Distant Worlds: Universe

Distant Worlds: Universe is a pausable real-time 4X space strategy game set across vast, generated galaxies. You build and expand an empire, exploring, colonizing, researching and fighting while managing its affairs at a scale that can reach 1,400 star systems and 50,000 planets, moons and asteroids. The game combines the depth and detail of turn-based strategy with real-time play, and lets you pursue storylines, meet victory conditions or play in an open-ended sandbox.

Explore the galaxy

Galaxies contain other empires, independent alien colonies, traders, pirates and space monsters, as well as asteroid fields, gas clouds, supernovae, galactic storms and black holes. You can uncover evidence of past civilizations and secrets about the galaxy’s troubled history. Galaxies can range from crowded sectors for quick, intense games to vast spaces suited to longer games; nebula clouds spiral out from the core and shape the distribution of star clusters.

Build your empire

You can start with a single planet and sub-light ships, or as an established space-faring civilization with warp drives. Play as a Standard empire or a Pirate faction, with victory conditions and other gameplay choices that vary according to your actions. Explore for resources and potential colonies, send colony ships to found new worlds, and keep those colonies supplied.

Develop technologies for ships and star bases, then design and build your own. Military ships range from escorts to carriers and dreadnoughts; you can also construct mining stations, research installations and secret monitoring facilities. Patrol your empire against pirates and space monsters, build defensive bases, field fleets against rival empires, and recruit troops to invade and conquer their colonies. Espionage lets you gather information on other empires or disrupt their progress through sabotage.

Manage your empire

Private citizens automatically handle tasks such as mining resources, moving cargo, migration between colonies and tourism, reducing the need for micromanagement. You can automate other tasks and have advisors suggest actions in colonization, defence and diplomacy. Characters—including Leaders, Admirals, Generals, Ambassadors, Governors, Agents and Scientists—have defined skills and traits and can advance and improve.

Diplomacy lets you discuss treaties and trade offers with other empires. You can also talk to pirate factions to obtain underground information or pay them to do work for you. The built-in editor lets you adjust a galaxy by adding or removing star systems, planets, asteroid fields, ships, star bases and space monsters, and modify the attributes of any empire. In-game tutorials introduce the game’s elements and tools, and context-sensitive help explains screens and selected items.

Story and expansions

Universe includes the original Distant Worlds, Return of the Shakturi, Legends, Shadows and the Universe expansion. It also adds an official storyline about the first war between the Freedom Alliance and the Shaktur Axis. In this story, you can access the technology to build planet destroyers, establish the Ancient Guardians, and research and deploy the Xaraktor virus.

Modding and customization

The game supports extensive modding and customization. You can add, remove or change resources, ship components, planetary facilities and wonders, fighter designs, alien races and race families, diplomatic dialogue, empire policy, characters, ship and base design templates, governments, plagues and research trees. You can also customize images for ships, bases, fighters, alien races, facilities, characters, troops, components, resources, ancient ruins, planets, stars, asteroids and animated effects, as well as replace user-interface icons and sound effects.

You can use an editor-customized saved game as the map for a new game, instead of generating a galaxy. The upgraded Game Editor includes an event system for creating storylines on custom maps with triggered events and victory conditions; triggers can be tied to specific objects or events and run actions on other objects immediately or after a delay. You can add custom help files to the Galactopedia and switch between customization sets from the main menu.