New five-faction server is now up!
The Genari Starkiller arrives in orbit around Earth, with the Sol Imperial defense platform nearby

A fierce battle between Sol Imperial Worlds and Genari United Empire ended with the Sol Homeworld of Earth being defeated led by RevenyasReven and his Starkiller flagship. The hive was defeated first, and Ma'Alaketh thereafter, with Sol being the last one standing against the Genari.
Also, congrats to Taco, Mentor, Amishjoe, BurgerBing, Doc Grumpets as the great defenders of Sol, eventually succumbing to Genari.

What class of ship will you achieve this server?
A Sol Mendi fires on a Genari Agile Flyer

Players will notice a new feature implemented in this server -- Attack AI. Not only will local stations send out defending ships when players attack borders, some stations now send out Class III and IV attackers to hit borders as well. Take advantage of this and join AI to coordinate attacks on sectors, or defend against them for extra experience and officer points.
Eventually you will be seeing 'Hero Attack AI' which will be leveled up AI destroyers and cruisers that work in groups to assault larger sectors, just like you do.

Sol Imperial Worlds - The Human military dictatorship, with well rounded ships and initiative
Genari United Empire - The brutish conquerors with heavy armor, marines, alpha strike
Ma'Alaketh Confederation - The most tech-advanced with powerful shields and ranged weapons
Perseus Hive - Living ships that rely on sheer numbers and accelerated growth & regeneration
Free Peoples of Sol - Pirates of the galaxy with the ability to strike anywhere & stolen tech

The Sol Titan and Colossus dreadnoughts approach the Ma'Alaketh Dyson Sphere
Congratulations to top Sol players Bravus and Heinous who had the dream team of the Titan and Colossus dreadnoughts, combined with the help of Beo and his Nagara Beam Cruiser and DarthVaper's Krakatoa mobile defense platform taking out the Ma'Alaketh Dyson Sphere. John McMilan kept watch on defense.
Commendations also go out to:
Genari's best players: Hook & Amishjoe
Hive's best players: Kunll & Zigzagler
Free Peoples' best players: Xeen & Mandosa

The battleship Yamato near Earth
-New Ma'Alaketh Engineer Skill: Quantum Field. The engineer specializes in force field technology, and has adapted a secondary unit to further protect the ship from damage.
-XP cost for Sol/Genari/Ma'Alaketh battleships & dreadnoughts have been reduced significantly.
-The Ma'Alaketh Tetrarch light cruiser now has its hull reduced from 82 to 72.
-The Hive carapace protective layer skill now increases hull by 10%, not 30%.
-The ship skill bug has been fixed.

A new five faction server is now online, after a Hive domination victory on the Eagle server. Initially, Genari looked to be winning, taking on all sides and destroying the Pirates' homeworld, but eventually the Ma'Alaketh and Hive races grew more dominant over time. The Perseus Hive, though weak at start, can become hard to defeat in a long run server, as they continue to grow stronger if left to their endless consumption.
The final top scores for Eagle below:
The Ma'Alaketh class 7 command cruiser Consul has been reworked into a new design, along with its smaller hybrid destroyer variants the Acolytes.
Now that all five playable factions/races have been completed, new ship designs will be introduced in forthcoming servers for all the races, in various classes.

After several years in development, we now have all five races playable, each with their own unique playstyles. Over 50 ships per race, they all have their own attributes and special designs integrated for competition, PvP and PvE play.

Right now you can choose a race and compete, but you are also open to switch your character and try a different race during this server run without being forced to play a specific race for the entire server duration.

-Sol plasma technology
-Ion drive technology
-Well rounded race with no distinct strengths or weaknesses
-Bordering all four enemy races
-Easiest to play

-Efficient, low cost missile technology
-Heavily armored
-Strong low-tier ships
-Marine boarding pods
-Bordering all four enemy races
-Easy to play

-Very advanced ion drives
-Extreme range particle beams
-Dampening field systems
-Very powerful force field technology
-Advanced repair drones

-Special regenerative abilities
-Swarm/telepathy command multiple organisms
-Very diverse 'ship' selection
-Powerful plasma wave launchers
-Proboscis

-Can attack any sector
-Large pirate fleets
-Powerful boarding units
-Can ally with specific races to fight others

The fifth and final faction for Space Wars, the Free Peoples of Sol has finally launched. On this server, players can try these 'Pirates', working together against AI to dominate the server. Originating from New Terra in the Helix Nebula, this faction is a conglomeration of Human and Genari defectors that combine their technology (along with some stolen Ma'Alaketh tech) to produce some rather unique warships.

