Star Ruler 2: Wake of the Heralds releases tomorrow, Friday April 22nd! You can read our final feature higlight about the second new race, "The First", below.

Although their once great empire is gone, reduced to nothing but remnants by the ravages of time, the minds of those who chose to live forever still carry on.
The planet Atrozal, hollowed out and brimming in circuitry; where a trillion souls discarded their bodies to be part of the final dream of the ancients.

The First care little for the physical world, yet the arrival of the Heralds spells a threat even their paradise does not escape. Send out massive orbital replicators to find raw materials and convert entire planets into automated refinery worlds and computation hubs. The entire weight of this galaxy must be unified if we hope to stand a chance of surviving.


Because the First are a fully virtual race, they do not have any population or civilian infrastructure or any of that messy stuff. Instead, their planets are covered from top to bottom in industry and circuitry, each part performing the valuable task it was programmed to do.

The First have an entirely different set of buildings to place, and placing buildings is the only way they can make use of resource pressures.

Having little use for food, luxuries or infrastructure, all planets are immediately at the level their resource requires, no lower and no higher.


Rather than colony ships, the First take control of planets by using their Orbital Replicators. These giant orbitals filled with specialized manufacturing hardware and fitted with specialized thrusters can rapidly replicate and assemble entire factories for placement on the planet they are orbiting.

In order to control a planet, an Orbital Replicator must be moved to it. Only planets that have a replicator orbiting it can build any buildings.


One of the functions of the Orbital Replicator is placing enormous Transmuters on various planets. When the First deem a resource useless, such as food, they instead decide to convert the resource and the matter on the planet itself into Base Materials for further use in replication.

When a resource has been converted to base materials it can then be exported to a different planet. Various buildings require the continuous consumption of imported base materials to operate, so you will need to convert many different planets to fuel your industry.


The AI has received a number of improvements to how it plays the game, and you can now control parts of its behavior during game setup. You can also determine exactly in what way and how much an AI cheats, if you feel like teaming up for a comp stomp or just want a bigger challenge.

Note that the AI improvements and settings will be available to all players through an update to the base game, and will not require the expansion to be purchased.


In order to allow people to play multiplayer with as many others as possible, the expansion content automatically gets unlocked in multiplayer depending only on if the host player has the expansion installed.

So even if you don't own the expansion, hop into a multiplayer game hosted by someone who does and you will be free to try out any of the new stuff!

Star Ruler 2: Wake of the Heralds releases this April 22nd! We will be posting feature highlight posts every few days until the release.


In the new Invasion map, you are tasked with defending your isolated part of the galaxy from waves of ruthless invaders. Empires cannot declare war on each other in this co-operative map, but diplomatic trickery is of course still advised!

You start the game with your home system surrounded by 3 systems containing allied remnant defense stations. These stations were set up a long time ago to protect the galaxy from outside threats, and are vital in preventing the invaders from gaining access to the galaxy.

Each system has 3 defense stations. If all of them are destroyed, the sytem will explode. If all three of the systems you are tasked with defending are gone, your empire will explode! No pressure.

When playing invasion, your flagships will not have any maintenance costs, so you can be free to build up your force to meet the waves of invaders.


Whenever you succesfully defeat a wave of invaders, they will drop an Artifact Shard. Unlike normal artifacts, these do not cost any energy to activate.

In addition to their normal use, each artifact shard also has a secondary, more powerful, way to use it. Choosing this is option is risky, however, as it increases the strength of the invaders for everyone in the game.


Through the Election influence card, or the Open Election diplomacy event, you can win a diplomatic vote in order to be named the new Galactic Senate Leader. Being the senate leader allows you play several new restricted cards with powerful effects, as well as opening the path to obtaining an influence victory!

Star Ruler 2: Wake of the Heralds releases this April 22nd! We will be posting feature highlight posts every few days until the release.

In vanilla Star Ruler 2, all of the properties of your race are decided by the traits you choose before the game starts. In Wake of the Heralds, you can further customize what you think your empire should be like using the new Attitudes mechanic.

