Sublight Empire vs FloraSpan
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sublight Empire
Experience a unique 4X space strategy game where actions and events unfold over years due to the speed of light limitations. Explore, colonize, and conquer star systems to achieve galactic dominance.
- Relativistic speed of light mechanics
- Real-time command propagation delays
- Explore and colonize star systems
- Defend and conquer colonies
- Classic 4X gameplay
- Galactic conquest objective
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Einstein's theory of relativity states that nothing is faster than light. This also applies to this game. Information is radio signals propagating at the speed of light. These radio signals transmit your commands and the events you receive. Spaceships move at a fraction of the speed of light. So it takes years for a command or a spaceship to reach its destination. When a battle takes place, you won't know about it until years later. Apart from this, it is a classic 4X game. In the beginning you rule a single star system and you are exploring and colonizing the surrounding systems. Later on you will meet your opponents and you will have to defend and conquer colonies. To win the game, you must conquer 2/3 of all stars.
FloraSpan
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Plant into three tracks, then watch them chain. A 26-step game takes six to ten minutes. Your opponent is the Neighbor next door — no waiting, no connection, no other people. HOW IT PLAYS Every action sweeps its track from right to left, firing each plant it passes. A longer row pays more, and a well-ordered one pays a lot more. That is engine-building: you are not playing cards, you are building a machine. WHAT IS IN IT • 80 real plant cards with scientific names, across six groups — succulents, rainforest foliage, epiphytic orchids, ferns, carnivores and herbs • 16 seasonal goals and 12 secret landscape contracts • Ten difficulty levels, from learning the rules up to a real fight • A daily challenge: one game a day, the same one for everyone, with a daily Game Center leaderboard • 19 achievements (nine of them difficulty challenges), best-score leaderboards for each difficulty band, and a full seven-row scoring breakdown • History: your last 50 games with a score trend, and any of them can be replayed with the same cards • iPhone Duo support, folded or open WHAT IT DOES NOT DO • No ads • No subscription, no gacha, no energy timers • No tracking, no data collection — it plays entirely offline; Game Center leaderboards are optional and off by default • One payment, once Three full games are free. One unlock opens the rest.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sublight Empire at none against FloraSpan's 4. FloraSpan's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 months). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. FloraSpan sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Sublight Empire asks for nothing beyond the download.
Sublight Empire ships an update every 6 months, FloraSpan every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sublight Empire | FloraSpan |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 34 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Enrico Unger | Candan |
In-app purchases
Sublight Empire
No in-app purchases
FloraSpan
- Buy Me a Coffee$1.99
- Full Game Unlock$4.99
- Buy Me Lunch$4.99
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- Buy Me Many Lunches$9.99









