Forum - Space Odyssey MMORPG - a massive free online space game

Some time ago, while making improvements for Space Odyssey, I had an idea for a new game starting from the Space Odyssey concept, but making it a realistic space exploration game. I couldn't modify Space Odyssey to the new idea, though you can see that the Galaxy / planets add-on to Space Odyssey was one of the early updates that would lead to the new Astro Galaxy game.

Basic concept:

Astro Galaxy: A realistic space exploration game, in the near future humanity discovers a new means to travel, called the Wormhole Engine (WH). The new technology is vastly superior but required a tremendous amount of resources to develop. Thus, Earth is facing a shortage of resources. SOL Corporation is created, a coalition of all major powers dedicated to the exploration of space. The SOL Corporation manages the new technology and issues licenses for new space ships and space stations. Volunteer captains are recruited from the best and each captain is given a ship to start exploring / colonizing space. Vast opportunities arise for the new captains, as they expand and develop their fleets and colonies. In the deep of space, law is non-existent, conflicts for expensive resources are inevitable...

This is where your role begins, as a new volunteer captain, you are given a small ship and command of a handful of personnel. Your first task will be to carry a few settlers back in forth from Earth to the nearby planets in the Solar system. You are issued a small FTL engine, a smaller version of the WH (Wormhole Engine). The FTL engine is useful for interplanetary travel, but doesn't have the power to jump to the nearby starts.  "Solars" is the currency issued by the SOL Corporation with the beginning of the Space Revolution. Your first objective will be to acquire enough solars to purchase your first Wormhole engine. This will enable you to transport passengers / settlers from Earth to the nearby stars. From then on, all possibilities are open as you colonize moons and planets and establish mining and harvesting posts to acquire the needed resources that you can bring to Earth and make solars in order to acquire new ships, stations and expand your empire.

Science is a very important part, as you hire scientists and setup science labs to develop new technology.

Ships specification: Ships use an innovative modular design, every ship is unique in the fact that each ship class has a specified number of module slots. In those slots, you choose what modules to install, making the ship as you want it to be, cargo transport, battleship, science vessel, etc. Ship class can up upgraded / downgraded at the Earth orbit Ship Maintenance Facility.

While each ship class has a specified modules number, modules Mark (MK) can be upgraded. As you purchase your first "Wormhole Engine MK I" from the Earth orbital Ship Maintenance Facility, you are free to research and develop a wide array of new technology, enabling the upgrading of the modules to Mk II, III, etc. each mark giving the module a boost in efficiency. Thus, a ship can be upgraded indefinitely just by upgrading the modules installed on it.

And so the story begins...


As of September 10'th, Astro Galaxy has been completed and is fully launched.

Trying to setup some advertising campaigns with space related websites to get players in it.

If you know / have any connections to space related websites or groups that might be interested in playing Astro Galaxy, please let them know. If you know of any site that might be good for advertising Space Odyssey / Astro Galaxy on, please PM me with the link.


Server: www.astro-galaxy.net / www.astro-galaxy.com

You can use the register form to create an account.

The Space Exploration Academy course provides an interactive game guide as well as rewards for learning the game.

Banners so far:

(http://www.astro-galaxy.com/banners/ag_728x90_an.gif) (http://www.astro-galaxy.com)

(http://www.astro-galaxy.com/banners/ag_468x60_1.gif) (http://www.astro-galaxy.com)

(http://www.astro-galaxy.com/banners/ag_468x60_2.gif) (http://www.astro-galaxy.com)

Have fun :)

Starting out in Earth orbit and seeing the stars nearby.

Having acquired the Wormhole Engine, off to explore the nearby Alpha Centauri star...  hi

Jumping to Sirius next, there is a terran planet there and establishing a mining colony on it...
On gas giants, you can harvest gases from the atmosphere. Some planets have minerals and gases, some like the Barren ones only minerals, while gas giants have only gas. Some modules can only be deployed on rocky planets, e.g. shield generators, weapons, science labs, etc.

Checking out a few ships from the fleet... modules go into slots that make up the stats of the ship.

Cargo bay is composed of the cargo modules installed on the ship. Cargo then goes into the bay, including passengers, missions you get etc.

