Anyone playing Sins of a Solar Empire??

[Jabberwocky]

Hi all. I been having a hankerin' for playing a space-based game. I honestly have never played a space STRATEGY game, only first-person flight combat models. I was wondering if anyone has given Sins of a Solar Empire a go? -- I love playing the Total War series, so my hesitation has nothing to do with the genre, I'm just wondering if THIS particular game is worth getting?

http://www.sinsofasolarempire.com/store.aspx

It looks beautiful, and seems to have good support from those plucky business gurus of Stardock.

I thought I saw this in a store weeks ago, but I just got an email saying it has been released, so maybe it was a pre-order box I saw?? Anyway, there doesn't seem to be a demo out or else I'd find out for myself. If anyone has an opinion (hopefully based on experience), please post here!

 

[txa1265]

I have heard only good things ... but forgot my copy at home (I'm a 'long term suite' hotel for a month as we prepare to move in April) ... so I won't know for a while.

 

[purpleblob]

I haven't played it but my bf is playing it now and he's loving it. So from his point of view, it was definately worth getting it.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I'm a little uneasy about making the jump from first person combat to Lord of a galactic empire... so, Purple, do you know from your bf's point of view if it retains any feeling of identity with the "little people" you rule? Or is it straight up grand scale empire building? I guess what I'm looking for is a game that calls for massive decisions on a galactic scale, but still allows you to "zoom in" to the point that you really feel like you are a part of the battles, and not just calling the shots.

 

[Dhruin]

I'd love to play Sins - I like the concept (in theory), the space opera, the interface, the ex-Homeworld devs, TGN...but I just can't get into pure strategy games these days and this has no SP campaign (only a bunch of different maps).

A demo is coming...

 

[fatBastard()]

I was sold until the point of "no SP campaign" reared its' ugly head.

Really? ... Bugger

 

[Remus]

The game received many praises; got me interested but yeah, no sp campaign is definitely a let down.

 

[Asbjoern]

I've never been able to enjoy a pure space setting so I will probably not play this game, but i would like to applaud the great title. "Sins of a Solar Empire" is one of the best titles I've heard in a long time.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I was sold until the point of "no SP campaign" reared its' ugly head.

Really? ... Bugger

Hmmm.. Yep, I agree. That pretty much ruined the deal for me too. Thanks for stopping by Dhruin, your info was a huge help, I didn't know that before.... uh that is, about the game, not about your help.

 

[curiously undead]

that was a problem i had with gal civ 2, which while it had a single player, it was rather weak and i never got past mission 4.

 

[zakhal]

It doesnt have anymore SP campaign than Master of Orion 1 or 2 did but that hasnt ever been a major requirement atleast for me when it comes to space strategy. The games are very long - even on a small map it can take whole day to finish. I havent tried MP at all yet (not sure whether Im interested), but they say its really good too.

Allthough no real sp campaign it does have a clear background story. I kinda liked it too.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

It seems as if the MP-only fans have won.

More and more games appear to be MP-only games - especially MMORPGs.

Sad, kind of.

 

[zakhal]

Just fyi Sins of Solar empire is not "MP-only" it does have SP too! Unlike i.e fantasy rts with story campaigns, space strategies have traditionally had big randomly created skirmirsh maps with strong non-scripted AIs (+possibly som random story events) as a main singleplayer element. Thats why AI capability is often very critical in this genre. In fantasy rts they can just script it to go with the story so its not such a big issue.

One space strategy map takes much more time to complete than one fantasy rts story map so it equals out. Just to put it into perspective my first sose map that was "small-size" took entire day to finish.

From my POV the whole story campaign in galciv is just secondary (infact I havent even tried them yet) to the main game which is the custom campaign with AIs.

 

[Jabberwocky]

After I got to thinking about it, I may have been premature in thinking I wouldn't like it because of no sp campaign. I like Total War, after all, and that really doesn't have a campaign or story - just a big map and a few scripted events. So I'm thinking if this game is as engaging as the Total War series, albeit in a different genre, then I may enjoy it after all!

I think I'll wait and try the demo first though...

 

[blatantninja]

Civ didn't have a campaign, but I found I, II and III completely addicting! I may have to try this.

 

[curiously undead]

played every civ and total war game, and they are all fine and some stellar games, but to me the lack of campaign especially in the civ's, (its gotten much better fleshed out in the total war series) is why once i finish with the game i shudder when i think of the countless hours i've spent on one civ, or country, and sometimes more. the lack of sense of completion is the top complaint of no single player campaign in any game, or multiplayer. of course its often unavoidable when the scope of these games is so large. maybe it works in space games but so far every 4x(not even sure what that really means) style space game hasn't kept me comming back for more or even 'just one more turn' like civ and total war.

 

[zakhal]

The extra meat in civ4/total war is the mods. There are many huge mods that totally change the game to become a new experience. Its more than worth to play the game again more than few times.

Sins of Solar Empire is moddable too and they are allready busy working on star wars/babylon5/etc. mods. In example the galciv2 star trek mod is like gig in size and its totally majorly awesome.

 

[blatantninja]

played every civ and total war game, and they are all fine and some stellar games, but to me the lack of campaign especially in the civ's, (its gotten much better fleshed out in the total war series) is why once i finish with the game i shudder when i think of the countless hours i've spent on one civ, or country, and sometimes more.

By the time I stopped playing Civ III, I would start playing, play for a few hours, then get frustrated with myself that I was wasting so much time, then finally quit. Then a day or so later, repeat the process. It was like a crack addiction, I couldn't help myself even though I knew it was wrong!

When Civ IV came out, I was sure I was screwed, countless days, weeks even months would be sucked by it before I could break the addiction, yet I was powerless not to buy it. Thankfully, it had issues running on ATI cards when it came out and I wasn't able to run it. By the time they got it fixed and I was able to start playing it, I really couldn't get into it. I'm not sure I ever finished a game.

 

[Jabberwocky]

The extra meat in civ4/total war is the mods. There are many huge mods that totally change the game to become a new experience. Its more than worth to play the game again more than few times.

Sins of Solar Empire is moddable too and they are allready busy working on star wars/babylon5/etc. mods. In example the galciv2 star trek mod is like gig in size and its totally majorly awesome.

Did...did you say... Babylon 5 mod?? Ok, I would buy the game just for that!!

 

[curiously undead]

the demo is up
http://www.gamershell.com/news_46837.html
i'd try it but i've been playing nwn 100% of the time now for the past 3 months, just started chapter 3 of the original and am starting realized this is a really long game!