Spotlight on AE Everywhere

Hi guys!

Well another week has passed and here we are with our latest news digest blog. In game news this week Wizard announced a new ‘Spotlight’ feature which will highlight non-game issues of note. Competitions, recruitment and events to name a few, oh and that’s not including a certain AE blog that I hear is quite good. *cough* What? :-P Get the details on the forums.

The more eagle eyed of you will have noticed the announcement of AE’s new contest on the blogs this week. The less eagle eyed will have seen it in the oh so subtle global announcement on the forums ;-) AE Everywhere is a contest encouraging AE players everywhere to take snapshots of themselves or others dealing with AE in an extreme or unusual way. Details are on the forums. We’ve already received a few excellent entries including Catfud and his attempts to teach his pet goat to play AE.


In other news since its Halloween tomorrow night Ikari will be heading out with friends clad in the costume of ‘Friend’ from ‘Naoki Urasawa’s’ 20th century boys. Pictures of him in costume will not be posted ^^

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

Contest: Astro Empires Everywhere!

Hi guys!

Today we're launching a new contest for all Astro Empires to get involved in. A picture can say a thousand words, and we want yours to say twice as many ;-) First place will score a free years upgrade with second and third place taking six and three month upgrades respectively. So what excuse do you have to not get involved?!

Take an image of yourself or friend playing AE in an unusual or extreme way! Do you use 3 computers at once? Have you mapped out an entirely galaxy on printed sheets and posted them about your room? Have you ever accessed in a hospital? On your company fishing trip? After sneaking away from a date with your girlfriend? We want to see them and reward the best and most imaginative ones.

Here is an example shot to perhaps inspire you!


Some guidelines:
* Photos should demonstrate extreme or unusual play or fandom of AE
* Entries are to be sent to 'community@astroempires.com'
* Please include 'AE Everywhere' in your subject line
* Photoshop is allowed as long as a real photograph is at its core
* Multiple entries are allowed, however you can only win once!
* A selection of the best entries will be published on the blog
* Please include your username and server with your entry

* The best entries will be judged and selected by a panel of admins
* Entries close on December 31st
* The results will be announced in early January

Bonjour Astro Empires!

Hi guys!

This week has seen the launch Astro Empires 4th official language, French! We would like to thank Techloup, PhDCus, Zeus and Babel for all the work they have put into making this launch possible. Existing French players can now play AE in their native tongue and opens up the game to literally millions of new players.


To play the game in French you need to go to your accounts page, display, and change your language to French. I've played AE so long I can actually play in a language I don't know a word in... how about you? ;)

Till next time guys, adeus.

Features Blog

Hi guys,

Its time for our first features blog. It won't be a regular blog but keep your eyes open as it will surface every now and then. ;) If you want to get involved in these community blog features the details follow.



AExtremes is the feature were we share your stories of taking AE to the extreme! Pictures, stories and plots where you, your friends or guild mates have taken AE just that little bit too far, we want them all! ;) Email them to community@astroempires.com now!

"I stayed up all night the night before my math project was due and I left it at home beacuse I was so tired from fighting the night before. So instead of having my project I presented the Ae battle calc and the way game mechanics worked and how to figure out if you would win or not.

I got an A+." ~ Ian Smith



Ask Astro Empires is the feature we're you get to put your questions to the admins! Post your questions on the Ask Astro Empires thread and your questions might be answered here next week ;)

Rainier Wolfcastle 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?

Yes we are working on adding ship images into the game. Last week we had an early example of the work being done in this area by our new grathic designer here at AE. Watch this space for details :D ~ Ikari

Supersonic asks, why didn't you guys use twitter since its all the rage?

*Cough* *Cough* - https://twitter.com/astro_empires ~ Ikari

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

Artwork bonanza!

Hi guys!

Its been a quiet week here in AE HQ so I decided to make another run at our graphic designers desk during his coffee break. Make sure nobody tells Xaman or Wizard though, *shifty*. It's another early design, this time it's a detailed look at a cannon a top of the fleet carrier.



In forum news Canaris has joined the moderation team and will be looking after the Roleplay forums. We wish him the best of luck with his new post, and hope you guys will too. In other news Jabba the Hutt has shown the community exactly how much time he has free creating a highly original piece of AE artwork, take a look below or on the original forum thread.



We at AE feel there is only one way to describe this image, and luckily Wayne Nylund has done an image for us to say it with,

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

AE takes one large linguistic step forward!

Hi guys!

Taking another large step in expanding who can play AE across the world both French and Finnish have entered beta testing. French and Finnish players of AE are currently working with our translators to get the languages ready for full launch early in November. We want to thank Niklas and Kreivi for their hard work getting Finnish ready and Zeus, Techloup, PhDCus, hardyfu and guijo for their working bringing French into Beta. Once launched this will allow another 128 million people to be able to access AE in their native language!

In game news, the debris collection changes have now been implemented to great cheering among many users. In forum news the AE forum has launched a Finnish board in preparation for the new Finnish players this feature will enviably bring to the game.

We have no Ask Astro Empires today as we'll be relaunching it along with AExtremes next week ;-)

Till next time, adeus.

Debris Changes and babies

Hi guys!

Not a lot of news for you this week at all. On the game front Wizard has announced some long requested features into the debris collection system. These changes include accounts in Vacation Mode will no longer collect debris and the location of your collections shall be tracked in your credit log. These changes will be implemented in one weeks time, details on the forums.

In other news Xaman became uncle to a cute baby girl. Now onto our Ask Astro Empires feature with some answers from the team. If you want to post your own questions get the details on the forums.

Jimmy777j asks, how many of the mods know each other in real life?

For game admin (and myself) we all know each other. Since I was down to AE HQ a few weeks ago we have now all met in person. As for the forum moderators, I don't believe any of them know each other in real life. Most of their game identities are as much a mystery to each other as they are to the community. ~ Ikari


Saer asks, why is the game called Astro Empires? Were there other names that were in mind?

We thought of Star Wars initially, but some guy named George Lucas registered it first. Astro Empires was the second best name. ~ Xaman

That's all for this week guys, till next time, adeus.