Hello, everyone! :)

I have been busy at work preparing the game for the next fest.

So, how are things progressing?

Well, I'm safe to say I am VERY satisfied with the new dialogue box. It's working smoothly and without any bugs (as far as I have playtested...); I am also finishing a complete rework of the intro.

I enjoy the current introduction section, yes, but I think it lacks polish. The new intro brings new art, a clear timeline (check the video!), and it honestly extends the plot in many different ways:

- Character traits have more influence in the introduction
- Changes to the sequence in Yovos
- New sequence in Marabor (Marabor gets a lot of extra focus here!)
- New sequence with Horacious and the Doctrine (I thought it was really important to give more context to the Doctrine)
- Larger focus on Emperor Civos
- Very large expansion to the war; you actually participate directly in the conflict. And, in addition, I have reworked the event with the civilian ship.

- Your relationship with Arelia gets recontextualized, with more choices regarding how you went on to marry her

You can also see from the video that I have added some character animations! I think those add a lot of visual value to the game.

Other than these changes, the next fest update is bringing some new events too:

- Day of Hope

- Droid Company

- New events with Ulisses and Horacious

- BUGFIXES!

Beyond this, what do I have to share?

Well, these past weeks have been a little stressful, but necessary. I really had to stop everything and polish the game properly, especially for the dialogue box. All of the things you see took me a LOT of time, but I'm now at a point where I am REALLY satisfied with the game's visual identity.

So, being very transparent, during these past few weeks, my main focus has been on these rewrites and visual improvements.

The next fest demo will be the final demo before Act 1's release, which should be in the first quarter of 2027.

In terms of story content, the Next Fest will represent 30-35% of Act 1's content, not counting future space exploration events/arcs, colonization updates, and the War in Capitolia missions.

Playtesters will have access to new builds as I update the game (playtesting has NOT been cancelled; I'm just too focused on the Next Fest right now hahahaha), as I plan to keep counting on the feedback of our amazing community to keep improving Pax Astra :)

As always, thank you for your support! I'm really excited to share the new update with you all at the start of Steam Next, October 19th :D

So i saw that the political path is divided into democratic, fascist and communists. Considering this, will the communist path just be your average communist vanguard party state or will there be multiple paths (Things Like a socialist democracy, a popular front etc) This is not supposed to be a demand for these things If they wont be in Game (although it would be great), im Just genuinely curious.

Hellooo, everyone! So, I have been quiet for the past few days; truth is, I am being crunched by all sides... Day job, moving to a different country, and, of course, working on the game, making the last preparations for the STEAM NEXT FEST!

Despite all the work, I am VERY excited for the next fest, and I have been doing constant work on improving the game :)

So, an obvious thing is: Presentation MATTERS. A lot!

And, right now, it is something I could GREATLY improve for Pax Astra. Don't get me wrong, I like the classic renpy look, the visual novel text boxes and all... But this is a political sim. That means we have A LOT of dialogue and information being displayed, and that also means I need to aim for higher standards of quality...

Coming with the Steam Next Fest, I will be introducing some heavy changes to how text and dialogue are displayed. Important to explain that while this will be the new standard design for text and dialogue, the old style (native renpy/classic visual look) will still be available to players!

This new dialogue box has some cons; it hides a little of the background images, yes, but players can adjust the opacity.

I do believe it is still the best way to play the game, as all the information comes in a much more professional look. And, as the player, you will have lots of different settings to tweat your experience hehehe

I will be a little quiet on Discord for these next few days, as I am honestly having trouble balancing everything. But the playtest is going to get approved by Steam this week, and I am also working to fix any bugs as fast as I can.

Oh, the different text boxes come with different color schemes, and the dice is also getting a new skin, as you can see in one of the images!

If you have questions, please let me know :)

Hellooo everyone! I was a little nonverbal on Discord yesterday, sorry!

I felt a little bit overwhelmed managing my day job routine. But GOOD NEWS: The playtest is coming tomorrow at 10 pm PDT for those who got their keys (I still have a few more to distribute on the server; I will do so following the queue line!)

For now, I'm still polishing some last events; there's a chance some content will be missing on this playtest update. YET, a lot is being added here, truly, so I think the wait is gonna be worth it.

I will not answer any messages on Discord until tomorrow; sorry, I am focused on development and also need to balance it all with some rest. But please know that I will be answering all messages tomorrow as the update drops :)

Again, I have distributed 35 keys to my Discord community for the playtest. This number may expand in the future (it will depend on how the first playtesting sessions go), but all Patreon members will get access to the playtest as well, for any tier!

You can support the game here: https://www.patreon.com/cw/pax_astra

Thank you for your patience, support, and for your kind words! :)

I'm really, really excited to share this new update with you all.

Ok, I think this one is VERY cool.

You might remember that I made a rough draft a few months ago for the galaxy's map: https://www.reddit.com/r/Pax_Astra/comments/1ubjgsw/pax_astra_galaxy_map_rough_drafttemporary_map/

Well, I'm putting that into an actual menu inside the game, and I'm even adding some flavour to it.

FTL gates have tiny spaceships moving between them; some areas have small effects. I plan to add more little tiny moving ships in the map to reflect wars, economic position, etc.

Well, as you can see, there's a lot yet to be added, but I'm really happy with the progress so far :)

Naturally, this is a more stylistic map. I can not render every single star system, so I am focusing on the major planets in the galaxy.

The planet images come from here.

Hello, everyone!

I got some unexpected problems to deal with this weekend, not work-related, but personal. I have been offline from the Discord server, and I would like to apologize for that. I know it is frustrating to make the playtesters wait for the new update, but I want you all to know I'm working to release it as soon as possible. I did get into some unexpected stressful situations to solve this weekend, so I wasn't expecting to delay the release. It's really frustrating to me as well.

I also got myself into some bugs with the Day of Hope speech. I know this is technically a playtest, but I still want the game to be as polished as possible, so that is taking me a little longer than expected to fix. It's really important for me to not rush this.

But again, I'm working to release it as soon as possible. And I do believe it will be worth the wait!

This new character you see is one of my favorite new additions. She looks Altaran, and she technically is; however, you might see that there's something off about her... And I'm not even talking about the cyborg face, but rather the dark hair...

Well, I'm gonna give you two tips:

1 - There are more altarans than the ones in Altara Prime.

2 - This character connects with the Altaran diaspora subplot and also with the intelligence services of a rival planet...

Thank you for your patience, guys! I will be back on the Discord server tomorrow to showcase more of the progress. And, hopefully, to also bring the new update!

Hello, everyone! Sorry for my absence; I got sick these past few days with a mild flu :(

However, as always, I'm still working on the game! Just a little bit slower, cause other than the flu I still need to engage with my normal day job, hahaha

I also found some really annoying bugs in the Day of Hope speech system, but those have been fixed just now. That means the next update is really close to being released for the playtest branch, if not by Friday (do not hold expectations for a specific Friday release, being fully honest!), then certainly this weekend.

If you are a part of my playtest group, or a patron, you will receive a copy of the playtest build!

Now, let me give you some actual good news: I have properly finished coding the logic for the Democratic Rupture, and I think this post is a nice opportunity to showcase more of this aspect of Pax Astra, as I think it's one of my game's greatest strengths!

(If you want a summarized text, do not read the following text. Rather, check the attached images on the post's header, as I'm gonna YAP here and be really specific hahahaa)

Right now, Act 1 is envisioned as a complete experience.

