Sternenreich

Build a star empire without a game hurrying you along. You begin with a single home world. From there it grows into an empire: settle planets, put up buildings, raise fleets, hold your ground — against other people doing the same. THE TICK Everyone ticks together, usually once an hour. On each tick production, building queues, flights and battles all move one step on. You do not have to be there. If you see a hostile fleet inbound, you have hours to think of something — and you get a notification when it matters. This is deliberately not a game that pulls you back every ten minutes. THE UNIVERSE 49 galaxies arranged in a ring. The richest planets and the most dangerous neighbours are at the centre; the outer rim is poor and quiet. Every planet has its own abundance of metal, mineral, food and energy — worth a scan before you settle, because that planet stays with you for the whole round. THE UNIVERSE GROWS WITH YOU At the start only the centre is open. With every player who joins, more galaxies open up — about ten planets per head. Late joiners find room where it is quiet, and the same hard start as everyone else. A ROUND IS ALWAYS RUNNING Every weekend a fast round with one move per minute, every two weeks one with ten minutes per move, plus the long round at one move an hour. Join at any time, mid-flight. EVERY BATTLE HAS A RECEIPT Ship by ship, side by side: what was there, what was lost, what remained. To read back and build better. YOU CANNOT LOSE EARLY Your home world cannot be conquered. Nobody can push you off it, not even if you lose every colony. You start over from home and play on until the round ends. There is no elimination. A round is a self-contained game with a beginning and an end. Then everyone starts from zero again. There is no three-year head start to catch up with. ALLIANCES You can team up, share what you see and coordinate attacks — or break the pact at the right moment. Corporations hold together across rounds, a public radio channel connects everyone. That is part of the game, and the reason rounds become stories. PRACTISE FIRST Against computer opponents no clock runs against you: there you trigger every tick yourself, one at a time or ten in a row. This practice round needs no account and works offline. For multiplayer rounds you sign in with your Google account. As little as possible is stored: an identifier and your player name. No email address, no profile picture. WHAT IS NOT IN IT This version has no ads and no purchases. No energy bars, no waiting you can pay to skip, no paying for an advantage. No tracking. German and English, switchable in the game. Play in your browser and read the guide: sternenreich.org/en/