I play SotS. I find it's pretty fun and there is actually more strategy and tactics involved in the real time battles than most people realize. The demo does not do the game justice.

Really the only thing I don't like about SotS is that you have no control over z-axis in combat. The ships will move around slightly to avoid things and can be knocked "off the plane" by mass drivers... But it's enough fun that I can get over that.

I do not agree that 3d combat is too hard for people... They seem to think it is. That's the biggest problem I have with it.

Sins rectifies my need for real 3d combat in space.

Great, from what I have experienced, I see they've pretty much recified everything and corrected the game balances, check the update logs for 1.2.1 and .2, lots of adds and changes.

Ah yes, I have been meaning to get to this post lol.

Sorry but this is a very poor review, there are issues but these are not them. You should have played the game a bit more.


True.


Wrong. It's fairly simple to navigate and it is only kind of confusing when you start a new map, new galaxy - as it kind of should be. After about 10 turns, you start getting accustomed to it.


Really? Are you sure? You're describing the very last part of tech tree, where you have dreadnoughts, yes? That'snot 95% of the game, and even at that point you can have something like 40 destroyers, or 12 cruisers or 4 dreads with backup cruisers. Plus that's only the first wave, there are more , and the entire logistical side of fleets. Refinery ships, repair and salvage, miners, jamming and radar and command and about 5 other varieties of pieces of fleets that are relevant. Not to mention that if you're lucky to have some unique tech trees, this can change a lot of things. Including a massive cloaked destroyer torpedo fleet, alongside a dreadnaught, there's more at work here.


Wrong. The requirements are race based anyway, has nothing to do with player or ai. There is a reason why you're limited, and it's part of the gameplay and playing skill. Hint, you know the biology tech tree? Research it.


I really dont know what you're talking about here. A Medium defence station is a cruiser, with 1/3 or 1/4 the weapons. If you are losing 3 cruisers to one, you're doing something very wrong. I've always found defences to be so easy, 1 on 1 (aka, small defense platforms vs. destroyers or medium defense platforms vs. cruisers) that I let the battles auto-resolve. It's only an issue when there are enemy fleets snooping around .


Research better engines to move faster. And you have perfect control, learn to use some of the automated options and integrate them into a strategy.


Actually, that's probably the worst thing you could do. Do you understand economics? You have to pay for those new ships, and if you have enough money to float new fleets and still have enough of them to defend and expand, you're doing something wrong. I wouldnt be surprised if this is part of the reason why you're having so much trouble overall. It's not always about having the latest weapons, and that thinking will usually result in your ass being kicked before you get to cruisers heh.


Like I noted above, you're doing something wrong. Learn the game better, create better ship designs. As the platforms rotate around a planet, you can usually deal with 1 medium and 1 small platform at a time. You have at least 5-7 cruisers with a cruiser sized command ship, so... what is the issue? You have 6 ships with 2x or 3x the hp/armour and 4-5x the weapons on each.
Maybe you're having problems with the missiles they shoot? That's the only thing I can think of... A full 10 med and 10 small platforms + the planet, can shoot a lot of missiles in a volley every few seconds, this is true. You may lose a few ships even trying to approach the planet, this is simply realistic, but you know there is a point-defence system to place on your ships, right? If you lay out the PD on the top and bottom of your hull, you're pretty much invincible to missiles coming from platforms and planets. Also, if you see large volleys, you may want to halt your fleet so your turrets can fire more accurately.

Regardless, I'm no SOTS fanboy or anything. I just dont like reviews like this about any game. If you are going to review something, make sure you've actually played it and understand how it works and how to win. I've seen things like this for Supreme Commander a plenty, and it's often new players who know little to nothing and complain about difficulty and bad mechanics when it's really just their skill.

Anyway, OP I hope that helps you out a bit anyway to get over some of these "issues," go kill some Tarkas.

You can also check out the expansion for it that should be coming out probably middle of june or something it sounds pretty cool adding diplomacy and everything.

