Sins of a Solar Empire - PC by Ironclad Games/Stardock
03-04-08, 08:47 AM
#1
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: MA
Posts: 4,661
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sins of a Solar Empire - PC by Ironclad Games/Stardock
Take Galactic Civilizations II combine it with elements of Starcraft and what you have is what I believe the first large-scale 4x interstellar real time strategy game ever made. I bought this last night and spent a good 3-4 hours with it. I went through all the tutorials and played 2 quick small map games and didn't even scratch the surface.
Credits, Metal and Crystal make up the economy of this game while frigates, cruisers and battleships dominate the military end of things. The game handles interstellar travel through a concept of phasing where your ship needs to be at the edge of one planetary system to get to the adjacent planetary system. It is quite well done even though it leads to major chokepoint control which I haven't decided is a good or bad thing yet. Ship combat is handled well with great detail and has an appropriate length so you can focus on other things within your empire (I think one improvement might be to allow a bit more personalization of the fleets through the use of fleet commanders).
Its even amazingly simple to navigate the map and go from watching a single battle to viewing the complete map just by scrolling. I didn't get too much into the various tech trees (Military, Logistics, Civilian, Artifacts) although it was kind of difficult to understand how exactly each of the techs benefitted my empire. Same with espionage and diplomacy, I didn't spend too much time with them but considering the other strong aspects of the game I'm sure these are handled well.
Overall a great experience although a truly steep learning curve to get a handle on most of the aspects of the game. Unlike GC II you can't just stop and investigate planets, tech, ship building etc., the clock is always ticking.
Credits, Metal and Crystal make up the economy of this game while frigates, cruisers and battleships dominate the military end of things. The game handles interstellar travel through a concept of phasing where your ship needs to be at the edge of one planetary system to get to the adjacent planetary system. It is quite well done even though it leads to major chokepoint control which I haven't decided is a good or bad thing yet. Ship combat is handled well with great detail and has an appropriate length so you can focus on other things within your empire (I think one improvement might be to allow a bit more personalization of the fleets through the use of fleet commanders).
Its even amazingly simple to navigate the map and go from watching a single battle to viewing the complete map just by scrolling. I didn't get too much into the various tech trees (Military, Logistics, Civilian, Artifacts) although it was kind of difficult to understand how exactly each of the techs benefitted my empire. Same with espionage and diplomacy, I didn't spend too much time with them but considering the other strong aspects of the game I'm sure these are handled well.
Overall a great experience although a truly steep learning curve to get a handle on most of the aspects of the game. Unlike GC II you can't just stop and investigate planets, tech, ship building etc., the clock is always ticking.
03-04-08, 08:57 AM
#2
Video Game Talk Reviewer
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Formerly known as "Vryce"/Detroit, Michigan
Posts: 13,856
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
I just picked this up last night and hope to get some time this weekend to play through it.
It was kind of neat looking in the manual. The publisher was listed as being in Plymouth, Michigan I believe. I don't know if that was for the game itself or the manual printing.
It was kind of neat looking in the manual. The publisher was listed as being in Plymouth, Michigan I believe. I don't know if that was for the game itself or the manual printing.
03-04-08, 09:18 AM
#4
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: MA
Posts: 4,661
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by superdeluxe
I loved MOO III, would I like this game?
You may like Sins but if you never played Galactic Civilizations II I would run out and pick it up for $20-$30 and you will not be disappointed.
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....light=galactic
Last edited by neiname; 03-04-08 at 09:20 AM.
03-04-08, 09:25 AM
#5
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by neiname
Really??? you are the first person I've heard say that. I was an absolute fan of MOO (probably in my top 10 of all time) and MOO II just built on that. MOO III was such a disappointment when it was released that I never bothered going back to see if they were ever able to fix it, should I load it up again?
You may like Sins but if you never played Galactic Civilizations II I would run out and pick it up for $20-$30 and you will not be disappointed.
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....light=galactic
You may like Sins but if you never played Galactic Civilizations II I would run out and pick it up for $20-$30 and you will not be disappointed.
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....light=galactic
Hell yeah, The Moo III community is still kicking (its on atari forums community now). groups of users released mods/patches, that really improved game play, and in some ways, changed the gameplay all together.