Their strengths:
-Can support large fleets of AI combat ships
-Strong boarding units and xp gains from capturing ships/bounties
-Can attack any sector, regardless of being adjacent to a captured region

Their weaknesses:
-Very expensive ships
-No high tier battleships or dreadnaughts
-Long cooldowns for lost ships
-Only three dedicated officers
-Weak support ships

So have fun and enjoy this new faction, with all its unique ways to conquer the galaxy :)

This is a new four faction PvP server, with one limitation however -- all four races are limited to Class VI ships as their strongest warship. That means Heavy Cruisers, Battleships and Dreadnoughts are not available on this server.
It will allow players to hone their skills on workhorses of their race, which are the frigates, destroyers, and light cruisers.
Also the win parameters are not to destroy all the enemy homeworlds this time, but attempt to dominate 90% of the galaxy map.

Two of the strongest Hive players worked as a team, fed off the Sol race, which collapsed first: Veterans Nocabonac and Heinous dominated their way through Sol and Genari, eventually taking out the Ma'Alaketh Dyson Sphere to win the server. Also a shoutout to sss, KhanJB, beo, Hook, zorg, genari_neko as Genari, initially dominating the server until the Hive grew too strong for them to hold back.

It is very likely that the next server will be the first time that players can try the rather unique Free Peoples' of Sol (pirate) faction. Skills, ships, and characters are being finalized behind the scenes on the development server, as well as squashing the inevitable bugs.

New Server with all for races accessible under normal win conditions: Sol Imperial Worlds, Genari United Empire, Ma'Alaketh Confederation, and the Perseus Hive. Some of you veteran players who stick to the same race every time, should try other races and enjoy the flavor and variety of each... you never know you might find a new favorite!

Sol Imperial Worlds: The 'jack of all trades' good at all, best at none, always the most popular to new players.

Genari United Empire: Brutishly strong, tough ships, but behind on technology. Usually the strongest out of the gate, and can dominate early.

Ma'Alaketh Confederation: The most advanced in technology, with some of the most powerful ships in the game. But more difficult to master.

Perseus Hive: The most difficult race to start with, but best played with good allies. Arguably the strongest race if allowed to break the confines of its region in the long run.

Behind the scenes, the Pirate faction is being worked on, a rather unique race with special abilities, but limited in its ability to expand and conquer. It is the 5th and last faction for the Beta.
Some examples below:
Orchis Raider
Orchis Interceptor
Agile Flyer Raider
Agile Flyer Interceptor
Mendi Raider
Mendi Interceptor

Congratulations to Sol Imperial worlds for successfully outplaying the three other races to win the server. This unique server had players being awarded the near-impossible halo ship for each race if they achieved 30k XP.
For Sol, Jerbear, Beo, Hook, and Bayou were awarded the Sol Titan Dreadnought, and eventually dominated the server, taking out individual homeworlds.
Ma'Alaketh actually had a stronger start, with Trygore, EIN, Salo, Stan, War Demon, Ainh, T, Aegrimm all achieving the Sa'Avaal beam platform.
Genari had Vesuvius and AmishJoe acquire the Starkiller Command Dreadnought.
And the Hive players Apophis and Cattlebruiser succeeded in getting the Queen.

The next PvP server begins on Monday, November 29th.

Agile Flyer Raider
Orchis Raider
Work is being done behind the scenes for the Pirate faction, and some testing will be done on the next server. It is possible that it will be playable for all on the succeeding server.
First Honor Raider & Interceptor

This new server is unique in that if you achieve Captain Level 5, (30,000xp) you are automatically given a Class XII ship for your race, without any of the prerequisites. It will be interesting to see these monstrous dreadnoughts en masse fighting each other... If you've always wanted to try one, but their XP requirements were simply near impossible to achieve, here is your chance. But if its destroyed, it is permadeath for your ship!

SOL IMPERIAL WORLDS: TITAN ASSAULT DREADNOUGHT
The Sol Colossus was an incredible achievement for the Imperium: It gave the edge in the war of attrition against the Genari Star Empire. The Genari matriarchy was falling behind on advancements to engines and weapons, putting them in a disadvantage when it came to battleships and dreadnoughts. But it was the awakening of the Perseus Hive and its decimation of Genari bases that had Sol command concerned with a possible greater threat. Although most of the Hive focus was in Genari territory, they were also starting to encroach dangerously close on Capella. Upon studying some of their larger and more dangerous 'Entities', it was realized that swarms of these could easily overcome the Colossus itself. A new, more robust platform was developed, especially after McKellan Engineerings' breakthrough of mating six engines made a three-million ton warship possible. It came to be known as the Titan, a one-of a kind dreadnought mounting an array of twelve of the most powerful beams in three different arcs that could decimate a single Hive entity with one volley. With enough power and detection range as a defense station, it can target enemies from an extended range and land hits before they ever have a chance of getting close. Its sheer size also allowed for two advanced repair bays which can help the dreadnought repair more quickly, or do the same to other ships nearby.

