what you get and will give you a few nice little perks for your early game.

STATION BUILDING​

If you are new to the game, I recommend following my visual guide below for your first station. It will give you a very strong start and allow you to familiarize a lot of the core mechanics. It will also allow you to run missions with good efficiency which in turn will reward you with heaps of new cards to use or breakdown for more credits. A couple things to note:

• You cannot be attacked for the first 5 days; use this time to focus entirely on boosting your income.
• Because this station is located in the "newbie zone", defense is not really needed, but if you are under certain threat, build a Missile Battery Outpost.
• Focus on getting ALL your production buildings up to Level 10 ASAP! This will provide you with the most consistent income early on.
• You need a minimum of 7 station buildings to unlock tier 4 outposts, 4 buildings for Tier 3 outposts, and 2 buildings for Tier 2 outposts.
• Not all Tiers are created equal; for example, Tier 3 is primarily focused on buildings that boost offense or defense.
• ALWAYS, specialize your stations for specific tasks (never more than 3!). For example, the station below is focused on passive income, active income (solar flare harvesting), and mission running (to get more cards).

OUTPOSTS
WIP​

PASSIVE AND ACTIVE INCOME, MISSIONS, EVENTS, AND POLICY RESEARCH​

• Passive Income - you always get this even when not logged in
  • Very easy to get and requires no real effort on your part.
  • Achieved through building and upgrading stations which will harvest all resources within their sphere of influence.
• Active Income - requires action on your part, but generally with better rewards
  • Requires more active participation; you must issue orders to ships/stations and then they will complete them based on a variety of factors.
  • This is primarily achieved through harvesting solar flares which requires issuing orders to ships to move to a nearby sun with an active solar flare.
• Missions - do not give normal resources as a reward, but are a great way to acquire a steady supply of new cards.
  • Also require more active participation.
  • Higher level missions give better rewards.
• Events and Policy Research
  • these are simple "1-button click" tasks that require a set amount of time to complete; duration can range from a few hours to multiple days depending on difficulty level.

NOTE: At the start of the game, you will want to rely on active income as much as possible; this will give you the fastest start. However, unless you have a lot of time on your hands (or don't mind repeatedly checking in to issue new orders), it is absolutely acceptable to transition more to passive income in the mid-late stages of the game. Essentially, the better you optimize your passive income, the less you will need to rely on your active income.