Well here we go, a playthrough of a quick campaign in Sid Meier's Starship for iOS, a simple little turn-based strategy game with a world building theme a la Civilisation. Don't expect Elite Dangerous here - this is a little 15 USD game for tablets.



Start screen. First thing to note, no multiplayer. Here's how the game works.



OK, let's get campaigning. The setup screen.

We choose our race and affinity. I choose Boliver, because that gives me an extra starship for my fleet to start with, and 'harmony' affiliation because I am a noob, and expect to get the poop beaten out of me so I need the ability to repair damage cheaply!



I choose a large map, 4 opponents and moderate difficulty. I've played once before, on easy difficulty, and it was.

There are five 'victory' conditions to choose from - domination (last one standing), population (>51% population), wonders (seven or more hi tech wonders), science (3 level 6 technologies) or 'all' of the above. I'll go with 'all'.

Onto the strategic map. I start with my homeworld Cephei 62, a nice little place with 2 billion people (2% of the galactic population), and not much in the way of tech...



I could spend a few science credits now and buy some stealth tech, but I want better shields and weapons, so I'll wait until I have more science credits.

Now to check out the nearby planets. There are two within easy reach. Ursae 74...



And Corona 23



Ursae has a simple little side mission giving a few hundred Science but Corona has a real problem - a pirate death star has arrived in orbit.



That should give a nice little bonus if I can take care of it. But can I?

Here is my rather modest fleet. 3 ships, of the lowest class, corvettes. The symbols from left to right show rating of engines, shields, armour, lasers, cannons, torpedoes, detectors, stealth, and fighter fleets. And below the credits I have to spend on upgrades (not many). I opt to gun up, and add some torpedoes to all my craft.



Back to the bridge. OK crew, what can you tell me about this death star?



My Exec Officer brings the scanners online. OK, it's a mongrel, with a couple of fighter squadrons to protect it from close in fighting, but shields and armour look about the same as one of my corvettes. Lucky I got those long range torpedoes. XO gives me a 40% chance of getting everyone killed. Cheers. What do you expect from a dude sporting a beard and a manbun?



We warp in. There he is, his fighters already deployed, hiding behind a few asteroid fields. I keep my ships at the edge of torpedo range. The little red whirlpools are wormholes that randomly throw you around the battlefield if you cross them.



Green circles show light asteroid fields you can cross at the cost of movement points. Red circles are no go zones.

Torpedos away! I have three, fire one to the left, one to the right, and one right up his spout. Torpedos have a max of two turns of movement and can't change course when fired, but you can choose exactly when to detonate them, either on the first or second phase of movement. The blue circle shows their impact range.

Our deathstar isn't very maneouverable luckily and the middle torpedo flies straight and true, and the Marauder captain is doomed.



Up goes the Deathstar, and its fighters with it.

OK, that was rather uneventful.

We pick up a pile of credits, the crew of the killer corvette picks up 10% skill



We drop in on Corona. They are happy as heck to see us, and we set up a trade route. 75 pc of their population is with us now (three of four blue rings around the planet - get four, and they become part of our confederation).



We could do some planetary improvement to try to win over that last 25%



but that can wait, I have better things to do with my money that waste it on reluctant Coronians.

From Corona I have a line to Canis Majoris, which has invented a Doomsday Machine which has run amok. That sounds lucrative!



Oh yes, very nasty.



That's gonna cost them. I send in the fleet.

My pessimistic XO tells me it is quite mobile, well shielded and armoured, with a couple of roving fighter fleets to protect it.



Looks much like the Death star though right? Same strategy? Why not?

Torpedoes away! And the evil Doomsday swine machine ducks out of the way.



I take out one of his two fighter units, but him and the other one start driving toward us. We back away and spread out for a second torpedo salvo.



Torpedoes are smart enough to maneouver around asteroids, so I get ready to fire and...crud! I only bought one torpedo per corvette! I have only close-in weapons to fight with and they are blocked by asteroid fields!



He lets go with long range lasers and gets a shield hit on my flagship, while his fighters (red marker) try to flank.



I have no choice but to close to knife fighting range. We get in under his armpits.



Three good hits with heavy kinetic weapons, and he's reeling.



He gets another laser hit on our flagship, causing 40% damage



But I get one of my ships to take out his fighters, while the other two finish him off.



A slightly tougher engagement, and double the credits earned. But it makes me realise, I need more torpedoes!

The strategy and status screen is now showing I have a ship needing repairs (red ship symbol) and my crew is pretty fatigued (red vs green heads).



I decide to go down planetside for repairs and recreation, so ending my turn.

While I am partying on Canis Majoris, a new player appears on the scene. Let's call him Mr Green. He sets up camp on a nearby world of 3 billion souls.



Time to gun up! I load each corvette with more shields, armour and torpedoes. Now I'm out of credits again, but my flagship has been upgraded from Corvette to Destroyer. I also bought some stealth capability for one of my corvettes, just to be able to try it out, see what it does.



I check out the trading post. I used all my energy credits so have nothing to trade there, but I have some metals (for city building) and science credits (for researching tech) but not many. No deals to be done here.



I decide to head toward Mr Green, just in case he gets any ideas of muscling in on Federation Heiny. On the way, I stop at Cancri, to see what's going down.



More runaway tech. When are these people going to learn?



Mr Green hails me! He's the chatty type, and tries to impress me with the size of his...fleet.



I am not impressed.

Another caller comes on the line! Let's call him Mr Creepy. He warns me not to trust Mr Green and says he is at war with him. The enemy of my enemy, etc etc.



