The Road to the Tournament Server

UPDATE: The Tournament Server is live!

Greetings, Commanders!

The Starborne Alpha Tournament Server launches on December 1st, 2019.  With just over one month to go, we wanted to share an update about the Tournament Server and highlight some of the changes to come.  

Wait- changes?  Isn’t this supposed to be an Alpha 9 Tournament?

The Tournament Server is intended to be the ultimate, final, challenge of the entire Starborne Alpha. As such, it will be one of the last servers of the Starborne Alpha.

The Tournament Server will bring fresh gameplay and challenges to newer players and veterans alike.  Therefore, all players will start from a level playing field in respect to the metagame. The Tournament Server offers a new experience instead of an extension of Alpha 9.

How do players gain entry to the Tournament Server? How will culling work?

One of the core foundations of the Tournament Server is to achieve a critical mass of players.  As such, we expect that every sector will be brimming with multiple active alliances.  Players can join the server for the first 14 days, as all open starting positions will be closed at the start of day 15.  

In an effort to prevent players from joining the server and quickly leaving, we are enforcing a barrier to entry.  Players will either have to have an active Premium Subscription to join, or they will have had to build their 6th station on any previous server.  All players that fit the second option will be notified via E-Mail and when opening the Launcher.  

Below are the culling rules for the tournament server:

• 3 hours after joining with no actions
• 3 days after joining with less than 80 influence
• 7 days after joining with less than 100 influence

All culled starting locations will be re-used if they remain unclaimed

4 Alliances with 25 players?  How will that work? Won’t there just be one big coalition?

With a critical mass of players, the Tournament Server can host well over 200 players per sector.  In order to prevent the possibility of four or more coalitions per sector, we opted to expand the size of coalitions so that warfare trends towards inter-sector conflict.  

In addition to changing the size, we’ve also changed the coalition lockdown to the half-way point of the server – Day 29 (beginning of week 5) – so that coalitions are defined much earlier. We’re also making it much easier for coalitions to reach the maximum number of alliances. Coalitions will be able to be full within mere days of formation.

Tournament Preparation

Over the next several weeks, we will be taking a closer look at the many changes and updates coming to the Tournament Server.  Below is a list of what we’re going to cover- we’ll update this list with links as the articles are released! 

• Quality Of Life – More activity, more easily.
• Commodities, Commands and Credits – How will limited currencies and Premium work on the Tournament Server?
• Victory Conditions – Achieve victory and earn multiple rewards at individual, alliance and coalition levels

Save The Date: December 1st, 2019!

The “Alpha” phase of development for any game is always challenging- core mechanics are being designed and implemented, bugs being found and squashed, and servers are being stress tested and optimized.  As we approach the end of the Starborne Alpha, we want to close it out with a story of epic proportions. The Tournament Server will put all players to the test; having to adapt to new mechanics and rules while competing against thousands of other players towards galactic domination.  

We expect to see many coalitions fighting for their spot on the leaderboards. To facilitate this, we are making sure that every coalition position matters and will grant increasingly better rewards.  Also, individual achievements will grant additional account-level rewards for all players that survive until the end of the server. Win or lose, the Tournament Server will be a rewarding experience.

Starborne’s potential has yet to be unleashed – the Tournament Server is merely the prelude to an exciting new experience coming in the Beta.  Our goal is to make the Tournament Server exciting and competitive; a grand story of growth, diplomacy, war and deceit.

Stay up to date on the Tournament Server by joining our Official Starborne Discord, and keep an eye out for the upcoming Tournament Preparation articles!  

Fly Safe, Commanders!