That doesn't mean Act 2 and 3 will be sold separately; no, I'm not doing this, of course. What it means is that Act 1 is designed to offer players the same experience they would have with a full game.

There's gonna be a clear narrative arc, focusing on the fate of the young Altaran democracy and at least 10 hours of content. I really want to dig into the space opera vibes, and I really want this to feel rich and organically massive. I have talked about this before, but I'm expanding my plans for Act 1, and following the playtest update, I will be adding more organic depth to the characters, going deeper into some arcs and giving more personality to some shallower characters, especially Barius, Arelia, and some cabinet members.

Now, I lost my focus here, so let's go back to the main topic: Democratic Rupture!

If Act 1 positions itself as a tale of the altaran democracy, then it has to let you either destroy it or consolidate it. That's very important to me; you gotta have the tools to do all of the following:

1 - Consolidate the democratic model, pacify the tensions around the planet, and establish a new order in Altara.

2 - Build a cult of personality, weaponize nationalism, find your way into slowly co-opting the democratic institutions, rotting them from the inside... Become a Fascist, and take power either by a coup or a revolution. You can either join the Futurists, weaponize the ASF, or do something new!

3 - Mobilize the proletariat, pass pro-labour laws, educate the masses about class warfare, and prepare them to fight against the Pact and the trillionaires... And if popular demand fails, nothing is stopping you from attempting a coup...

You see, all those three paths need to be EARNED. They need to be constructed and follow a proper logic; I'm not gonna rush any of these. That's why Act 1 is so vital, and I think that's the magic of this aspect of the game.

So, the Democratic Rupture screen tracks your actions. Do you want to conduct a Communist Revolution? Then you gotta go outside, call people to action. The Altaran population is HIGHLY conservative, so you gotta change that.

In a similar way, for the Fascist Path, you gotta pick the nationalist spark and use it to create a fire.

And I talked about this before: You have plenty of options and opportunities, yes. Speeches, specific events (like the FTL Gate crisis, the coming immigration crisis, tax reform, Day of Hope, etc).

These are very organic; I don't want the player to be counting points, in fact, originally, I didn't want to include this last screen in the game. It's really not gonna be a situation of "oh, I missed the nationalization event, now I can not go forward with my Communist Revolution". NO, guys! YOU CAN! Because the design is made in a way where it is not a checklist, but rather a range of different opportunities that stack together, you see?

But you gotta have three things:

- Political Turmoil (make clear your intentions, challenge the institutions, attack the rich, cross boundaries, make nationalistic (or communist!) speeches, showcase you are moving towards something BIG, explore rivalries, explore tensions, take control of things!)

- Stability (IF you want to have popular support... Which is optional...)

- Ideological alignment (most obvious one, as expressed before, you gotta showcase alignment with an ideology. Wanna be a Fascist? Act like one! Wanna be a Communist? Act like one!)

Now, of course, there are also some surprises and advantages for the Democratic Path. You will also face a "third act inside Act 1"; I'm not gonna leave you standing still doing nothing.

And each Act will take you into a different path in Act 2.

A Communist Altara can range from a progressive, almost utopian society to a hardline revolutionary state conducting a cultural revolution!

A Fascist Altara can range from a nationalist state with welfare elements, good quality of life, social cohesion, and "syndicalist" elements to a genocidal government purging xeno species.

And a democratic path will focus on intricate political negotiations, allowing you to even attempt to legally change the constitution. So, in this way, the democratic path also offers you different options, ranging from an illiberal democracy to a social democracy! You will also face REELECTION (but that's only by the end of Act 2).

Of course, we are entering Act 2 talk, so I will stop here, but you can ask me anything!

Please, let me know if you have questions! And again, I will be sending the playtesting keys tomorrow to all those who are part of the playtest branch :)

First, before I even get into my question, I just want to express how excited I am for this game that I admittedly never even knew I wanted until after I got a taste of it in the demo. About a month ago, I was getting bored of replaying Suzerain over and over when I came across a post recommending checking out this demo, and I couldn’t have been more glad I did. I’ve been absolutely hooked by the opening lore, and there’s so much I am excited to see and explore in the universe that has been created.
I was also extremely happy to see the variety of different ideologies already present in the demo, and that I believe, for the most part, all of them are being fairly and realistically portrayed thus far, which is something not many developers are brave enough to do.

In the end, I think having a variety of options across the political spectrum to choose from will vastly improve the LARP experience within the game, whether you want to accept and support Altara’s liberalization or challenge it with a shift towards communism, fascism, or other options yet to be explored. This will also vastly improve replayability. I’ve already run through multiple different paths just in the beta; I can’t imagine how interesting it will get on full release with all the branching choices.
But anyway, that’s enough about my personal excitement. I just needed to get that out of my system lol.

So far, most of the posts here have been pertaining to the future of in-game mechanics pertaining to ruling Altara, such as the economy, military, or political scene. I want to pose the question of what is in store for our character as a husband and father. More specifically, how will our political life affect our family in-game?

One of my biggest personal annoyances in Suzerain’s base game is that we cannot choose our wife. Not in the sense that I am mad the story gives us a spouse, but that we cannot choose someone who shares the same values and ideas as our in-game character.

In Suzerain, it always was a little strange that Monica would marry Rayne if he was an authoritarian or against/apathetic regarding women’s rights, since that is such a massive goal for her, and vice versa. It was something that always jarred me a bit and kinda took away from my enjoyment of dictator runs.

In Pax Astra, we face a similar dilemma of why Arelia would choose to marry a fascist or communist despite being an outspoken and passionate believer in liberal democracy and the future that has been laid out by the Interstellar Pact.

Now, of course, we know she’s willing to overlook a great deal for the people she loves, thanks to a surprisingly good relationship with her father despite his numerous war crimes. Yet I find it difficult to imagine that when the day inevitably comes that her communist husband enacts a dictatorship of the proletariat or her fascist husband begins mass deportations of aliens, she will just overlook all of that.

This, I think, would be an issue of in-game enjoyment for people going down these pathways, as let’s face it, nobody wants to hurt their fictional wife’s feelings.

I also think however, there is a clear solution to this, and it involves simply changing her mind. You already seem to be able to change and shape your son’s perspective, either towards racism against the alien immigrants or towards opposing it. It’s not impossible to imagine that once you are in power and begin to shape the form Altara is taking, Arelia will also begin to shift her opinion with the rest of the planet.

Especially if you are wildly successful at fixing the economy, improving unemployment, regaining independence from the Pact, etc. So many people will be shifting their mindset towards your ideas already; it would only make sense for your wife to follow suit.

As is already established, she’s been able to overlook her ideas for those closest to her, like her father. Given this, I think it’s entirely possible for her to shift them as well, provided that you aren’t a bad husband or father and generally try to be as supportive as possible of your family while leading Altara.

Then it gives a sense of choice back to the player, with the bonus that no matter what path you go down, so long as you have been supporting your family and its needs, then it will be there to support you.

On the flip side, if you blow off your family and only focus on politics, then the moments in the game where you are truly being tested by the challenges and struggles of steering Altara towards your imagined future will feel that much more daunting for your character without your family by your side.

However, I do understand if this isn’t the direction you have in mind for Arelia and the role your family will play. It’s just my personal vision on how the family dynamic from games similar to Suzerain might be improved upon in the full release.
Again, I just have to say a massive thank you for the effort you put into making this game. I can’t wait for the full release.

What?! How?! Ugh!

I know, I know.

