We just reached 50k total signups for Starpires with nearly 20k of those players active within the past month.
Feb
19
Category Archives: Updates
Dec
20
NOTICE: Major game play change
This is a notice to players that a major algorithmic change affecting the top 20-30 empires, less than 0.2% and will go into affect within the next 24 hours.
The formula used to compute research affects for researched over level 10 is going to be changed. In it’s current state it’s creating a situation where empire growth among these large empires is becoming exponential due to it’s affects on planetary income. Without the change the game will quickly become unsustainable and cease to be playable for these players.
What this will mean is a drop in planetary income for planet types with a research level above 10. The higher the research level the larger the drop on a percentage basis. For the top few players who have research levels in the 15-20 range this drop will be substantial.
A chart showing the percentage change in planetary production at a given research level due to upcoming algorithm change.
Yes, it will cause some cosmic upheavals to a few empires which will have to adjust. But these are the same empires who’ve also benefited greatly from the existing algorithm. This also affects research effects on Anti Pollution, Government and Urban Planets which can cause some flux in population migration, civilian mood, air quality, etc. This may require things like lowering tax rates or increasing the quantity of these planets to bring it back into balance.
I have tried to limit making large algorithm changes like this but without these changes a reset of the game would be required. Though there are still plans to spawn up additional Starpires servers in the near future.
Dec
19
New and upcoming features
Now that I’m able to devote my full effort to developing Starpires, there’s lots of features, enhancements and game play adjustments in the pipeline. Here are some of the recent and upcoming ones. Going forward there will be much more detail on this blog about newly launched changes to the game.
Recent Updates
- Dozens of bug fixes and game balance adjustments, most based off of player feedback.
- Complete overhaul of the player messaging system making it easier to coordinate with allies. a) You can now start message threads between multiple players. b) There is a send messages button directly on the message console, bottom right corner of the screen. c) There is now an option to report inappropriate language is messages if you block a player from sending them.
- Re-implemented the in game player profiles, you can now view attack histories, as well as any message threads you’ve had with the player.
- New top players lists.
Upcoming Features
- Battle simulator – To give players more insight into what determines the outcome of a particular battle.
- Updated game FAQ’s, Wiki and Forum – To provide players with more insights into the intricacies of Starpires and create a better community.
- A completely overhauled boost system. There will be a lot more of them and they can be acquired and utilized in more ways. Boosts will be able to be saved and traded, similar inventory in an RPG style game. This will add substantial depth and strategy to combat in Starpires.
- Multiple Starpires “servers” creating fresh games for players to join.
- Deep space exploration – Send fleets to discover new planets, or mine asteroides.
- Better server stability – There has been a few outages in the past few weeks.
- Continued bug fixes and game balance adjustments.
Sep
26
Clarifying the multiple account policy
During the previous week I’ve had a few complains and caught several people creating multiple accounts on Starpires with the clear intent of cheating in the game. They were either creating fake accounts to receive bonus turns from the referral system in place, or using multiple accounts to coordinate attacks against other players.
This type to gaming the system is cheating, affects the game play experience for other Starpires players and will not be tolerated. We’re monitoring accounts and if we find this occurring will not hesitate to delete the offending accounts without warning.
That said we realize there are times when there maybe multiple people creating accounts from the same IP Address (computer) legitimately. Multiple accounts on the same IP address won’t automatically get them banned but if there is a clear pattern that shows it is most likely the same person and is doing it in an attempt to “game” the system they will be removed.
Feel free to ask any questions via the comments or using the Starpires contact form.
Sep
26
Game Update – Dozens Of New Research Items
We just finished putting live a ton of new research items, which we’ve been spent the past week adding to the game. This include a few dozen more “permanent effect” items which which do things such as increase the strength of particular military units/attacks or the production of planets.
Additionally we added a new class of “temporary effect” research items which should add a whole new level of strategy to the game. The items have effects that last for a period of time, either in turns or in time and provide a much greater boost.
- They can be used strategically to help attack or defend your empire.
- Once researched they may show up again on your research list at a later date (and higher number of research credits)
- You can view how many more turns or how much time they are in effect under the “Research” tab, but will disappear when the temporary effect has ended.
Some of the new “temporary effect” items:
Adrenaline Boosters – Temporarily increase the offensive strength of your military forces. Useful if you want to attack another empire stronger than your own.
Victory Broadcast – Doubles the defensive capabilities of your empire for a period of time.
Spy Satellite - Substantially increases the chance of spying operations against another empire being a success. Doesn’t effect other types of special operations.
Jam Communications – Jams an enemies communications so they can’t call on their allies for support in the event of an invasion.
EMP Blast – Send out an electro-magnetic pulse that disables many of an enemies defense stations. Useful in setting up the big attack.
There are more besides these that appear later in the game. Enjoy…
Sep
10
Update – Alliance Changes
One observation and frequent feedback item from initial players of Starpires was that the way alliances were functioning was affecting game play. They made it very hard to succeed in attacking even much smaller players that had several larger allies.
To even out the game play and keep alliances from dominating the game the following changes were made.
1. The amount of support an ally can provide in an attack is limited to the strength of the defender. That means an ally that is 10 times the size of the defender can send a maximum of 1/10th of their available forces to help defend.
2. The amount of support an ally can provide is additionally limited by how many alliances they have. This limits the benefit of allying with someone who’s just randomly allying with lots of players.
3. Previously your empire could defended by up to 3 allies during an attack. Now either one, two or three allies are chosen at random to defend.
Aug
29
New Home Page and Things in The Works
You probably noticed we just put up a new home page for Starpires, that actually tells you something about the game (gasp) instead of simply having a login button. We had been so busy making improvements to the game play that we really hadn’t taken the time to work on the other important stuff like marketing and getting more players into the game.
Next up, we’re working on some game play tutorials for both new and advanced players. While we’ve tried to make Starpires easy to play, it is a very intricate strategy game with lots of things to do, so I think the tutorials are critical for new players. Nenad (graphic designer) has also been working on a really cool 3d animated game trailer, which I’m really looking forward to seeing.
Other game play items currently under development:
- Lots of new research items, including one time “power boost” items.
- Accomplishments, where you get special rewards for either reaching a milestone or accomplish something hard to do such as knocking off the top empire.
Aug
16
New Feature – The Enemies Tab
We just added a new “Enemies” tab to the attack and special operations screens in Starpires. When you have dozens of empires in your universe this will help you easily find the empires who you are currently engaged in combat with.
The enemies tab will display empires who have attacked you or you have attacked. Empires which you currently have some type of alliance or treaty with will be excluded from this list. We will continue to make improvements to the game based off of feedback from players.