VIP & Monetization
SpaceDwarves follows a “no pay-to-win” model. The entire game — every sector, building, dwarf, expedition, and mega project — is playable for free. VIP is a single, low-cost yearly subscription that adds persistence, convenience, social, and cosmetic perks. It does not raise any gameplay cap, accelerate production, or grant power that free players can’t earn.
This page documents the monetization systems factually; it is not a sales pitch.
The VIP subscription
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Product | Space Dwarves VIP — a single yearly subscription |
| Display price | £3.99 / year (GBP) |
| Plan key | vip_yearly |
| Payment providers | Stripe and PayPal |
| Catalog | One product — no tiers, no upsell |
The displayed price is advisory; the authoritative charge is whatever the configured Stripe Price or PayPal Plan is set to. VIP status is server-authoritative: it is derived live from your subscription record (active, with a future expiry), and all VIP-gated features verify it on the server — the client’s VIP flag is only advisory.
What VIP includes
The build defines the following VIP features:
| Feature | Category | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud Save | Persistence | Your save is stored server-side and survives device loss; prerequisite for cross-device play |
| Cross-Device Play | Persistence | Log in anywhere and continue from the last cloud save; conflicts resolved by timestamp with a prompt on close ties |
| Leaderboard Participation | Social | Your corporation appears on the ranked leaderboards (requires the leaderboard opt-in) |
| Activity Feed Posting | Social | Your milestones post to the public activity feed (requires the feed opt-in) |
| Early Doctrine Unlock | Convenience | Access expedition doctrines before the research tree would normally unlock them — earlier, not stronger |
| Additional Doctrine Templates | Convenience | Save more expedition/automation configs for faster playstyle switching |
| Additional Queue Slots | Convenience | A modest number of extra concurrent expedition and training queue slots |
| Colony Directives | Convenience | High-level standing orders (e.g. prioritise fuel, conserve supplies) for large empires |
| Advanced Statistics Dashboards | Analytics | Historical charts of credits, resources, expeditions, recruitment, and production from server-aggregated stats |
| Corporation Branding Options | Cosmetic | Extra logos, colour palettes, and name styles shown on boards and the feed; no gameplay effect |
| Cosmetic Rewards | Cosmetic | Eligibility for seasonal leaderboard-placement flair (top 1% / top 10%) and participation badges; no gameplay effect |
Note that the convenience perks are deliberately modest scaling (a few extra slots, earlier access, saved presets), not cap increases. The social perks additionally require you to opt in via your account preferences — VIP enables them but never makes your data public on its own.
What’s free vs. VIP
| Capability | Free | VIP |
|---|---|---|
| All game content & systems | Yes | Yes |
| Local save & full offline progress | Yes | Yes |
| Cloud save | No | Yes |
| Cross-device play & Sync Now | No | Yes |
| View leaderboards / read activity feed | Yes | Yes |
| Appear on leaderboards / post to feed | No | Yes (opt-in) |
| Advanced stats dashboards | No | Yes |
| Extra doctrine templates / queue slots / colony directives | No | Yes |
| Corporation branding & cosmetic rewards | Basic default | Yes |
| Data export & account deletion | Yes (any account) | Yes |
In short: free players keep their full game forever on one device; VIP adds a safety net across devices plus convenience, analytics, and cosmetics. See Persistence & Saves for the cloud-save mechanics.
Billing
Checkout supports two gateways, and the client only shows the buttons for gateways that are actually configured on the server.
- Stripe — uses embedded Checkout mounted in the browser, plus a Customer Portal for managing your card and invoices.
- PayPal — redirects to a PayPal approval page (so it uses return/cancel URLs).
Both providers report subscription state back via webhooks, and there’s a single, provider-agnostic one-click cancel. You can check your subscription status — plan, provider, current period, and whether it’s set to cancel at period end — from your account at any time.
Status in v0.10.0: the billing endpoints, both providers, webhooks, cancel, and the Stripe portal are all wired up, but live keys are pending — so checkout is dormant until the gateways are configured. In development, an authenticated dev account can be granted VIP directly without going through a real payment, purely for testing.
DLC packs
Alongside the subscription, the data defines optional DLC content packs. These are orthogonal to VIP — both free and VIP players can buy them, and they are one-time purchases, not part of the subscription.
| Pack | Adds | Requires VIP? |
|---|---|---|
| Extended Beta Sector | Extra asteroid sites, traits, and expedition tasks for the dangerous Beta tier | No |
| Gamma Ruins Pack | More ruins-focused expeditions, artifacts, and Precursor encounters in Gamma (base Gamma must be unlocked first) | No |
| Galaxy Pack 1 | A new named galaxy with a unique ruleset and sector variants | No |
Important caveats for the current build:
- Prices are TBD — they’re marked “TBD” pending commercial planning.
- The DLC catalog can be listed, and the entitlement system can check ownership, but there is no purchase flow wired up yet — DLC is data-defined and planned, not buyable in v0.10.0.
- Without a VIP cloud save, owned DLC content is accessible only on the device holding the local save.
Design note: the core subscription is intentionally a single product. DLC packs are an additive, optional content path rather than a power upgrade — consistent with the no-pay-to-win philosophy.
Entitlements
Access to paid features is governed by an entitlements system:
- VIP is derived live from your subscription record (it isn’t a static flag).
- DLC ownership is a per-pack entitlement key (e.g.
dlc_sector_beta_extended). - Every paid endpoint checks entitlements server-side, so a tampered client can’t unlock paid features.
You can review your active entitlements from your account, and they’re included in your GDPR data export.