I’m continuing to make slow but steady progress on Beyond the Chiron Gate while in Covid lockdown. This month I added interstellar civilisations, and new scanners that let you choose between systems to visit from Chiron Base. (I also spent a bunch of time implementing what I thought was a very clever system of data storage, before realising that it was actually not clever and taking it out again. But the less said about that, the better.)
Gateway scanners
At the start of the game you’ll have no control of where the Chiron Gate takes you, but buying the new Gateway Control upgrade will let you choose from three systems to visit, and Advanced Gateway Control will let you choose from five.
These aren’t much use without the other new set of upgrades: Gateway Stellar Analysis, Gateway Planet Detector, and Gateway Hazard Analysis, which give you information about the systems before you visit them.
As with the planet scanners I talked about last update, the idea is that as you progress through the game you’ll get the ability to home straight in on more interesting (and safer) systems and planets.
Interstellar civilisations
The game now generates several interstellar civilisations at the start. These are super-advanced races that discovered the gateway network before you, and have left traces on planets across the galaxy, such as meddling with planets’ orbits or terraforming them with nanites. Whenever the game generates new star system, there’s a chance for it to pick one of these civilisations to have visited and left traces on its planets. (Regular non-interstellar civilisations can still add traces to planets in their own system.)
Unlike civilisations that you find on their homeworlds, where you discover all about them at once when you make contact, with interstellar civilisations you’ll be discovering a little more about them for each trace of them you find.
In later updates I’ll add a way to visit these interstellar civilisations’ homeworlds, and I’ll make one of these civilisations the builders of the gateway network. Identifying which civilisation is the Gatebuilders and visiting their homeworld will be how you win the game.
Thank you for your continued patience and support while I work on this ridiculously overscoped game. I should be able to show you some more progress next month.