Cédric Lefebvre's Space Gate Odyssey, due out in Q1 2019 from French publisher Ludonaute, seems to fall into the category of fighting, albeit in a pacific "fighting for space in space" kind of way. Here's a detailed overview of this 2-4 player game that bears a 90-minute playing time:
After decades of research and technological development, humanity is preparing to leave the Earth to colonize this discovered system. To get there, only one possible means of transport exists: space gates. For reasons related to physics and other quantum aspects, these gates can be built only in space. The Confederations have therefore embarked on the construction of their own station in orbit, equipped with space gates.
At the beginning of the colonizing era, these portals make it possible to go on one of the first three discovered planets. As soon as an entire contingent of settlers has joined the gate of a space station, it is teleported to the corresponding exoplanet. The landing conditions vary according to the planets and the choice of colonized spots quickly becomes strategic.
As soon as one of the three exoplanets is fully colonized, each Confederation gains influence according to its placement, then access to one of the two later discovered exoplanets becomes possible. At the end of the colonization of the five exoplanets, the stations are teleported to the Hawking planet and the influence of each Confederation is assessed. The leader of the most influential Confederation will be promoted to the rank of Governor of this new system.
One of the biggest challenges in Space Gate Odyssey is your ability to quickly develop and intelligently arrange your space station. The better you optimize the flow of your settlers to your station, then to the exoplanets, the more of them you can send to the favorable spots and thus gain influence.
The choice of the modules, their arrangement, and the distance between the airlocks and the gates are therefore essential elements — especially since, at the end of the game, the domains of the modules you used to build your station will bring you additional influence points if they are in line with the position of the domains on the Hawking planet Predominance.
Finally, you must be careful not to leave too many open corridors on the space void as this represents a real danger for your settlers and could therefore damage your reputation.
Your most amazing quest starts with Space Gate Odyssey. Will you be able to take over your opponents in order to take control of the new system, or will you stay at the dock?
• Alderac Entertainment Group has announced the first of what will likely be many expansions for John D. Clair's Space Base, with a March 29, 2019 release date scheduled for Space Base: The Emergence of Shy Pluto, which offers the following experience:
The Emergence of Shy Pluto is a "Saga Expansion", that is, a collection of story-based scenarios that introduce new content to the game via a narrative structure. Not only are new ships added, but new scenarios are included as well. Once the story is completed, it may be replayed or the contents may be added to the Space Base base set.
• In July 2018, Stephen Buonocore of Stronghold Games tweeted about the "(not-officially-announced) 'Core Worlds: The Board Game'".
Five months later, we still don't have an official announcement, but Buonocore has confirmed that Core Worlds: Empires — "a standalone board game set in the very thematic, rich Core Worlds universe" — is being developed by designer Andrew Parks and his Quixotic Games development team. No release date has been set since the game is still under development, but here's the game overview for now:
Core Worlds: Empires is a worker placement game for 2-6 players. Each world in the galaxy occupies a board space that ambassadors (workers) can visit during the game. The worlds that appear during each game are variable. Each player starts with a certain number of worlds under their control, and more worlds enter the game as play proceeds.
At the start of the game, each player controls one unique worker that represents their faction leader (Chancellor Augustus, Baron Viktor, Prince Aaron, Empress Elona, Simon the Fox, or Lord Banner), as well as three generic ambassadors. All players periodically receive new generic ambassadors, but each player always possesses the same number of "workers". Players may upgrade their generic ambassadors into unique heroes in order to increase the quality of their individual workers.