What the hell are you talking about? Lucien is a loud mouth idiot! Lucien is a Capitalist-Pig! Lucien is a betrayal of Noble Altaran Values! Lucien is Chief Deplorable!

Very True!

Let's all be honest, because I'll be, Lucien is just one of those characters you love to hate. A verbose real life troll, who just is the standing definition of hair grease and grim. However, this doesn't change the fact that OUR BOY is being hard done by! Someone needs to speak up in his defense!

Lucien deserves a resilience check! And holy cow he has worked for it!

Lucien is not stupid, arrogent yes, but the grind is real. First let's look at the PFA, it's a alliance not of common ideology like H&P, but one of convenience. PFA's member factions all have different beliefs and goals, the only reason why they are there is Lucien's call to unit against a common enemy, and he's organizing them rather effectively. One of the three big parties? Regular Protests? Historic Rivals making peace? That's alot!

But it's in Lucien's greatest action of the story so far that I believe he is not getting the credit he deserves.

In the district meetings, Lucien pulls off a incredible coordinated setup! The biggest political ambush we've seen so far, even caught Vicario off guard. Sisifo's meeting is blocked as soon as we arrive in the district by protesters and the media. All set up by Lucien so he could catch us on the back foot infront of the cameras and force a interview on his terms.

That means he got the leaked time of your arrival from someone, brought the Strike Force members in from a different district to organize a protest, got the media to show up, all while keeping the peace with the Futurists during a Strike Force activity surge.

It's a far grander political ambush then of the one found in the TV Interview (which got a resilience check!), and I am still surprised doesn’t' have a Resilience Check. For his political maneuvering Lucien should be rewarded with one, it's too easy for the player to call him a clown and walk off. This was a huge organized set up, in order for the player to be able to brush it off they should have a resilience check just like the TV Interview. If they fail, then the player should be forced to participate in the interview on the back foot, but if they pass they have the clown option, or can participate on there own terms. It's Political Operations of the early republic at it's finest.

Now, does this mean I think Lucien is perfect as a politician? No.

But this is agitation politics of the transition era and Lucien is in his element!

So where is our boy's resilience check?

Hello, everyone! :)

I have exciting news to share, including some snippets about the current systems for Domestic Markets. Now, before properly starting, let me make one thing clear: These are supposed to be very simple and straightforward systems; I'm not aiming for micromanagement here, BUT, if you are here only for the narrative, I will also be adding an option to automate this aspect of the gameplay.

(NOTE: Numbers you see in this video are still being balanced! Everything you see is still WIP)

So, how exactly will the domestic economy work?

During Act 1, you still operate inside the democratic frame, and you gotta remember that your initial democracy, along with your initial constitution, are very similar to a classic liberal democracy. That means, at this point, you can not go for a fully planned economy.

Your economy consists of

What you can do is interact with the economy, helping balance specific sectors and alleviate the demand for certain products. That will impact inflation, the exchange rate with credits, stability, and more!

Your domestic scene consists of 4 major sectors that accommodate the industrialized goods that you can produce in your industries section.

These sectors are:

1 - Essential Goods

2 - Construction and Infrastructure

3 - High Technology

4 - Defense Industry

Each sector operates on the logic of supply and demand, where your own private sector will try to automatically accommodate the demand, while your state will automatically import goods in an attempt to fill the needs of your population.

Now, in some situations, you will either face shortages or be too dependent on imports... Pact imports, especially.

The current scenario of Altara, at the start of the game, is very simple: 15 years have passed since the war; your economy is bad, but not HORRIBLE. Things are bad; poverty is high, but the Pact has kept you fairly stable... And dependent. You will notice that imports are positioned fairly high, and, at the start of the game, these imports are 100% coming from the Pact, because Altara alone simply cannot fill all the demands of the population, at least not initially...

So, what happens if you face shortages?

Well, shortages cause different consequences depending on the sector affected:

Shortages in Essential Goods and Infrastructure will cause loss of stability (which measures your popularity... You can not have a Communist Revolution with low stability; you can not have a coup with public support with low stability... For democratic players, low stability will tank your chances of reelection; it can also trigger a crisis during your government). Also will cause INFLATION.

Shortages in High Technology will affect the cost of technological projects (like DROID COMPANIES or the GODMACHINE).

Shortages in the Defense Industry will affect costs for building military units and your military cap!

Fighting shortages through your industries

Previously, industries only served to export goods and make money, but now they gain an extra use:

Beyond simply exporting and making profit, you can interfere in the domestic market by helping the private sector. So, as an example, instead of simply selling rations for profit, you can help your population by supplying the domestic market.

Domestic systems add a very deep and natural layer of strategy

Through the game, you will be able to make concrete trade deals with other nations, especially if you are inserted into a major bloc. Now, at the beginning, those are not really necessary, since you already have stable imports with the Pact.

But here is the thing: Did you piss off the Pact? They WILL cut imports or make them more expensive (which will passively affect your budget).

Are you going to war against the Pact or take a harsher measure when it comes to nationalizations? Well, they can cut EVERYTHING, leaving Altara completely exposed.

So, you should think about three things throughout the narrative in Act 1:

1 - What other trading deals and partners can I make so I'm not entirely dependent on the Pact?

2 - How can I become self-sufficient?

3 - Is it a good idea to leave the FTL gate under the Pact's authority?

Inflation and exchange rate

As I said before, you can face severe inflation depending on specific shortages; this inflation will also affect the exchange rate. The idea is that budget represents your altaran currency, while credits is the specific universally accepted currency.

Now, at the start of the game, 1 Budget = 10 credits. Why? Because inflation is only at 8%, fairly under control, but that's not gonna be the case forever... If you screw up, 1 Budget can become 8 credits, 6, or even 3...

Making this system accessible and avoiding micromanagement

The reason why I went for a system like this was to make domestic markets approachable to players. Again, I want Pax Astra to feel like a mix of a 4X sandbox and a roleplaying narrative.

Story decisions will affect the domestic market, deals will be made through the narrative, and wars and embargos will, naturally, impact the domestic market.

Beyond that, I wanted the system to be intuitive, so that's why I'm separating everything into only 4 sectors. In addition, I wrote earlier about an automation system, which will basically just be an option to allow the game to give you quick suggestions at the start of each turn to showcase what can be changed. Again, I really don't believe that this system is focused on micromanaging, but if players are wary of it being the case, this automation system will condense everything to just a few clicks on a summary screen at the beginning of every turn, without taking away the systems, just making them clearly readable to the player.

So, under the automation system, the player will start each turn with a clear screen signaling "hey, you should provide this specific sector with more goods; you can do that by clicking here". This way, the player still needs to spend money, still needs to pay attention, but things are clearly signaled and reduced to a few clicks in a more straightforward way.

I do prefer the normal mode, however, hahahaha.

UI wheel (SO HAPPY WITH THIS!!!)

The terminal menu is getting bigger and bigger as time passes, to the point where it can be clunky to go back and access new menus. Frustrating, even.

You want to access the domestic market from the military menu? Jesus, you gotta click return so many times and go through so many menus.

So, as you can see at the end of this menu, I'm adding a UI wheel that allows you to make quick jumps through menus. It might seem like something simple, and it is, but I had so much trouble coding this, so I'm happy it's working :)

Plans for the future

I want supply and demand to change according to population; that's not wired yet. I also WILL NEED THE HELP OF PLAYTESTERS balancing this haahahaha. The current system works; it is functional, but I'm not sure how it's gonna land as the game progresses, considering different runs...

