A Tale of Three 4X-RTS Universes: Star Ruler 2 (B)

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Last week Awkward Mixture began an expedition into the expanse, by examining the expansion and economy of Star Ruler 2. This week a conclusion on this first of three 4X-RTS space games.

In addition to credits, an empire generates other secondary resources, like influence. Planets produce influence depending on the resources they import. More populous planets produce more influence, which is spent to purchase diplomatic cards, with the cost dependent on the power of the card. Most cards increase an empire's ability to vote on proposals. Every few minutes Star Ruler 2 randomly generates a proposal, which are called Zeitgeists. Other proposals, such as building a Senate, Annexing a Planet, or Funding a Research Laboratory are initiated by an empire playing a card. When a proposal is active, empires have three minutes to use their voting cards to pass or hinder it, and the final tally determines the outcome. This unique diplomatic mechanic encourages indirect interaction, and functions well with the AI.

In addition to proposals, empires can request alliances, access to trade routes, declare war, and sue for peace. These diplomatic actions require no resource, except military might, as AI empires respect power, and only accept alliances if the player wields overwhelming naval superiority.
While building fleets increases naval superiority, proper national security requires investment in technological development. Star Ruler 2's tech tree is unchanging, and dull, but comprehension and implementation will ensure victory. Empire's can research technology which increases labor, enhances the economy, boosts current weapons, or develops advances ship systems.

Constructing ships combines many components, from technological development, to credits and labor. Each ship requires a labor and a credit value to build. A planet will only produce labor if it has one or more factories. As ship size escalates, construction will require more labor, and the player will need to build more factories. Unlike most secondary resources, factories don't require population to produce labor, so an underpopulated planet can be made the hub of interstellar war.

This is the process by which a blueprint is transformed into an engine of dominance and death, but before the factories can weld pipes, engines, and guns onto a frame, the player needs a design. Star Ruler 2 offers a few predesigned ships, but a successful player will experiment, and advanced technologies will require redesigning to integrate new systems.

In Star Ruler 2 there are two types of space ships: flagships and support ships. Flagships are like Star Destroyers, while support ships are like TIE fighters. Flagships are built first, and then support ships are assigned to them, unable to leave unless reassigned to another flagship or a planet.
Ships are designed block by block, forming both frame and the pieces inside, unlike some other 4X games where weapons and systems are installed into slots on a prefabricated frame. Capital ships can, and should contain 128 blocks, while support ships can contain 60 blocks. This doesn't determine the size of the ship, which can be adjusted by the player with a variable called, surprisingly, Size.

In the beginning of a Star Ruler 2 game, flagships can be built out of the following blocks: bridge, energy, FTL, support command, supply, two types of engines, lasers, rail-guns, missiles, torpedoes, and three types of armor. A brief description of each follows. If all the bridges of a ship have been eliminated, the flagship becomes inoperable. The amount of FTL blocks determines the faster than light speed of the flagship. Support command determines how many support ships can accompany the flagship. Supply provides ammunition for the weapons of the support ships: running out in the middle of a battle is bad. One engine type offers maneuverability, while the other increases the flagship's speed. All the items are either weapons or armor, both of which are self explanatory.

Support ships must be built from fewer blocks: the bridge, one type of engine, lasers, rail-guns, missiles, and two types of armor. Support ships need to be assigned to a capital ship, and except for certain exceptions never travel alone. In practice, a capital ship should command a variety of support ships which perform different functions.

What is the optimal strategy? Like most games, Star Ruler 2 is complex game of rock, paper, scissor, with some weapons beating others, while different armors are useful in certain scenarios, but unnecessary weight in others. The best strategy is a mix of weapons, armor types, and designs.
Once a fleet (flagship and support ships) is constructed, Star Ruler 2 assigns a strength value to help the player compare it with other fleets. In the early game, fleets will register between 5k and 10k. But, like all aspects of Star Ruler 2 growth is exponential. In my first few games I was astonished by the 100k fleets the enemy would field so soon, while I'd still be constructing 20k fleets. The trick: no credit can be wasted. In later games I'd have 500k and 1M fleets, with my largest ever at 12M, and a galaxy wide naval strength of 490M.

