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“According to theories, Solar Warden is an ultra-secret military project that maintains a fleet of spacecraft that are operating primarily within Earth’s Orbit and around our solar system. Some say they’re defending us against alien threats.” – Jonathan Marcus

Solar Warden is a Space Shooter / Real-Time Strategy hybrid indie title from the developers behind Mechwarrior: Living Legends. Command the secret space fleet from the real-time strategy overlay; the “Planetary Defense Interface (PDI)” into battle or choose to assume immediate control of any of your fleet directly with the “Telepresence” technology and combat the Silicoid menace up close!

 

With Earth under assault from an onslaught of newly discovered meteors, the secret space fleet “Solar Warden” has been tasked by governments around the world to defend the planet from annihilation. Gain the favor of these partnered nations by performing missions safe guarding the planet or aiding those countries to gain a better foothold into space. Rewards for these missions will grant you additional funding, research, and military assets to further you in your campaign. Experimental ships, weapon systems and upgrade tech will be at your disposal. But make no mistake, any damage Earth’s surface takes is persistent in your campaign. Failure to defend means loss of diplomatic ties, research, and ultimately, doom to the planet itself.

Solar Warden takes inspiration from games like Descent, Freelancer, XCOM, and EVERSPACE – aiming to capture this similar spirit of action, exploration, and solid campaign gameplay, while bringing in new features to provide a unique experience not previously explored in this genre.

• Six-Degrees-of-Freedom and Newtonian physics space combat

  – Utilize your maneuvering thrusters to propel your craft at will in any direction
  – Toggle between an assisted flight mode giving the feeling of a fighter plane and full Newtonian “Drift mode” allowing you to conserve your momentum but still orient in any direction

• Command your fleet via real time strategy overlay

  – Build automated defenses around the planet, both on the surface and in orbit or send craft to intercept incoming threats

• Take direct control of any of your ships immediately with “Telepresence”

  – Choose any of your vessels in your fleet and take charge of the battle directly by taking direct control of the ship

  

• Fully narrated Co-Op Campaign

  – A fully featured story with hours of specialized missions
  – Discover the cause of the influx of meteors and find out where these aliens and asteroids are coming from
  – Play a full campaign with up to 4 Players

• Persistent Diplomacy, Research and Planet Damage

  – Failure to defend the planet against impacts will wipe out any city caught in the blast
  – Loss of a city will drastically deteriorate your relationships with patron countries of the Solar Warden project

• No Load Screens

  – Seamless transitions between strategy and space combat

• Earth’s orbit is your Sandbox

  – Travel freely around earth’s outer orbit and stage your defense against the incoming threat
  – Leaving the safety of Earth’s Magnetosphere will rapidly degrade your ship due to the solar rays bombardment.
  – Late game campaign will allow you to unlock specialized technology to visit other locations around the solar system

• Combat the Alien Silicoid

  – The vacuum of space allows unique and strange creatures to dwell and emerge. Be  prepared to encounter these lifeforms beneath the rocky surfaces of asteroids and brace yourself for their attack should you disturb their quiet homes.

• Customize and expand your fleet

  – Prove your piloting skills when defending Earth from the cockpit of light and heavy fighters, bombers and even corvettes
  – Customize your spacecraft’s weaponry using a deadly mix of ballistic cannons, beam lasers, missiles, torpedoes and bombs, neutron cannons, black hole generators and more.

• Use the Planetary Defense Interface to stage your campaign

  – Take on a wide range of different missions from Capturing Asteroids and Space Mining to the construction of entire space elevators.
  – Purchase weapons and technology provided by partnered countries.

• Patron countries hold an affinity toward the Solar Warden project

  – Be a true leader and even diplomat when dealing with countries that each have their own requirements and expectations towards you and the Solar Warden project. Pleasing one country by providing cutting edge defense technology might not go over well with another!
  – Higher affinity from a country will make equipment and technology cheaper to acquire, but the flip side might mean a country withdrawing from the project, cutting their funding or even using their forces to attack you!

In 1983, the “Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)” was proposed by President Ronald Reagan. It was a missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons. In 1984, the Department of Defense oversaw development. A wide array of advanced weapon concepts, including lasers, particle beam weapons and ground and space-based missile systems were researched, along with various sensor suites, command and control operations, and high-performance computer systems that would be needed to control a defense system consisting of hundreds of combat centers and satellites spanning the entire globe. A number of these concepts were tested through the late 1980’s.

