The first edition was set in the universe of "Twilight Imperium", a board game made by the same company.
A Third Edition printed in 2006 moved away from the use of Twilight Imperium as the theme and instead uses artwork from comic artist John Kovalic.
This change in artwork was highly criticised by old fans of the game.
The flagship is surrounded on four sides by various other kinds of ships which are able to mount attacks on other players' fleets.
Game rules also require that players must make an appropriate sound effect when playing an attack card (referred to in-game as "Make a Silly Noise or Miss" Blast Targeting System technology).