The new Space Tyrant is here! First of all, thanks very much for all the incredibly helpful feedback over the past several months! We’ve taken it all to heart and have been making the effort to integrate it with our overall game design. The build we’re putting up in front of you today is the glorious tyrant-love-child of this process and we’re starting to feel pretty good about it! That being said – there’s still a lot of polish that needs to happen, new bugs to dig out, and design elements to second-guess ourselves on, but we believe you’ll find this new version to be a lot more of a game and a lot more fun. Here’s the run-down of all the tyranty newness: A new way to play!: Our previous approach to selecting missions and playing through the game was mostly just a stand-in for something better. Now that we’ve had some time to think it through and actually do the work, the metagame is in and ready for testing. Here’s how it works: You’ll start as the Hoplite Empire and take on missions in all regions to hold off the advance of the Senate. When the Senate moves into a region, a little red ship icon will appear there on the mission select map to alert you. If 3 Senate ships appear in any given region, you’ll have one last chance to win a mission there before the Senate overtakes you and you lose. If you can manage to clear out all of the missions in all regions in a game, you’ll win that cycle of gameplay and unlock the next Empire. If you lose any missions along the way, you’ll lose the Commander you started that mission with. If that happens to be your last (or only) Commander, you’ll lose that cycle of gameplay and have to start over. So – beware, when you first play Space Tyrant, you start with just one Commander and will have to unlock other Commanders by beating difficult levels. One and two star missions are pretty easy and a good place to gain your footing, but you’ll have to hit those higher level missions if you want to get more Commanders and other tasty items that will enhance your gameplay. Speaking of unlocks, here’s what you’ll find along the way:

• Artifacts: There are mission specific Artifacts you will unlock in each region and strategizing to get the artifacts you want early on will be key to your success on more difficult missions. These artifacts are yours as long as you’re playing a particular cycle, but if you lose, the Artifacts are reset and thrown back into the mix for your next cycle of play.
• Empire Rewards: In addition to Artifacts, when reviewing mission information for the more difficult missions, you’ll occasionally see that an Empire Reward is available. An Empire Reward is persistent and will stick with you whether you lose that cycle of play or not. They’ll come in the form of higher ship classes, Card Decks and Empire specific Commanders. You’ll want to go after these, but it won’t be easy and you might curse at the screen a few times… possibly more than a few times.
• Perks: Every time you beat a mission, you’ll be given the choice between two Perks. They’re kind of like Artifacts, but you won’t know what you’ll get until you’ve beaten a mission. I think of them as the surprise sauce on your Tyrant burrito. Like Artifacts, any Perks you unlock will stick with you for that cycle of gameplay. If at any point you lose, Perks will be thrown back into the pool of randomness and you’ll have to reacquire them during your next cycle of play.

• CAPTURE AND HOLD: This is a new mode identifiable by a shield icon on the Mission select screen. Capture and Hold missions are available at the 3 and 4 star difficulty level and will be a true test of your tyranty skills. The goal is to capture 2 of the 3 control point planets before the Senate can. To capture one, you land on it, take down the garrison and then the capture process begins. Once you’re capturing it, your fleet can move on to do other things and the planet will be yours after 3 turns. During that time, it’s possible for the Senate to take it back from you, so keep an eye out for those pesky bastards. Also, remember to pay attention to the capture meters at the top of the screen. If you see one of those start to fill in, you’ll know that the Senate has found one of the planets and you’d better challenge them before they take it.
• Secondary win conditions: You’ll see some new win conditions appearing at the top of your screen while playing now. If one approach isn’t working out, aim for a different one.
• You can now Sacrifice Commanders who aren’t pulling their weight. If a Commander dies and you’re sick of their crap, you can mouse over their icon (this only works when they’re waiting to respawn) and choose to sacrifice them. This will earn you some Tyranny and an XP Card that you can play on one of your more beloved Commanders.
• OPPRESSION!: This is one of my favorite new features. Several planet types will now allow you the option to Oppress them after being captured. Need more Gold? More Science or Tyranny? Hit that ever-lovin OPPRESS button and let the misery of the masses rocket you toward success. Just be sure to mouse over the button before you hit it to see what the chance of Rebellion is. The more you oppress a planet, the higher the chance of a Rebellion – which is a bummer you’ll want to avoid.
• 1X1 ships quick volley: We’ve tuned some behind-the-scenes aspects of Combat, but the biggest current change is that all ships are now clickable. If you need a quick volley of shots on a particular target, 1X1 ships are now armed and ready for action.
• New Perks, Artifacts, Cards and Explores to be had. We’ll continue to add to the heap as the months go on, but you’ll be happy to find a whole new selection since the last build.
• Difficulty tuning: We did a deep pass on difficulty tuning and we’re curious how it will work for everyone. 1 and 2 star missions shouldn’t be too tough, but should offer some amount of a challenge. 3 and 4 star missions should range from kinda tough to extremely difficult. Let us know how it goes after a few rounds.
• There’s a new Space Slug in town, approach with caution.
• Senate Color: If a neutral fleet has been taken over by the Senate, they’ll now be red and menacing. This should quell any confusion over who’s who.
• Bug Fixins: We tried to fix as many bugs as possible without introducing new ones, but I’m certain some have slipped through. One bug in particular is the “invisible fleet bug”. Maybe it’s fixed? We’ve fooled ourselves in the past… please let us know if you run into that demon hell-spawn of a bug so we can weep bitterly and take another shot at fixing it.