Author Topic: Sins of a Solar Empire (Read 16248 times)

angrykeebler · « **Reply #40 on:** Monday, February 18, 2008, 05:29:30 PM »

After extended play, I realize that this game VERY closely resembles this game which I enjoyed alot back in the day.

sirean_syan · « **Reply #41 on:** Monday, February 18, 2008, 05:52:54 PM »

I was a pretty big Conquest fan too. That's a good thing to hear.

Also good (depending on your outlook of things), I picked up the game today and am in the process of checking out some tutorial. So far I like what I see.

Ghandi · « **Reply #42 on:** Monday, February 18, 2008, 06:56:05 PM »

Quote from: Quemaqua on Monday, February 18, 2008, 04:52:45 PM

What requirements are you failing with? They aren't super steep, and most people seem to indicate that it scales well (except for the apparent problems with the current nvidia drivers which are screwing with some people).

My video card isn't 128 MB.

angrykeebler · « **Reply #43 on:** Monday, February 18, 2008, 08:04:18 PM »

So i played since 2 up till now and im only stopping for my WoW raid.. we're just idling in the Caverns of Time waiting for raid spots to fill so im writing further impressions..

God damn i love this game.. I finally got the hang of things and now those damn pirates dont attack me at all. My empire is an economic juggernaut thanks to trade ports and such. I can afford to hire those pirates to go after my enemies instead of me. I really just want this raid over so i can play some more.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #44 on:** Monday, February 18, 2008, 09:08:43 PM »

I'm so going to get humiliated when we play. I just got to humiliate Sy since he'd never really played before and wanted a 1v1 match, but it's probably the last time it'll happen on that front, too.

angrykeebler · « **Reply #45 on:** Monday, February 18, 2008, 09:42:02 PM »

Hey Que..whats the command to make your fleet jump together? I dont remember from the tutorial and i dont want to go back and go through it all...its also not in the manual.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #46 on:** Monday, February 18, 2008, 11:17:19 PM »

Right click the movement arrow like you do for switching the autocast stuff on and off.

angrykeebler · « **Reply #47 on:** Tuesday, February 19, 2008, 12:53:18 AM »

holy shit..have you guys seen a pirate hideout? im going to try and wipe one out cause these fuckers caused me so much trouble..

angrykeebler · « **Reply #48 on:** Tuesday, February 19, 2008, 01:41:18 AM »

It would seem pirates are the ultimate power in the universe.

Don't attack their headquarters holy god.

Pugnate · « **Reply #49 on:** Tuesday, February 19, 2008, 02:47:04 AM »

I'd like to play with you guys once I get this. My strategy will have pirates attacking Keebler. But then he'll just give them more money.

sirean_syan · « **Reply #50 on:** Sunday, February 24, 2008, 01:47:57 AM »

I suppose I should chime in and throw in my complete and utter support for the game... mostly because I woke up today, thought I'd play for an hour or two, and then realized the sun had been down for like five hours and I was hungry. That hasn't happen to me in years.

So far I've more or less played three full games, once as the TEC and two as the Advent. Today was my first normal level game and I held up extremely well. It seems the Advent are really good at holding down territory with all their culture upgrades and special fortifications. Then can also dish a lot of damage out quickly with their beam weapons. I suspect their main weakness is staying power while on the offensive, but I tended to overwhelm most of my opponent during this last game so that never became much of an issue. The last decisive battle ended up happening on on this little worthless rock that bottlenecked the approach to the last remaining empire's main system. I think there were something like 8-10 capital ships on each side with full support fleets... it was huge. Easily on the order of 200 ships. My main advantage was very my capital ships were very old and much more experienced than the enemy because I was regularly killing their ships during previous skirmishes. Advent fleets are also very good at controlling the antimatter supply (special ability fuel), so I pretty much denied all their special abilities throughout too. After that, it was just a matter of sweeping through their systems and committing mass genocide. Overall, my general feeling on the game is that it's pretty much an empire/civilization game where the combat doesn't suck or isn't passive anymore. It's not like Homeworld level stuff, but it's very enjoyable when paired with all the other stuff the game has to offer.

I also want to point out that the game runs pretty damned well. While the frame rate was pretty bad during those last battles, it wasn't unplayable... probably on the order of 10 FPS. When I was giving orders I could zoom out to the tactical level and things were happy again. It's hard to play the game at a zoomed in level anyways. Given my system is now something like 4 years old, I'm really pleased with that. I'm playing with all the options on high, save for the planet texture which are on highest (when I was first setting up the game, that was the only thing that seemed to make a difference). So yeah, you don't need a Crysis level PC to fully enjoy this or even an Oblivion level. A Doom III/WoW system (which is more or less what mine is: Doom III with extra RAM for WoW) will do nicely.

angrykeebler · « **Reply #51 on:** Sunday, February 24, 2008, 02:03:57 AM »

We should all play on sunday.. im free all day =D

Quemaqua · « **Reply #52 on:** Sunday, February 24, 2008, 02:54:21 AM »

Just wait until you get into a skirmish where you've got 200 ships per side and 3 sides in a single gravity well!

