PC Gamers: Sins of a Solar Empire - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

worth · 03-03-2008, 10:02 AM

Anyone play it? Took me a month to find it in a store in Calgary. But it was well worth the wait. Excellent game, very immersive. Small developer and publisher, no way that they can compete with the bigger companies out there, but they are making waves. PC gaming isn't dead yet. This is just the kind of game that a PC craves. Game was made in Vancouver fyi.

http://www.sinsofasolarempire.com/
http://www.gameinformer.com/NR/exere...C2CC85E9A0.htm

Dan02 · 03-03-2008, 10:28 AM

Thanks for the recommendation.

LeftWing · 03-03-2008, 11:25 AM

Stupid game. I hate it.

I wasted my entire Saturday and much of Sunday playing it. The terrible part is that it seemed like two hours - even worse, I know I'll be playing it again tonight... And probably tomorrow.

... And probably next weekend.

Ozy_Flame · 03-03-2008, 11:35 AM

Played it briefly with friends on multiplayer. Seems like a game you'd have to really get into to make some earnest gains, and spend some considerable time doing it. Single player would be best, me thinks. Very intriguing game though! Excellent product from what I experienced, and great that it's Canadian-developed.

It didn't stop me from wasting most of my time on Battlefield 2 like always though. RTS has almost nothing FPS these days...

JayP · 03-03-2008, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Played it briefly with friends on multiplayer. Seems like a game you'd have to really get into to make some earnest gains, and spend some considerable time doing it. Single player would be best, me thinks. Very intriguing game though! Excellent product from what I experienced, and great that it's Canadian-developed.

I thought I read somewhere that there isn't a single player campaign. Anyone know if this is true?

Hack&Lube · 03-03-2008, 11:57 AM

There isn't much to the game. It's pretty barren of features. There is absolutely no single player campaign. There isn't even a story. Single player is just deathmatch against a few computers.

In the end, it boils down to move your fleet from planet to planet and try to dominate the system. The game also moves at an aggravating pace so you end up sitting there watching it do stuff for hours. It has nothing on Homeworld.

The computer AI is pretty bad, it's basically move your ships to a planet and let them shoot each other. Play follow the leader as he jumps in and out of systems. The diplomacy system is totally broken. You can shower your allies or enemies with a fortune in credits and crystal but they will still turn instantly hostile against you if you don't do one of their silly "attack my enemy for me" missions for them.

It's great for multiplayer but not much else, in any case you'll be sitting around for hours because of slow build, slow research, slow movement, slow battles, etc. It's a very large scale game but simplistic and repetative.

If you like playing online, playing with friends, sitting at your computer for hours waiting for ships to build or slowly move to another system...sure it's an alright game. But if you are playing by yourself, there's nothing there at all. Lack of single player or any story at all ruins this game IMHO but I guess that wasn't the developers objective.

MarchHare · 03-03-2008, 12:38 PM

Quote:

But if you are playing by yourself, there's nothing there at all. Lack of single player or any story at all ruins this game IMHO but I guess that wasn't the developers objective.

To each his own...

FWIW, I've played over 30 hours of single player and had a blast doing so. If you were expecting a successor to Homeworld, with a grand story and single player campaign, I can see why you'd be disappointed, but I don't think that's what Sins was trying to accomplish. The best way I can think to describe it is that it's like Master of Orion II in real-time.

MarchHare · 03-03-2008, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayP

I thought I read somewhere that there isn't a single player campaign. Anyone know if this is true?

There's no single player campaign with a story and missions or anything, but you can play by yourself against computer-controlled opponents. It's like the Civilization games in that respect.

Hack&Lube · 03-03-2008, 12:46 PM

The problem is this game should be a $19.95 game, not $44.95

The gameplay is decent but the lack of single player and the aged graphics don't do the game justice to what it could be.

I too played over 30 hours in single player - that was playing a single map, a single continuous game in a large multisystem map. That's how long games can take so multiplayer can be a bit unfeasible if your friends or online opponents don't have a whole day or more to burn.

photon · 03-03-2008, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarchHare

The best way I can think to describe it is that it's like Master of Orion II in real-time.