[i.starruler2.com]Attitudes level up as you perform specific tasks over the course of the game, each level giving you new benefits for your empire to use. Attitudes have very powerful effects when fully leveled, so be sure to take note of what each new attitude you take requires you to do!

You can take additional attitudes on top of your starting one at any time. Each subsequest attitude will cost more influence points to take, however.

As you can see, the possible attitudes are arranged in pairs of opposites. Taking an attitude prevents you from taking its opposite unless you discard it first!

Taking Stable, pictured above, will require you to develop a multitude of planets to a high level at once, and prevents you from taking its opposite, Progressive.

As you meet your chosen Attitude's level up requirements, you will start to unlock its boosts and effects for your empire.


Also new this expansion: Ship Veterancy! Whenever one of your fleets destroys an enemy flagship, it gains experience, eventually leveling up to a higher Veterancy status.

Ships with Veterancy have more health and perform better in combat, so be sure to train your fleets well.

We're happy to announce that the expansion, Star Ruler 2: Wake of the Heralds will be releasing this April 22nd! We'll be posting feature highlights posts every few days until the release, starting with this very one!

For as long as the records recount, the Heralds have been on the run. Chased by an unknown entity, the Heralds jump from galaxy to galaxy as entire star systems vanish in their wake, as if consumed by the blackness of space itself.

Each new galaxy saves their species from extinction for a short time more. While impermanent, the people of the heralds learn to appreciate each new planet they settle, and live in hope of one day finding a place where they can end their journey.

Guide the evacuation from the previous galaxy as rickety refugee ships dare the perilous intergalactic jumps to one of your jump stabilization beacons. Send resources back home to gain benefits from the last vestiges of your crumbling civilization as you prepare to deal with your new neighbours.

Unlike all the other races, the Heralds don't have a designated home system. Instead, your three starting Beacons are scattered across three different systems in the galaxy, each marking the start of a Heralds beachhead.

Although the Beacons themselves connect your separate territories for resource trade, being spread out across the galaxy means you'll have to be mindful of your many neighbours!

Playing the Heralds, you do not grow population or colonize planets yourself. Instead, Refugee Ships will automatically jump into the galaxy and land on nearby planets, bringing them under your control.

You will still need to make use of and distribute the resources that your refugees land on, so be sure to be on the lookout when a ship jumps in.

Certain types of resources can be sent back to your home galaxy by exporting them to one of your Beacons. The pressures from those resources will then slowly build up Support points on your beacon, and you can spend this Support on a number of useful benefits for your beacons and empire.

The Heralds make use of a new type of FTL called Jumpdrives. Like Hyperdrives, they require a subsystem on a ship to be used.

Jumpdrives have a short charge time, after which the jump to their destination is instantaneous. There is, however, a maximum safe distance a ship can jump, determined by the size of the jumpdrive subsystem on its design.

Jumping beyond the red line pictured here is quite possible, but risks doing catastrophic damage to the ships in the process. Jump too far past it and your ship will make it to the destination only to explode in a giant ball of plasma.

Since the Heralds' Beacons are jump stabilizers, jumping to a system where you have a Beacon is always completely safe, regardless of the distance of the jump.

We just released our first minor content update for Star Ruler 2 since release. As always, read about some of the highlights here, or scroll down for a full changelog.


The research grid and associated graphics have been completely redone, making research paths and unlocks clearer and easier to use.


The new quantum battery modifier can be used to partially satisfy a subsystem's power needs, but needs to be charged with your empire's Energy when constructed.


A number of new race traits have been added, based on a point buy system. Every race starts with 1 free trait point to spend, and all of the default races have been given an additional default trait choice to make use of it.

Added

• Overhauled the research grid to be more readable and easier to use.
  
• Added a number of positive and negative traits that can be selected in race customization. Races can pick one free positive trait, and all of the default races have been given an extra bonus trait.
  
• Added Quantum Battery modifier.
  
• Added Shield Hardener subsystem.

Changed

• Larger weapons now have comparatively longer reload times.
  