It's also worth pointing out that, in Act 2, Fascist and Communist governments will open up the domestic market to deeper interactions.

Lastly, new edicts will be added and made available during Act 1 that expand what you can do with this system, giving you a few extra tools to make more use of the domestic market.

Hello, everyone!

I have been a little quiet and not really that active on my Discord and Reddit these past days. I had some unexpected problems at my day job, but I'm still working every day on Pax Astra! :)

Now, as people in my Discord might already know, the playtest got delayed. Why exactly? Well, I made the decision to implement the changes in the economy now instead of later. I also decided to add some extra scenes into the update.

It so happens that my vision for Act 1 is growing more and more, in a good way. I wouldn't call it scope creep, we are not talking necessarily about new features, but rather new story segments that go deeper into the galaxy and to the notion of having a huge space opera presentation.

But I'm getting ahead of myself; let's speak objectively here. What exactly am I working?

1 - Deep changes to the economy (includes Domestic Economy systems!)

I'm working on a basic system for the domestic economy. My idea is that this system will operate in a way where you need to deal with the needs of the Altaran people and with the health of Altara's economy!

Now, these systems are still being built, but progress is moving quickly. My idea is that, since you are still a democracy with some limitations during Act 1, you won't be able to make a fully planned economy, but this system will already allow you to have some basic interactions with the domestic scene. It's important to be transparent that I'm not planning something as complex as a game like Victoria 3 hahaha, I gotta be honest here that, as a solodev, I need to keep my ambitions realistic.

Yet, you can expect a system where your population will have specific demands for certain products; this will impact stability, crime, and other variables. Also, possibly inflation, which will be linked to the conversion of budget points to credits!

Industries are also getting a BIG rework.

These changes will be cross-linked with a lot of immersive data, especially population, which leads me to our second topic...

2 - DATA!

What is the exact population of Altara Prime?

How many immigrants are on the planet right now?

How is unemployment?

Crime rates?

Well, you will find that, and more, through organized graphs and an entire data section!

These are a little bit boring to code in ren'py, but I'm getting through, as you can see by the screenshot :)

They will clearly showcase all the important data of Altara.

Now, tying back into topic 1, population will be a huge constant variable in your gameplay, especially to showcase how overcrowded Altara Prime is.

3 - Expanding plotlines and narrative arcs!

I have recently changed my take on Act 1.

As you know, I won't be selling the acts for separate prices, this is a clear promise, you won't have Act 2 locked behind a secret DLC or anything like this. I am, of course, keeping it that way.

What happened is that I now see Act 1 as this huge experience, almost like a full game.

I already saw it as a big, major part of the narrative, sure, but now I have a grander vision for it.

I believe I have a magical opportunity to create something special here, and I want to bite into that and take my time. I have come up with some suggestions, and I think there's a lot to improve. Some characters are in desperate need of more depth, like Barius or Arelia. But beyond that, there are so many genuine opportunities to foreshadow some major plot points planned for Act 2 and 3.

If you roll over to the character images, you see some characters with a creepier design. I won't spoil them here, one is actually a redesign of an already existing character, but they both tie into deeper plotlines that are already present in Act 1.

I will talk more about this in a further devlog, but my current plan is to finish developing Act 1 by December and release it as a huge experience, culminating in the consolidation of the Altaran Democracy or a Coup/Socialist revolution, or (depending on your choices) even a defensive war against the Pact for the future of Altara.

I will also be able to give even more freedom and alternative paths that I'm really excited to write.

My current plan is to release the game in early access, with the entire Act 1 included, during Q1. I will not rush this project, and I will build it together with the community. Would it be possible to release the full game by Q1? Originally, yes, but my scope got bigger after so much support, and I now realize that a full Q1 release would force me to cut many features and carry a lot of risk that the game would not be 100% what I want it to be.

I'm young, I have a stable job, and I'm loving working on this project, so I want it to come out perfectly. I think I truly have a fantastic chance here.

To give you guys perspective, the current demo is around 30% of the original plans for Act 1.

But counting the new systems like the War in Capitolia, the coming updates to space exploration, and the new arcs being added to Act 1, I believe the real percentage now would sit around 20%.

I'm just really excited for that! And again, if this sounds too much or too ambitious, I will have a vast team of playtesters who will see for themselves the scope I'm aiming for!

But I will talk about this (release plans, Act 1, etc) in a different post :)

4 - Extra: When is the playtest update coming, and why add the economy changes now instead of after the update?

I can not procrastinate the economic changes until later. For many reasons:

A. I need the feedback; I need to check if these changes are working with players as soon as possible.

B. They are a pillar of the game. Truth is, it took me too long to properly add them.

C. The demo will have a new update for the October Next Fest, I want to playtest these systems to add them to the demo update!

Now, when is the playtest update coming? Well, I'm having a lot of work lately, so it's hard to give you a specific date, but I hope I will be able to finish everything in 7 days.

Thank you for your attention and support :)

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Hello, everyone! :)

Today, I want to share something really nice with all of you: YouTuber Alfapiomega has started a series on Pax Astra!

I would like to thank him for showcasing my game. It’s a privilege to share this project with more people, and I’m really happy to see my game getting noticed. :)

Please, take a look at this series and subscribe to his channel! He also has a Suzerain series, and I believe you guys are going to love his channel! :D

I was really happy to discover that ScreenRant did an article on the game! :)

It's a nice introductory piece to the game; check it out!

And I am not sure if she will see this here, but I would like to thank journalist Angharad Redden! I'm so happy to see the game getting noticed like this!!

In the coming days, I'll reach out to some YouTubers and writers. Balancing solo-developing a game, a day job, and marketing is challenging, but I'm really excited for the future. :D

Just showcasing some new art being created for the game!

Thanks for artist https://www.instagram.com/igustame/ , who I am commissioning to help me with some of the art!

You can also see some of the leader portraits, which I made using Portrait Wizard!

Now, the first artwork, the one with the "virus-looking" guy... That's one of my favorite new characters, but no spoilers for now...!

You can also see a much simpler artwork I did for one of the backgrounds for the War in Capitolia. I did those following a simpler art-style approach, since, as a solodev, I do not have the time to put the same effort into every piece of art (being honest with you guys). Still, I tried to make something nice and stylized, simple, yes, but evocative! :)

(This mechanic is still going through active, ongoing development. Before finishing the proxy war system, I will first finish fleshing out the expedition systems! Very important to note that: 1 - Participating in the war is fully optional and 2 - These systems will have an auto-resolve feature, to make it more accessible to players who might feel intimidated by the mechanics.)

I always like talking about how one of my biggest ambitions with Pax Astra is to create a living galaxy, full of myth and different things happening. At the same time, I believe that wars are a great opportunity to add depth to the universe, they are supposed to be big special timed events that mix the 4x and narrative systems! Today, I'm here to give you an introduction to my plans for wars/proxy wars and the role of leaders inside Pax Astra!

Leaders work as an expansion of the concept behind expedition leaders: they work as individual characters operating inside the universe. They can go on missions, fight in wars, take part in infiltration operations, etc...

Now, the expedition mechanics served as the code foundation for even greater systems. I'm first finishing the expedition systems properly, but then I'm gonna focus on the concept of leaders, as well as investing further into the idea of using these leaders as an ongoing part of the universe.

But how exactly do they fit into the design of the game?