But by the 1990’s, the Cold War was ending and nuclear arsenals were being rapidly reduced, resulting in the collapse of both public and political support for the SDI. The SDI officially ended in 1993, when President Bill Clinton’s administration retired the program. However, a secret black operations version of this project remained and continued their work without public knowledge. Over years, this project holding many different code names would eventually splinter from control of any one nation as their technology became more and more advanced and their presence in space became more established. This secretive fleet not beholden to any one government or their regulations continued their research into advanced technologies that some conspiracy theorists believe may be alien in origin. However as time went on, the lack of funding to support any infrastructure in space stunted the growth of the secret space fleet and many of the advanced technologies in space were abandoned in orbit around the planet.

It is the year 2070 and mankind’s existence may soon come to an end. Without warning, several cities already decimated by incoming meteors and now hundreds of asteroids that were previously unidentified are headed toward Earth. No one knows where this sudden surge of rogue asteroids came from, but one thing is clear – for mankind to survive, a space defense force was needed. In response to this onslaught, several world nations worked together to reform old Strategic Defense Initiative but repurpose it to deflect or destroy these incoming alien threats. This reformed organization was called the “Earth Defense Initiative (EDI)” and secretly established contact with the secret space fleet in orbit. A deal was made to fund the secret space fleet and provide access to Earth’s resources and infrastructure while maintaining the program a secret to the public in exchange for defense of the planet.

With the funding of several first world nations, the secret space fleet began to build a defense grid around the planet to quickly respond to the orbital bombardment. By deploying super advanced spacecraft, armed with the latest military weapons and technologies, these craft intercept these rogue asteroids anywhere in Earth orbit and quickly neutralize the threat. Classified to the public with clearance levels many times above top secret, this space defense fleet has been identified only with the project name “Solar Warden”

Six-Degrees-of-Freedom and Newtonian physics space combat

Solar Warden uses a Six-Degrees-Of-Freedom flight system, married to Newtonian flight physics to be mastered in action-packed dogfights. Your ship’s thrusters can be set to several modes that are suitable to either pursuit, dog fighting and even navigating the tight corners inside massive asteroids, navigating the mazes within and blasting it clear of hostiles.

Each ship’s weapon hardpoints can be fully customized to use a wide array of weaponry like heavy lasers, heat seeking missiles, rail-guns, and many more. As you research new tech, you’ll be able to further upgrade your ship with improved countermeasures, shield generators and improved power plants to give you more maneuverability and firepower.

You won’t be staying with the same ship for all of your campaign, either. As you progress, you’ll acquire funds to put towards the development and acquisition of new ships – upgrading to a range of cutting-edge fighters or hard-hitting bombers.

Not only Fighters and Bombers, but Corvettes and Frigates as well

Further still are the Corvette and Frigate class ships which hold the largest weapons that the Solar Warden fleet has to offer. These larger naval vessels allow them to mount much heavier weaponry making them capable of taking out even the largest of asteroids. The Hyperion class Corvette for example is a chassis built around a fixed naval Gauss Cannon which can pack quite a punch.

These vessels come at a high cost in your campaign and will take some time to manufacture at your drydocks as well, but their cost is worth it when it comes to firepower and strength, especially against the larger alien threats that you will face further into your campaign.

Not only are the Corvettes and Frigates equipped with the largest of weapons, but they can also defend themselves with the same weapons that the fighters can mount as well onto their turrets. Utilize the “Turret mode” and free your camera to look around your ship and aim your turrets in the direction you wish to fire! Any turret that is available to shoot in that direction will fire when you trigger that same weapon group.

Fast Traveling around Earth’s Orbit

You will have multiple ways of getting places fast. One such method is the experimental Mag Drive system that allows you to do quick jumps across the Earth’s orbit.

Utilizing the Earth’s Magnetosphere, your ship’s Mag Drive warps the magnetosphere around your vessel and produces incredible thrust. However, this method of travel is only available within the Earth’s Magnetosphere itself as it is the medium that allows for the fast travel to occur.

Also beware of leaving the safety of the Magnetosphere as the bombardment of the sun’s radiation is extremely deadly and will kill you in a matter of minutes.

