STARS REBORN // Alpha Roadmap

§ 00 · Project State

Current Scope

DOC · SR-RMP-01
SNAPSHOT · v0.62.1

▸ PROJECT STATE · v0.62.1 SNAPSHOT · AUG 2026

Ship Types

9

Scout · Fighter · Frigate · Cruiser · Bomber · Colonizer · Miner · Freighter · Starbase

Core Systems

15+

Economy · Combat · Fog of War · AI · Tutorials · Multiplayer · Trade Routes · Map Overlays

AI Opponents

4

Settler · Rusher · Expansionist · Brain — different play styles, not stat inflation

Target Match

15–30MIN

P2P multiplayer · 2 players · Host by IP · LAN discovery

§ 01 · Foundation

What's Shipped

DOC · SR-RMP-01
LIVE IN v0.62.1

These systems are live in the current playtest. Everything in Phases 01–05 builds on this foundation.

▸ MANIFEST · COMPLETE 15 / 15 · LIVE IN v0.62.1

Economy Combat Triangle Fog of War Multiplayer AI Opponents 4 Tutorials Rally Points Patrol Mode Main Menu Scanners Build Queue Trade Routes Miners & Freighters Map Overlays Sound & Music

§ 02 · Phase 01

Polish to Playtest-Ready

DOC · SR-RMP-01
PHASE 01 · COMPLETE

PHASE 01 · COMPLETE

Polish to Playtest-Ready

POLISH

▸ 5 ITEMS

Closing the last paper cuts before opening the door to a wider playtest audience. The game is playable — this phase made it presentable. All five items are resolved: four shipped, one deliberately redirected.

Sound EffectsShipped · v0.35.0

Eight spatial audio slots — autocannon, plasma, missile, capital laser, explosion, warp, colonize, build complete. Off-screen sources are culled and distant fights sit lower in the mix. Later passes gated build and warp audio behind fog of war, so you no longer hear what you cannot see.

MiniMap EnhancementsShipped

Split into a static and a dynamic layer: ownership rings, scan-tier dashes, pulsing combat rings on contested stars, mid-space battle markers, merged ship clusters and a live camera frustum. Left-click jumps the camera, right-click issues a move order without moving the view.

Alert SystemShipped

A battle banner naming the contested location — click it, or press Enter, to jump the camera there; it rotates through simultaneous fights. Alongside it an activity feed pills up losses, sightings, colonies founded, bombing runs and captured stars, each one clickable straight to the event.

Fullscreen ToggleShipped · v0.21.0

Borderless fullscreen from Settings or F11 anywhere, plus a resolution picker (720p through 4K, including 21:9) and a UI-scale slider. All of it persists between sessions.

Hard + Brutal AIRedirected

Both configs exist and are used in headless tournaments, but they reuse Rusher and Expansionist phase logic with more aggressive numbers and never felt distinct enough to put in front of a player. Held back deliberately. The effort went into Brain instead — a direct-decision AI that is now the fourth selectable opponent.

§ 03 · Phase 02

Three Minerals + Mining Ships

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PHASE 02 · NEXT

PHASE 02 · NEXT

Three Minerals + Mining Ships

ECONOMY DEPTH

▸ 4 ITEMS

The economy gets its depth layer. The logistics half of this phase has landed — miners, freighters and trade routes are live — and what remains is the part that changes every build decision in the game: one resource becoming three.

Iron / Silicon / Germanium

Each planet gets three concentration values. Iron for ships and basic infrastructure. Silicon for electronics, scanners and precision weapons. Germanium for advanced tech like bombers, mass drivers and battleships. Control the Germanium-rich worlds and you control the late game.

Mining ShipsShipped · v0.39.0

One miner hull rather than a tier ladder. It parks in orbit and extracts into the planet’s surface stockpile at the rate of one fully-staffed land mine, and it works neutral worlds as readily as your own — so a rich planet you cannot colonise is still worth taking minerals off. Each planet holds a limited number of miners, scaled to its size.

FreighterShipped · v0.39.0

One hull carrying 150 minerals or 50 colonists per run, driven by standing trade routes rather than manual round trips. A route has a pickup rule and a delivery rule — keep a percentage back, fill to maximum, cap at a number — and a single freighter can hold several routes and cycle between them.

Colony TransportShipped

Delivered as a cargo type on the freighter instead of a separate hull. Set a route to carry colonists and pick a rule — max productivity keeps enough population home to staff every building, max growth holds a world at the half-capacity point where it grows fastest — and population flows to where it is worth more.

§ 04 · Phase 03

Fuller Ship Roster

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PHASE 03 · MID

PHASE 03 · MID

Fuller Ship Roster

FLEET DEPTH

▸ 4 ITEMS

From 7 hulls to 12+. Each with a clear role — no filler units. Fleet composition becomes a real decision.

Destroyer

Fast anti-frigate. Sits between Fighter and Frigate in cost and HP. Screens the screen.

Battleship

Slow, enormous HP, massive range. Requires starbase to build. Late-game anchor.

Mine Layer + Sweeper

Three minefield types: Standard / Heavy / Speed Bump. Dedicated sweeper hull to clear them.

Stealth Scout

Cloaked variant. Invisible to normal detection. Reveals enemy formations without being seen.

§ 05 · Phase 04

Research System — 5 Fields

DOC · SR-RMP-01
PHASE 04 · MID

PHASE 04 · MID

Research System — 5 Fields

TECH DEPTH

▸ 5 ITEMS

Split production between building and researching. Five fields · three tiers each. Fall behind in weapons? Out-research the enemy in propulsion.

Weapons

T1: +15% damage · T2: Torpedoes · T3: Capital Ship Missiles

Construction

T1: +20% HP · T2: Battleship hull · T3: +40% HP + starbase upgrades

Propulsion

T1: +15% speed · T2: Stargates unlock · T3: +50% speed

Electronics

T1: +25% scan range · T2: Scanner III · T3: Cloaking

Energy

T1: Shields (regen) · T2: Mass Driver logistics · T3: Mass Driver weapon

§ 06 · Phase 05

Late-Game Strategic Layer

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PHASE 05 · HORIZON

PHASE 05 · HORIZON

Late-Game Strategic Layer

ENDGAME

▸ 4 ITEMS

Stargates, mass drivers, and minefields. The late game gets teeth — long-range logistics, orbital threats, and persistent hazards.

Stargates

Starbase upgrade. Instant transit between gate-equipped stars. Mass + range limits force trade-offs.

Mass Driver · Logistics

Fling mineral packets cross-galaxy. Decay at warp 4+. Receiver catches safely. Transforms long-range economy.

Mass Driver · Weapon

Target enemy planet. Damages pop + structures. Counterplay: enemy driver deflects incoming packets.

Minefields

Persistent galaxy-map objects. Integrate with fog of war. Sweep mechanics reveal hidden approach vectors.

§ 07 · Release Criteria

What "Ready" Looks Like

DOC · SR-RMP-01
LAUNCH CHECK · ALPHA TAG

▸ LAUNCH CHECK · 6 GATES ALL MUST PASS · ALPHA TAG

01 A complete match is fun in under 20 minutes against AI.

02 Two players finish a full multiplayer match without desync or crash.

03 Sound effects land — no silent failures during combat or building.

04 Iron / Silicon / Germanium create real trade-off decisions per planet.

05 Fleet composition matters — no single build dominates with 8+ ship types.

06 Windows + Linux + Mac exports ready for itch.io butler push.