• Rebalanced various values on weapon types.
  
• Terraforming now gets more expensive the further away from the labor source you queue it.
  
• Control Computers now give a scaling effectiveness bonus for the first 30 seconds of any combat.

Fixed

• Fixed being able to construct motherships that make money.
  
• Fixed being able to construct singularity labs in nebulas.

We released another small patch with various bugfixes, bumping the version to v1.0.1 this time.

Fixed

• Self Destruct subsystem can no longer erroneously use weapon modifiers like the payload amplifier.
  
• Fix allondium level 5 effect not affecting the proper values.
  
• Fix auto-import when playing Mono queueing up food and water.
  
• Fix Mono UI showing extra population needed for level 1 for tier 0 resources that cannot be upgraded.
  
• Fix built Planetary Thrusters breaking when loading a saved game.
  
• Dragging resources to export should now be easier, holding the left mouse on an object no longer creates a tooltip. (Old behavior can be restored with a setting)

Changed

• Asteroid mining bases that you no longer have trade access to are lost and revert to their unmined state.
  
• Bulkheads and Targeting Sensors can now be used on support ships.
  
• Ablative Armor can now be used on support ships.
  
• Ablative Armor now has a massively increased damage resistance against lasers/energy weapons.
  
• Laser/Energy damage is now more vulnerable to being blocked by armor. (DR can reduce laser damage down to 1% of its original damage, rather than the minimum of 20% for other damage types)
  
• Increase the health of all weapon turret hexes.
  
• Self Destruct subsystem now requires power to put on the ship.
  
• The rotation/spinning of planets and other objects on the UI can now be turned off via a game option.
  
• Added new models used for various orbital stations.

AI

• Fix the AI not always using its starting ships and scouts.
  
• Fix a bug that broke the Mono AI.
  
• Improve savage AI logic to build stronger fleets.

As we ramp up for Star Ruler 2 leaving Early Access with the release of our v1.0.0 build, we'd like to thank everyone who participated in making SR2's beta phase a success. Your feedback and suggestions have been crucial in helping us shape this 4X RTS strategy game into something we're very proud of!

As always with our updates, you can read about some of the highlights here, or scroll down for a full detailed changelog.


A number of new technologies have been added containing new megaconstructions to build. Megaconstructions require the mining of ore from asteroids, and culminate in the construction of your very own Ringworlds:


In addition to new enhancements to the Volkur shipset, two new shipsets each with many new ship models have been added.


Support ships can now be designed to follow one of several preset behaviors. When equipped with ammo stores, certain behaviors also let your support ships temporarily detach from the fleet and perform independent raids on the enemy fleet!

Added

• Added support ship behaviors
  
• Mono and Nylli can use "Colonize this" automation.
  
• Mono can build FTL breeder reactor building.
  
• Add Mining Laser, Cargo Storage, Ore Processor, Construction Bay and Liquid Armor subsystems.
  
• Add Space Elevator building.
  
• The AI now tells you how it feels about you on the diplomacy screen. Hover over the mask showing its mood to get a more detailed breakdown.
  
• Add a keybind to tell a fleet to cancel all orders and stop moving.
  
• Added various new models for different types of objects.
  
• Add Coolant System, Payload Amplifier and Smoothed Mechanism weapon modifiers.
  
• Add Artificial Planetoid, Star Forge and Vacuum Telescope megaconstructions.
  
• Feyh ships must now contain Shrines for the crew to pray at. Praying shields the ship from harm. (Thanks Darloth!)
  
• Updated Volkur shipset with new PBR shaders and a bunch more models!
  
• Added Ringworlds!
  
• Pressing 'z' will zoom to the currently selected object and follow it with the camera until you pan.
  
• Added two new Shipsets, 'Mechanica' and 'Moirai'!

Changed

• Gates are now designable stations.
  
• Mono FTL cost for population transfer takes into account gates, tears and wormholes.
  
• Cyllium now rotates a variable number of artifacts that expire.
  
• FTL Crystals level 4 and 5 abilities are swapped.
  
