
Developer: Firaxis Games
Price: $15 (Steam, Humble, GMG, iTunes)
Platforms: PC, Mac, iPad
Announcement Trailer
Sid Meier Plays Starships (Livestream Archive)
Sid Meier Plays Starships Again (Livestream Archive)
iPad Gameplay (Livestream Archive)
Sid Meier & Jake Solomon Discuss Game Design (Livestream Archive)
Take command of a fleet of powerful starships in this adventure-driven strategy game from legendary designer Sid Meier. Travel to new worlds, completing missions to help save and protect the planets and their people from dangerous Space Pirates, to powerful Marauders and other hostile factions. Build a planetary federation as you strengthen your fleet and secure your homeworld as you attempt to preserve intergalactic peace and your vision of humanity. Set in the universe of Civilization: Beyond Earth after the age of the Seeding, Sid Meier’s Starships offers sci-fi/strategy fans a full stand-alone game experience that also features cross-connectivity with Beyond Earth, expanding the depth of both games. See if you have what it takes to rule the universe!


- Tactical Space Combat: Encounter unique tactical challenges in every mission, with dynamically generated maps, victory conditions, and foes.
- Fully Customizable Starships: Create an armada that fits your tactical plan with modular spaceship design.
- Diplomacy, Strategy, and Exploration: Expand the influence of your Federation and gain the trust of the citizens of new planets. Use the unique abilities of the each planet to enhance your fleet and Federation, and keep your opponents in check. Build improvements on worlds to increase the capabilities and resources of your Federation.
- A Galaxy Of Adventure: Explore the galaxy as you lead your fleet to distant worlds and complete missions to help the citizens of these planets. Fight pirates, protect colony ships, destroy rogue AI, and more.
- Multiple Paths To Victory: Will you win by conquering the greatest threat to the galaxy? Or will you unite a plurality of worlds in your Federation? Perhaps you will lead your people to push the frontiers of science. Each choice you make carries consequences on your path to victory


FAQ
What is the "gameplay loop," my fellow "core gamer?"
Similarly to Firaxis' XCOM, there is a strategic level and a mission level. Missions are turn-based on a hex map and range from straight combat to objectives like survive five turns, navigate a maze, and escort missions. In the strategic view players navigate their single starfleet between planets in the hopes of influencing them enough to join their faction. After players rest their crew (i.e. ending the turn), the opposing factions controlled by the AI attempt to influence planets in the same way players do.
Is there multiplayer?
No.
What is the connection between Starships and Beyond Earth?
Aside from being set in the same universe, you will be able to optionallty connect your games in some way as seen in this screenshot. It's unclear what the connection is at this point, but I'll update as soon as it's known. You'll need to login to your my2k account in both games; this also unlocks an exclusive map in Starships.
How long is the game?
"Play Starships on its smallest map, and you’ll likely finish the game in a couple of hours according to Meier. The biggest map provides 15-20 hours of gameplay. Except like all his previous titles, this is designed to be replayed regularly, testing out different craft and tactics."
Will there be any microtransactions?
From Sid himself: “We want to emphasise that there are no micro-transactions: none of that in the game. It’s a single price, and you get the whole game for that.”
Are there any differences between the iPad and PC versions?
The gameplay is the same, but expect lower quality textures.
Android???????????????
No word yet, sorry! Civ Rev 2 made it there eventually, so I'd expect it at some point.
What are the minimum requirements on PC?
Windows
OS: Windows Vista SP2/ Windows 7
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz or AMD Athlon X2 64 2.0 GHz
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: 256 MB ATI HD2600 XT or better, 256 MB nVidia 8800 GT or better, or Intel HD4000 or better integrated graphics
Mac
OS: Mac OS X 10.9 or higher
Processor: 2.0 GHz Intel
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: 256 MB nVidia 8800 GT or better, or Intel HD4000 or better integrated graphics

Reviews
Eurogamer (Christian Donlan) - Recommended
If you were expecting a full-blown follow-up to Beyond Earth, in other words, this isn't it. And that doesn't really matter, because instead this is a wonderful knockabout timewaster, with matches designed to eat up an afternoon - or a succession of bus trips if you're playing on iPad - rather than a whole weekend. It's one of Firaxis' fabled Sid Projects, too: Meier's listed as both designer and a programmer here, and the end result has much of the cheery playfulness you may have found in Ace Patrol (another recent Sid Project that straddled both iPads and PCs). It's not a throwaway game by any means, it's just one that's built to plug very specific gaps in your life
PC World (Hayden Dingman) - 4/5
Starships condenses Sid Meier's knack for turn-based strategy into a short, two-to-five hour burst of board game-esque tactics that's as satisfying as it is approachable.
Pocket Gamer (Peter Willington) - 9/10
Those concerned a deep strategy game won't work on a portable format like the iPad can rest easy too, as while whole games may take hours to complete, each turn is over quickly and the game automatically records your progress in case you need to stop.
Sid Meier's Starships is an empowering gameplay experience that simultaneously makes you feel like the President of an entire space-faring species, and the Commander at the head of a fleet of combat-ready ships.
And it does it in an endlessly replayable manner that's as strategic and devious as you want it to be.
The Guardian (Stuart Dredge) - 4/5
Starships: a new game from veteran designer Sid Meier that you’ll love if you grew up with his Civilization, but feel a bit lost amid the sheer scale of its modern sequels. The setting may be deep space rather than land and sea, but this game’s genetic link to the original Civ is undeniable – and that’s a great thing.