We recently pinned down the lead developer of Astra Exodus and asked him a few questions regarding this promising 4X title.

1) What’s your name and where did you get your start in programming?

My name is Fernando Rey. I am a senior systems engineer from Uruguay and got started in programming way back in 2001 when I started college here in Montevideo (Uruguay). Back then making games was almost impossible for a humble student, especially so far from the industry on the northern part of the continent. Nowadays it is radically different, with all the tools and know-how readily available. Plus personally I am way better prepared. In any case, I’ve been working on Astra Exodus since 2016 and it is my first published game.

2) What 4X games do you take inspiration from?

The main games I draw inspiration from are Pax Imperia 2 and Master of Orion 2, to a lesser extent. However, I also keep in mind Star Wars Rebellion and Reunion. All the games I enjoyed the hell out of ever since the 90s when they were released. And I hope it shows in Astra Exodus, as its aesthetics (and to an extent, gameplay) are designed to evoke that decade. The goal is to present a game which expands, with new ideas, accessibility, the visuals, the best systems, and aesthetics of that time.

3) What’s Astra Exodus’ unique selling point? What makes it different than all of the other 4X games out there?

Basically there are 3 main features that I think make AE stand out. First, the choice-driven single-player campaign, which lets you choose your story and has tons of replay value. Second the deep ship design and resulting in real-time space tactical battles, which have directional damage and several activated abilities, while including a time control – this makes battles manageable even with tons of ships. Third, the huge semi-randomized research tree, with event-based and specialization techs, should also be mentioned. Finally, even if it’s relatively common today, it’s yet not that often that a 4X game launches with full mod support, including Steamworks.

4) Will there be multiplayer?

No, there are no plans to introduce that feature in the game at this time. Early in the development of the game, I had to decide between that and the campaign, since I didn’t have the resources to do both. It might not be a popular choice, but in a way, that’s exactly why I picked it.

5) Is there anything unique about the diplomacy system?

That’s something rather difficult to answer, as it depends on how you define the term, but one example that comes within the diplomacy is the Relations, Trust and Threat system. These values indicate different factors on how the AI perceives the player’s actions and are critical internally to determine what it does. This together with Relationship Modifiers, make it always clear to the player, why an AI does what it does. Another example that comes to mind is the reaction of other players to the use of planetary bombardment versus invasion. None of them will see kindly to you bombing the surface of planets, regardless if you target civilians or not unless it is against their historical rival. Historical rivalries are relationship modifiers which predispose certain factions against each other, according to the larger narrative within the game.

6) Tell us more about the combat system. It appears to be in real-time and features special abilities? 

Space combat occurs in full real-time strategy events, with the player giving orders to the ships (previously designed and created), including heading, attack orders and special abilities in the field, from a top-down perspective. The action, however, can be slowed down to a crawl or sped up even, thanks to a time dilation system. Also in Astra Exodus, starship position and heading are important elements, as the armor and shield defenses are divided into sections, one for each facing (bow, starboard, etc) and can be brought down independently. Thus exposing the ship’s structure to damage. Abilities in-game range from simply rerouting power from engines to shields, to activating a special module allowing for the teleportation of the ship, across the battlefield. In contrast, ground combat is fought on a defined hexagonal grid, representing the terrain of the planet in question, with an initiative based combat system; in which each unit has a value that determines how often it can move or attack. There are several troops in the game which fall within a set of overall types, with their own pros and cons depending on the case.

7) What is your targeted release window?

Right now we are targeting Q1 2020.

8) Are you holding a beta test and if so, how do 4X fans join?

Yes! We are doing a beta test for which anyone can sign in here

9) What do you think your focus is, development-wise, from now until release? Do you have a roadmap?

The focus right now is on bug hunting and UI improvements, as well as some gameplay enhancements. For example, the just added VSYNC support. We will be doing also a full-text review, including hopefully some localization, with the help of the community, in the near future. Our roadmap at this point basically consists of a constant iteration on the beta feedback, to get the game to the best possible launch condition possible, along the lines of what I just described.

10) Have you played any 4X games recently? If so, what and what were your thoughts?

I am ashamed to admit that the little time I have for gaming now, I devote to games that require less planning and thought-out strategies than a 4X. Otherwise, I’ll just be thinking about AE and how it can be improved or how it compares, thus taking the joy out of the experience. When I do play 4X games, I usually go old school though. My last 4X session, like a month ago, was in Civilization 3, as the Germans in an archipelago map on Monarch difficulty and I was far from winning 🙂

Thank you very, very much, Fernando, for taking the time to answer our questions! Stay tuned to eXplorminate later in this week as we have a short preview video of Astra Exodus to show our fans! We’re very excited to have been given the opportunity to show the game off in a somewhat-early state, so check back on Wednesday to see it!