So it's a game where you basically play spreadsheets then..

There's a reason I'm staying far far away from this game.

MarchHare · 03-03-2008, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by photon

So it's a game where you basically play spreadsheets then..

There's a reason I'm staying far far away from this game.

I said Master of Orion II, which was pure awesomeness, not Master of Orion III, which was the terrible spreadsheet simulator.

worth · 03-03-2008, 01:00 PM

Yeah, it's just like the Civ games. No campaign with storyline, but you can play against the computer like in Civ. I didn't hear anyone saying Civ 4 wasn't a great game because it lacked a campaign.

If you play 1v1 on a small map you can be finished in a couple of hours.

Hack&Lube · 03-03-2008, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by worth

Yeah, it's just like the Civ games. No campaign with storyline, but you can play against the computer like in Civ. I didn't hear anyone saying Civ 4 wasn't a great game because it lacked a campaign.

If you play 1v1 on a small map you can be finished in a couple of hours.

1 vs 1. Smallest Map. Couple of hours.

Civ IV was much more complex, this game is basically the same every step of the way. Go from planet to planet and capture it. It's basically capturing points in an RTS. You can't even maneuver to any effect on the Y axis so it's not really 3D. You also can't fly around and hit from behind since the entire game is predicated on only being able to use the hyperspace lanes for travel. Since there's only 1 or 2 straight lines in and out of any system, it's basically exactly what you see on the system map. A bunch of balls with lines between them. You just defend those choke points as you move up and then it's basically a battle of attrition.

The scale is enourmous, it's really like war...but it's more WWI creeping forward your front line very very slowly as you move from planet to planet and shore up defenses and eat up more territory.

To be fair, I haven't been able to try much multiplayer, my friends won't play it because they didn't like it and playing online, I don't have the time to spend playing it all in one go. You sit at your computer for hours and hours doing not much of anything but I'm sure it would be exciting and fun over a LAN with a few buddies if you can arrange that.

Maybe my expectations were too high. I was expecting a new Homeworld with the graphics of X3 Reunion. This game would be fine if it were priced at $9.95 or $19.95 on direct download or Steam, etc. That's the catagory of gaming it fits into in my opinion. A $44.95 game it is not.

FanIn80 · 03-03-2008, 02:11 PM

How does it compare to Master of Orion I (the FIRST one)?

Master of Orion I will always be the end-all for space sims (for me). I despised Master of Orion II...

LeftWing · 03-03-2008, 02:12 PM

Well, I guess it boils down to two points. First, you play it and you're very disappointed like H&L - so you've wasted money and wish you hadn't bought it in the first place.

Second, you really enjoy it and realize that even very small games will take hours to complete, but you're already addicted so your spare time over the next three months is a write off. After your significant other stops talking to you because you've essentially become a stranger you realize that maybe you should never have purchased this game in the first place.

Either way the conclusion is the same, stay away from this game.

jammies · 03-03-2008, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FanIn80

How does it compare to Master of Orion I (the FIRST one)?

Master of Orion I will always be the end-all for space sims (for me). I despised Master of Orion II...

Agree! The 2nd one was dull, once you had a decent size fleet every combat took waaaaaayyyyy too long to finish. The first one was awesome, I loved the way you could minitaurize older weapons and pack huge numbers of them into a hull, and I probably spent 70-80% of the game designing new ships in different roles.

CaptainCrunch · 03-04-2008, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jammies

Agree! The 2nd one was dull, once you had a decent size fleet every combat took waaaaaayyyyy too long to finish. The first one was awesome, I loved the way you could minitaurize older weapons and pack huge numbers of them into a hull, and I probably spent 70-80% of the game designing new ships in different roles.

Yup nothing like packing 75 lasers onto a frigate and building about 100 of the s and sending them out to destroy everything. Most battles ended on the first shots.

And then being the kind and peaceful dictator that I was, I'd go about the business of the wholesale extermination of enemy races with bioweapons so that my people could move into new and peaceful neighbourhoods.