Astro Protocol
Astro Protocol (In Development)
Space strategy in a nutshell. Astro Protocol is a fast-paced space 4X where each run takes 1 to 2 hours. Explore the galaxy, colonize new worlds, research powerful technologies and command deadly fleets. No diplomacy, pure conquest. Turn based strategy at its core.
Trailer
About the Game
Astro Protocol is a simulated star system interface shared by six cosmic factions, each trying to take control of the framework. Every anomaly, conflict, and breakthrough is a ripple in a grand experiment to master the fundamental forces of predicted reality.
Explore a hex-based unique galaxy map
Every map is unique, so is every game. Explore bright stars, dangerous asteroid fields, gas giants full of resources, welcoming planets and strange anomalies.
Discover anomalies and unlock powerful rewards
Anomalies are events where everything can happen. Each anomaly is AI-free and features amazing art made by amazing artist Sami Rouhiainen. Choose powerful rewards that make each session unique.
Colonize and terraform planets to expand your empire
Some planets are ready for colonization, while others must be terraformed to support different kinds of life. Establishing colonies expands your supply network, lowering energy upkeep costs and enabling deeper exploration. The more colonies you control, the more resources you’ll generate to fuel your growth across the stars.
Build space stations and ships to control the stars
Build space stations to harvest nearby resources from gas giants, stars, and asteroid fields. Use those resources to build ships with distinct capabilities — from fast-moving scouts to long-range carriers and durable battleships. Shape your fleet to fit your strategy and take control over your rivals.
Research new technologies to gain the upper hand
Mix and match technologies from three unique tech paths, each offering powerful upgrades that shape your strategy. With randomized technology options and limited research capabilities, no two runs are the same — making every decision matter.
Crush enemy fleets
Every ship has two attack stats: number of attacks and damage of each attack. Whether your enemy is heavily shielded or has armored units will define which tactic you need to go for. Shields recover each turn and armor stays forever, so use your fleet wisely to get the best of it!
Race for victory points against rival factions
Gain victory points by controlling planets and stations or by discovering anomalies.
The first player to reach the required victory points wins the game!
Join our growing community on Discord to discuss strategies, give feedback, and connect with fellow Astro Protocol players.
Roadmap
0.6.0 (Release in June 2025)
- More & improved sound effects
- UI Improvements
- Event Queue UI
- Recursive Tooltips
- Improve Station Graphics
- More Tech
- More Specialized Units
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Development log
- More tactical combat, nested tooltips, upgraded graphics20 hours ago
- Factions and Terraforming18 days ago
- Astroprotocol 0.4.0 is here!68 days ago
Comments
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Map generation had me start with the nearest non-gasgiant planet 3 places away, and the nearest undefended non-gasgiant planet 4 or 5 spaces away. You might want to update that algorithm because this particular run is more or less dead on arrival
On second though it seems like this game is currently balanced around the faction that can increase its network range with stations. As the colonize-everything faction, after 2 restarts I have yet to be able to colonize a single planet. I have never started with another planet in range and in one of the games I didn't get the 2nd +network range after getting 2 techs in each category, and the nearest planet was further than that. also my tech tree is all gunked up with terraforming options which are useless to me (they should be removed for this faction)
edit: alas, with one more restart i was able to get planets in range and colonize for the first time!
Thanks a lot for playing and the feedback! I think there might be some confusion how colonization works. You can colonize planets outside of your network, but the colonization cost will be equal to the distance from the planet to your network. The UI is doing bad job at visualizing this fact if you don't have enough resources to colonize the planet. This will be fixed in the 0.6.0 update, which contains a redesign of the whole "selected unit" panel.
I'll think about removing the terraforming techs from Yimono. They're not completely useless as terraforming can still be beneficial in order to prevent others colonizing your planets in a dire situation or to change the upkeep of your planets. However it's probably not worth researching them just for this utility. There are more features planned regarding terraforming which will make terraforming more useful for Yimono as well, but they will not be coming in the 0.6.0 update yet.
An anomaly allowed me to build a -1Gas/+1Energy station for free. It allowed me to place it outside of my network, where it is disconnected. It now costs the Gas without providing the Energy. I presume this is two bugs:
1) anomalies allow construction outside of network
2) stations outside of network still cost resources without providing income
after expanding my network to cover it, the income starting coming in as expected
Thanks for the feedback! Putting stations granted by anomalies outside of your network is intended. Otherwise it would be pretty rare you could place a station from anomaly. Of course you might want to think twice if you can extend your network to the station outside of your network.
The station upkeep is a great observation. I will remove disconnected stations from costing upkeep in the next bigger patch. Thanks a lot!
This game is a lot simpler than most strategy games in this style, but that makes it a fun game to pick up and play for a quick run, instead of becoming a slog over the span of several weeks to get to an endgame point.
Thanks!
Thanks a lot for playing and the feedback! Our goal is to add more depth in the next couple of months by adding couple of game mechanics and more techs, upgrades, factions, etc. without making the game much longer. I hope you will try the game again in a month or two to see if we've managed to add a good amount of depth while keeping the game relatively quick.
Yeah, at the moment, it feels like a more involved tech tree would be nice (it's not bad as-is, but more would be nice), and more varied factions would help change things up without adding to the length of the game too much. Sounds fun! And thanks for sharing those plans!
Really great work and thanks for using Talo!