I decide I need to get up close and person with Mr Green, see if we can't form an alliance against Mr Creep. I have to leave the poor Cancrians with their runaway tech and I head to Orionis where Mr Green is hanging.

Mr Green welcomes our fleet, then brags a bit...



...then tries to buy us off by upgrading the engines on one of our ships.



We laugh at his proposal. He gets a bit miffed and leaves the planet (wisely, given his puny little fleet).

The people of Cancri have their own problems.



We're going to have to take on this task with just our flagship. Lucky we uprated the engines and defences.



That mission turns out to be a cakewalk. We dodge around a few pirate ships without getting into any shooting match and collect the joyous thanks and credits of the Cancrian peoples.

Which I promptly spend on an extra corvette, torpedoes, shields, fighters and armour. And I finally have enough science points to uprate my torpedos and increase their blast range.



Canis Majoris calls, saying that another Deathstar has turned up. That's easy money, so I head on over.



A double salvo of torpedos at max range, and he's shields down.



I surround him with fighters and finish him off.



Things start to get crowded. A new player appears on the scene - call her Morticia. She is also peeved at Mr Green, and advises me they are at war.



That guy gets around.

A fifth fleet sails past, led by the Dragon queen (red). She's not at war with anyone, but she just looks mean. Suddenly I am hemmed in.



I start getting nervous. Is my little fleet of four ships enough? I do a bit of trading, trying to build up credits and buy a bit of tech. The other players keep expanding their empires. All of them have about twice my population. A couple build tech wonders.

I add planetary defences to all my border planets, at a crippling cost. It seems to work, the other empires stay away. I add a few cities for population, spend some science on planetary infrastructure to try to boost my energy and metal production.

I am stalling.

Near our borders is an area of dead space called Dark Matter. There is a huge bounty for clearing it of danger. But what danger? I need those credits... dammit, I'm going in!

First, I tool up as much as I can. Add an extra ship, upgrade my flag SS Dragon to a fast cruiser, my corvettes to destroyers. I'm spending all my money on brute force, no stealth, no detector tech.



Gulp. Hidden in the dead space is a planet of 12 billion people! And they are all pirates. This is the pirate homeworld!



Oh, this can't be good.



It aint.

The XO is brimming with good news.



A freaking battleship and two carriers?! A sloop? What the heck is a sloop? They are brimming with fighter squadrons too. I am going to have to keep well out of range of those guys.

There is more good news. The pirate carriers have stealth. They slide toward me, then disappear from sight. Firing torpedoes now would be pointless. I have to send out my own fighters as scouts.

One by one, they get swatted.



But one by one, they manage to fix the general location of the enemy carriers and capital ships. Torpedoes away!!



Turns out they can hide, but they can't run. One by one, they go BOOM and the planet, its people, its treasure, are mine, all mine!

Mr Green comes on line. I am expecting gratitude. A bit of thanks very much for ridding us of the pirate scum, old chap. No, he just wants to taunt me, gives me a 20% chance of winning and tries to show off how he has upgraded his little fleet.



Oh, such a little fleet.

I see why so many people dislike him. I decide to be rid of him. Emboldened by my victory over the huge pirate Marauder fleet, I take some rest leave to freshen up the crew, uprate my fleet again so that every ship has three salvos of torpedos available, two fleets of fighters, and then head straight for the planet where his fleet is based. I also spend science points to uprate my shield and armour tech, and my engine capacity.



As we arrive in his home system, and he sallies forth to meet us, this is what greets him.



On the left of the screen you can see I have also collected a mass of light blue icons which represent 'battle cards': double shot power, double detector capacity, double moves etc. which I don't need. He has no chance.



He retreats to his homeworld. Morticia is next. Her homeworld is soon in ruins and all her planets are mine.

Suddenly I have 38% population, and only two remaining opponents - a weakened Mr Green, and the Dragon Queen who has quietly been collecting planets without bumping into me, and also bumped herself up to 35% population.



To stop her winning, I have to take her on and leave little annoying Mr Green to enjoy a few more turns of independence.

It won't be an easy battle, but it is very winnable if you ask me. The XO of course doesn't agree.



Torpedoes away. Two of herships cloak and evade. Another two salvos, three ships down, but her cloaked flagship gets in close and scores hits on SS Dragon as it uncloaks. It's a brave move, as she is completely surrounded, and we pummel her flagship to a standstill.

The Dragon Queen surrenders. It turns out that in addition to her population, she was sitting on enough Tech wonders to deliver me a tech Wonder victory.



I'm thinking, hang it - it's a big Galaxy, and she's a fine looking woman. Very gracious.



Methinks a Dynasty is about to be born!

And that annoying Mr Green is still out there, somewhere.

Nice read. How long did the game last?

Thx. I would say this one was about two hours total.

So I rate this one as a good time waster for a plane trip as you could start it on the outbound and finish it on the return leg.

Mind you I played at moderate difficulty, with 4 of possible 5 opponents, and on large vs 'epic' map; so if you crank up the difficulty, it would be a longer game. Also, I virtually ignored the diplomacy, city building, science and trade aspects of the game just to focus on victory by military domination - spending time on those would also add up.

So it has potential to be a much deeper game if you want it to be.

TIP: to avoid yourself or opponent winning the game too quickly, do not choose 'population' or 'wonders' as a victory condition. Choose 'domination (last one standing) instead. It is simply too easy, as you saw above, for tactical victory over your dominant opponent to deliver you campaign victory because by conquering their homeworld, you win all their planets, population and tech wonders.

H

So...it's pretty much like Angry Birds Space then?






The Jedi Master