Sins of a Solar Empire

[ravagon]

Linky to Mr Frogs 'preview'

http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/?forumid=402&aid=145504

Has lots of promise. Looks as though it's trying to bridge the gap a bit between tactical/strategic gameplay.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Oh, sorry i didn't share...read that a few weeks ago.

looks promising.

[Gamecube64]

Great name.

[Spiffor]

Looks promising and pretty

[Jamski]

Its in teh bargain bin at my local HMV!

[DRoseDARs]

I don't get it, Spamski. That might be funny if it weren't for the fact that the game won't be released for another 4 months at the earliest; the game is still in beta.

[Kinjiru]

So, I have played around with the demo a bit. Sins is pretty fun and looks really good even on lowend hardware. Explosions look especially nice.

This is a pretty early demo so the AI isn't much to speak of, but you do get a decent sense of how the game will play (at least from the point of view of the one faction you get to use).

I really like how they have chosen to manage scale. You really do get a sense of how big the different ship classes are, but you don't lose the ability to control just what you want. They need to tighten up the zoom in-out feature a bit, as the z-axis does not change while you zoom so it is easy to overshoot your "target" when zooming in.

I think the pacing is pretty good, but this early, it is hard to make a definitive judgement. I generally don't care for realtime games, as I end up feeling rushed. Here, there is a sense that you have time to develop a real strategy beyond mass buildup and launch. I am cautiously optimistic that MP in Sins will not immediately devolve into a rush-fest.

All in all, I am really looking forward to the full game.

[Kinjiru]

So, Sins of a Solar Empire is due to be released tomorrow.

I've played the betas along the way and had a lot of fun. Worth checking out if you like 4x games at all.

[Stuie]

Somebody buy this and post impressions to convince me to buy this!

[Kinjiru]

I've only had time to play a couple small-map games.

Game 1:
The Pirates are a real factor to contend with. I was using the bounty mechanism for most of the game to make the other civs look to be more appealing targets. Just as I was about to start launching my final offensive, I spend my cash on a shiny new capital ship and a few cruisers, when the next round of pirate warnings appeared. I didn't have the cash to put up a bounty on my opponent, so I ended up getting targetted. I was hoping to get my fleets all headed along their way before the corsairs appeared but didn't quite manage it. Two of my five fleets got intercepted and mangled quite badly, even losing a cap ship. I was able to take one system with my remaining forces but the opponent was able to bring in reinforcements to forestall the rest of hte invasion.

Game 2:
Lesson learned, trust the AI to use your ships special abilities! I turned off all the auto-use features and realized that it's hard work micro-managing even a smallish fleet, let alone a big one or multiples.

Secondary lesson learned - explore your planets. They just might have some nifty features! I hadn't actually noticed the ability to do this until later in the game. I missed out on a massive total quantity of bonus effects that I could have been reaping much much earlier!

[Stuie]

Good enough. I bought it.

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

[Kinjiru]

Good deal Stuie. Looking forward to your impressions.

Didn't get to play myself last night, what with all the tornado's in the area...

Going to try to get in another round tonight though.

[Tuberski]

You were the one I was thinking about seeing the reports, glad you made it through.

ACK!

[Kinjiru]

Originally posted by Tuberski
You were the one I was thinking about seeing the reports, glad you made it through.

ACK!

Thanks for the kind thoughts. We emerged fairly unscathed - a few cracked windows and the rail on my wooden deck is pretty loose. The guy in back of me got it much worse - a tree through their roof and second story. No one was hurt, but things are a major mess. He isn't totally upset though, because he needed a new roof this coming spring but was going to have to pay it himself. At least now, the insurance will cover it!

[Tuberski]

"Every cloud and silver linings" I guess.



ACK!