An Empire’s technology is the tool of its advancement. In StariumXCV, the player can choose what their Empire innovates, and what stays “traditional.”

Technology

Technology is the main progression system in StariumXCV, and encompasses almost every stat in the game. Each stat counts as its own piece of technology. The tools your citizens use to harvest food is a different technology from the tools they use to build spaceships. Each of these things can be tuned individually to make sure you’re building the Empire that works best with your play style.

Choosing one strategy doesn’t lock you out of others either. The whole skill tree is always available, so at any time an Empire can start exploring new branches of technology.

Players can also customize game pieces in unexpected ways. Each ship and unit has initial stats based on an intended function. Artillery Units, for example, start out as a slow-moving and hard-hitting unit. But maybe you want to subvert your opponents’ expectations, and train your Artillery to be quick skirmishers.

All of this technology is enhanced through StariumXCV’s massive skill tree: The Lexicon.

The Lexicon

The Lexicon represents the totality of technological achievement. It’s a vast array of connecting nodes, each node representing a technological advancement, and advances the capabilities of your Empire.

The Lexicon uses a currency called Insight. Insight is created through the Research done by populations in your Empire.

There a 5 types of Insight:

  • Theoretical
  • Physical
  • Life
  • Social
  • Energy

Each node in The Lexicon is aligned with one or more Insight type, requiring that type of Insight to be spent to unlock the node. There is no limit to the amount of Insight an Empire is allowed to spend in the Lexicon. It’s possible to unlock the whole thing, but that’s very unlikely; it’s quite large.

Types of Nodes

Most of the nodes in the Lexicon are “normal” nodes. A normal node is aligned with one particular type of Insight, which is spent to unlock it. Unlocking normal nodes can only be done once, and permanently gives the Empire the bonuses associated with it.

Some special nodes are Universal nodes. Universal nodes require some of each type of Insight to unlock, but can be unlocked an unlimited number of times. Each time the cost is paid, the bonuses are granted. Universal nodes represent boundless technology. Some things will always find a way to improve.

How to Gain Insights

Insight comes from Research! Makes sense, right? Research is one of the types of work an Empire can have their citizens do, which generates Insight. This is just one type of work though, so it has to be balanced with other necessary work, like growing food for citizens to eat (those dang scientists keep taking meal breaks).

Research being one of the branches of Production means that it will scale with territory. Want to do more Research? Claim more areas and grow your populations. The more citizens your Empire has, the more you can Research.

The exact Insight generated is determined by the terrain of the area the research was done on. Each terrain generates a bit of every Insight, but the ratios vary. You might want to search out planets with certain types of terrain to maximize the tech you’re looking for.

Advancing Towards the Stars

The goal of this advancement system is to make progression in StariumXCV flexible and customizable. A player could have countless Empires and never use the same configuration twice. It also ties in nicely with Production, allowing players to balance different types of progression to fit their goals.

What do you think of The Lexicon? Have questions on anything? Let us know in the official StariumXCV Discord server. We’re always hanging around there, and we’d love to hear from you.