02: How Does Space Frontier Play?

So I've given you a brief overview of how Space Frontier came to be, but not really much more about what it's actually like other than "space game."  Well I've been working on a summary of what the game is, what its all about, and how it plays, and this is what I've come up with.

Space Frontier is a game for 2-4 players where you take control of a faction’s command ship, which is your  home base, harvesting center, and construction yard.  The players are sent by an all-powerful and corrupt human empire to explore and reclaim an inhabited but uncharted solar system.  The players are not loyal to the empire, but are taking advantage of their desperate need of your services.  All players start at the Warpgate and move outwards, exploring space as they go, to stake their claim in the solar system.  While exploring, players do their best to harvest resources, build an armada of fleets, and complete the missions as given to them by their overseers or contracted by discovered planets.  Players are in direct competition with each other for resources but also must occasionally band together for mutual benefit for face the consequence of communal failure.

The goal of the game is to complete randomly generated tasks sent to you from your commanding empire that are available to all players.  The player that completes a task first is the only one who can claim points for it.  You also receive points for exploring, military conquest of key locations, and completing other less vital missions that are granted by planets and random chance encounters.  Players can be as cooperative or antagonistic with each other as they wish and games can be played and won where military might is all that matters or without a shot being fired.

Next up I will be talking about the visuals of the game and how they came to be what they are, as well as where they are going in the future as the game nears completion.

-Aaron