GENARI UNITED EMPIRE: STARKILLER COMMAND DREADNOUGHT
Empress Talagh-Zeranghi found her Matriarchy in trouble: Advancements into Hive regions initially gained her clan a significant amount of riches from the resource-heavy regions in the Perseus cluster. However the Hive had begun to resist and overcome her fleet's attacks. Eventually, the tide had turned and these massive Hive Entities were growing evermore aggressive on taking back these Genari-controlled regions. Being on the forefront of the Hive incursion, her homeworlds of Bacheh and Barghi were seeing early attacks from these organics. The rest of the Matriarchs were too focused on the Sol Imperium and the Ma'Alaketh; so she was on her own to defend against what seemed to be an impossible foe. Her Star Fortress was dangerously close to the Hive border, and she considered the possibility of an evacuation if the Hive did push deeper into her territory. She commissioned a new dreadnought that could become a mobile command base, but also have the firepower and defensive strength to resist even the largest of these destructive Hive Entities. Thus the Starkiller was born; a massive station-sized dreadnought with enough firepower to rival even the Shahavi homeworld command base. Although it is a rather slow ship, it is heavily armored and built to accelerate the array of omnidirectional missile weapons, with a very low energy demand to fully arm its arsenal. It could decimate any Hive ship that would come within 6000km , no matter what its size. The rest of the Empire sees the Starkiller as the best chance of stopping the Hive from gaining any more foothold into Genari territory.

MA'ALAKETH CONFEDERATION: SA'AVAL MOBILE BEAM PLATFORM
The Sovereign battleships proved to be extremely powerful in warding off Sol and Genari attacks; the enemy could not out-power the Ma'Alaketh technology or succeed in taking any of the Ma'Alaketh regions within the Perimeter without incurring heavy casualties. But when it was time for the Ma'Alaketh Confederation to pacify the Genari and Sol homeworlds, it was proven to be quite difficult with the sheer number of station defenses surrounding these planets. The Confederation did not want any demoralizing casualties or losses of their capital ships -- it simply was not an option. So developing a mobile unit that could act as long range artillery, softening or destroying defensive stations without taking any harm was the logical next step. Using technology from the Dyson Sphere itself, a mobile beam platform was built around four smaller variants of the Dyson beam, packing enough of a punch that could destroy even the largest enemy base with reasonable reliability, and completely out of enemy station weapons range. It also has the most advanced dampening field ever built -- a large circular unit that takes up a significant portion of the superstructure, but acts as a partially effective field because of its sheer mass. The massive IHD-9 powerplants were doubled to deliver twice as much power as the Grand Sovereign, making this mobile platform surprisingly agile and maneuverable. However, to fully charge its four particle beams, it will need to remain near-stationary to provide the power needs of these massive weapons.

PERSEUS HIVE: HIVE QUEEN
When the bulk of Matriarch Talagh-Zeranghi's forces assaulted the Hive homeworld 'Dark Core', their armada, consisting of a Nova, several heavy cruisers and other capital ships managed to overcome the defending organisms and destroy the Hive nest that existed there. The Matriarch declared this as the beginning of the end for the Perseus Hive and the Dark Core's defeat as the ultimate conquest for the Empire. She was premature in her announcement however: Things turned sour when this station-sized organism appeared from the dark side of the barren planet about an hour later. Undetected, it was within the planet's dead core itself; how it got out is uncertain. As it approached, it sent waves of energy against the Nova flagship, which was already significantly damaged. Before the flagship could escape during its dark matter transition phase, it got destroyed. It then systematically attacked each other heavy cruiser, forcing them to retreat one by one. All other remaining Hive organisms rallied around this superentity, and forced the rest of the Genari fleet to retreat. It has never been encountered again, but ever since its appearance, it has broken the Genari dream of overtaking Hive space. They've respectfully termed it the Hive 'Queen', definitely befitting its title. Unlike the Hive Nests which birth new Hive organisms, this Queen is mobile and acts like a Hive Entity. If it truly can travel between star systems, there may be nothing Sol or Genari could do to stop it.

Victory to Sol
Congratulations to Sol players Jerbear, Captain eXe, beo, Nahia, Amishjoe, Trygore, Taozen and others who were initially on the losing end, being dominated by powerful Hive players Tsef Knio and ToxoplasmosisEin, as well as Genari players Schlongmower, T, and Hook. But they ended up working as a powerful team to stop their opposition. Also notable mention: Void -- who held on as Ma'Alaketh holding back the Sol advance and being the last race to be taken down before Sol victory.