Q: How (apart from the obvious change of eras) will the game differ from the originals?
Erik Bethke: We have a number of improvements that we think are quite exciting. The biggest one that I find personally exciting is the ability to fully customize ship load outs. The player can now build their ship from the bottom up choosing hull type, warp engine, shielding, weapons, sensors et al. for there own ship to get the ultimate in custom experiences. We have also gone overboard on the officers for your ship: You have six different officers; Security, Medical, Engineer, Tactical, Helm, Science. Each of these officer have names (you can re-name them) and each of them has their own stats like intelligence and toughness. The intelligence stat governs who quickly the officer will learn his sub-skills (each officer has 18 sub-skills). It is up to you which stations to assign your officers. The toughness comes into play for each officer has their own hit-points and may be injured or even worse – killed in action. The frailty of your officers provides a whole new compelling sub-game to grow your officers and to decide how much to press a tactical situation in the missions you face. – In other words is rescuing that planet worth your Legendary Science officer?