Starsector (Starfarer) 0.54.1a

Starfarer's campaign is setup in a sandbox RPG style. The player is given their own fleet that they have to maintain with new ships, supplies, fuel, and crew. Every ship larger than fighters have weapon hardpoints that can be outfitted with whatever applicable weapons the player loots or purchases.In many ways, Starfarer's sandbox campaign setup is similar to the Mount and Blade series.

Starfarer's combat is set on a top-down 2D plane. Players can directly control their flagship through WASD controls, or start strafing a target by holding the shift key. The game's custom weapon group systems allow the player to choose which weapons to fire at a given moment.Players are only able to directly control one ship at a time, with all other ships in the fleet being AI controlled. By pressing Tab, a tactical overlay can be accessed through which the player can give the AI orders. The orders available range from capturing or assaulting control points, directly attacking a specific enemy ship, escorting one of your ships, rallying at and defending a selected point, etc. Players are limited in the number of orders they can give out by the number of command points their character has. Once you run out, you have to leave the AI to its own devices- unless you order a full retreat.By default, players are put in control of the fleet's assigned flagship. However, player's can use the transfer command option to autopilot their in-game command pod to another ship they want to directly control. Doing so automatically puts the flagship under AI control. Players who don't feel comfortable with the combat controls can also activate their controlled ship's autopilot to let the AI control it as well.Larger scale engagements in Starfarer have control points that can be captured for a variety of fleet-wide benefits and buffs. The exact buffs provided vary, but the universal benefit is that captured control points provide more deployment points for their controller- allowing them to deploy more ships. If one side controls all of the control points on a map, the opposing side is rendered incapable of summoning reinforcements at all.Smaller engagements in Starfarer do not feature these control points- as each side is able to bring their entire fleets in at once.