Sid Meier Reveals New Game Called Starships
Sid Meier’s development team Firaxis has announced that it is working on a brand new game known as Starships. The press release revealing the game describes it as an interstellar strategy game that will release on the PC, Mac and iPad in the coming months. It will tasks players with designing and building starships as they look to expand an empire and explore the galaxy.
“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?” said Sid Meier. “My goal was to create an experience that focuses on starship design and combat within a universe filled with interstellar adventure, diplomacy, and exploration.”
While separate from the Civilization franchise, the above quote from Meier and the description given in the press release reveal that it will share some common concepts with the series, such as with diplomacy and exploration, although Starships would appear to focus more on simulation than Civilization entries tend to. However, there are also some hints that players may be able to import data from Civilization: Beyond Earth into Starships to connect the worlds together.
Firaxis recently released another science fiction based game in the form of Civilization: Beyond Earth, a game that is considered a spiritual successor to the earlier Sid Meier title Alpha Centauri that originally launched in 1999. This game followed the established Civilization model of gameplay but in a different setting but there were also some important changes to gameplay and additional features, including an overhaul to the technology tree and an improved diplomacy system. It released in October to a widespread positive reception from both critics and fans of the series.