On May 24th, Distant Worlds, Code Force’s space 4X wargame will get it’s ultimate expansion. Distant Worlds Universe is the culmination of the whole series, gathering together in one place all of the expansions and the base game while expanding the galactic narrative and chucking in vastly greater modding capabilities.
With the base game and the expansions would-be space dictators can spread their influence throughout the stars, explore nebulae, deal with private merchants and mining corps and maybe even fight a space monster or two.
Games can be kicked off at several points during the history of the galaxy, from the birth of warp technology to an ancient galaxy filled with decadent ancient civilisations. Races, which includes a pirate faction, all have their own goals and victory conditions, and the advisor system can be tweaked to allow leaders to be master delegators or hands-on micro-obsessed rulers.
If wargaming is your cup of tea, the galaxy can be set up for massive fleet battles and sprawling wars, where the focus is entirely on martial conflict. But sometimes you just want to be chums with aliens or becoming a space mogul of Scrooge McDuck proportions, and for those times, you can play it as a 4X game.
With Universe, a significant amount of the game is being opened up to tweakers and fiddlers. Everything from ships to research trees and be edited and modded, and a scenario editor lets you play god before you play ruler.
The new storyline has been built with the same tools players will have access too, and you’ll be able to build your own planet destroyers. Maybe you just want to put a space highway down, but a world is blocking it.
Because the new expansions is being bundled in with the core game and all previous expansions, it’s a bit pricey if you’ve already purchased everything before it. That’s where the discounts come in. There’s a 10 percent preorder discount and a further 10 percent discount for every expansion owned, making the game potentially $10.