Drox Operative Preview

In case you’re interested in Soldak’s upcoming space-faring action-RPG Drox Operative and want to see how it’s shaping up, you might be interested in reading this piece from Capsule Computers, which does a good job at providing an overview of the title. Here’s a snippet:

After getting the ship all set up, it’s simply a matter of setting up the galaxy. How many races? How many systems in the galaxy? These can all be set up, so that players can find just the right challenge for themselves. Pick plenty of races and there are most sides to play against each other, pick a few and enjoy a more focused game. Pick a small galaxy and limit the planets for the races to colonize, pick a huge galaxy and give them space to grow before turning them against each other. Between just these two options there are plenty of ways for the game to play out, not to mention that which races are randomly picked to be present will impact it as well.

So the Drox operative has a ship and is now set loose on a galaxy to shape how they want. Now comes the toughest challenge yet, learning to play the actual game. There’s a decent learning curve as there are plenty of aspects to running a ship, plus combat, plus leveling, plus cargo, but that’s really to be expected. The unique parts of the actual gameplay is in the relations between other races. Sure there are quests that let players get on the good side of a race, but the true depth is in the Propaganda, Espionage, Sabotage, and Rumors the Drox operative can create. Each can be either Quick, Planned, or Well Crafted with each having a better chance at being better effective as well as costing more money, though it would be nice to see just what the percentages of success for each option would be. These are really where the true power is, anyone can go in and blast a race into dust, but a true master can undermine the race as a whole and tear them apart while seeming friendly.