Weapons can be set on different fire modes... makes combat unpredictable. More risky settings could pay off or not...  :))

Picking up an SoS in deep space and responding... That one is to bring some Medicines from Earth and make some solars... there are also combat missions.

Checking out the nav computer and a issuing some commands to an owned station via a remote connection... By deploying a station in orbit around a mining colony, you are able to unload / control the colony remotely.  :wow:

Science tree and a test combat result... Combat is one the most complex parts, still working on it...

Will there be a beta testing stage for this? If there is i wouldn't mind trying it out :)

Yes, it's almost ready for beta testing and SO players will have the option to register for Beta. All beta testers will be rewarded with a special resource called Quantum Points. These quantum points can be used to get VIP status (like Gold) and can be used for other things, like speeding up travel / manufacturing etc.

holy hell count me in!! looks so much cooler than spaceo! Im in for beta!!

count me in send my code for bata testing now lol been waiting a long time for this :)

I got a question about how big is the Galaxy in AG so far...

Well, this is another innovative and unique feature, the Galaxy expands to infinite borders, as you start from Sol you can move further and further away to other quadrants. Sol quadrant is 0,0 and we have about 5-10 stars / quadrant. So far we have populated quadrants from -4,-4 to 4,4, totaling 723 stars and 11866 planets / moons, but it can be expanded indefinitely depending on how many players we have in the game.

Also, there will be a feature that some stars will wither out and die or explode and new stars will be born in some other part instead, thus renewing the Galaxy... of course, there will ample time to evacuate the star if that happens.

This actually explains quite a bit :) lookin' good Emi I can't wait to test it, and help out with the production of a new addition to ET.

It looks good to me.  I would love to help beta test it if I can find the time

I wanna test :D

O hush Borg im first :P  :12:

and im second! wait ur turn lmao. emi that sounds awesome! i love how your making this game realistic in nature and yet a universe of imagination. very cool

i wanna test!!!! this looks AWESOME!!  :wow:

since im the most awesome i should be first :D

looks interesting emi

You should replace your ship model though....jacking ships from Battlestar Galactica is kind of lame.

Kinda like how with interactive missions he took ogame's image  :P

This ship model I bought was made by an artist... but he failed to remove the logo he made it as a concept model.

Part of the realistic game concept that we use is that the weapons are more realistic, we got fighters, laser, railgun, nukes etc. kind of like the weapons used in Battlestar Galactica movie but no relation, just both realistic concepts / ideas.

It's fixed now, should be no issues now:

question. will there be a gold account here?? and how will a planet or moon be taken. AS a hole or will there be many commanders on a planet/moon??

If there are spaces I wouldn't mind being involved in the test.

If ya need some more numbers, then count me in.

Well actually Lavis.. Seeing as how HK knew first he is first and since I saw it before you and made the first reply on the topic and about beta testing, I would say I should be second!  L:)
aaaanyways it's not really a big deal, I'm sure all or most of us will get a chance. After all, the more opinions Emi gets the better he can make the game for all players, right? :)

I am updating the first post with the beta server details now.

Beta is now open and everyone can register.

You guys have fun abandoning SO for this game.

I'm not abandoning, I'm expanding :D

Yay, I wanna try  B-)

I'll register on Friday night probably

I don't get it. How do you navigate it at all?

Ok, so when you start you're confined to Sol because you get only an Interplanetary engine (FTL), so you need to navigate a bit in Sol and make some solars transporting settlers to other planets within Sol.

After you get enough solars, you should re-configure your ship with the Wormhole Generator... don't forget you need fuel for everything so you need to take enough fuel to be able to get back if you fly to another star...

Very clunky so far.  I am now underway on my first mission, but it really needs a "get started" tutorial that tells you things like, "Okay, now buy this...and this.  Now click here and you'll see this.  Congratulations, you're now on your way, Captain!"  For instance, even though I am now carrying passengers, and knew to buy return fuel, if you hadn't said to do so, I probably wouldn't have as a new player.  I also have no idea, at this point, what the various minerals and gasses are for.  I would guess that they're needed for the "manufacture" area of the game, but that hasn't been explained yet.  Either that or they're things, in addition to passengers, that you can take to a destination as trade goods or to satisfy other mission requirements.

