OGame – New expansion Lifeforms
After a decade OGame will receive a game changing content update that will introduce a near unlimited number of possible options for players to discover OGame new. With the Lifeform update we will introduce alien lifeforms into the OGame universe. Each Lifeform will have unique buildings and technologies that players can discover and explore. Very experienced players will even get the option to mix different Lifeforms to follow a very specialized strategy and gain powerful benefits catered to their specific play style. You either accelerate as a powerful miner enhancing your mining and production options or become the most powerful emperor with a destructive force as fleet that no other can rival. Others will choose to explore the vast regions of the galaxy for resources, to combat pirates and to find friendly fleets that further improve their own capacities.
Lifeforms – Core content overview
- 4 different Lifeforms will be added
- 3 of the 4 Lifeforms cater to a specific playstyle (miner, fleeter or explorer) and one starting Lifeform
- Lifeforms must be discovered before players can use them on their planets (only the starting Lifeform has the technology to discover other Lifeforms)
- Each Lifeform will have 12 unique buildings (48 new buildings total)
- Each Lifeform will have 18 species technology (72 new technologies total)
- Species technology is like a talent tree which players can influence and create on their own out of the different species they discovered
- Players can freely choose which Lifeform they want to add to their planet
- Players will have the option to freely switch Lifeforms on their planet if they want to change their strategy
- Two new resources added “Lifeforms & Food”
- Players must grow Lifeforms to unlock species specific technologies on their planet. The more Lifeforms you have the better the species technologies you can have
- Lifeforms is a resource that can´t be transported or stolen
- Lifeforms however die when a planet gets successfully attacked
- Lifeforms consume “food” which the player must provide to grow their Lifeforms
- Food is a resource which players can transport or steal
- Players must grow Lifeforms to unlock species specific technologies on their planet. The more Lifeforms you have the better the species technologies you can have
Lifeforms – Overview
Human
In the middle of the 21st century humanity achieved the ability to space travel long distances with a new hyper drive technology. Since then, humans have settled across the universe on many planets and are the most common Lifeform. Many other species have friendly relationships to the human species; therefore, Humans have developed to excellent traders.
- Human is the default species every player automatically starts with
- Human is the only species with the “discovery tech” that allow to find other Lifeforms in the galaxy
- Human is centered around a balanced playstyle that does everything a little bit but mainly improves research speed
- Their special building protects a percentage of their Lifeforms from being killed in successful attacks
Rock´tal
Rock´tals natural habit are planets close to the sun. Their stone skin and slower metabolism makes them ideal Lifeforms for deserted planets where nothing else can survive. Over centuries they lived from natural minerals as their main food resource, specializing in mining ores and rocks for their daily survival.
- Rock´tals archetype is the “Miner”
- They heavily specialize in resource production and energy production
- Their special building allows to convert destroyed fleets from an attack into resources (if a rock´tal planet is attacked)
- Their special tech perk gives bonus to the “Collector” class
Mecha
Mechas are artificial intelligences which can reproduce faster than any other species due to them being built in factories. Some Mechas evolved through neural nerve systems which allows them to gain access to improved combat strategies. Due to their low emphasis and lacking emotional connection to other species, the Mecha has specialized in conquering other species to obtain resources for further productions.
- Mechas archetype is the “Fleeter”
- They heavily specialize in increasing combat power of ships and their fleet
- They can also reduce fuel costs for fleet movements or increase production speed for ships
- Their special building improves the values for the space dock and allows them to recover even more ships from battle (works very well with general class)
- Their special tech perk gives bonus to the “General” class
Kaelesh
Kaeleshs are born in time and space between the stars. They naturally don´t inhabit planets until they reach a certain age. After they spend most of their lifetime traveling through the endless universe in search for other Kaelesh they settle on the first planet they meet other Kaelesh. Still, Kealesh have a natural tendency to explore the universe, specializing in exploration tech and improving exploration outcome due to their high experience with the universe itself.
- Kaeleshs archetype is the “Explorer”
- They specialize in gaining more resources from expeditions and increase expedition speed
- They also accelerate research speed and Lifeform technology research speed
- Their special building increases the chance to gain a Moon from moonshots
- Their special tech perk gives bonus to the “Explorer” class
Lifeform – Core loop explanation
So, how does the Lifeform update play out in the end? First: “Lifeform” was designed as an addition to OGame - an expansion - that doesn´t need any of the old OGame content and works fully separate. The only dependency is that Lifeform buildings will need energy to work, but for example will not consume any planet slots when you build them.
- Lifeforms should take priority after your normal OGame building loop where you build up resource production buildings and your research etc.
- The player starts out with the Human Lifeform on his planet
- The first goal is to build up the number of Lifeforms on the planet by simply building “Houses” which increase the Lifeform maximum on the planet and the “feed” Lifeforms by building up a food production building. Those two always need to be balanced because if Lifeforms consume more food, then available and your food drops to 0 Lifeforms will die and not continue to grow.
- After you reached a certain number of Lifeforms you unlock the first building which gives you access to the “Lifeform specific tech tree”
- Once you access the tech tree you will notice that there are 3 different trees. The first tree tells you that you need a specific number of Lifeforms to unlock the individual slots. Once a slot is unlocked you can fill it with a “Lifeform technology”
- By further building up “housing” and balancing with food you will rapidly gain the number of Lifeforms needed to unlock your first Lifeform tech slot and fill it with a Lifeform specific technology
- Since you only have Human now you will have only one Lifeform technology option for your first slot which is the discovery technology
- With the “discovery technology” you can go into the galaxy screen and send a ship to different planets for the chance to find new Lifeforms
- You can further invest into your Humans and try to unlock the higher tier buildings which give production benefits and slightly boost growth for midgame
- Humans mainly cater to having an easier time growing Lifeforms and partly evolve around resource production benefits etc.
- The further you progress the more Lifeform tech slots you will unlock (a total of 18) and gain benefits for all planets you own
- Lifeform technology is global like the normal research, but each planet will have their own “Lifeform technology tree” which you can custom build. This alone allows for a near endless option to combine specific bonuses and stack them
- When you are at the point where you colonize new planets and you have discovered a different species you can decide to settle them on this specific planet giving access to completely new Lifeform buildings and Lifeform technologies
