Sins of a Solar Empire
 

After the huge dissapointed called "Sword of the Stars", this is my next favorite (even before SEV).

http://www.sinsofasolarempire.com/trailers.html

Very interesting imho.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

Watching the fleet drop out of hyperspace is quite fun.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

"At this time, Sins of a Solar Empire will only be released for Windows XP however the technology, gameplay, and user interface were designed with consoles in mind."

This is a bad sign, even with the next question in the list. Its also entirely real time, which throws it straight into my "check the demo when you have time" pile. Not that I dislike RTS- its just when they up the scale too much they tend to get unplayable.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

Sword of the Stars has been released? You've played it?

TT

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

There's a demo out, check fileplanet.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

It is horrible though, so be warned.

Phoenix, you must agree the trailer looks pretty good doesnt it ? Something like a mix of Homeworld and SE

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

I don't as a general rule watch trailers. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif and the mix of Homeworld and SE is exactly what makes me leary of the game.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

Just out of curiosity, what do you find disappointing about SotS? I'm ambivalent about it myself, wishing it had: more than three ship classes; more than just the single abstracted "planet" per system; capture of enemy planets (I dislike genocide, especially against my own species); retrofitting older designs; and tech transfer between allies. Also, while the unique-FTL-method-per-race feature may add to replay value, it seems like a very contrived way to do so. Perhaps most disappointing to me, the smallest of the three starship classes is only 30 meters long, i.e. shorter than the Space Shuttle Endeavor (37.2 m, mass 0.11 kt). It may be silly of me, but I prefer BIG starships in my 4X space games.

I like some of the other SotS features, and the demo may yet convince me to buy the game (haven't tried it yet), but in general I share your disappointment.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

Sounds like a fighter...

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

There is an assault shuttle module, I haven't used it...but it seems those attack and capture planets, at least from the description...

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

I haven't used assault shuttles in the demo yet, but my understanding is that they're only useful for planetary bombardment. Apparently planets never surrender, even to another faction of their own race http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif which makes genocide mandatory.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

To be honest, i can only find a SINGLE good point about SotS, and that would be the galaxy view. You can rotate and zoom the galaxy just like you want to. Thats about it.

Interface is...weird ? Well i for one dont like it.

Colonysystem is BAD. One planet per system, to indicate the entire colonizability of the a system ?! huh ?
No buildings, absolutly NO ground combat. Eco-System ? Eco-what ?! You have exactly TWO sliders for your systems, ehhh planets, and by those you get credits. This is AWEFUL. I want different ressources and not only MONEY. pfff.

Space combat is horrible, to say the least. I cant see my ships, they dont listen to orders, camera is SO bad...
tactics involved = non-existant. Even though its sometimes interesting to see your ships turrets rotate.

Research is too simplifified for me, even though there are some nice branches. Not complex enough though.
Weapons and equipment have no stats, you merely see a bar with is more and more filled (showing effience) as you progress. Aweful.

Graphics and Artwork are horrible. Even though i loved SEIV, i sometimes found the icons a bit...lacking...like plastic toys for a shield.
What SotS does is worse though. The loading screens sometimes show you human or alien people, who look like the scences they are from were ENTIRELY taken from an old comic-book....i cant believe it

Sound is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO bad i cant really tell. It sounds like they hired the guy who voiced the old UFO-tv-series, but when the actor was 5 years old.
I cant tell if this was in purpose, but i feel like SotS wants to be the ultima ratio regarding RETRO. Everything is retro, so retro its not funny anymore.. I have played almost every major game, from MoO1,2,3 to FreeOrion, SE, GalCiv1,2 to various stuff like Imperium Galactica and, at least according to the demo, SotS seems the worst of them. As mentioned, i cant find a single good thing in it, apart from the free galaxy scroll/zoom.

Just download the Demo and try for yourself. Maybe you like it, i have heard people actually enjoying it. They must be sick though. They go and tell me SEIV is the ultimative hardcore game and they cant enjoy but, they they like this BROKEN and Feature-cutted, simplified, cheap SotS ? World is mad.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

From the descriptions contained here, I think I'll pass on even checking it out. I like complexity and more complexity; something that sounds as though it is lacking in SotS

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

Thanks, Ragnarok. It looks like our preferences overlap to some extent. I did get the demo and for me it's a bit of a learning curve; the only manual I could find in the package just describes the various screens--useful, but incomplete.

As for the voice acting, the first time the demo vocally confirmed one of my commands I nearly jumped out of my seat; I wasn't expecting an oral response and I had the volume turned too high. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif

The voices were amusing the first 40-odd times, but now the novelty is wearing thin. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/yawn.gif

I assume the game was simplified and abstracted to speed up gameplay, devote resources to graphics, and emphasize the real-time combat. Unfortunately my first combat came and went so fast my two ships died while I was still trying to change orders from "Hold fire" to "Fire at will". http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/redface.gif The explosions were quite pretty. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

I've also downloaded and play it and.... didnt like it, i agree with you Ragnarok-X.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

/me frowns angrily.

Well, fine. I guess it's OK I'm flat broke then.

T

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

This is being released Feb 4th. It looks like it will be a nice compliment to SE5, as it is less detailed but does allow for faster play. I'll be giving it a shot, have to keep 4x games coming http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

Any word on a demo?

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

On their forums, they said a month after release.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

I found it somewhere else and gave it a glance. I opened up a screenshot and instantly thought the UI was lifted from SE5. I wasn't too impressed, only 3 races, but then I realised it isn't meant to be multiplayer. I suppose I'll give it a look.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

It is meant to be multiplayer. It is a real time game, which can be saved. When setting up a multiplayer game, you can make it small enough so it will last an hour, or large enough to last months. Although I don't think the tech tree really changes, so at some point it runs out.