Yeah took me a while to figure it out too..I'm not yet transporting passengers lol but I do have a mining facility set up on a planet producing me 1m³ of nickel per hour.. :)

wow.. I have completely no idea what to do.. you guys are so far ahead :(

wth!? hey how do i get in on the beta!? i wanted to test!!

AG forum is now working: http://forum.astro-galaxy.com/

Copied the skin from SO forum and the members from SO forum so you should be able to use the same forum account as here.

The address for Astro Galaxy is: www.astro-galaxy.com / .net

Still lots of work on it but it's Beta...

I agree, if we could get a start up guide it would be really helpful. Some people are having a hard time finding out what to do.

Well I screwed up and can't do anything lol... :/ I'll just make a new account lol

i dont even know what is going on right now in that game. dude, i dont even know.

Didn't you quit?

i said i would stay around and that i dont have enough time to actually play. you have asked that like 10 times. and i want to see this game is any good because spaceo was getting boring to me.

I'll be honest. The layout upon first try looks very poorly thought out, there is no immediate in game guide/help so that you can not screw yourself over early on (e.g. Not enough fuel, get stranded.), the color scheme reminds me of hacker project, and that makes my eyes burn.

the no guide is really hurtful. for example: i started out on earth and traveled to venus i have no idea if this changes anything i see no difference.

I took all of venus :D

OK initial thoughts, slow to start and travel times are (understandably) long. I appreciate that there should be more to engage someone when there a bunch of modules/stations producing coupled with a fleet of 10 ships all heading in different directions.

Not sure how to build facilities but will look into that while I am on my first interstellar mission, of 11 hours plus the same return.

Think BIGGER ships will be needed soon

I've found a lot of new things that goes to building facilities in a sense of gaining credits. Also I'm making 200rp an hour from my labs. There's a lot of things that I think are unnoticed. But if anyone asks Venus is mine :P

as for Satelite Docks that you can purchase yourself. they should be used for research facilities, because there's no need for them to be on a planet, and that's about the only use I see for them right now.

I am more then willing to answer questions about Astro Galaxy as I've been playing with it all day, and already have the strategy I plan to use when It gets released officially.

Food for thought right there, one quick question, once you upgrade to an interstellar drive, will this work for in-system jumps as well?

To be completely Honest I'm not sure. I just got one of each, because interstellar missions require low amount of passengers, however once you travel to another star you will have to travel again to get to the star you want. Also before leaving for an interstellar mission I highly recommend getting around 70-100 units of fuel.

gulp!!
Mission I chose required 120 m3 of fuel, ..... check
wasn't enough space for fuel and passengers and FTL drive and Interstellar drive so guess I'll find out in 9 hours and let you know when I reach Prycon!

( I removed the ftl to make space ...............)

if you have enough to get there. you can call for help and buy the expensive fuel. but if you don't have enough to get there....... You might be stuck perma and emi would need to find a way to fix that.

Have fuel for the return trip plus a lil bit extra so hoping its ok

Now, who here remembers a game called Elite?

Trading elements of this game need to be looked at, namely:

Is earth the home of the only commodity exchange in the game or can players, when developing a planet/system, build the space station infrastructure to set up a trading operation of their own. Allowing them and other players to trade there?

I've suggested players be able to create and trade, but I'm sure it hasn't been added yet, or now that it's mentioned will be added. But as of yet I have no idea how trading will be done. It might have to do with alliances when they get added. also Fester you'll need probably 10-20 extra fuel for traveling to the planet you'll need to once you get to the interstellar star.

Bugger, ships need the ftl drive for in-system jumps.

I'm now stranded in Prycon system going nowhere.

Sir Emi, can anything be done?

i wish i understood how to play astro galaxy but i have no idea what is going on i know nothing of that kindve stuff :( *sigh*

As of September 10'th, Astro Galaxy has been completed and is fully launched.

Trying to setup some advertising campaigns with space related websites to get players in it.

If you know / have any connections to space related websites or groups that might be interested in playing Astro Galaxy, please let them know.

Thank you.