“A friend and I were discussing how we would like to do a space combat game, focusing on problems we saw with popular games like Homeworld. We wanted combat to be much more tactical, likely reliant on missile and kinetic weapons rather than pew-pew beams which tend to be rather dull I think. One idea we had was to simplify the z-axis drastically, perhaps knocking it down to three ‘planes’ that ships could maneuver within. The central plane could be largely filled with a great nebulous belt, making it the equivalent of forest or swamp, allowing ships to hide. We also wanted to do away with ships that simply explode when destroyed. Ships would become drifting hulks when crews are killed, but they can still be salvaged and refitted. This could become an integral part of game strategy, with new ships prohibitively expensive to produce, a fleet could be based around its convoy of salvaged hulks. A player must make hard choices on which ships to bring into the caravan, and which to abandon. An overburdened convoy will be slow, and difficult to conceal.”



Submitted by Peter Queckenstedt in Ontario, Canada.