Sword of the Stars is a solid space based real time strategy that was somewhat overshadowed by the success of Sins of a Solar Empire and never got the attention it deserved. When I played it at launch, it had some issues regarding the tech three and the way planet development was treated; when the first expansion, Born of Blood, was released, I did not go back to see what was changed.

Now, Kerberos, the developers of the game, are launching a new expansion, called A Murder of Crows, which introduces a fresh playable race, the Morrigi, and also provides new techs and ships which the player can use to create different strategies for Sword of the Stars.

The Morrigi are well known for their dark crow shaped attack drones and for their extensive use of traps. At one point, they were hunted to extinction, apparently by the Zuul, the biggest threat to the galaxy; they are back with a vengeance. The battle for space is now a six sided one.

One of the strong points of the game, the big differences between the factions which warrant varied approaches, is maintained in the expansion, with the Morrigi employing a Grav Flock, which makes the fleets go faster as more ships huddle together; their battle tactics are based on quick deep strikes and a use of traps.

A Murder of Crows is also introducing the game enhancements like civilian populations, independent worlds, advanced espionage options, demands for planetary surrender, more drone carriers, construction ships, orbital stations, spy ships, special police ships, more technologies and more ship designs.

The expansion can now be downloaded from GamersGate and requires the player to have the original game and the Born of Blood expansion installed in order to be able to play it.