Greetings, Spacefarers!
If you were at our recent video AMA, you know that ships are an incredibly important part of gameplay in Echoes of Empire. For those who couldn’t attend, or just want an overview, you’re in luck. Let’s take a look at some of the facets of ships and how they change your experience in the game.
Building up your fleets, and what ships you obtain and use, will lead to very different types of gameplay depending on the composition of those fleets. Since fleets are responsible for essentially all major actions in the game, a lot of design work is going into ships, fleets, and how they behave. Our goal is to offer players a variety of ways to enjoy the game, and the ability to lean into a style of play that best suits you. You can focus your efforts toward obtaining ships and fleets that help you with exploration and discovery, combat, gathering resources, etc. You won’t be limited to one faction, you will be able to hold ships from all 3, and piece them together to design your strategy.
Each fleet is anchored by a capital ship. Capital ships can be earned in game, or players can opt to purchase the NFT variant, known as Flagships. These ships can represent any of the in game factions, and each faction brings a different area of expertise. Understanding the differences and what they bring to the fleet will be important in advancing in the direction you choose.
Royal aligned ships are more inclined toward discovery first, and combat second. Royal ships are built to move quickly, protect their interests, and store large amounts of resources.
Garrison ships focus on combat and harvesting, seeking to claim resources by military might and dominance.
Arbeiters focus on mining, harvesting, refining, and the commercial element of gameplay.
Depending on the faction chosen, ships will also have varying stats, perks, and bonuses that they grant for you. These perks can include things such as discounts at vendors, defensive bonuses to nearby guildmates, enhanced mining extraction rate, and many more. Knowing how and when to use these bonuses to your advantage will help compliment your strategy in game.
As work continues on the ships on the design side, the art team is also hard at work creating ships that are beautiful to collect and enjoy. NFT Flagships are enhanced versions of capital ships, which feature more nuanced design and more complexity compared to their capital ship counterparts. This side by side comparison of a WIP is just one example of how they can differ in appearance:
We are enjoying pushing the limits of ship design, and can’t wait to show more of these as they get completed! We’re also working on additional deep dives into more of the features, and will be hosting further AMA sessions around those features. Look forward to pieces on heroes and paragons, other faction elements in the game, and plenty more!