Not to mention that 3D political galaxy map is a HUGE addition. The ones who found the map confusing should have a much easier job at navigating.

I still dislike the star map in SOTS....

I can't see why... I think it is the best star map so far. Rotatable, zoomable, measurable distances... The only drawback is somewhat confusing navigation when you have a large number of stars. And even that is about to change with the 3D political view.

I play it and love it. I bought and installed the expansion but... I have been too busy to try it out. I love the tactical combat aspect, and the design choices for building your ships. The combinations of sections and the ability to choose which weapons to carry gives you real potential for making a difference just through designing your ships.

Oh, and the fact that there's an option to auto-resolve combat if you don't feel like doing it in real-time. Llovely.

Oh yea, and FINALLY a game with a full-3D starmap.

Give a man a 2D map and he'll complain about lack of depth. Give a man a 3D map and he'll complain that it's "too complicated"

In any case, SotS' biggest advantage is being streamlined where it counts - at the empire management. The fun parts (researching stuff, designing your ships, combat) are the deepest of the game, while the things that are boring for the majority (taxes, politics, etc.) are abstracted into neat and easy to use sliders. I'm the General and Supreme Commander of the race, not an accountant.

I loved the 3d starmap, and I actually thought dealing with obsolete ships was one of the cooler parts of the game. It added a huge amount of strategy in when to roll out a new ship class and how to best utilize the older ones.

The guys at KP are also really good about updating the game and talking on the forums.

Unfortunately, my game disc is someplace very far away, so I haven't been able to play in quite some time. Still, I'll probably pick up a copy of Born of Blood sooner or later.

Two other quick points

If you were having severe performance problems, you may have bought it from direct-to-drive. They put some ridiculous copy-protection on the game that slowed it to a crawl. My retail copy ran fine. (That disaster is one of the reasons I'm starting to love Stardock)

Secondly, some of you who didn't like the demo were probably put off by the horrible destroyer stalemate it could turn into. There is a newer version out that allows you to build some early cruisers, which goes a long way towards making the game end. Still, I think the main problem for most people was the lack of a tutorial. If you had been hanging around the forums for a while it was ok, but I don't know how many posts I saw where new guys didn't realize they needed to build command and control ships if they didn't want to be horribly outnumbered.

I must say I discounted it at first but decided to give it a try after reading some of the comments here and I must say it has that addictive feel to it and is sublimely complex. So much so that it all may be lost on everyday average players. Right now I would say I hold it in about the same regard as GC. I still have some issues with it but they are matters of preference and not game play and the same for GC. Now about Sins...

Well, I'm glad to say StrategyCore is doing a review of the expansion (Born of Blood) as well.

Again, SC's SotS review; http://www.strategycore.co.uk/pg/sotsreview

I'm hoping we'll also get Sins review - it would be great to review a real-time empire builder as a contrast to turn-based one.

Hi,

I'm playing Sots for one year now and I love it play it every weekend. But its different then Sins of a Solar empire. SoaSE is more like homeworld of Imperium Galactica 2, while Sots is more like master of orion, ascendancy or such games. I think you cant really compare these two games

I'm a devoted Hiver player, though I do play the other races, most commonly humans. Current game's getting a bit dull, just me and a liir faction left. Chances of an NAP, let alone an alliance, are slim, so it's just going to be a hard slog for his worlds by my siege dreads.

I'm mostly a MP on this game with me and a core group. I'm also the devoted Hiver. I dunno why, just the thought of being able to have 3 or 4 defence fleets within my web that can mop up any incoming fleets along with my wave of ramscooped gates as scouts is great. Yeah, it might slow me down in the long run as this particular tactic only works in the begining land grab, but it's just an interesting thought that these problem worlds get sucked into this intricate web then pounced upon by a mop up fleet with a couple gate ships shortly behind.

It's really too bad that the transport technologies of the different races can't be intermixed. Even after you start collecting pieces from your fallen foes. Imagin gate ships with stutter drives.