It feels like all I have been talking about recently is Stellaris, given its omission on eXplorminate’s Top 10 4X Games of All Time List (*cough* MoO is overrated *cough*). Now you might be thinking, this article is not about Stellaris. And dear reader, you are correct! Instead, I’ll be taking you on a behind-the-scenes trip of Alliance of the Sacred Suns, the upcoming 4X/Grand Strategy hybrid from the talented KatHawk Studios. In addition, Steve Hawkins, lead developer for AotSS, gave some of his precious time to answer some questions for us about the game!
So why did I bring up Stellaris? Well, before it released, I was hoping Paradox Studios would create a game like Crusader Kings in space. While I was disappointed that was not what it ended up being, Alliance of the Sacred Suns looks to deliver on that promise, putting the player in the position of emperor of a human imperium that spans multiple systems, wheeling and dealing with various houses and lords for influence, power, and resources. In Steve’s own words:
[The goal has been to] make you feel like you truly run an interstellar empire, as a human being, not a grey eminence. In all the 4X games I ever played, I always wondered who was actually running the show. I mean, it’s supposed to be you, but that’s no fun for me; I already know who I am. I wondered what it would be like to play a far-future emperor, and deal with planets who wouldn’t always do what you wanted, a council that wouldn’t always vote your way, and Houses that were waiting for your fall. So the goal is to make you feel real, like you’re in the throne room, in front of your holographic UI, running an empire.
This game made it onto eXplorminate’s list of most anticipated upcoming releases of 2021, and I am excited to share my experiences with it so far!
The Emperor’s New Spacesuit
Like most strategy games, there is no better place to start than the tutorial. And believe me, Alliance of the Sacred Suns (AotSS) is not a game where you’ll want to skip it. Running a Galactic Imperium is no joke! It is quite easy to get lost in the interface, as there are many options and a lot of buttons to click. Have no fear however! The initial tutorial campaign is presented in a story form, with the Emperor guiding his son in how to run an empire using the interface. It is certainly detailed and helps onboard the player into an incredibly deep game. The writing is fantastic, even if it reads a bit too much like modern American (I was expecting more cerebral language, especially considering the wonderful and ornate character art). Otherwise, the tutorial gives a solid introduction to the game: certainly enough to get the player started, but not so much that they are overwhelmed by the mechanics, providing ample room to experiment and learn it all.
AotSS is a character-focused strategy game, where the player is largely going to spend time managing and leveraging relationships to expand their influence, power, and other resource generation. For a character-focused game, however, there are a lot of other resources needed to run the empire, from basic materials, to ship components, heavy materials, and of course credits. These resources are obtained by developing your empire through your Primes, who function as a sort of “hands of the Emperor” for their respective specialties. In keeping with the theme of having the player be the Emperor, the Primes function to embed the player in that role, taking the minutia of running an empire out of their hands and into the hands of the Prime; this works as the player can also get their own hands dirty, so to speak.
AotSS is a turn-based game, and it limits the number of actions that can be taken through Action Points (AP). AP is a limited resource and can be used to interact with other characters, initiate projects, conduct investigations, and so on. Considering the vast number of options available, AP portray the limited ability of the emperor to attend to every issue. At the beginning of each turn, various events and issues come up in the queue on the left-hand side. Sometimes it’ll be an update, or someone trying to improve relations, and other times someone is just sending insults! This leads to interesting decisions, however, does a house leader want to take your time to butter you up? Well, they better hope you have not spent your AP on projects needed to develop your empire!
AotSS also has an interesting system whereby various projects can be undertaken by the player’s empire, from simply sending probes to scout planets, to taking control of entire systems for your empire. For example, in the screenshot below I am setting up a project to send survey probes to a system, because I can see there are a few planets there I can exploit for resources. In order to do so, I have to select a project leader and contributors who will complete the project. A balance has to be struck between relationships, Administration skill (determines how well they can perform the task), and their applicable skill expertise to ensure the project is successful.
I really enjoyed this facet of the game: AP is such a precious resource that I really had to give thought to my priorities, and where and spend AP accordingly. Am I willing to invest in resource production at the expense of repairing relations with a nemesis? Or does it make more sense to send an Inquisitor team to investigate my rivals to ensure they are not plotting against me? Bountiful decisions like these, along with balancing and prioritising the various necessary tasks each turn really kept me engaged in the game.
