New blood at Astro Empires HQ

Hi guys,

This week there has been some excitement at AE HQ with our team expanding for the second time in this many months. This week a new 3D designer has taken his place on the AE development team. Initially he shall be focusing on ingame images for ships, tech and structures which means in the not too distant future AE should become more pleasing to the eyes. Keep your eyes on the blog for an interview in the coming weeks. ;-)

In other news our first AE Newsletter was dispatched last week which we hope will allow the less active users to keep in touch with what's happening in the AE-verse. Now onto our Ask Astro Empires feature with some answers from the team. If you want to post your own questions get the details here.

Narth Vader asks, when the Staff aren't in the office, and a calamity strikes the servers (re: Gamma), generally what happens to fix the problem?

Most of the times those problems are related to server or network malfunction, as we have the servers hosted at an external company, we make sure they are aware of the problem, and when necessary we work with them to solve the problem. ~ Wizard

JokeySmurf asks, is knoxx still the forum developer?

No, he has left us some time ago, I handle that now. ~ Xaman

Witch-King of Agmar asks, what is the name of Xaman's old cat? And what breed?

He's named "Chico" and he's a handsome Siamese cat. ~ Xaman

DetroitFan11 asks, what's your favorite football team Ikari?

I don't really follow football either soccer or American football. When I was younger I used to follow the Soccer team Leeds United. Oh how the mighty have fallen *shakes head* ~ Ikari

That’s everything for this week guys, till next time adeus.

New layout launched

Hi guys,

After a period of open beta testing, our new layout has finally been launched. We hope this will bring a bunch of new players to the game and that will make the game experience more pleasing to the existing players.

On ther other news, Xaman's 18 year old cat had to go to the vet this week. The worst was expected when a strange wound was noticed, but it turned out to be only a small infection. Hopefully he will stick around for a while longer.

As the week before, here are some answers to the questions you have been asking us. If you want to post your own questions get the details here.

RudolphStorr: Why do fleets whose owner is in vacation mode collect debris?

Wizard: Right now adding a check to the process to see if the fleet owner is in vacation mode or not, adds more processing time to it, and it is already taking too much time. After workout the new layout, I will complete review/remake the process and try to remove the collecting of debris while in vacation mode.

sky: Wizard and Xaman: How long have you 2 known eachother? how did you meet?

Xaman: We know each other for over 17 years now. We met in school through mutual friends.

Saer: How did administrators, moderators, and staff make up their usernames on the Forum?

Ikari: My username was something I had rolling around in my head from a couple of old forums where I used it. When I applied to be a moderator I wanted to use a shadowy cruel overlord personally and as anyone who has seen Neon Genesis Evangelion would agree the name is apt. I kept the look but the personally didn't really stick.

That’s everything for this week guys, till next time adeus.

Astro Empires goes multilingual

Hi guys,

This week has seen the first non-English language version of Astro Empires launch offering Portuguese players the chance to play the game in their native language for the very first time. I am sure you will all agree this is apt as Astro Empires was founded in Portugal. You can try out the Portuguese language version of the game by changing the language in your display settings.



This week is also seeing the end of the this year’s great Drekon frigate hunt with the vast majority of free upgrades claimed. Wizard has posted a few extra clues as to the remaining frigates whereabouts on the forums. In other news Astro Empire's new newsletter which will be emailed to all active players is due for launch in the coming week and shall be distributed when there is some major news to announce. Not all players read the forums, this blog or even their accounts page so hopefully this new newsletter will help us keep you all informed of major updates and changes.

Now, as promised we start our Ask Astro Empires feature with some answers from the team. If you want to post your own questions get the details here.

hipie089 asks, why was this game made and who originally programmed it?

The game born from my interest in space strategy games and in programming. I have started making the game alone, and after lunching it in May 2006, my friend “Xaman” start help me with the game, since then a few more persons have join the staff. ~ Wizard

Johnny Tightlips asks, on the new skin that is in its beta stage there are spots on the construction, production, and research page that look like they are for pictures. Are there going to be pictures there and if so when?

Probably later, we have already start making 3D models of our game objects (ships, buildings, etc..), those models can later be used to make the icons and in other features. ~ Wizard

TEK Triton asks, what's you favorite Forum Section?

Trash Talk for laughs and Feedback to read what the players have to say about our game and service. ~ Xaman

Rabid Parrots asks, what kind of hours do AE staff put in? Is there like some Astro Empires HQ in Portugal where everyone comes to work on a daily basis like a regular job or is it all done over the web? Is it a full time job or do you guys have other sources of income aswell?

We all come to the office during normal working hours during the week plus we all work from home during the evening and weekends. Some work full-time, others part-time. ~ Xaman

Saer asks, what is the favorite beverage of your staff?

My favourite drink is a little known Scottish soft drink called IRN BRU (Pronounced Iron Brew). I don't drink alcohol so I'm afraid I can't comment on what kinds of it I would like ;-) ~ Ikari

On a lighter note albend asked if any of the moderation team where afraid of cats. Well I asked around and although some have had nasty encounters with vicious little scratchers no one has owned up to being afraid of them. Some have admitted to more run of the mill fears of falling or having something fall on them while one member of the team has a more unusual fear of Sunflowers.

That’s everything for this week guys, till next time adeus.

BBG Interviews Wizard as horizons expand

Hi guys!

We have a few bits and pieces to share with you this week. Top of the list is BBG Site one of the Internet's largest Browser game portals ran a special story on Astro Empire's third anniversary along with an interview with AE's chief developer Wizard. Wizard took the time away from his busy schedule to answer questions relating to Astro Empires roots, it's future and the new interface which entered beta testing last week.

To read the interview yourself or comment on it's content click here.


A few other pieces of news for you this week. The new interface is scheduled to exit beta testing next week with a some touch up's. Thanks to everyone who commented on the new interface in feedback, hopefully you will love the end product as much as we do. Next week should also see the launch of the first alternative language version of Astro Empires as the Portuguese language interface launches with the end of beta testing.

On the forum front, new moderator 'Thor' has been appointed to the Delta server boards, replacing 'Remiel' who decided to retire for real life reasons. We welcome Thor to the moderation team and ask that Delta citizens refrain from starting any server wars for a few days while he finds his feet.

That's it for this week guys, next week we shall start answering your questions with our Ask Astro Empires feature, details here, as well as the news from the team. Till then, adeus.

Open beta testing for the new layout

We have been working on a new layout for the game for the past few months and today we have opened the beta testing to the general public. Until now it was only available to our group of volunteers.

The new layout is expected to make the game more appealing, especially for new players. Although we all know Astro Empires is a highly additive game and that for hardcore players the graphical part is secondary to the gameplay, we also realize that for new players the initial impact will greatly influence their decision on whether to play the game or look elsewhere, and that graphics play a crucial part in this.

Obviously older players have not been forgotten in all this. The old layout will still be available and there will be "lighter" versions of the new skin, for those who prioritize simplicity and speed over more appealing graphics.

If you want to give the new layout a try, you'll need to change the skin on your account/display page to the new one (DeepSpace).

Please remember that this is still a beta version, so there may bugs in it and it can suffer changes. If you're not comfortable in using a beta version of a skin, I recommend you keep using the original layout until this one is fully launched.

To report bugs related to the new layout, please click here.

If you want to give your feedback or make suggestions for the new layout, please click here.