Sword of the Stars? (New 4x game apparently)

Rasorow · #1 December 12th, 2005, 04:31 PM

I dont know what you want in a game..... let alone a 4x game but I do know that what I like and what you like can easily be lightcenturies apart... yet still be in the same game genre. That is all to the better.

Personally, I have played SE (the whole series) and Stars for years. I also played ImperiumGalatica and others. They didnt last 6 months on my selves...let alone harddrive. To many things that caused me to grind my teeth.

My frustration with the Homeworld series was 1 I couldn't design my own ships, 2 was limited to the senarios presented 3 limited to the meager resources in the game, 4 didn't have the challenge of an empire to manage.

I also was a little dismayed at the diplomacy options at first but then after talking to the devs agreed with the choice. These are alien races. You have to learn the language. Therefore you have to meet, attempt to communicate, listen, snoop, then practice their language (all research) to be able to talk to them. You cannot negotiate complex treaties when you are still speaking baby speak.. plus each race has different cultural concepts. It makes since that you have only limited options.

As for spying... you can barely talk to them.. How are you going to spy? There is some limited stuff you can do - send a ship to a region of space to investigate, etc. How are you going to infiltrate otherwise? Especially when they are infiltrating a toxic (possibly) environment?

I welcome anyone that wants to shake things up a little and provide a fresh view that is well executed. The more little fish that we get actually trying new things in good ways that listen to the community that gathers around them then the better off we are as gamers.

So let them work and present their unique take on the 4x genre. Even if you dont appreciate their work, they may inspire someone who's work you will appreciatse.

Rasorow

(Fades back into the mist)

Hunpecked · #2 December 12th, 2005, 05:51 PM

Rasorow writes: "How are you going to infiltrate otherwise? Especially when they are infiltrating a toxic (possibly) environment?"

We know humans can be bought. Perhaps members of other intelligent species are also for sale (or rent).

AAshbery76 · #3 December 12th, 2005, 07:51 PM

Heh, what a strawman argument for simplistic gameplay.There are many animals on this planet humans can communicate with and they haven't built Space empires and all have IQ's under 20,lol.I laugh at such rubbish.

Anyway, i don't want to slate this game, even with such a rude designer.It does look a good military game with a starmap,but it ain't 4X.And it aint unique by any means.

TurinTurambar · #4 December 13th, 2005, 01:42 AM

Umm... why are you here?

Hunpecked · #5 December 14th, 2005, 07:09 PM

I went to the SoTS site, read some about the game, registered on the forum, and dove into one of the threads. The game certainly has potential, and I'm eager to try the demo when/if it comes out.

I was disappointed to learn that enemy populations can only be eXterminated, not eXploited; nevertheless the game remains well within the boundaries of the 4X genre. The upside of simplifying planet management is that the programmers can spend more of their time on other aspects of the game, e.g. tactical space combat.

One thing I like about SoTS is its terraforming requirement: most (all?) worlds have to be made friendly to colonists before they can be eXploited--especially if an alien species has already modified the world to its own specs. Unlike SE IV, even if two SoTS species breathed the same atmosphere they couldn't really live side by side in the open--the ecosystems needed to sustain them would generally be incompatible. That makes sense to me; it sounds like it would be a nice option in SE V.

[Edited 12/16 for grammar]