An Audience with the Emperor (Dev Q&A)
As mentioned, I am delighted to have had the chance to ask the most Glorious Emperor Steve Hawkins a few questions about AotSS:
What inspired you to make Alliance of the Sacred Suns, and go for the particular player experience you are creating?
It’s been a long journey, and the answer starts with the answer above. But I guess the simpler answer is that I wanted to play a different kind of 4X. Most (at least when I started designing AotSS) were pretty much the same: you start with a scout, a transport, maybe a colony ship, with one planet, knowing nothing about the galaxy around you, and you must make your way to become the baddest civ in the galaxy. Rinse and repeat. I’ve played virtually every 4X since the original Reach for the Stars in the 80s, and they really had become derivative. And frankly, I think players agree: you see it both in the comments and encouragement I’ve gotten over the last several years, as well as the other type of ‘empire as experience’ games (Star Dynasties, Stellar Emperor) that are starting to emerge. I personally think when this style becomes more mainstream, people will be looking for similar experiences and asking ‘Why didn’t I want to play this before?’!
What has been the biggest challenge so far in creating AotSS?
The complexity of the project. I ended up leaving my career to pursue the dream of game design and indie games, and it turns out that making games is HARD! Especially a game that has all the complexity and depth of a Paradox game, but with about 1/10th the staff. I taught myself to program, design games, etc. so my story is quite different from the typical indie game wunderkind. I’m 45, and I’m a novice indie game creator!
What features are you still tweaking or looking to bring to the game this year?
We hope to add the whole endgame with the alien threat, as well as outside empires. We are also looking to expand the Event system and make it much more moddable (we’re switching to Lua scripting for that) as well as refining the military system and the communication system. We’re also always working on balance and bugs, and refining the UI/UX. The core game design is mostly in place and working, we’re just looking to refine and ‘sculpt’ the game with player feedback to get that real Emperor experience we’re shooting for.
What is your final vision for AotSS?
To be memorable, and to make people really think about what kind of role and experience it would be to really run a vast space empire. I have been heavily influenced by the Foundation series, and while you’re not running twenty million worlds, to even contemplate such a political structure is barely comprehensible. At that point, you’re really just a figurehead; the apex of a very tall pyramid with people under you constantly shifting and scheming to move up and around the levels. I wanted to capture that feeling, and I felt having your empire be composed of Great Houses that are.. sort of loyal?… would make for a very interesting experience and limit your power. You must work through your people, and the AP mechanic limits your actions (this simulates time to enact sweeping changes and meet with important people). We want to be unique, memorable, and tell a story that begins with you as a new 18-year-old emperor or empress and ends… well, that’s up to you!
Forward unto a Glorious Reign
Alliance of the Sacred Suns is truly an ambitious game that brings a new perspective to the 4X and Grand Strategy genre. This is the kind of game I can see myself sinking 40 hours into and still learning new things as I play. I believe what KatHawk Studios have here is a real gem, and it is impressive what a one-man dev team has done to create a deep and interesting Grand Strategy game with as many mechanics as it has, while staying true to its goal of giving the player the Emperor experience.
With the recent addition of publisher support from Hooded Horse Game Publishing (also publishing Terra Invicta) and a new programmer alongside Steve, it’s increasingly likely that KatHawk Studios can pull this off.
Furthermore, Rob took a short dive into the game in a recent video series on YouTube. While it’s clearly still in an alpha state, you can start to see the brilliance of game design shine through, even in such an early build:
You can compare earlier videos that Rob has done (also on our channel) to the one above and see just far AotSS has come.
What do you think about AotSS? Is this a game you are also excited for? Leave us a comment below, or join us over at Discord and the Steam forums to chat about it and other 4X, Strategy, and Tactics games!
Omar is a big fan of 4X games who first found eXplorminate through the podcast, and has been a supporting member of the community since. In addition to 4X games, Omar enjoys Grand Strategy games, city builders, and other turn-based tactical games. Some of his favorite games include Shadow Empire and Stellaris. You may have seen him around as omzh on the site and the Discord, so feel free to say hi to him!