A multiplayer version of Astriarch has been in the works over the last six months, it is finally shaping up into a playable version.

Here are the major gameplay changes over the singleplayer version so far:

1. Resource production on planets is adjusted so that asteroid belts and dead planets are more important to control for ore and iridium production (now you basically have to start capturing other planets before you can build a space platform)
2. Production costs for ships are adjusted to make more powerful ships more than twice the cost of the weaker ones
3. Repairing ships now costs resources and requires colonies
4. UI improvements, overall resources are shown at the top of the screen, more detailed stats about each planet are shown on the left.
5. Tax level reduced a bit (gold production lower) to match adjustments in resource production on planets
6. Protest levels for citizens disable that worker on the planet
7. When capturing a planet citizens default to having a protest level so that the planet cannot build back up immediately (this gives opponents a better chance of being able to retake the planet)
8. In-game chat system for talking to other players (still needs some improvement)

You can play the beta version here: beta.astriarch.com