http://www.soldak.com/Drox-Operative/Overview.htmlDrox Operative is a top-down space ARPG set inside of a dynamic "macro-game" that acts like a space 4X game that plays itself. It's from the same developer that made Din's Curse and Depths of Peril.
Each game has several races that compete for control of the sector.
They build colonies on planets, gather resources, produce fleets, and research new technologies.
They fight each other, steal from each other, negotiate with each other. Sometimes they form alliances and sometimes to go to war.
There's also the usual assortment of bandits and space beasts to worry about.
You however, DO NOT play as the ruler of any of these space-faring civilizations. It's NOT your role to manage all those annoying people, build production facilities, command fleets of ships, or capture resources.
Instead, you play as a so called "Drox Operative". It's your role to step into this mess and manipulate things to go your way.
Maybe you'll form an alliance between the factions you like, maybe you'll help one conquer the sector, maybe you'll kill lots of people and make everyone fear your wrath, maybe you'll make yourself a hero everyone worships, or maybe you'll just get very crazy rich.
However you want to do it, to "win" you just need to demonstrate to these space empires why you are the deciding power in the sector and why they won't get anywhere without you.
The has a lot of mechanics representing a lightweight/simplified 4X game from a mercenary's perspective.
Races research technologies that improve their firepower and you can sell/give them new technologies, do quests for them to speed up their research, or steal technologies from them to sell/give to other races in order to give them an advantage.
Different planets have different resources and what races a planet controls can influence how many ships they can produce, and you can help the races capture valuable worlds if you feel like being nice.
Natural disasters can hamper ship production and economy, and diseases can do the same while spreading between planets. Perhaps you might help your allies resolve those situations for a fee.
Unhappy colonies may result civil unrest that may eventually lead to civil war and faction splitting. You may help a race suppress a rebellion for a fee, or help the rebellion along if it serves your purposes.
The races will have different relationships with each other, making enemies and forming alliances. You can influence this by helping them, attacking them, spreading rumors, and forming treaties.
This game also features the usual ARPG/Diablo-alike levelling up, combat, and loot collecting, but you probably already played enough of those games to know how that stuff works. :V
It's a rather interesting mix of a ARPG "moment-to-moment game" built on top of a dynamic strategy "macro-game".
I've had a lot of fun playing this in beta and thought I'd mention it now that it's been officially released.
