The maps this game has have the potential to be huge, processor crushingly huge! The galaxy sizes are customizable and can range anywhere from a few solar systems, to an entire galaxy
filled with over 10,000 stars. The galaxy is even treated realistically, with only certain stars having orbiting planets, and yes, the planets actually orbit their relative stars. The game’s map limit is only limited by your computer speed! I was able to get the galaxy up to 70,000 solar systems and have it run at a decent 20ish frames per second, on an Intel i5 processor and Ati Radeon HD 5470 gpu.
At 70,000 systems, the galaxy map looks like a realistic representation of our very own spiral galaxy, the Milky Way. The game’s portrayal of a large galaxy is realistic to the point that it can remind of of how truly small one is in this universe. As an extra addition, the type of galaxy one can choose to customize isn’t just limited to a spiral galaxy, but it also includes many different types of galaxies, and even star clusters.
Star Ruler is a game that is filled with small details that, while not vital towards eventually 
winning your campaign, however small or unimaginably large it may be, are extremely well thought out details that veterans of RTS/4X games will truly appreciate. Among these is the ability to set your ships to automatically colonize a solar system, set each inhabited planet to focus on a specific section of your empire (such as research, military, luxury goods, trade, etc.), and, the best feature of all, and the one that ties in directly with research, is the upgrading of your ships’ blueprints with the new technology you discover through research.
Sure, you can beat the game without ever really needing to upgrade your blueprints, but on the harder difficulties, it’s almost required. Simply researching an Ion Engine isn’t enough to increase the speed of your ships; you’ll have to actually edit the blueprints to fit and ion engine onto that specific type of ship. The attention to small details in this game is amazing. The perfect example, with enough points invested into the right research, one can build, a 
RingWorld; yes, the RingWorld (novel) kind, or, the more well known Halo world type.
Star Ruler is a prime example of what an indie developer can accomplish when it has a deep passion for not only what it does, but for the genre it works on. Star Ruler is a game that is packed with so much detail that, if it were not for the generic name and bland looking interface, would easily convince just about anyone that it was a big budget title! It wasn’t an easy road though. Star Ruler was essentially released while still unfinished, but recent patches have fixed nearly all the issues the game originally had, but the lack of a story/campaign mode is still noticeable. Star Ruler is a lesson many RTS/4X developers should take to heart, and it is a game that truly deserves much more attention than it currently has.
Available from GamersGate for $24.95.
DRM-free
Current Version: 1.0.2.4
UPDATE 29-Nov-2010
James Woodall of Blind Mind Studios contacted GDN to state that the game actually has more than a full hour’s worth of soundtrack to it. The inability to hear any music was actually a bug in the sound system that they have since resolved.
Also, patch 1030 has an issue with the new camera option that will probably cause a hotfix patch; if you disable the camera’s tilting portion and then exit the game the game will then not launch until you go into config.cfg and set the flag there as well. Other than that, no major issues have been found with Patch 1030.
http://starruler.blind-mind.com/patches/SR_v1.0.2.4-v1.0.2.6.exe
http://starruler.blind-mind.com/patches/SR_v1.0.2.6-v1.0.2.8.exe
Patch 1.0.2.8 to 1.0.3.0 - http://goo.gl/zFk4ggoo.gl/zFk4g
