It might be a little early to talk expansion pack for Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth, but Firaxis Games has a spin-off of sorts cooked up in the freshly announced Sid Meier’s Starships.
Coming to iPad, Mac, and Windows in “early” 2015 (no date specified), Starships casts players in the role of a fleet commander. The undoubtedly loose narrative is set in the Beyond Earth universe, picking up after the Seeding that sees players establish their deep space colony at the start of the 2014 game.
“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, Firaxis Games director of creative development, in a statement. “My goal was to create an experience that focuses on starship design and combat within a universe filled with interstellar adventure, diplomacy, and exploration.”
The game tasks players with exploring the galaxy and establishing their own, Star Trek-ian “Federation,” deploying an armada of ships to expand their sphere of influence and, naturally, engage in turn-based combat. There’s also some degree of as-yet-unspecified communication between Starships and Beyond Earth that introduces new elements to both games.
There’s not much more detail than that, but you can get an early taste of what’s to come in publisher 2K Games’ reveal trailer, below.