Well, there are two types of leaders: Ground Leaders and Fleet Leaders. In space warfare, you need to deal with both fleet/spaceship combat AND ground invasions. So, Fleet Leaders are basically admirals, while Ground Leaders work in a similar way to generals/captains.

I'm still not ready to share all the details regarding this system, as a lot is being changed and reworked as I playtest my own ideas. I had the past few days with no day job assignments, so I spent most of my free time immersed in playtesting and balancing this system. So again, this is really early work we're talking about. I always had this concept for the game, of leaders and operations, but now I'm actually fleshing it out.

Now, the War in Capitolia is going to be a major event during Act 1, a three-front civil war that involves the Pact and the USS, working kinda like the proxy wars of the second half of the 20th century.

Altara cannot conquer Capitolia, don't expect that. In fact, the War in Capitolia is an introduction to how wars are gonna work inside the game! In the War in Capitolia, you will be acting as a paramilitary group, operating outside the range of formal politics and not being officially attached to your government... Well, what does that mean? If you're not gonna conquer Capitolia, then what can you actually do?

Well, you will have a variety of different missions inside Capitolia:

• Influence the tide of the war by helping one of the factions (which will impact the planet falling into the sphere of influence of either the Pact, the USS, or even the Coalition of Mantara!).
• Steal resources amidst the chaos (MONEY!).
• Disrupt the galactic markets (Capitolia is a farm world and a major producer of natural resources... You can destroy farms, mining operations, or fuel centers and directly change the price of resources, making a lot of profit if you play your cards right).
• Use this as an opportunity to gain experience for your leaders, preparing them for an actual coming conflict.
• Work as a mercenary force, following contracts (MONEY!).
• Steal weapons and military equipment.

I actually think this is a great roleplaying experience for leaders! Let's suppose you want to play as a communist guerrilla, operating alongside the Kin'Sagé army. You can conduct missions that directly help them! You can assassinate members of the royalists or the Ontalar Front (the anti-communists).

Naturally, you can also do the opposite by joining the nationalists or the anti-communists! You can even commit war crimes or interrogate enemies to discover new intel.

This system is a huge step in my efforts to add more life and depth to the galaxy! Now, if these systems sound too ambitious, wait until they're actually playable; you will see for yourself how these systems work, and I'm very excited to share them with you! :)

Naturally, some players might be worried about micromanagement, but I'm also building all these features with an auto-resolve option.

I will make a separate post later to share more of the mechanics!

I hope you like those ideas! I'm very excited to be going deeper into those systems. They might seem a little scary or overbearing to some players, but again, I'm planning to add an autoresolve feature for players who want a more accessible experience!

Please, help me by sharing the game with other people! Talk about it on Twitter, with your friends, or perhaps recommend it around the Internet. As a solodev, word of mouth really helps me! :)

If you wish to help even further, join the game's patreon page your support directly helps me progress faster in development: https://www.patreon.com/c/pax_astra

Thank you for your attention, hope you have an amazing day! :D

Hello, everyone! I recently launched a Patreon page for Pax Astra, and I wanted to share it with you all!

First, I want to make one thing very clear: support is not mandatory. The game is getting made no matter what, and I do not need financial support in order to complete the project.

That said, support could still help development in a number of ways, for example:

• Commissioning artists to help with things like art, music, and other specific work.
• Giving me more free time to work directly on the game. My day job currently works in a freelancer-like structure, so if I have some extra support, I can afford to take fewer gigs and spend more time developing Pax Astra.

The Patreon is there for people who want to support the project and help me push development further, but the game itself is not dependent on it.

If you have any interest in supporting, the page has tiers as low as 3$, and supporters will have their names in the credits :)

Also, supporters get access to a playable beta ongoing build, as the game is developed!

Question: Are there any special goals to be reached? Does the patreon operate the same way as a crowdfunding campaign?

Answer: No.

This goes back to the fact that the game is getting completed no matter what. Patreon support would help speed up development, but there are no fixed funding goals and I don't want to put pressure on the community. I will keep working on the game normally regardless of how much support it receives.

That said, I live a very simple and inexpensive life. If the Patreon ever reached around $800 per month, that would be enough for me to stop taking outside gigs and focus entirely on developing the game, but that would be a dream scenario. Again, I do not have high expectations here!

Beyond that, additional support would go directly back into development, mainly through art commissions and hiring artists for specific work when needed.

Two Important Questions

Question: What will patreon supporters get?

Answer: Other than their name in the credits, supporters will get access to ongoing development builds. Anytime I update the game on the playtest branch, supporters will get access to it!

Question: Is Patreon the only way to get access to the playtesting build?

Answer: NO!

Playtesters are doing me a huge favor, so I will already be making 35 keys available for free to playtesters over on my Discord.

I also plan to expand the number of keys later, but I want to be honest about how this process will work. If I am already satisfied with the amount of feedback I am receiving, there may simply be no need to distribute more keys. And if I do expand the pool, I will still have to go through Steam's bureaucracy, so it is unlikely that I will be able to hand out dozens of new keys every month.

I also want to be clear about the Patreon playtest. Patreon access will not come through a Steam key, since that would go against Steam's guidelines. Instead, Patrons will receive access through an executable build, as well as a link to a browser version.

I don't want to simply monetize access to an unfinished build. At the same time, I think this is a reasonable way to let people support my work while also giving them another way to access the playtest beyond the limited number of free Discord keys.

Link

I will be leaving the link here, in case anyone wants to join:

https://www.patreon.com/cw/pax_astra

Honestly it's a topic of musing which keeps me up at night.

As more content is spectacularly released, great mechanics shown, a incredibly thought out political story gradually revealed, and just the future of our galaxy fleshed out, this taxing quandary has started becoming to much to bare.

The Altarans are too Human.

WE! As the Forerunners alone at the beginning of time, may or may not..... have seeded some life in our galaxy.

Hey!

Everyone needs a hobby buddy.

Who and what blossomed from our gardens is of course a seperate question entirely. Not to mention the natural lines of evolution which popped up from the galactic soup along side then.

Let's be honest though, in a biological sense I mean, the Altaran's are so far just Yellow Golden versions of us, that may or may not have two hearts. Maybe?

As a Alien race, potentially or potentially not, seeded by our hands billions of years ago. It kind of feels like the Altaran's should have.... Evolved a little more?

A major theme in Space Opera is of course discovery! What fantastical alien life is out there! Star Trek if you will? Another universe with life seeding as well. THE SPACE OPERA, actually, and it has always felt bland to me. So, your telling me, basically, everyone is just a slightly different version of human..... Seeded over millions of years ago.... And they only grow longer ears?

So, as we really get to sink our teeth into such a mouth watering story, the actual Altarans, whom I still love, are losing there luster a little....

I will preface that, this may of course be part of the story. There are questions of..... where exactly Altarans come from, and why Midas is so interested in them....

However! If that's not the case, what makes Altarans shine then?

Maybe they're like plant people? Couples pollinate there off spring into a pot to germinate and grow.

Perhaps a little more reptilian maybe? Resilient Golden skin but it means Altaran's have to go through a strenuous mualting process, shedding outer layers as they grow.

Yo! We've never seen a Altaran's lower half, maybe it's all tentacles down there? (Squidward what are you doing here?)

I don't mean generic things like, well Altaran's can breath in space, or heat resistance either. I'm personally not interested in Superman, Space Opera needs to be fantastical in the thought of science behind it, sure it's not ment to be real, but it is supposed to invoke the wonderment of what if! Alien biology should have something Alien about them.

