Have you ever played a 4X or Strategy game and thought there was too much fluff? Too much diplomacy and warfare getting in the way of your enjoyment? Well dear reader, let me introduce you to Slipways, a game that forgoes all that nonsense. There is no warfare, no building massive fleets, no diplomatic maneuvering around other factions to accomplish your goals – just colonizing planets to create a developed logistics network to supply your expanding empire.
Slipways is the next iteration of a relatively simple PICO8 game that was created by Jakub Wasilewski, in which the core gameplay loop was colonizing a galaxy by creating a network of planets that supported each other’s industries. Jakub then took that initial idea, and along with the team at Beetlewing, expanded it into this new and beautiful version of Slipways.
As the leader of a council of races, colonizing the galaxy is a seemingly straightforward affair – the player sends probes out through a wormhole to scan celestial objects in the area for colonization (pro-tip: turn on stable probes in the game settings, otherwise probing can be frustrating as the range pulses while you are holding the button to deploy them). There are a variety of different planet types, and each planet type can host different industries. Industries typically require one or more imports, for example minerals, and will have a certain output, such as robots. Some planet types have a greater selection of industries than others. Forgeworlds are one example, which can produce robots, goods, or chips and only one of these can be chosen: once selected and colonized, the choice is fixed with no way to change it later. Other planets may only have a singular industry type, such as mineral planets which produce only minerals. However, depending on what species are selected before the game starts or what techs are researched, the available industries can change on each planet and in some cases will allow access to settle previously un-colonizable planets.
Once planets are colonized, they begin producing their output, even if their inputs are not being supplied. However, this also causes unhappiness, which is the key resource the player must keep track of. If it drops too low, then they are booted out of office and the game ends.
As for how to win a game, this depends on what game mode is selected. At the start, the only available modes are the Endless mode and Standard Runs. Endless mode is self-explanatory and is essentially a sandbox mode with no timers and therefore no pressure, so it is possible to build for as long as you want. Standard Runs have a time limit of 25 years, and at the end, the player is rated on a scale of five stars depending on how well they did.
Slip into Space-time
As I mentioned, the core loop of the game is to create self-sustaining networks to ensure happiness stays high, while taking calculated risks when exploring and expanding to ensure that happiness does not drop too much. For example, you colonize an earth-like planet to produce people, who are sent to a mineral planet to produce minerals, which then supply a forgeworld that produces robots, that produce food on a swamp planet, which sends it back to the first earth-like planet to feed the people. Of course, things never work out so easily, since once a connection is made another connection cannot be made intersecting it (without the use of specialized buildings). Thankfully, the game does have a handy-dandy undo button, however, it can only be used if certain information has not been obtained (it is not possible to undo sending a probe, for example).
Slipways does get a bit deeper besides this relatively simple gameplay loop. Before a run is started, it is possible to enable “quirks” for that sector that will affect the difficulty and final score upon completion; for example, a high birth rate which means that an extra person is produced on people-producing planets, at the expense of -5% to your final score, or Inhospitable which means no earth-like planets are present, adding +5% to the final score due to how they affect difficulty. Some quirks do not affect the final score in that way at all, such as Mining Focus, which does not have a % change to the final score and instead changes scoring from empire size (that is, how many planets are colonized after 25 years) to adding 50 points per mineral produced. Quirks can be interesting and change the gameplay, and are a fun way to adjust the difficulty without changing the difficulty slider.
The next step before jumping in is selecting which three of the five available races to have on your council. Each race has a different focus, which determines what techs can be unlocked and what perks can be selected. The Ba’qar are one such race, who have a focus on Mining, Energy, and Expediency, which are the themes the techs and perks will revolve around.
Each race has its own selection of techs and perks that can be used in-game. Perks are selected before a run begins, however, only two perks can be selected before jumping in. Since each race has two available perks to choose from, you have a choice between six perks, which can alter how a run is played. Perks will give various bonuses and are seemingly random even within a particular race. I have not been able to prove it, but the same race may have slightly different perks to choose from each run. Some are basic, such as additional credits at the beginning of a run, and others are more interesting, like unlocking different industries. For example, the Aphorians may have a perk to unlock the Remnant Trading industry on remnant planets, which means that people can produce goods on remnant worlds. Techs function slightly differently, in that you have the option of unlocking any of the techs during a run, provided you have the research for them and unlock the appropriate level for the tech. Of course, all starting conditions can be randomized if you like to live on the wild side!
Happy Colonizers
I enjoyed my time with Slipways for what it is as a self-described 3X game, that is eXplore, eXploit, and eXpand. While that description is not wrong, it is probably more accurate to view Slipways as a logistics puzzle game. I almost see it as a rogue-like game as well, which I state cautiously before the Berliners come after me with pitchforks. I do enjoy Slipways as a “kick back and relax” game since I can play at my own pace. Time only progresses when you take an action – for example, sending a probe advances time by a month, and colonizing a planet takes three, and the amount of time taken can usually be changed by researching different techs. Along with the undo button, this gives me the ability to try different expansion strategies and undo most mistakes.
Slipways may be a bit simple for many players in terms of its gameplay loop but that is not to say it is an easy game. Playing on Reasonable difficulty I have a few wins under my belt in the Standard Run, with four stars being the most I have earned in one; enough to unlock the Campaign and Ranked modes. I tried the Campaign mode, and it adds new challenges while telling a story, but so far I have found most of my enjoyment in the standard runs. In addition, while I did not cover all the mechanics in-depth, the game does get a bit deeper than the core loop with unlockable techs, buildable structures and more, and these changes keep the game interesting. Variety is the spice of life they say, and Slipways provides that in spades.
In any case, I would certainly recommend this game to anyone who gets that immense feeling of satisfaction with creating functioning and well-run systems. I also noticed a few members of our community have been playing Slipways, and I’d be happy to discuss your experiences with the game as well. Drop a comment below, join us over at Discord and the Steam forums, and chat with us 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!