Starborne: The Multiplayer Strategy Game Where Games Can Last Six Months

Starborne is a multiplayer 4X strategy game from several EVE Online developers. This game has been confirmed to be free-to-play and will be massively multiplayer. It already sounds to be a very ambitious title then but that’s not everything. Actions in this game take real-time. So this game will literally take months to complete a game.

Developer Solid Clouds has published a FAQ on their upcoming game, Starborne. According to the post from the developers, “a single game of STARBORNE will last six months and culminate in a decisive endgame”. Details on this endgame are currently very limited but we do know that a single alliance will be declared the winner of the game.

This game is played entirely in real-time. This means that every action in the game uses real-time such as mining an asteroid field or attacking enemies. However, each turn is limited to a set number of actions, so the players aren’t left waiting forever for someone to finish their turn. Once the available actions have all been used, players can log off and return later when their ships have returned and they have more actions.

In addition to being a strategy game, there is a CCG element to Starborne. There’s a collectable card system which is used to customize space stations and the empire. While two players will be able to have the same fleet, they will function differently due to the cards that are attached to them. Some of these cards will be ‘lost’ once they are used in the game. Others are per-account and will never be lost.

This might sound worrisome but the developers state that they want a high player retention rate. As a result, the game will not be pay-to-win. There will be in-game purchases but these items can also be gained by completing in-game actions. In order to advance through the game, you’ll need to play more.

What do you think of a 4X strategy game like this? Let us know in the comments!