Falling Frontier

Important: Information is subject to change during development

General
Falling Frontier is a single-player Real Time Strategy skirmish game that combines classic RTS style gameplay elements with a number of innovative features including logistical gameplay, and physics based destruction in a large scale star system developed by Stutter Fox Studios and published by Hooded Horse. The soundtrack is composed by Scott Buckley. Falling Frontier will enter Early Access in Q2 of 2022 on Steam and GOG. The game will release in German, French, Spanish, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese.

Setting
Falling Frontier starts in the Sol system during the First Colonial War of 2238. The player begins as the faction Titan trying to secure independence from the inner planets. Later the campaign moves to the Frontier system, a system that orbits the sun Damarat and was recently discovered. All 9 factions have sent expeditions to this new system in the hopes to establish a foothold and gain access to new planets and resources. After journeying across the fathomless depths of space, the player's expeditionary force has just completed construction of it's first spaceport in orbit of a new world. With the arrival of the other factions, the player is drawn again into ancient conflict between the factions, and must continue the struggle under the light of an alien star.

Features
Falling Frontier will feature a 1v1 single player skirmish battle against a main AI with smaller sub factions around the system. The game will have a massive, procedurally generated solar system filled with planets, moons, asteroid fields, nebulae, and more awaiting exploration and colonization. There will be a total of 9 factions each with its own perks and different starting technologies. Falling Frontier will feature a research tree to improve combat, logistical and civilian aspects. Establish and upgrade shipyards, supply depots, refineries, and recon stations. Research new technologies to unlock facilities, weapons, ship hulls, upgrades, and colonization options.

Logistics
Falling Frontier features an extensive need for logistical planning. The resources in the system are finite and physicalized. Resources must be brought to stations or ships to be added to the resource pool of said station/ship, they are not added to a universal resource pool. Due to this careful planning must be made by the player to be able to supply all of the stations and ships with the necessary resources to have an effective and operational fleet. This network of logistics must also be defended, a cease of resources will severely limit what a player can construct or maintain. The player's ships carry limited ammunition, fuel, and food, and must be resupplied regularly. A strike force that neglects adequate supply ships or is cut off in enemy territory may find itself without adequate ammunition for defense or fuel to escape, or, at the extreme, with a crew slowly starving. The military will not consist of a single massive and unstoppable fleet. Instead, the player must break ships up into smaller flotillas strategically distributed throughout the territory, able to respond wherever the enemy might choose to attack the players logistical or industrial capacity. A weaker opponent can choose to engage in guerrilla warfare, raiding supply depots and refineries, blockading colonies, and otherwise attacking each point in the enemy supply chain.

Combat
Falling Frontier's combat combine intuitive control with deep mechanics. Angle of attack is critical, as weapons fire is fully physicalized. Shots can strike unintended targets after missing or ricocheting off hulls. Each ship has subsystems that can be damaged or destroyed upon impact. For example, hitting the munitions storage can set off a chain reaction capable of instantly destroying the ship, or if an enemy vessel’s engines are destroyed you can tug it back to your shipyards to repair and add to your own forces. Battles will not be decided based solely on the number or size of your ships. Positioning is critical, and smaller, more maneuverable craft can defeat much larger vessels through ambush or tactical superiority. Larger ships must carefully manage their firing arcs, and be wary of close-range engagements where they might find it difficult to rotate fast enough to track more nimble ships. Individual hardpoints can be controlled to optimize ammo usage and damage output. Ship customization allows for specialization of ships that fit niche rolls.

Intelligence
Accurate intel is your key to victory. Probes and recon stations must be used to explore and monitor the vast emptiness between planets. Recon stations can be set to scan defined angles, with a tradeoff between width and distance. Passive scans may be run that grant very limited information, or risk running active scans that give away your position. You may lay hidden minefields or remote turrets to protect strategically important areas, and attempt to discover the locations fortified by the enemy.

The reverse is true as well, and the enemy will be continuously seeking intel. If strategically positioned defense flotillas are discovered, the enemy can then strike where weakest or carry out diversionary tactics. The sheer scale of space provides its own concealment against passive scanning, but each resupply ship’s arrival or departure carries the potential for discovery. The player may also choose to hide his ships from detection behind planets and moons, at the price of weakening their own scanning ability. They may even choose to mask a ship’s heat signature by placing it near a hot celestial body, at the risk of the hull melting.

Customization
Falling Frontier incorporates over 20 different ship types, including frigates, destroyers, cruisers, and battlecruisers, alongside an array of civilian ships. Ships may be customized to your own designs, choosing weapons, utility modules, and other components to best serve your strategic needs. Each ship requires a significant investment to produce, crew, and supply, and engagements do not consist of vast numbers of interchangeable and replaceable vessels, but rather carefully composed flotillas of 4-5 significant warships, each with it's own history and role.

Likewise, command crews are not abstract and impersonal entities, but rather named individuals, each with their own portraits and identities. Officers have unique traits and perks, making personnel choice a critical consideration in efficient flotilla composition. Officers can be killed in action, or attempt to use escape pods. You may capture enemy officers and take them back to your colonies for interrogation, yielding valuable intel on enemy capabilities and positioning. Or leave the enemy officers in their escape pods as their food slowly runs out, while concealing forces nearby to ambush any rescue ships.

Early Access
The game will enter Early Access on Steam in Q2 2022. It will feature the first act of the Titan Rising campaign which contains around ten hours of story content. Act's 2 and 3 will be added as Early Access progresses. A skirmish mode and a scenario editor are also planned, and will come later in the Early Access pipeline.

Post-launch content
Planned post launch content include free and paid patches/DLC's. These could potentially include continued integration of mod support, multiplayer and various others to be announced. Post launch content depends on the success of the game after release.

Trailer


