Lighthouse Interactive has announced Sword of the Stars: Born of Blood, an expansion for the space strategy game, for release this April. The add-on will add a new alien race, a new form of strategic movements, new ship sections, new weapons, new technologies, new scenarios and other new stuff. It will also include GUI and graphic updates, as well as engine optimizations.

Further details inside.

Haarlem, The Netherlands, February 26th, 2007. Leading Publisher Lighthouse Interactive and developer Kerberos Productions today announced that they will release an Add-On for their highly acclaimed 4x space strategy title for PC “Sword of the Stars”.

“Sword of the Stars: Born of Blood” is an add-on for the Sword of the Stars universe, designed to increase the diversity, tactical depth and replay value of the ground-breaking 4X game. This expansion will unleash a new alien race, a new form of strategic movement, new ship sections, new weapons, new technologies, new scenarios and new unknown menaces. A new set of GUI, graphic updates and optimizations complete the package, making this a must-buy for players of the original game, or the perfect excuse to pick up the original and get on board. SotS:BoB has an anticipated release date of mid-April 2007. The add-on will require the original game to run.

Forged in the fires of advanced biotechnology, a new race has emerged from the shadows to threaten the SotS universe. Born of blood, driven by hunger and launched on a relentless search for the Gods that made them, these brutal warriors will stop at nothing to find “The Great Masters”. As they tear the galaxy apart, a dark new chapter in the annals of interstellar conquest will begin. Bringing with it new strategies, new weapons, and a new view of “resources”.

They call themselves The Zuul. And they have uses for you.

Erik Schreuder, Lighthouse CEO, said: “Sword of the Stars has been a great success for us and has generated a loyal following. In the end we could no longer deny the voices of the fans, who have been asking for an add-on for months.” He added: “We definitely want to see this franchise grow further and add to it being a benchmark for 4x strategy gaming. This really is addictive stuff.”

Kerberos VP Chris Stewart said: “The player community has been fantastic and with this add-on we want to incorporate fan suggestions and continue with our designs to make Sword of the Stars an ever-evolving, dedicated product that will continually challenge and engross players, both online and off. In Born of Blood we will be revealing more back-story and in-game events that will de-cloak more of the Sword of the Stars universe as well as laying down more groundwork for the future of the franchise.”

Sword of the Stars, originally released in August 2006, is a breakthrough 4X Strategy game that has brought action and tactical depth back to 4X gamers with some new twists, including a 3D starmap and real-time combat resolution in a 3D environment. Most importantly, all this is brought to players with online multiplayer abilities unmatched in the genre. Reaching out to crush someone is even more fun with a galaxy at stake.

In Sword of the Stars, each race has its own unique aspects such as striking ships designs, strong background story and most of all each race having its own method for travelling the stars, as well as many other tactical differences - all of which result in the game having a very large replay-value.

Picking the race they desire, players will explore planets, research over 170 technologies, forge alliances and create empires in a hostile universe where weakness means extinction and only the strongest will survive. Sword of the Stars provides deep yet intuitive play, state-of-the-art graphics and tactical combat that make the game instantly involving, addictive and most importantly, fun.

Lighthouse and Kerberos have also announced that they will be releasing a new patch for the original game in the next week or so, giving the game a final upgrade and polish.

“Sword of the Stars: Born of Blood” Key Features:

• 1 new race - the Zuul - with 80+ ship sections and Tunnel Drive FTL technology.
  
• Massive Zuul slaver disks allow them to take slaves and use them to boost production on Zuul fortress worlds.
  
• Over 15 new weapons to battle with including Boarding Pods!
  
• Over 25 new technologies to research and deploy.
  
• New diplomatic Data and Comm systems. Make demands! Ask for help in attacking specific targets. Warn players off from the worlds you have yet to claim!
  
• More Intelligence technologies allow you to keep track of enemy ships, tech and battles.
  
• A new trade route system making economic control and output even more vital for military success. Star freighters ply the trade routes making money for the player but are also vulnerable to raiders. Active piracy and escort battles enter the SotS universe with a bang.
  
• Details combat results and status graphs allow you to track the rise or fall of your empire over time.
  
• A variety of new ship sections for the original races to help meet this new threat.
  
• More tactical combat options.
  
• New combat arena as ships are called upon to battle in the dangerous depths of Node-space.
  
• New random menaces / exploration threats.
  
• 2 new Scenarios (for both single- and multiplayer).
  
• 5 new galaxy types.
  
• Various GUI and multiplayer enhancements.