I watched some beta videos on it, it does seem to have some merit as its own game rather than another MOO/SE/Galciv type.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

I'll be getting it because I love fleet combats, plus there's already mods being worked on for B5/ST/SW. Plus a friend had the beta and from what I seen of that it looked really cool.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

Here is a gameplay video... http://www.sins.bz/downloads.php?cat...download_id=28

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

It got alot of complaints on the initial beta, as I recall it. However, it's been in near-public beta for over a year now, so I guess it's possible it might actually turn out to be a good game. Anyone actually tried it? My fear is that it's going to be too much "Real-time Strategy in Space" and not enough Homeworld.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

Hi

IM taking a stab at it... awaiting ,my serial number as we speak.... will let you know what i think of it tomorrow or the next day...next day after that.
Its great on thier forum boards like christmas with everyone moaning they are waiting for their serial numbers.
You would think after 12 months of waiting they could wait 2-3 hours more!!!!
Dont normally go for RTS space games but this one reminds me of Homeworld in looks its unbeleivable.
SE5 is still my favorite baby though..BM 1.13 is the king. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smirk.gif

Drew

Drew

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

Yea... it is not a SE replacement at all. If however you want a quicker game that looks good and still has strategy, this might be it.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

Homeworld is space RTS done right.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

I played a bit last night. It isn't bad. Some points about the game:

-No campaign, only skirmish and multiplayer
-No ship design, but a wide variety of ships
-Ships include frigates (some missile, some PD etc), several different cruisers and capital ships (Battleships, carriers etc)
-Capital ships are like heroes in Warcraft 3, they level up and you can choose new skills for them
-Interface is pretty nice as are the graphics
-Each race has its own tech tree
-Multiplayer worked pretty well, although the chat interface could be better

Overall I enjoyed it after a brief time playing. I can't see playing month long games, but if you want to a game that lasts a few hours, this will work.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

Can you post screenshots of some of the more advanced ships ?
Is it right that ships are static while fightning ? no movement, no manovers ?

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

The ships do not move, although they do miss when firing sometimes. However the fighters and bombers do move.

Today I actually played a 3 hour game with 3 others (one was the art dev). It was fun and fast paced. There is an interesting pirate game. Every X minutes pirates will go on the attack. Who they attack is determined by who you put a bounty on. The pirates are in game, so you can go destroy their base. But it adds another type of warfare.

There are 2 resources (metal and crystals) and credits. There is also a black market (with price changes based on demand), where you can buy/sell resources.

there is a bit of the biggest stack wins. However, there are a wide variety of ships so you can counter stacks. I found I had to make a lot of choices between research, planet development and ship production which made the game fun.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

Hmm, I played a couple of hours myself, but I've to say I'm mildly disappointed. This is in an entirely different league than Homeworld, so don't go into it expecting anything like that.

I suppose whoever compared it to Supreme Commander in space had the right of it. Just alot less units and a basic research tree. The game is also basically 2D( seem to remember reading someone said it was possible to move ships on the z axis too, but at the very least it's not necessary ).

One thing that bothered me a little was that even the smallest non-fighter ships( frigates ) take a long time to kill, even with 3 capital ships shooting at it. Also a bit much clutter on the UI I thought.

Decent enough game to kill a few hours I guess, but nothing groundbreaking or really original.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

Ships do take some time to kill, although i think the game has a speed setting which may affect this.

I am glad it is 2d, 3d movement is a bit of a pain. The UI is starting to grow on me. Using the Empire tree I have started to become a lot more efficient.

This is certainly no SE, but I enjoy it for a game I can finish in a sitting.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

I concur... this altough an straight RTS is actually quite good.. the graphics are just excellant, takes a little time to get use to the UI..but i like it...dont know if I will spend as much time as I do on SEV but but i like it so far even though it is an true RTS.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

I didn't initially realise it was an RTS. I don't like RTS. It says something I suppose that I prefer spending a year or so on a PBW game building my empire day by day than 1 hour furiously throw units from place to place.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

I enjoy both as it doesn't have to be one or the other. Sounds like a demo would be a good fit for you.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

It doesn't look like there is a demo at all...

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

I think that a demo was to be released about a month after launch... I don't think that was a good idea, but I'm not a developer...

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

I have no imagination. Give me plenty of time to force a stalemate and then crush you with endless force and I'm fine. Expect me to change from the status quo to a sudden defensive and I can't react fast enough. There is I gather 2 extremes of RTS play. Turtling, where you dig in and build up until you know you will win, or the other way I can't do where you strike as quickly as possible to win. I can't do that as I must wait just a bit longer to ensure I have enough strength.....and then a bit more to make doubly sure etc etc.

I've only really played one RTS, Dawn of War, and that was only because it was Warhammer 40K. Even then I only finished the single player after stopping for several months then deciding I should bother to finish.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

This is my style exactly.

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

Slowly advancing wall of heavy artillery bunkers (and construction units) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

My Dad perfected turtling with towers in Warcraft II. (Wizards with Polymorph were very helpfull)

Re: Sins of a Solar Empire
 

For Dawn of War - Get the mod called " Dawn of War: Codex Edition " (Winter Assult compatible) The premise behind the mod: DoW is a RTS game based on Warhammer 40k and the Mod is Warhammer 40k using a RTS engine. They model ALL the units, weapons, armor, etc on 40k along with the unique units and options, etc. Little things I like.....when you buy drop troops they come as a full squad instead of buying them, placing them, adding new troops and then putting tehm back in drop pod.

Dawn of War Mods

Here is the newest version with a new name change: Dawn of Warhammer 40k: Firestorm