As you progress further through the game, even more exotic technology like using wormholes to your advantage. All forms of travel happen entirely without loadscreens in between – it all happens in one instance, letting you watch every moment of your journey.

These more exotic forms of travel will also unlock further locations beyond the Moon such as the Asteroid Belt and the Jovian system near end game.

The Solar Warden program is the centerpiece of Earth’s defense against threats from outer space. The Planetary Defense Interface (PDI) is the Solar Warden’s way to coordinate these efforts, allowing you to coordinate the fleet. Build up your defense network, accept missions and manage the project’s funding and diplomacy.

You will be able to utilize the PDI to command fleets around the orbit of Earth and have them directly engage with any incoming meteors or alien threats. From the ships that you built with custom loadouts, you will also be able to give specific commands to those ships. Ordering them to perform specific attack patterns or activate special equipment such as Cloaking Devices or Deploying defense satellites.

Not only will you be able to Command your vessels from the PDI, but if you so choose, you also have the option to take direct control of individual ships through the “Telepresence” system. Relieving any of your AI Pilots or Captains from their vessel temporarily, you assume complete control over the ship allowing you to then fly and fire the weapons as if you were the direct pilot of the ship. You may also at any time release control of the vessel and it will then return to the control of the AI pilot.

Take direct control of any of your ships immediately with “Telepresence”

Telepresence also allows you to have better control over the fleet that the ship is part of, allowing for micromanagement of your wingman and ordering them to engage specific directed targets. Be careful though, as Telepresence is only available in areas that have Communication Satellite coverage. If these satellites are damaged or destroyed, then you will be unable to utilize Telepresence in these “dark zones”.

Defense Grid and Satellites

Another layer of the PDI is the Defense grid where you will be able to see your defense/satellite coverage over the planet. Utilizing the lost technologies from the “Strategic Defense Initiative”, left overs from the cold-war “Reagan era”, these assets will be crucial to seize and redeploy in defense of Earth. Capture or build new defense satellites and you may deploy them from vessels such as H.U.R.K. transports in any location you can order your vessels to and deploy them to automatically safe guard that area.

Also with partnered countries to the Solar Warden project, you may also choose to purchase ground structures on the planet such as Missile Silos in the early game. However, beware of utilizing these forms of defenses as neighboring countries will not appreciate nuclear weapons being fired off into space. In later portions of the game, much more advanced technologies will allow you to build Ground Batteries to fire particle beams and Dome Energy Shields will aid you in shielding cities from destruction (or neighboring fallout from impacted sites)

Deploy your defenses as you see fit as no two campaigns are the same and the attacks can come from any direction. Your total coverage can be viewed from the “Defense Grid” tab.

Build up and customize the Solar Warden Defense Fleet with additional assets:

• Fighters that are on standby to intercept threats across the globe
• Early warning satellites that increase your detection range of encroaching threats
• Point defense platforms you can place across the orbit to guard key locations and population centers
• Researching technologies to unlock new fleet assets, ship upgrades, and whole new ships.

Those resources come with responsibility – failure to take down a meteor will result in major damage on the planet. Each impact you can’t prevent will have lasting effects. Casualties amongst the population will happen, making the earth a less hospitable place with every hit. But not only the surface will feel the effects – countries will cut their funding, research, and ultimately to an official drop of support for your program. Neglect the defense of a country, and you’ll become the enemy, having to fight both alien and human alike. Everyone’s life is at stake, and your ultimate purpose is saving Earth – fail in this duty and you’ll be stranded in space, forever looking down at the barren wasteland that used to be Earth.

 

Co-Op

Full Co-Op support is a fundamental pillar of Solar Warden’s multiplayer gameplay. You’ll be able to share both your ship roster and planetary resources with up to 3 friends while playing the full campaign in Co-Op mode, saving Earth together.

You can choose to fly in a wing or operate independently across the earth to cover different hotspots, adapting your tactics as the situation requires.

You will even have the availability to multi-crew different ships such as Bombers and Corvettes that have additional Turret and special functionality such as Energy Shield allocation.

Command of the Planetary Defense Interface is shared completely between players, allowing you a wide range of tactical decisions as you build up and control your defense network together.

Save games will be completely compatible and seamlessly load between Singleplayer and Multiplayer, with the Host providing his savegame to determine Earth’s state and campaign progress, allowing all players to share in the victory over the Silicoid threat.

