Starship Empire is an intense PvP-filled space MMO where you not only lead your ship into epic battles, but manage the entire crew inside.

It takes place in a persistent universe where thousands of players are all interacting with each other at the same time, talking, trading and blasting the hell out of each other in ship-to-ship combat! Inside the ship you can do things such as command one of your engineers to fix a broken shield generator or order one of your security officers to attack intruders that are boarding the ship. There’s just as much fun inside the ship as there is outside!

Picture a world where you can soar through the galaxies, captain of your own ship, in command of your own crew, exploring the unknown, solving the mysteries of the universe, and fighting those who threaten your freedom, ideologies and livelihood.

• Massively multiplayer support for thousands of players
  
• Real-time ship-to-ship combat (PvP!), using laser cannons, photon-style weapons, and other futuristic weapons
  
• Board other players ships to loot cargo and attack their crew (even more PvP!!)
  
• Interior ship gameplay such as assigning crew members to various stations, repairing ship damage, and healing injured crew members
  
• Two races spanning seven galaxies, each with it's own danger level from fairly safe to imminent death.
  
• Eight classes of ships including War ships, Trade ships, Science vessels, Diplomatic vessels and Pirate ships.
  
• Visit nearby starbases to upgrade your ship and crew... stronger, faster, better!
  
• Story-based missions (currently in development)

Every ship has a certain amount of weapon slots. For example, a Military ship will have more weapon slots than a Science vessel and a level 2 ship will have more weapon slots than a level 1 ship. Weapons can be upgraded in the Starbase Shop and added to these slots and then used in real-time space battles. All weapons use energy generated from the engines. Some weapons such as laser cannons use much more energy than other weapons.



When an enemy ship's shields are down and it has been damaged enough, you can board their ship, sending selected crew members over. The boarding player can loot the boarded player's cargo and bring it back to their ship. Both players will control individual crew members, and can shoot at each other, injuring or even killing each other.



When your ship is destroyed, there are two options. You can decide to salvage your ship and recover whatever wasn't looted by pirates or permanently scrap your ship, collecting an insurance payment that you can use to start a new game.

As captain of the ship, you can select crew members and assign them to repair shields, hull plating, and other damages. Crew members that are injured during an attack can recover in sick bay or you can assign medical officers to heal them. Throughout the ship there are various crew stations including Navigation, Tactical, Engineering, Medical and Command. When crew members are assigned to these stations they earn experience in a specific skill. These skills have a direct impact on how well a ship fairs in battle and solving problems. For example, if a crew member assigned to a tactical station is a level 2, the player will have a better chance of hitting an enemy during battle than if that same player assigns an officer with level 1 tactical skill to the station.



Every ship has a certain amount of engine slots. Each slot can hold an engine that will burn fuel and produce energy. This energy will be used to power shields, weapons and other devices. Engines can be upgraded for increased fuel efficiency and power production. In addition to engine slots, each ship has a certain amount of energy cell slots that can be filled to increase a ship's energy storage capacity, thereby allowing ships to recover shields and fire weapons more quickly.



Each galaxy has one or more starbases where you can dock your ship for safety and upgrade your ship's shields, hull plating, weapons, scanners, crew and more. You can also sell acquired items and raw materials that were mined from asteroids and ship remains.




I recently presented a pre-alpha demo of Starship Empire at PAX East in Boston. I met a lot of great people and here are some of the highlights:

Players were having a lot of fun shooting other ships and blowing things up in the outer-ship view, but my favorite part was the reactions on their faces when they saw that you can go inside the ship and control individual crew members. When they found out it was an MMO on top of it they were psyched.

I got a lot of "This looks like Star Control meets FTL plus multiplayer!" Some people replaced Star Control with Escape Velocity (or a few other games I've never heard of) and one guy said it looked like a real-time Gratuitous Space Battles, but no matter which game they quoted, one thing was for sure, they were excited! Another comment I received was, "This is a little like EVE but really easy to get into," which was reassuring to hear.

Fairlight ?(@FairlightEx) Support good games! Starship Empire looks impressive and is being made by literally one guy. Definitely my favorite so far @BantamCityGames

Charlotte Armstrong (@scifichar) Really impressed with @BantamCityGames Starship Empire demo at #PAXEast2015. Check it out and help make it a reality

Chris Plath (@name404) Definitely check out @BantamCityGames Starship Empire. Twas very awesome and I must have it. #PAXEast

http://www.mmorpg.com/newsroom.cfm/read/34303/General-Starship-Empire-An-Intense-PvP-MMO-in-Space.html

http://massivelyop.net/2015/03/24/starship-empire-gives-you-command-of-your-own-ship-and-crew/

http://www.tentonhammer.com/news/starship-empire/ambitious-mmo-project-starship-empire-hits-kickstarter

http://www.onrpg.com/articles/editorial/pax-east-2015-day-1-recap-trion-worlds-dreadnought-indie-games-and-cosplay/5/

http://www.gamingenthusiast.net/news/starship-empire-is-a-new-one-man-kickstarter-attempt-at-an-mmo/

http://justpressstart.net/starship-empire-pax-east-2015/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asp7RwUt_uo&sns=fb