Outline
You are the head of an international space company. It is yours. You created it. Why? because you wanted to that's why. How? Because you are wealthy, that's how. In the same sort of egotistical manner you also wish to build a space station to orbit the Earth. Your task is to manage your corporation in order to complete such a task. Of course you don't know the first thing about space technology, but then why would you when you can pay someone else to do KNOW it for you! You start off with a team consisting of workers,engineers and scientists (numbers TBA) which are recruited from the University. All have individual qualities and drawbacks that will either aid or sometimes hinder you, each with pros and cons of course. You cant have all of them either, the better ones cost more as you would expect and you can only spend so much cash on your initial team to begin with so spend it wisely. You are not answerable to anyone as this whole operation is financed by yourself anyway. You own companies that will supply everything you need providing you have the right employees to make sure you get what you want. Design your station exactly how you please based on some basic structures. You don't start with anything, except a healthy bank balance, your companies have to do the research first, then produce whatever they have researched and the quality of your research and production is dependant on how good your personnel are. A huge tech tree is avialable in the game, but some things are only researchable if your staff have the qualifications to even venture into that field. For example, you hired Grant for a reasonable fee, a good worker, strong and intelligent, he has the ability to perform tasks with reasonable speed. However he is only qualified as a machinist, great if you want him for woodwork or metalwork skills, he's no good at electronics unless you pay to have him educated in that field and he would still have to be educated in a few fields before becoming an engineer where he would then have to drop a skill in order to excel in the other. Even that is dependant on his IQ. Without going into too much detail on the possible skills each team member has, they will all be limited to certain things, everything will hinge from their IQ level so the possibilities are endless. Each type of personnel has different fields in which they can be disciplined but obviously workers cannot do the jobs that scientists can unless they progress to being an engineer first, of course you can just hire engineers in the first place but the cost is a hell of a lot more. The same is true for engineers progressing to being scientists. Of course throughout the game they will all be gaining experience while under employment. Your staff can be named for that personal touch too since you will be nurturing there careers afterall.

Companies
You have a number of companies. Each one has its own research and production division. Each division is staffed by scientists and workers. Engineers can be used in either division for fine tuning. We all know that scientists don't tend to get their hands dirty so injecting their efforts with a complement of engineers can help give them a kick up the backside. Likewise with workers, they get their hands pretty dirty but tend to prefer to use their hands rather than their brains, that's where the engineers come in. Either way, the engineers can play a vital role in speeding up research or production when it is needed. I envisage 5 to 8 companies in total such as Biocyte (for everything bio related) need some life support? or how about a neat recycling technology that would reduce shuttle trips with supplies of water etc? Or Computech (all things computer related), Digitendon (isnt that a robotics company?). Are you getting the idea?

Visuals
Your company screens don't have to be all that techy either, pretty is a plus point though, the basis is for information purposes such as who is working there, what are you researching and/or producing, how much cash you have, elapsed time etc. Each has overview screen as well a sub screens into the research and production divisions. There needs to be a screen available that gives you a global view of all your companies though in order for you to make quick assessments of what to alter if anything. The space station view needs to look good though, a fully scrollable setup with zoom-in options and a nice mother earth in the background. It needs to have lights flashing and shuttles docking, all the sorts of things you would expect from a space station construction site.

Trial Run
Ok so the first thing you need to have in space is a comms system. Design one, build one and get it up there !! Next you need to start with a main platform from which everything else will stem. Make sure that when you request its size (from some basic templates) that you can afford it first. What was that? A pop-up screen telling me my researchers have found a way to produce a larger platform for half the cost due to more efficient construction methods?? Well I'll be damned ;o) Good job I opted to hire Walter Grinthorp (scientist), he cost alot and is an English eccentric but he has paid off already. There is a cost to NASA for getting it up into space though, but dont worry I am sure your scientists are working on a space plane already (certain things the manual wont tell you about), screw NASA they can keep their out dated technology ! A construction module would be handy too, if I had one then a lot more components could be brought up in one go, (AKA flat pack) and constructed in situ. Now that would save some cash but the cost of more people in space might topple your budget in the early stages. Any scientists fancy becoming an astronaut? (big training fee though). By the same token a science module will allow research on things that just aren't possible without zero G. As was said earlier, you can construct it how you like, all modules will connect together with similar interconnection units so every station can be very individual. So that's the general idea, it would take me pages and pages to explain the whole game.

Multiplayer?
Of course it is always nice to have a multiplayer option. How about another sad meglomaniac doing the same as you on the other side of the planet, did he hire different personnel? did he manage to research something I cant because of the tech route I took? Damn, trade? I pay good prices ;o) It need not reach a stage where weaponry plays a part, trade wars can be just as lethal. It wouldn't harm to have the odd weapon as protection to the earth from asteroids though, I bet many governments would pay a tidy sum for such protection.

Space Station Strategy Game
Gary Campbell
gary.campbell@cableinet.co.uk

Building a space station sounds like a lot of fun to me. Be cool if your crew could turn crazy if they where in space for too long, like adding some elements from TheSims.

Idea Reviewer:
-Vegard Aure-