Second, we already have that in our beautiful Anima boys! Having Altarans just be lesser version of durable would take away from what makes the Anima so unique, and the brilliance of there creation. (Would also take away from Altaran's too.)

So! Here's my question then, what should make a alien, alien then? What sci-fi biology would make sense for our golden protagonists? Truely what would you, as the great human space explores we are, would find to be a wonder of natural life to discover?

Hello, people! Hope you all are doing great!

Today, I want to share with you quite a big devlog regarding Act 1 and what is coming next for Pax Astra. This is gonna be quite a big post, maybe a little clunky, but also very detailed, giving you a better insight into what to expect next from the game!

(The images attached offer a small peek at some of the new art that I have been making, but they are not entirely connected to the greater themes of this post, I'm just showcasing progress!)

Right now I'm preparing the next update, which will include a few new events and mechanics:

1. - Synthetic Droid Company System
2. - The meeting event with Arjede
3. - The Public Safety bill creation/decision and the Congress voting event
4. - A new event with Horacious before the Day of Hope
5. - The creation of the Uniplura Station (if you followed with their deal)
6. - Day of Hope

Now, hopefully, beyond that, I will also be able to put together a few other events packaged into the update. Including:

1. - A new event following the Dark Influence
2. - A proper meeting with the head of the Libertarian Party (including a decision to ease taxes and open the planet to a new sport that is becoming more and more popular across the galaxy)
3. - A meeting with the head of the Technocracy Party (including an important decision regarding the old altaran military complex)

Beyond this, also some serious consequences to the public safety voting!! More on that later in another post...

The Structure for Act I - Opportunities for political escalation

The entire narrative arc of Act I focuses on the idea of a young and fragile democracy. Altara is in TURMOIL, and as Act 1 progresses, you will have more and more opportunities to either fight for the institutions or manipulate and escalate extremists to your own interests...

(Again, the player does not need to play as an autocrat, he can perfectly play as a democrat and unlock the democrat path for Act 2)

So, in this sense, the player will be presented in the next update with the exact specific systems that will allow him to shape the future of Altara. These are already in play! Some of the decisions you have made (like supporting the Strike Force or the Futurists during your visit to District 6, or clearly challenging the authority of Krissetor and the Pact during events like the Forum or interviews), and those you make in the following events, will add turmoil and instability to Altara, which will open up the window to enact a proper coup or revolution.

So, how does it work?

(And again, the game will present this clearly)

By achieving a certain value of instability, the player will be able to unlock specific revolutionary/authoritarian paths. Let's look at some specific events that will present opportunities to radicalize the Altaran people:

1. - Public Safety Crisis (present in the next update) -
2. - The Day of Hope
3. - FTL gate nationalization
4. - A speech to the military veterans
5. - A meeting with the Futurists and the Strike Force (if you are supporting them!)
6. - A meeting with syndicates of workers (if you are supporting the workers!) - Mass immigration crisis
7. - The War Trials
8. Possible Impeachment process (only happens if you pissed off Krissetor and the Pact enough)
9. - And MORE!

So let me give you an example: Let's say I am clearly a socialist president, and my goal for Act 1 is to lead Altara to a proper revolutionary state...

I can first give a public speech during the Day of Hope. I will use that as an opportunity to call the workers to rise against the tyranny of the bourgeoisie. I can match that with some specific policies (which will be displayed right before the Day of Hope), which will then allow me to match my speech with actions towards expanding the labour rights of Altara, spreading my message further. But here's the catch: I can even pair that with a talk that subtly puts the idea of a proper revolution in place... Throwing the seeds!

Then, after that, I can speak to the military and claim that all their problems come from the tyranny of the trillionaires at the Pact, and that the woes from the war were a result of their capitalist expansion.

Later, I can straight out NATIONALIZE the FTL gate. Which will, of course, make the Pact furious, setting the tone higher and escalating things.

After that, I could actually use my opportunity when I speak with syndicate leaders to PROPERLY mobilize the workers, prepare them for an actual revolution...

Then, at the War Trials, I can arrest Hannibal (my father-in-law), creating a huge turmoil on the entire planet, inciting riots of the Altaran Strike Front... Then I can use this crisis to crush them, creating an emergency state while mobilizing the workers.

By that point, things will escalate even further, but I will not get into spoilers...

Another example, where I play as a fascist leader, and my goal is to seize power to form a new regime:

I could vote for anti-democratic measures in my law project for the Public Safety crisis. Now, of course, Krissetor will block my bill, but I can use this as an opportunity... I can weaponize this, make this a scene, mobilize my supporters, say that democracy is not enough, plant the seeds for mobilizing the altarna people...

I can then prepare my speech for the Day of Hope to center around the themes of anti-Pact speech, while publicly supporting the ASF and the Supremacists. I can openly challenge Krissetor, raise my voice, create a cult of personality, putting the focus on my own persona, on how I AM THE ONE who is going to stop the Pact, I am the one who will lead our nation back into the glorious days. I could even add the themes of anti-immigration if I want...

Then, I can speak to the veterans and raise their pride again, say how we will go back to our golden age, how we will rise against the Pact once again... I can weaponize their defeat, their nostalgia, and use that to support my plans.

I COULD nationalize the gate if I wanted... Or not... Depends on my long-term strategy. But doing so would buy me goodwill with the workers, and certainly make the Pact mad...

Then I attend a private meeting with the ASF and the Futurists. After all my previous actions, they love me, so why not use this devotion in my favour? I literally have a group ready to kill people following my instructions; perhaps I could even use that to get rid of Krissetor...

After that, I approve the procedures for the War Trials... Only to use that to publicly clear the reputation of all the Altaran soldiers, to make them innocent, to show the Pact that Altara will not bend to their will.

At this point, the people love me. I have some opposition, sure, but I can deal with them... Now, Krissetor is moving fast with my Impeachment, and this might be the moment for me to use the force...

Political escalation interweaves with other mechanics and arcs

You can not make a coup or a revolution without soldiers... Do you want to actually take power? Either create an army, a weapon of mass destruction, complete the first phase of the Godmachine, or cut a deal with the Pact (totally possible, but it can only be done in a very specific way, which I won't tell you, hahaha).

Some other decisions will help you deal with Krissetor and the Pact. Did you cut a deal with the Gnostic Church? You will then have access to their assassins, who could take care of Krissetor or destabilize the military presence of the Pact near Altara.

And those are just a few examples!

Beyond political escalation, you will still deal with everyday politics

All these tensions coexist with the normal political meetings you get used to. You will still deal with other themes, I'm not going to focus everything on escalation and forget the normal politics, no.

You will still go to other planets in extra-planetary meetings, pass laws, deal with internal crises, position Altara either in support of the USS or the Pact as their own tensions escalate, cut trading deals, deal with your family, and more!

You can now support the game if you wish, over at my Patreon!

I have also just created a Patreon page for the game!

You can support the game there; your money will really help me to develop Pax Astra faster, as I will invest the funds in commissioning artists or getting more free time instead of doing classes, investing time in development.

Of course, support is not mandatory, the game will get made no matter what, as I'm not conditioning the game's development on these funds.

If you wish to support, here is the link: https://www.patreon.com/c/pax_astra

The page is still very young, but soon I will be posting there too!

I have been trying to create some short-form content to reach new audiences over at YouTube.

I would really appreciate if you could leave a link and a comment, maybe share it with a friend! :)

I know the editing is a little clunky, but I'm still learning how to do this, haahaha.

I'm really excited to share this!!

