Slipways

Slipways is a space strategy game built around connecting planets into a productive economy. You colonize planets, choose industries and link colonies so they supply one another. Its runs take 40–60 minutes, with immediate consequences for each decision and no military system to manage.

Build a trade network

Planets govern themselves while you decide what they need and how to connect them. As colonies develop, they grow and offer more opportunities for trade. Long-term planning can make a single connection trigger upgrades across several planets and provide a much-needed boost to your income. With no war to manage, the focus stays on exploring space and developing its resources.

Technologies and races

The technologies available vary from run to run, so you adapt your plans to the situation. They can let you move planets, harness stars for energy or colonize worlds with sentient machines instead of people. There are more than 80 technologies, but you use about 10 in each run.

The empire is home to five races, each with its own outlook, abilities and section of the technology tree. Your choices of technology and allies shape how you approach each sector and its resources.

Game modes

The standard mode gives you 25 years to build the best empire you can. Sandbox endless mode lets you experiment freely, while ranked mode compares your performance with other players on pre-seeded maps.

Campaign mode contains 13 scenarios, each adding a new twist, from ancient structures dating to the dawn of the galaxy to spacetime rifts that split a galaxy in two. Mechanics introduced in the campaign can also be unlocked for use in other modes. Almost everything is procedurally generated, and each galaxy sector presents different challenges, so runs vary from one another.