Campaign Story

The Campaign in Solar Warden will feature hours of voice over dialog and cutscenes such as the first reveal of the hostile alien species and the struggle that humanity will endure from this assault from beyond the solar system.

From down on the ground reporting from Gail Summers; a reporter for a major news outlet, to Johnathan Marcus; an online conspiracy theorist who’s hell bent on figuring out the truth behind the secret space fleet and the cover ups behind the meteor strikes. Issuing main story line missions will be your commanding officer – General Lanther – who will brief you on the next stages of either research needed to be done to find out more about the Silicoid threat, or missions to build more advanced facilities such as the first Moon base and Space Elevator. Mentoring you while you become familiar with the Solar Warden project is Colonel Mathews, who, after you are inducted into full service, inexplicably disappears and is labeled AWOL, leaving it up to you to find him.

Defending Earth is the ultimate objective of the Solar Warden campaign, and the threats you encounter can be split into these classes:

Meteors:

Utilized by the Silicoid enemy as both siege engine and hive, your detection equipment will pick up meteor clusters on collision course for Earth’s surface. Each meteor has the potential to obliterate cities and kill millions of people that you protect, and you will have to build an effective early warning network as well as take on these major threats with your fleet.

These meteors can take many shapes, from massive, iron-filled rocks tossed at major population centers or formations of dense metal, highly resistant to gunfire or crystal being highly resistance to heat and energy weapons. You will need to make certain you have a good mixture of both ballistic and energy weapons to dismantle the meteors quickly or risk having them fall to the planet and wreak havoc on the Earth’s surface.

Silicoids:

Beware of cracking these lethal balls of rock open as they may have several Silicoid of a wide variety lurking inside ready to defend their rock like bees to a bee hive. They harbor the frontline troops of the true enemy, a deadly Silicoid species composed of various different lifeforms that can thrive in the vacuum of space.

These Silicoid creatures have many times been mistaken for rocks and floating debris while dormant, but once awoken, they seem to glow brightly along various parts of their body. Seeming to have some sort of magma like blood, it seems as though these creatures have weaponized this inner magma to shoot projectiles that melt even the toughest of metals. Some of these Silicoid have also been seen to blast out beams of this substance almost like plasma. Also hidden deep within the large asteroids is the monstrous Silicoid Worm that has been seen devouring whole fighters. Take great care when dealing with this foe.

Along with the ones already seen, other Silicoids species have been rumored to also be lurking. This is an artist rendition of the significant Silicoids that we’re aware of.

However, further through the game, there will also be a new evolution of Silicoid that will resemble more crystalline like. Unlike their Silicoid brethren, these crystalline Silicoid will have a much tougher outer layer of skin against energy weapons.

While the meteors are aimed at taking out Earth and it’s population, the Silicoid aliens are the warriors fighting its defenders, and the main threat your ship will face. Hesitate to take out the Silicoid, and your hull will fail. Fail to take out meteors, and you’ll have nowhere to go back to.

Mega-Meteors:

Presenting the ultimate threat, you will encounter gigantic asteroids the size of space stations or even larger. Large enough to be all but invincible to conventional gunfire. Filled to the brim with deadly Silicoids, they’re the ultimate bastion to take out – your only chance of destroying them is to venture deep inside them and blow them up from within, while escaping fast enough to not get caught in the blast yourself.

 

MechWarrior: Living Legends

The former Developers including the Co-Founder of the acclaimed 2009 total conversion mod “MechWarrior: Living Legends” (MWLL) have founded Polar Zenith studios with the plans of building new games titles that follow the same passion and dedication they showed when building MWLL. Now with over 10 years AAA experience under their belt (with titles such as Crysis 2, Ryse: Son of Rome and Star Citizen), they begin their journey of independent game development with the break out title of Solar Warden.

“Now in 2017  it seems like this is the time where you don’t need 300+ people to make a game anymore. More and more I see small teams of 1 to 6 developers making outstanding titles. This has inspired me to do the same and create Polar Zenith, a stand alone Indie Development company that will create fun and exciting game titles for any Core gamer to enjoy!” – Dan Adams, CEO of Polar Zenith.

 

Release:

Currently slated for a Steam PC release and console platforms in the future. Release Date Estimate: Q2 2019