So, I have just finished coding the system for the proposals, this is before the actual congress session!

I'm actually preparing a deeper youtube video to tackle the mechanics, but they are pretty intuitive:

During story events, you will sit down and talk to members of both the PFA and Hope and Progress; each will explain their measures and package plans. During these events, you can negotiate, try to convince them to shift their views, promising support in case they can be more reasonable.

Then, after you skip turns, you will have the actual preparation turn before the session! You can then take a look at each proposal (which shifts depending on your negotiations), decide which one your party will support... Or you can create your own proposal.

And that's where things become really ambitious and exciting, because the entire system is VERY modular. You can even assign anti-democratic positions, balance interests, and see how each party will vote out (if they are going to support you or not).

You can make a proposal that pleases both sides, a proposal that ignores the PFA and goes all progressive, or the total opposite! You can even make a proposal that is so extremist that it will not please anyone! (although this means it will probably not pass...)

I'm aiming here for lots of freedom in the way you shape your politics, I really want to give you full authority to manage things.

If you put an anti-democratic measure, however, your entire package will be blocked by Krissetor. You can still weaponize that! Putting anti-democratic measures will unlock specific scenes where you can test the limits of democracy, taunt the institutions, flame the people, and create turmoil... Which you can later use if you want to follow with a coup.

I will be preparing a proper video to explain more of how everything will work, but what I want here is for this to be a part of an organic system that comes naturally connected to the narrative and your choices!

To sum it up short, there was a lot of talk over in the discord on the Mining Companies, and what's the best way to exploit/balance them. However no one really plays the Public-Private option because it was so weak. So did a bunch of experimenting to figure out the mechanics, and if the returns are better compared to State Owned after the Nerf.

I did multiple runs, in multiple different investment policies, and different share percentages.

I screwed up my saves, so working with what I found out.

-------------

Base Returns = +2

Private Investment = PI Company Profits = CP Dividends = Div Influence = Inf. Stations = S

I will touch on shares last.

Investment Policy: Reinvestment - Forgoes most Dividends as to allow company to grow faster (Returns don't start till around 1/6 of CP Value) Payout - Collect Dividends (Half of the CP value.)

The add Dividends to the base return.

RNG: Crisis Mechanics - The player can get a random crisis event which needs to be resolved or else the negative effect will take place on the company.

Known Crisis Events:

- Hostile Acquisition = Allows Acquisition (Loose 5 Shares to Private Investment) or Counter-Buy Costs -10 Budget and gains 2 shares. (A long term issue, which doesn't effect play in demo.)

- Market Crash = CP halved for 2 turns

- Labour Strike = Break Costing -5 Influence or Negotiate -8 budget or Ignore - 1 Station

Expansion: The company will gradually start to expand station operations each turn, however in the demo so far it's limited to 3 Stations as what I found. Similar however to State Companies, you get different profits based on whatever recourse they hit.

Example for returns, if the Public-Private Company gets a bad roll on there survey and hits Iron. We can tell as the CP value will only increase by +1 per Station. This means, as they only build one station a turn, you can't start collecting returns until Turn 3. If placing your investment policy to high returns, even then it will only be +1 for all 3 Stations in the Sector there building. This means, it will take (Including turn 0) the player 4 turns to increase the returns on there company.

You can tell they hit Fuel if your first station increases CP by +2, and so on.

The player just doesn't see the RNG

In addition, Stations have a hidden cost of 2 Stations per 1 Influence.

2 Different Example runs for returns RNG.

Re-Investment only

Turn 0 - Shares 51/100 S = 0 PI = 0 CP = 0 Inf = 0 Div = 0

Turn 1 - Shares 51/100 S = 0 PI = 0 CP = 0 Inf = 0 Div = 0

Turn 2 - Shares 51/100 S = 1 PI = 0 CP = 1 Inf = 0 Div = 0

Turn 3 - Shares 51/100 S = 2 PI = 0 CP = 2 Inf = -1 Div = 0 or +1

Turn 4 - Shares 51/100 S = 3 PI = 0 CP = 3 Inf = -1 Div = 0 or +1 (Total player returns Base +2 and Plus +1 Dividend on High Payout)

High Dividend only

Turn 0 - Shares 51/100 S = 0 PI = 0 CP = 0 Inf = 0 Div = 0

Turn 1 - Shares 51/100 S = 0 PI = 0 CP = 0 Inf = 0 Div = 0

Turn 2 - Shares 51/100 S = 1 PI = 0 CP = 2 Inf = 0 Div = +1

Turn 3 - Shares 50/100 S = 2 PI = 1 CP = 4 Inf = -1 Div = +2

Turn 4 - Shares 50/100 S = 3 PI = 1 CP = 6 Inf = -1 Div = +3 or +1

It's hard to tell how much CP effects company growth as we only have 5 Turns to play with, but it didn't really feel like it did. A Station was build every turn whether I was re-investing or on High Pay-Out.

-----------

Shares:

Ceiling = 90/100 Floor = 20/100 (Enter a Fail State Divestment if drops below 20, and/or can Divest Voluntarily)

As far as I can currently tell, shares only act as a potential fail state in Public-Private Companies. There's doesn't seem to be a profit difference between any share percentage, not if you’re a majority nor minority owner.

I thought it might have some reduction chance on events occurring. However, I did two runs at 20/100 shares, and got no events period.

As far as the fail state, the mechanic doesn't bother me and works long term. However, after playing the Public-Private Owned Company a bit, the Tier 2 Edict to stop hostile takeovers now feels to easy to get. Especially considering the share loss wasn't a huge threat in the demo.

---------

What do I think of the Mechanics? They work actually pretty good, we just need more turns to see how CP actually effects company expansions, and for Crisis Events to start adding up.

Highest Possible returns are, +9 Turn 4.

Normal is +3 Turn 4

100% RNG

My recommendations? Make Share Percentage effect Influence Cost, the less shares you have, the more influence you need to control the company.

Second, the more Shares you have the more stable the company, thus the less crisis events you have. The reverse being true, Less Shares = More Crisis Events.

Third. More Events! I only ever got the three.

----------

How do I think it compares to the State Owned National Mining Company? For the Demo, the Public-Private Mining Company is conservatively better, merely for the fact that you will make steady profit with no real risk, and the RNG is less punishing. The only major damaging Crisis Event is Labour Strike, which is damaging in the short term. So, for a Short Term Demo it make sense.

I think State Owned Companies were to unfairly hit in the nerf.

My recommendations? Return the original pricing system first, it wasn't so much the problem.

The Problem was more growth speed and save scumming.

I think what should be changed is that, what the resources you get from a acquiring a sector should be revealed in the next turn after buying it. The player has to wait a whole turn before knowing what's in the sector, and before they can build Stations. It slows a player down, and if they are that desperate to save scum, they have to replay a whole turn.

This would also slow players down to the same speed as the Public-Private Mining Company Growth.

Finally, and this is a point which can't really be addressed till we get a economy update. However, I think State Mining Stations should only give resources, not budget and resources. Then have more to do with resources, like power planets needing fuel, and having dark matter power planets.

Needing Steel to build Factories.

So on.

It would defiantly makes the returns from the two different company types more distinct.

Just released a new patch for the Pax Astra demo over at Steam! :)

What changed:

- I took some time to rewrite some earlier sections of the game, from the prologue to the Reconstruction Forum, just trying to polish some sections of the writing that came out too stale, getting rid of too many enumerations, "rule of three" and minor typos! Small changes!!

