Sins of a Solar Empire Releases Today

[Moaner]

After a couple hours of play the game feels very much like real time GalCiv to me.  There doesn't even seem to be a pause command.

So far I'm impressed but a little overwhelmed. 

[schild]

So far I'm impressed but a little overwhelmed.

That would be why I only did one tutorial so far. I commented to Rasix that I need the instruction book that will be at least 200 pages before I get into this thing.

[Thrawn]

I guess it's technically an indie title, but it has a few of the homeworld developers that worked on it. It's not one guy in a basement like dwarf fortress.

As an aside to schild, the next dwarf fortress is going to feature graphics -- he's decided that while he loves ascii, it's a bit of a wall preventing some people from getting into the game :)

Dwarf Fortress......

I've been impressed as a whole with Sins though, it seems pretty well polished for a fresh release.  My only gripe so far is that camera control could use a little work, it's not horrible, but it's not great either.

[ahoythematey]

I can't help thinking about 200-page instruction manuals without thinking about Outpost, and then the rage blackouts come.

Are you being serious?  I was kind of looking forward to this game...

[Sky]

There doesn't even seem to be a pause command.

[JWIV]

So far I'm impressed but a little overwhelmed.

That would be why I only did one tutorial so far. I commented to Rasix that I need the instruction book that will be at least 200 pages before I get into this thing.

If you got the digital download, there should be a pdf in the main download directory.

[Moaner]

It's not as much of an issue as you'd think Sky.  It plays more like a real time 4x than a RTS IMO.  Battles are rather simplistic as there isn't much of a Z-axis.  Also, you fleets are pretty damn good at doing things on their own.  Units auto use skills if you tell them to and as far as I can tell tactics like flanking aren't as nearly as important as they are in typical RTS games.

[Stormwaltz]

There doesn't even seem to be a pause command.

Un-sold.

Shit.

EDIT: Even if most people don't need it, odds are I would. Plus, I have a three year old. Sometimes you need to step away and deal with something.

[Moaner]

You can hit escape and the game pauses at the main menu.  I just haven't found a pause command that lets you issue orders.  Seriously, the game is different enough I think those that are worried about pause should try the demo when it's released.

Pause sucks if you ever want to play multiplayer, it's a crutch!   

[schild]

guys, real time strategy means REAL-TIME STRATEGY.

Pausing is for... NOT real-time strategy.

[MrHat]

guys, real time strategy means REAL-TIME STRATEGY.

Pausing is for... NOT real-time strategy.

Retirement-Time Strategy.

[Mrbloodworth]

guys, real time strategy means REAL-TIME STRATEGY.

Pausing is for... NOT real-time strategy.

Thats why most (Newer) real time strategy games give each player 3 time outs (Pauses)........

I simply do not have time for my 12 hour multi player Empire earth games any more.

[Sky]

guys, real time strategy means REAL-TIME STRATEGY.

Pausing is for... NOT real-time strategy.

It's a hybrid. It's not like you can pause in multi-player, so I don't see the problem with it. If you don't like it, don't pause. If you can't pause and give orders, I have zero interest. So you lose those who trend toward TBS when you could have both segments. Whatever.

[Murgos]

The Sins page says they have various speeds you can play at if you need a little more time to deliberate.

MrBloodworth They provided the ability to save the state of the multiplayer game so you can play over successive meetings without having to marathon it.  I think I read that you can sub people in at different positions if need be, but don't hold me to that.

[driph]

Sins looks really intriguing, waiting for some more playthrough impressions before I pick it up. Ah hell, who am I kidding, I'll most likely cave and buy the game this weekend.

[Righ]

If its a 4X game, then it presumably takes a fair amount of time to play. If its a multiplayer RTS, not only can you not reasonably pause it, but walking away will result in a loss. Sounds like a poopsock hardcore game.

[Moaner]

I finally found the pause hotkey, it's pause.  Imagine that!  You really don't need it though.

I've spent a large portion of the day playing and it's all starting to come together.  It's really not as complicated as it first seems, just different.  Battles are actually incredibely simplistic.  The more I play it, the more I like it.

[Morat20]

As an aside to schild, the next dwarf fortress is going to feature graphics -- he's decided that while he loves ascii, it's a bit of a wall preventing some people from getting into the game :)

Praise the Lord Jesus.

[Signe]

Thank God you found the pause button.  I was worried for your bladders.

[Stormwaltz]

Pause sucks if you ever want to play multiplayer

Fortunately, I don't. ^_^

[Driakos]

Played it for awhile online with some friends tonight.  Not sure if I love it yet.  It is not near as complicated as I first thought.  One cool feature, is the ability to pay space pirates to harass your enemies.  If your enemies pay the pirates to harass you, just pay them more.  The combat is not as pretty as Homeworld 2.  I played the zealots, their battleship is mighty.  Put a scout or a harassment force at the Sun(s) on medium/big maps.

