Hopefully it will have some more unique visuals added later on to really make it stand out. Unfortunately, the beam effect is uses is similar to the standard ships right now, so while devastating, it didn’t stand out as much as I’d like. The first space monster, hopefully one of many, appears along with some powerful weapons of its own. The new battle arena mode that was announced is shown and includes a look at some real-time combat. Ship construction is back and uses a modular system similar to the original StarDrive, though it looks much cleaner. Research, which has a menu that is still an early work in progress, is shown and it appears to involve some more important decision making. Exploration will include procedurally generated systems that offer unique events that include effects or opportunities for your ships or empire, and sometimes both. New colony features such as pollution and approval are in. The video highlights many of StarDrive 2’s features and mechanics. This and several other intricacies about the game are all revealed in the latest Dev Log video which has just recently been released. In a rather unique twist, StarDrive 2 is introducing tactical turn-based ground combat into the mix. The space combat is set to remain real-time. StarDrive 2 was only recently announced, officially anyway, and we already knew that real-time mechanics were being replaced with turn-based at the strategy layer. Tactical turn-based ground combat in a space 4X game though? That’s something quite unusual indeed. After all, that mechanic has been a mainstay of most fantasy 4X games since the genre was invented. It’s not particularly news worthy to mention tactical turn-based ground combat these days.

Stardrive 2 steam workshop