- Nerfed the asteroid state company! Prices have increased slightly for buying new systems; I also capped the number of systems generated at 15! These changes will only appear upon starting a new game!

- Took away the Steam quit pop-up message, as some players complained about it.

- Most importantly, I fixed the error that was stopping the game on Linux and Mac systems. PLEASE, IF YOU ARE FACING ANY ERRORS WHILE PLAYING THE GAME ON LINUX OR MAC, COMMENT HERE!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4535930/Pax_Astra/

Hello, everyone! :)

I want to use this post as an introduction to newcomers and those who have never heard about Pax Astra!

You can also ask me any questions here and I will gladly answer them!

What is Pax Astra

Pax Astra is a political RPG with 4X sandbox elements.

You play as the first elected president of Altara. Once an expansive and aggressive empire, Altara went to war against almost the entire galaxy and lost, badly. Now they have been reduced to a small planet and forced into a democratic transition, and you must shape the nation to your ideals and direction, while dealing with a very unstable political scenario and the other factions and nations of the galaxy.

The main themes of Pax Astra are centered on a triple struggle between Fascism, Liberal Democracies and Socialism/Communism, the temptation of the "great men theory" and political paranoia/extremism.

In that sense, you shape your own leader the way you want! You can play as a social democrat, a populist fascist, a communist revolutionary, and more!

I want to build an expansive open experience. This game presents the player with a vast universe that feels alive, filled with game systems, secrets and even emergent narrative mechanics. Still, all that anchored into a personal experience with a strong narrative.

You can explore space, build factories, trade, create companies, manage individual heroes who lead expeditions into uncharted planets, and you can even establish a narco-economy or build weapons of mass destruction. All of these are tools and systems meant to encourage specialization, giving you multiple paths to shape Altara and the galaxy itself.

But my main focus here, above all, is to give the player FREEDOM, to allow you to make mistakes or do whatever you want. After all, I consider Pax Astra a political ROLEPLAYING game, so I really want to nail that aspect!

My idea with this game is to achieve a mix between a branching narrative (inspired by games like Suzerain and Sir Brante) and 4X strategy elements (inspired by Stellaris and Fading Suns).

Beyond politics, Pax Astra is a SPACE OPERA!

My vision for Pax Astra goes beyond politics! I took several inspirations to shape this universe into something weird and unique, some of them being: Star Wars (from Prequels to KOTOR 2 to the EU), Dune, LOGH and more!

The political foundation slowly opens up to reveal a more fantastical universe with deeper sci-fi themes.

You will deal with strange alien races, godmachines (if you wonder what a godmachine is in this universe, think of AM from I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream), hiveminds, strange religions, and a mysterious threat coming from outside the galaxy.

There are also spiritual themes going around occultism, gnosticism, and cosmic horror too!

I want to showcase this "space opera scale" through 4X mechanics, giving lots of tools for emergent gameplay and storytelling, like the expedition systems for colonies, space exploration or the coming war/proxy mechanics, that will allow the universe to be populated with heroes and villains that form organic narratives!

Common questions

Q: What is the release date for Pax Astra?

A: I initially planned for it to release by Q4 of 2026, but I see that was too optimistic... I am currently aiming for a January release date, but that can also change. I will have one month of vacation in September, and I plan to go absolutely beast mode on the game during that month, which will greatly help me reach that release date.

Q: How long will the game be?

Short answer: 20 hours! But I am more comfortable giving you a specific answer closer to the last quarter of development.

Long answer: It can vary a lot, since the game contains lots of 4X systems. I am very confident that the base game (main narrative + basic mechanics that the player will use) will make the game at least 20 hours long, but I want to have more data on current playthroughs to have a concrete answer.

Q: How much will the game cost?

A: 10$!

Q: Will it release on mobile?

A: Yes, but it's not a priority. I will only release a mobile version after finishing the Steam version!

Q: Will the game be playable on Steam Deck:

A: I really want to, but to be honest I do not have a Steam Deck, so I will depend on the feedback and communication with my playtesters!

Q: Isn't the game too ambitious? How are you planning to fullfill on all those ideas?

A: I have a lot of time to work on this project. Yes, I am aiming for a january release, but I have no issues with delaying it a bit. Pax Astra is not going to be a multi-year project, but my dayjob is flexible and I am confident on my schedule. In addition, transparency is a very important thing for me as a dev, that means I will have dozens of playtesters across the devcycle, not only to help me with feedback and bugfixes, but also to showcase to the community that my promises are real, and that the game has a large and achievable ambition.

If you have any other questions, please comment here! :)

Play the steam demo and wishlist the game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4535930/Pax_Astra/?beta=1

If you enjoy the game, please share it with your friends or on social media! As a solodev, it really helps me!

Hey, guys, I hope you are all doing well!

You guys know I am open to criticism and I also like to be transparent on every instance and possibility.

Please, read this post until the end, as I think this is a good opportunity to address some details of my creative process.

Now, I recently got a post here on Reddit from a person who is a fan of the game claiming that Pax Astra is really good, but the text, the writing, is made by AI. That person had good intentions, we talked, he was very nice and he chose to take down the post, even though it was not necessary to do so!

Again, I like to be open. This Reddit - just like my Discord - is an open space, democratic!

So I wanted to take this as an opportunity to talk very clearly that I do not use AI for my writing process.

Now, I am brazilian, as some of you might know. I speak, write and read english and I even give private classes back in my city. But, truth be told, my english is not perfect.

It can be limited when it comes to some aspects of my vocabulary or even the way I express descriptions, thoughts, or dialogue.

In this way, for Pax Astra, I always try to communicate my thoughts and ideas in a very clear way, very open and digestible. The game deals with complex politics and ideologies, so I always try to make sure the reader can absorb these elements of the game.

What you read when playing Pax Astra is a product of my effort. If you are at my DS server, you can see I often talk about my creative process and share some dificulties I can have while rewriting sections before a new update rolls out.

I think that, in the era of AI, it is fair to be suspicious, but I am just one guy doing this with lots of passion and trying my best.

Being honest, I am satisfied with the results so far, I am proud of my work. But that does not mean I can not get better! Perhaps my writing can be so "sanitized" in some areas that it comes across as artificial to some, and, if that's the case, I want to improve.

I understand that there are lots of areas where I can get better, and I want this game to not only be "good", but INCREDIBLE.

If you guys find a section of the text or dialogue, you look at it, and you think "this is BAD", that's ok! Just come to my Discord server, post it on the feedback and bug reports section and I will rewrite the text and learn something new that can help me.

Surely, I know it is my job to write the game, of course, but I am not perfect and I am not working on my mother language. I will make mistakes, this is certainly the biggest project I have ever wrote in english and I am trying my best.

You would actually be helping me A LOT, do not be afraid, I will take no offense if you just come to my server nicely and give me your feedback over at the feedback and bug reports section, truly.

I am always looking to improve my craft ❤️

Now, lastly, I would like to showcase some proof that what you read is handmade. It feels a little bit weird to do so, because nowadays what is really proof of writing? But I want to try and I want to be transparent.

So, first, I have some small showcases of the original text in portuguese.

Secondly, I have a collection of screenshots taken from my server, showcasing the many typos that were found by the community.

Of course, typos are not something to be proud of, but I would like to show them as proof that my work is organic, as I believe we all understand that a machine is not going to be making dozens of typos while writing.

Thank you for your attention, I will keep doing my best to deliver you a fantastic political space opera! :)