These strength fleets may give the impression of an extended game, but in fact, one of the best features of Star Ruler 2 is its length. As long as one is willing to use the time dilator liberally, often setting time at x10 speed, a single galaxy game can be completed in an hour or two.

But how does Star Ruler 2 calculate fleet strength, and is it a useful measure? I'd say, sort of? In the course of my 38 hours, which included a number of different scenarios, I won battles with supposedly lesser forces, like when I defeated a 1M fleet with a combined force of 800k. What can be accountable? Part must be that my fleets rock beat the computer's scissors. That is, my design, though technically weaker, had an advantage against the enemy's design. Another option: though the enemy had a stronger force, I had more flagships, and maneuvered better. To win,sometimes the player must trust their force, and engage enemies whose fleet has a minor advantage. Good news though: because a smaller fleet can beat a larger, it means the computer isn't using the strength value to determine the outcome, but computing all the smaller details about weapon types, armor resistance, and facing.
Once war has been declared, strategy depends on who is the aggressor. The computer only begins fights it feels confident it can win: when it possesses superior force strength. In this case, there are two options. Hope the computer splits its fleet and strike with all your force at one portion, or persuade it to divide its strength, by splitting your own fleet and attacking different, vulnerable planets.

Of course, if you've attacked: excellent. The best way to begin a war is as follows. Locate an enemy's main fleet with a scout ship (side note: even though Star Ruler 2 displays a colored border for each empire depending on the systems it controls, these are permeable, have no political effect, reflecting trade routes, and the computer doesn't seem to mind ships passing through their territory), and if their fleet is weaker than yours, prepare the FTL.

Though ships normally travel at slow speeds, to move rapidly, and get the jump on the enemy, a flagship can charge its FTL and move rapidly to its destination. Don't declare war until your forces appear out of deep space, surrounding the enemy's unprepared fleet.

FTL also can be used to escape a battle gone wrong, just make sure the flagship's FTL systems are deep inside the ship, so they aren't destroyed before they can power up.
But there are so many questions one can ask about fleet composition. Should a player build only combat flagships, or flagships which bear no weapons but can supply a massive quantity of support ships? Is it better to keep old, outdated ships active for support roles, or scuttle them to free up more credits? Is armor, firepower, or maneuverability the best option for a fleet? These are questions you'll have to answer for yourself.

Once two fleets are engaged, Star Ruler 2 is wonderful to observe. Combat is slow enough that the player can make decisions about retreating or attacking, or reinforcing the battle with other fleets. Unfortunately, the player can't alter the facing of the capital ships, except by moving them: they can't rotate in place. One can watch as the blocks composing their capital ship, and the enemy's capital ship are slowly chipped away.

Since Star Ruler 2 is a space 4x, it assumes life has flourished in distant lands, and provides a number of different prefabricated species to use, but allows the player to customize to suit their play-style. The developers succeeded in created races which feel unique even if they are different only in a few features. Though limited in number, these differences are substantial, supplying dramatic effect, while other games to be mentioned imply that species have many differences, but yet they feel minimal. In Star Ruler 2, some species are so different from the core behavior, the AI can't manage them properly.

Star Ruler 2 has its flaws, mostly in the interface design. For instance, the player can't view the details of two capital ships simultaneously, and other irritating limiting options.  Sometimes a system's sun obscures a battle.  On the whole, Star Ruler's graphics are definitely low key, but appear that they'll age well. And like most 4X games, the beginning expansion is the same from game to game, which makes starting a new adventure tedious and mind numbing.
In conclusion:

Star Ruler 2 is a wonderfully innovative 4X-RTS, featuring a 3 minute budget, a web-like expansion, and ships built from blocks which allows for inventive creations. In the first few games, the computer will be punishing, but game are quick, and it has an easily understood depth. There's a whole expanse to explore with Star Ruler 2, and I recommend it, even though it doesn't look as polished as other space games currently available.

Next week, Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity.

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