There are new star and planet types to discover, and more than 30 special features to make each star system distinctive. You may encounter tachyon storms, psychic plants, primitives or find abandoned alien technology that advances your own research. Two new races, with their own ships and special characteristics, await your discovery. Befriend them, play as them, or exterminate them as you wish.
A new trade system lets you construct networks to trade valuable commodities between the stars, both between your own worlds, and with other players. Alien relics, rare minerals, tourists, or even natural anti-matter, your freighters carry them all. Choke an enemy with trade embargoes, or blockade their planets with stealth ships operating behind the lines. But trade and tourism bring less welcome visitors too. The new espionage system lets you plant spies to gather information or steal technological secrets, or drop special forces that can sabotage defenses before an attack.
Fifty new technologies open up new strategies and tactics. Confound your enemies with hard to detect stealth ships, jam their missiles with electronic warfare, build fighter stations to defend your planets, and blitz defenses with stormtroopers. Research Gaia to make everyone happy, or grind them under your heel with a variety of more powerful warships and upgrades weapons.
Armada’s simultaneous order system makes it ideal game for multi-player action. Now you can crush your friends playing over LAN (local area networks) or PBEM (play by email).