Sins of a Solar Empire

[Kassiopeia]

I got this and played for a few hours last night, I rather liked it. The GUI seems thought out at least at first glance, and it's easy to go to where you want to and give the orders you need to to what you want to. And I haven't resorted to bounties yet so all the pirates attacked me all night and it was a huge pain in the ass, so today I'll probably just try to direct them elsewhere and try to grab some more planets. I'm playing a random map with 20 planets and I have exactly 3, defending any more would be impossible thanks to pirates, but my logistics slots are running out...

I like the ship and battle system so far too, although I'm kind of disappointed there's really no 3rd dimension (ships do move up and about in the gravity wells but you can only order them around on a plane). I guess you couldn't really take advantage of it design-wise like you could in Homeworld, though.

[Kinjiru]

You can increase your civil and military logistics slots by upgrading your planets. A bit costly, but necessary.

Heavy use of the black market is the only way I have found to generate enough cash (early) to build up forces and research.

As an experiment, I played an advent game and only built Capital ships. That was pretty fun. It was touch and go early when I only had one ship, and only marginally better with two. Once I got rolling with three though, there was no stopping me.

[Unspeakable Horror]

I'm doing the same as TEC, it's teh fun and having a stronger hull helps a lot

I can generate enough credits with colonization and some Trade Ports, but sometimes I have to sell stuff in the black market to outbid the other civ on the pirates.

[korn469]

so how is it different/better than homeworld?

[Kinjiru]

It's been ages since I played Homeworld, and I wasn't very good at it, so maybe I am off here. IIRC Homeworld was much more about tactics in the space battles than anything else.

Sins, at least the way I have played it so far, is more about strategy, both on the map and with regards to exactly what mixture of forces you want to go with.

In the battles themselves, you can be 100% hands-off and do okay. You can play fleet fire-control officer and do better, or you can actively manage the special abilities of your capital ships (and for some factions, the cruisers and frigates) and potentially do even better. Make no mistake though, Sins is not at all about tactics in your fleet battles.

There is going to be a demo released in a few weeks time. If you are not sure about the game, just hold off until then.

[Kinjiru]

Originally posted by Stuie
Good enough. I bought it.

I had some Best Buy gift cards that just couldn't wait anymore.

So whatcha think Stuie? Good use of the gift cards?

[Stuie]

Man - I completely suck at this game. But I'm having fun doing it. I keep starting new games and playing until the AI shows up with some uber-fleet that I can't beat.

I need a strategy guide or something. Or maybe I should quit fooling around with custom settings and just play a 1v1 small map to get the hang of things.

[Kinjiru]

Yeah, a few quick games on the smaller maps wouldn't be a bad idea. Most of the "small" maps are 1v1, but there are a couple that you can do 3-way.

Remember that you can build your first capital ship pretty quickly. No research needed to build the cap factory, just a bit of cash. AND your first cap ship is actually free, so get a battleship or a battlecruiser out there.

Also, build two or three explorers right away and let them auto explore. After they have been to a planet/astroid/star, you can mouse over that object and see how many and what kind of ships were there (and how old the data is). You should be able to find an asteroid within one jump of your starting planet, that will be defended by just a few independant frigates. Send a few frigs of your own over there and a colonizer and you will double your available metal/crystal income.

My tech path never seems to be the same from game to game, but I usually place a priority on the techs that let you increase your metal/crystal mining rates. I make heavy use of the black market, so those techs just help me tremendously.

Also, the hull strength techs seem to offer a bit better value than the weapon strength ones. That is, of course, if you use the "build lots of frigates" approach. If you are going Cap heavy, then maybe the weapon techs are better.

[Stuie]

I'm trying a 1v1 map now with better results. I think my custom maps were a little too ambitious for learning the game.

Not being a RTS gamer I was worried about the pacing, but playing Slow Speed/Slow Tech keeps things moving at a reasonable pace (as in not too fast).

One thing the custom maps I made didn't have were pirates. I've seen lots of complaints about them on the Stardock forums, but I've been using them to my advantage so far (as in posting the bigger bounty) in my 1v1 game. We'll see if they eventually bite me in the rear.

Really enjoying the game so far, and considering it is a Stardock release I can see getting a ton of milage out of it.

[Kc7mxo]

The pirates are very strong in small games, but I've rather enjoyed that so far. They bring back memories (good and bad, heh) of "raging barbarians" in civ2.

[Stuie]

Originally posted by Kc7mxo
The pirates are very strong in small games, but I've rather enjoyed that so far. They bring back memories (good and bad, heh) of "raging barbarians" in civ2.

They are also providing my Cap ships with TONS of experience.

[MrFun]

I like the appeal of Sins of a Solar Empire . . . .

for the most part. If this was a turn-based strategy game rather than a real-time strategy game, I would probably buy it. But my experience with RTS before have been disappointing; I always got the impression that RTS is basically just winning by how quickly you can click your mouse buttons and how quickly you can go from one option to the next. It's too crazy and can become quickly overwhelming for those who are not seasoned in playing RTS.

[Kinjiru]

MrFun, I feel the same way with most RTS games. The pacing in Sins though is really done well. As Stuie posted earlier, you really almost make it feel turn-based.

When the demo comes around, give it a whirl. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[Stuie]

Originally posted by MrFun
I always got the impression that RTS is basically just winning by how quickly you can click your mouse buttons and how quickly you can go from one option to the next. It's too crazy and can become quickly overwhelming for those who are not seasoned in playing RTS.

That's what I was afraid of (being an "old man" - almost as old as Sloww) and it is most definitely not the case.

[MrFun]

I will give it a second thought.