When setting up a new game the player can choose the race to play, the number of opponents and their races with their difficulty set individually, and set up the galaxies. The player can also enable the Remnant super ship “alternative victory” condition. The game also supports intensive modding. It also offers a sandbox mode, where the player can test designs or pre-make ship designs without needing to fully experiment inside of the game so as to not bog down the gameplay. As mentioned, it offers both a single-player and multiplayer mode.

The game gives the player a good amount of choice. Someone’s enjoyment of Star Ruler 2 will come down to how important immersive elements are versus solid gameplay mechanics. This is due to the lack of immersion and atmosphere, and while solid mechanics can take a game far, it is not a substitute either. Though many of these issues can be considered nit-picks, they add up to a point it does impact the overall enjoyment of the game. However, these ideal things come with a price, as some of these perks may be the problem itself for some players.

Even the ship customizer lets the player define the ships’ shape and the position of its modules completely free of restraint. Build planetary thrusters and take a planet for a spin. You can set up dry docks to build super-sized ships that would normally be beyond your reach, or setting up orbital shipyards that can have a dozen worlds supporting it so that it can build these same titans in a timely manner. Want to build artificial planets, build Ring Worlds, blow up planets, or blow up stars? You can.

This game lets players do things they can only dream off in other 4X games. The game offers a fully customisable ship designer and is pause-able, with the ability to issue orders while paused and the means to control the speed of the game. The game is a 4X/RTS hybrid that tries to reinvent many of the traditional concepts of the 4X genre by having a unique diplomacy system and a different approach to planetary management and expansion. Star Ruler 2 was released on Maby Blind Mind Studios.

Space empires 2 shipsets