Sins of a Solar Empire

[Hunpecked]

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 which makes genocide mandatory.

[Ragnarok-X]

Hunpecked said:
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.

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.

[Renegade 13]

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

[Hunpecked]

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.

The voices were amusing the first 40-odd times, but now the novelty is wearing thin.

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". The explosions were quite pretty.

[EaX]

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

[TurinTurambar]

/me frowns angrily.

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

T

[aegisx]

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

[Romulus68]

Any word on a demo?

[aegisx]

On their forums, they said a month after release.

[Randallw]

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.