• Planet support capacity now depends on and increases with planet level.
  
• Some asteroids now contain Ore that needs to be mined with mining lasers.
  
• Destroying a Black Hole now causes much more widespread destruction.
  
• Tractor beams now work when passing through wormholes, slipstream tears or gates.
  
• Engine types and size now affect ship turn rate. If only using graviton engines, the ship does not need to turn to move.
  
• Updates some music tracks.

Fixed

• Mono can't transfer population while being annexed.

AI

• Various improvements to the designs the AI creates.
  
• AI now builds asteroid mining bases.
  
• AI can use all FTL types.
  
• AI can use all races.
  
• The AI's diplomatic actions will be influenced by how you interact with it and its allies and enemies.

We're pleased to announce that Star Ruler 2 is slated for release out of early access this March 27th! Among the new features that will be coming in our 1.0 build are megaconstruction, improved asteroid mining, more ship and orbital models and artwork and improved AI!

Check out the video below for our new trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OFhVtqfDBQ

Be aware that starting the week prior to release the price of the game will be going up by $5 to $24.99, so there are only two weeks left to buy in at the lower early access price!

A strange new Star Ruler 2 update is attempting to make first contact with humanity! As always, read about some of the highlights here, or scroll down for a full detailed changelog.


This update brings the introduction of 7 distinct races to play as, each with their own different lore. Alongside the Terrakin, sporting the regular Star Ruler 2 gameplay you're used to, the 6 other races each have their own unique gameplay elements to contest with.


A race of sentient flora, the Oko construct organic ships held together by Sinew. Their population does not live in cities, but instead overgrows the planet they are on as a whole.


Hoonan ships and settlements are all linked to a massive information network, requiring them to construct Mainframes in space. Fleets fight at increased strength near mainframes, but become significantly weaker when fighting far away from one.


The Feyh have a long tradition of worship and sacrifice, and must construct Altars to keep their population from becoming godless. Altars sacrifice the resources of the planet they're built on, but allow the feyh to live on their planets in greater numbers than any other race.


All the Mono were once a single mechanoid intelligence, stranded on a planet and with no memory of its creators or its purpose. Mono population must be constructed using labor, but does not need food or water and can freely move to other planets through hyperspace, without the need for colony ships.


The Saar are a race of missionaries, spreading their message of peace and acceptance to all who are willing to hear it - and some who are not. They can construct Star Temples, allowing them to convert the population living on nearby planets owned by other empires to their religion.


Fleeing the destruction of their homeworld's sun, the Nylli now consider themselves children of the stars, living in giant motherships and orbital habitats around the planets whose resources they exploit.

Added

• Add 'Hedge' card.
  
• Add 'Support Station' artifact.
  
• Added distinct races with various unique gameplay elements! The race selection menu will pop up whenever you try to start a new game.
  
• Some planets will now have one or more moons. Moon Bases can be built to extend the amount of space available to construct buildings on.
  
• Chat messages in multiplayer may now be sent to specific players / teams / allied / etc.
  
• Constructions in the build queue can now be reordered by dragging.
  
• Add 'Floating Continent' artifact.
  
• Build queues can now be set to repeat mode.

Changed

• FTL Crystals now have an extra special effect at level 5.
  
• Cyllium now has a special effect at level 4.
  
• Reduce money cost of FTL jammers but increase their FTL usage.
  
• Cost to use hyperdrive and fling now scales with the mass of the ship.
  
• Tweaked the costs of things in other FTL methods.
  
• Torpedo damage is now unspillable (cannot be lost by piercing through the entire ship).
  
• Muon cannon damage now completely ignores all Damage Resistance.
  
• Change the level up benefit effects for Allondium.
  
• Add a limited firing arc to hyperdense lasers.
  
• Added new Gate model.

Fixed

• Fixed a crash caused by keybind reloading.
  
• Optimized some areas causing framerate losses on radeon cards.
  
• Fix ships firing weapons at asteroids.
  
• Fix ships being able to fire weapons while in FTL.