Space On 4X

The game

A hex board of 19 zones that starts dark and is revealed as you play. Each player drafts three ships out of twelve unique models, and you take turns activating them, 30 seconds each. Inspired by Xia: Legends of a Drift System — but with no dice: you always know what an action will do.

A board that reveals itself

The map is drawn at random every match and starts dark. Only explorer ships can enter the unknown.

Decisions, not luck

No dice. The game shows you the exact outcome of an action before you commit to it.

A small squad

Three ships per player, drafted from twelve. Alternating activations keep both players playing all the time.

Online, one on one

A quick match against anyone, or a private room with a friend. The unexplored map and your opponent's hand stay hidden.

A match on turn 4: revealed zones, the two home bases and the card of the ship to act, with its action buttons.

Close up: Earth (the blue base), the moon Mimas and a debris field — buy, sell and point-of-interest hexes inside the force fields.

How it plays

How a match plays today. Trade, combat and NPC ships are on the way.

The draft

Each player bans one ship; then you pick in a snake — A, B, B, A, A, B — until each side has three.
Your first pick must be an explorer — only explorers can open the map. Banning explorers is allowed.
Your pick order is your activation order, every turn.

Turns

You and your opponent alternate, one ship at a time: six activations per turn, 30 seconds each, in draft order.
On its activation a ship moves (up to its movement) and takes one action.
You can always pass.

Moving & exploring

Most hexes cost 1 movement; hazards cost more. Only one ship fits in a hex, so ships block each other.
Planets sit inside a force field with a single entrance.
Only explorers step into the unknown — it costs 1 and must be the last step. The zone is revealed to both players.

Actions

On planets, markets, hazards, stations and gates a panel shows what you can do there: buy, sell, mine, draw objectives, swap cards, survey, collect, salvage, dock, jump.
Already in the game: drawing and swapping objective cards, surveying moons, mining and delivering cargo (see the deck below).
Combat — attacks, missiles, conquering zones — and trade come next.

The interaction panel — The panel on a buy hex: Europa sells Water. Buying and selling are on the way.

The ships

Twelve unique models, named after birds. Each has one or more skills: Explorer, Cargo, Miner, Fighter, Conqueror (pirates are NPCs). Exploration pays with everything else — explorers move further but carry less, hit softer and have weaker shields. Stats may still change while the game is balanced.

Sparrow

ExplorerCargo

Move: 4
Hull: 3
Shield: 1
Weapon: 1 dmg, range 2
Missiles: 1 slot
Cargo: 3 slots

Albatross

Cargo

Move: 3
Hull: 3
Shield: 2
Weapon: 1 dmg, range 2
Missiles: none
Cargo: 5 slots

Swan

Conqueror

Move: 3
Hull: 4
Shield: 3
Weapon: 2 dmg, range 1
Missiles: 1 slot
Cargo: 2 slots

Shrike

ConquerorFighter

Move: 3
Hull: 5
Shield: 2
Weapon: 3 dmg, range 1
Missiles: none
Cargo: 2 slots

Heron

ExplorerConqueror

Move: 4
Hull: 3
Shield: 1
Weapon: 2 dmg, range 3
Missiles: 1 slot
Cargo: 1 slot

Harrier

Conqueror

Move: 3
Hull: 4
Shield: 2
Weapon: 1 dmg, range 2
Missiles: 3 slots
Cargo: 2 slots

Raven

Fighter

Move: 3
Hull: 3
Shield: 3
Weapon: 2 dmg, range 2
Missiles: 1 slot
Cargo: 3 slots

Cardinal

ExplorerMiner

Move: 4
Hull: 4
Shield: 1
Weapon: 1 dmg, range 2
Missiles: 2 slots
Cargo: 2 slots

Condor

Conqueror

Move: 2
Hull: 7
Shield: 3
Weapon: 3 dmg, range 2
Missiles: 2 slots
Cargo: 3 slots

Pelican

CargoMiner

Move: 2
Hull: 6
Shield: 2
Weapon: none
Missiles: 1 slot
Cargo: 6 slots

Swift

Explorer

Move: 5
Hull: 2
Shield: 0
Weapon: 1 dmg, range 1
Missiles: none
Cargo: 1 slot

Falcon

Fighter

Move: 4
Hull: 3
Shield: 1
Weapon: 2 dmg, range 2
Missiles: 2 slots
Cargo: 1 slot

The zones

The board has 19 zones of 19 hexes. The two home bases sit in opposite corners; the other 17 are drawn and rotated at random, so no two maps are alike — and not every zone makes it into a match. Each of the 20 moons sells one resource and buys another. On the board, empty space is dark: a moon shows only its three action hexes in colour, and a home base only the hexes inside its force field.

Home base

Earth (blue) and Mars (red). Ships start and respawn here.

Europa

Sells Water · buys Iron

Enceladus

Sells Water · buys Gold

Titan

Sells Plants · buys Water

Ganymede

Sells Soil · buys Plants

Callisto

Sells Iron · buys Water

Io

Sells Gold · buys Plants

Ceres

Sells Iron · buys Soil

Rhea

Sells Soil · buys Gold

Iapetus

Sells Gold · buys Soil

Sedna

Sells Plants · buys Iron

Dione

Sells Water · buys Soil

Tethys

Sells Water · buys Plants

Mimas

Sells Iron · buys Gold

Pluto

Sells Soil · buys Water

Eris

Sells Plants · buys Soil

Thebe

Sells Gold · buys Water

Hyperion

Sells Plants · buys Gold

Amalthea

Sells Iron · buys Plants

Himalia

Sells Soil · buys Iron

Phoebe

Sells Gold · buys Iron

Station

inner ring: 2 asteroids; outer ring: 4 asteroids · up to 2 per map

Gate

outer ring: 1 nebula

Debris field

inner ring: 2 debris; outer ring: 2 debris · up to 2 per map

The deck

145 objective cards. Each completed objective is worth 1 Glory. Your hand is secret: your opponent only knows how many cards you hold.

The hand

Each player starts with 3 cards, dealt when the draft ends, and holds up to 6.
Your cards sit at the bottom of the screen: hover one to see it big.
Not every moon makes it into a match: a card for a missing moon can't be completed — swap it.

Points of interest

The star hex inside each moon and base. Using it costs the ship's action — once per point of interest per player.
Swap any number of cards (they go to the bottom of the deck) and draw as many, plus one if your hand has room.

Completing

The card is revealed and leaves the game, you gain 1 Glory and draw a new card. Completing also costs the ship's action.
Survey: land on the moon's planet. Delivery: a miner mines the resource on the moon that sells it (asteroid fields give elements), carries it in the hold and delivers it on the planet of the card's moon.
Piracy, NPC and hunt cards come with NPCs and combat.

The hand of objective cards — The hand at the bottom of the screen, under the point-of-interest panel: draw or swap.

An objective card, big — Hover a card and it shows big in the middle of the screen.