I dug English trenches for the rest of the night in Company of Heroes - Opposing Fronts.  It was an RTS day.

[Mrbloodworth]

The Sins page says they have various speeds you can play at if you need a little more time to deliberate.

MrBloodworth They provided the ability to save the state of the multiplayer game so you can play over successive meetings without having to marathon it.  I think I read that you can sub people in at different positions if need be, but don't hold me to that.

Thats better then.

I'm leery of this title, due to the fact that it looks like Sword of the Stars.

Ill have to find a "Demo" or something i guess, and no, i haven't fully researched this title to compare. But thats also why i didn't understand what was new in this game.

EDIT: Spelling and other stupidness.

[Signe]

Are you Denis Leary of this title or Timothy Leary?

[Arrrgh]

I love the pirates. They're PLing fodder for your capital ships.

[Mrbloodworth]

Are you Denis Leary of this title or Timothy Leary?

 

[Signe]

Are you Denis Leary of this title or Timothy Leary?

 

[Mrbloodworth]

Are you Denis Leary of this title or Timothy Leary?

 

[Yegolev]

At what point is a smiley no longer a smiley?

[Murgos]

At what point is a smiley no longer a smiley?

Pretty sure that previous post hit it.

[JWIV]

I love the pirates. They're PLing fodder for your capital ships.

The Pirates were driving me batty since I had to keep stalling out my offensives to pull back and defend against them.  Eventually I wised up and realized that I could simply bribe them and use them against my opponent.   Makes a huge difference.

[bhodi]

I've dumped about 10 hours so far into this game I'm going to stick with the badly voice-acted TEC. Since the tech trees are all different, I'd rather memorize just one for now. Apparently, you can't put spaces/tabs in front of lines, so I coded it for easier reading.

    BUILD ORDER when you are starting with nothing but one Frigate Factory.
    All can be done by clicking on the planet except for the final step.

    1. Frigates -> 2 Scout frigates
                   3 Light Frigates
    2. Logistics Structures -> Capital Ship yard, Place beside frigate factory.
                               Crystal Extractor
                               2 Metal Extractor
    3. Click on each of the scouts as they pop out, right click to autocast explore
    4. Capital Ships -> One on the far left (for me, the Kol Battleship)
    5. Frigates -> 2 more Light Frigates           
    6. Kol battleship should pop out. Your scouts should have also scouted 3-4 planets.
       Highlight your battleship and 5 frigates, hit tab until the battleship is selected.   
       Ctrl-1 to Make a grouping.
            Tactics Management -> Create Fleet.
            Ability Management -> Rail Gun. Leave autocast on if you're lazy.
            Alternate between Rail gun and Adaptive Shield for leveling. Turn off adaptive shield autocast.
    7. If there's a Asteroid or Terran planet nearby:
       Send your Kol and 5 frigates to clear it.
       Logistics Structures -> Military Lab.
       Queue Research Military -> Ballistics and Rocketry -> Laser Amplification
    7A. If all you've got is a Volcanic or Arctic planet (or both)
       Send your Kol and 5 frigates to clear whichever has more crystal asteroids
       Logistics Structures -> Civic Research station x2 (you will have to wait for more crystals)
       Queue Research Civilian -> Engineering -> XXXX planet Exploitation
    8. Frigate Factory (not Planet) -> Colony Frigate
                                       Right click on Kol battleship to create rally point

This should get you your first expansion. Obviously, a asteroid or terran planet is a preferred expansion, but it's not a game restarter if you get bad luck and have to go straight to arctic. I would not skip ajacent planets for colonization unless you can create a chokepoint by doing so -- it will become too hard to defend against pirates.

Pirates should come after you finish clearing your first area if it's a planet, second if your first is an asteroid belt. This is good. You want your battleship to be always fighting. Don't worry about damage, research into advanced metallurgy and hull reinforcement and it will be able to repair the hull faster than it can be damaged (at least early game). Continue replacing frigates that you have lost up to your maximum fleet cap. Where you go for research is up to you; Metallurgy->Ferro-Uranite rounds are a good choice since it increases your battleship damage. Efficient Crystal Sorting is also key.

[JWIV]

I took out my main enemy and then I realized I was good and truly pissed at the pirates.

I decided to bring to bear two task forces - both anchored by experienced battleships and with appropriate support carriers and frigates.  I swung the two forces to opposite jump points, and sent in the first task force.   After the majority of his forces surrounding the pirate base swung out of position, I jumped my second task force in and attacked his flank.  It was somewhere around 40-50 quality ships vs 100+ crap pirate frigates.

[Viin]

That's a pretty cool screenshot. I may check this out if they ever come out with a demo. (I usually don't last past the demo phase for games like this).

[Ratman_tf]

Are there random maps, or are they all premade?

[Kitsune]

Stardock makes stupidly awesome games.  I've been betaing the upcoming Galactic Civilizations II expansion, and it is of pure distilled win.  Race-specific tech trees and buildings FTW!