I feel like I'm not spending enough time learning the game mechanics. I mean, I know how everything works, but I don't spend as much time actually planning which ship types I'm going to have in fleet A or B. My last 2 games have been utterly chaotic, with guys on all sides coming at me at once, and I basically just starting pounding on the build buttons in whatever fashion seems like it will bring a good result. My earlier games had more time for thought, but the last few have just been totally crazy. I think it would end up being fun in a big open map if we did coop, because it can be logistically difficult to actually support other allies. Usually your fleets are in use defending something or trying to finish someone's planet or capital ship off, and it's hard to break from either activity, especially given how long transit can take. Would be interesting to work with other human players to build a more united front. In these bigger, more open maps with more players I'm finding diplomacy to be completely necessary, if not to actually get support then just to remove an attacker or two until I can manage them. Tricky business.

But yeah, I think more people should snag this one. It's really great stuff.

EDIT - Apparently more people are. From Frogboy over at the Sins forum:

Quote

Gamasutra has released their weekly best selling list across all platforms. On the PC:

1. Sins of a Solar Empire (Stardock)
2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision)
3. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard)
4. The Orange Box (EA Games),
5. SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition (EA Games).

That's really impressive. Word on the street is that the game is selling like hotcakes, people are having trouble finding copies at retail, etc. I honestly have no idea how something like this could get so popular... it just doesn't seem like the kind of thing to take off so well. But it's great! Galactic Civilizations 2 was huge for Stardock, and according to them, Sins has sold more copies in its first week than GalCiv2 did in its first month. These guys are cornering the market on space strategy.

EDIT x2 - Forgot to mention that I wish I could play today, but most likely I'll be kinda' busy. Are you guys going to be around tonight at all? Like post-dinner, maybe 8-ish or thereabouts? I have to take Julia shopping, then later we're going to see her folks for dinner, but hopefully I'll be back after that and could play if either of you were up for it.

angrykeebler · « **Reply #53 on:** Sunday, February 24, 2008, 02:44:07 PM »

i'll be on all night..no WoW for me today

angrykeebler · « **Reply #54 on:** Sunday, February 24, 2008, 04:39:19 PM »

just PM me when you are ready que

MysterD · « **Reply #55 on:** Sunday, February 24, 2008, 07:24:38 PM »

Quote from: Que

Word on the street is that the game is selling like hotcakes, people are having trouble finding copies at retail, etc. I honestly have no idea how something like this could get so popular... it just doesn't seem like the kind of thing to take off so well. But it's great! Galactic Civilizations 2 was huge for Stardock, and according to them, Sins has sold more copies in its first week than GalCiv2 did in its first month. These guys are cornering the market on space strategy.

At first, yeah -- it's like "Why's this selling well?"
Well, I thought about it...

Stardock has a history of making good critically-acclaimed strategy games -- see Galac Civ series.
(Though, this time w/ Sins, they are publishing it -- Iron Clad developed Sins.)

Stardock doesn't treat customers like crap w/ vicious copy protections.

Strategy games got a pretty good following on the PC.

Sins of a Solar Empire doesn't have vicious system requirements.
Sins also got excellent reviews.

Yup, the more I think about it -- yes, this game was bound to sell well.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #56 on:** Sunday, February 24, 2008, 09:36:53 PM »

Will have to wait a bit and see.... I'll PM you later possibly.

Pugnate · « **Reply #57 on:** Sunday, February 24, 2008, 11:10:42 PM »

I'd personally love to play with you guys. Do any of you know what the limits are to a multiplayer game?

Quemaqua · « **Reply #58 on:** Sunday, February 24, 2008, 11:44:31 PM »

10 players. And sorry keebs, it didn't really work out tonight. I could play now, but it's already like 11. Seems kind of pointless. I got tied up longer than I expected.

Pugnate · « **Reply #59 on:** Monday, February 25, 2008, 02:49:03 AM »

Do you guys save your multiplayer outings?

Quemaqua · « **Reply #60 on:** Monday, February 25, 2008, 08:45:58 AM »

We haven't played yet. Just Sy and I once, and I trounced him in a half hour because he didn't really know how to play yet. I'm sure we would have to if we got involved in a long game, though. These things can take a while when you've got a lot of players or a big map.

angrykeebler · « **Reply #61 on:** Monday, February 25, 2008, 03:47:00 PM »

im playing a team game vs the CPU on a large map right now. goddamn this game is even fun when you're losing!

angrykeebler · « **Reply #62 on:** Tuesday, February 26, 2008, 12:50:49 AM »

God, I love this game so much.

Pugnate · « **Reply #63 on:** Tuesday, February 26, 2008, 04:15:47 AM »

Quote from: angrykeebler on Monday, February 25, 2008, 03:47:00 PM

im playing a team game vs the CPU on a large map right now. goddamn this game is even fun when you're losing!

Then you'll be constantly having fun against me.

idolminds · « **Reply #64 on:** Thursday, February 28, 2008, 12:05:08 PM »

Sins sells 100,000 copies in the first 3 weeks.

beo · « **Reply #65 on:** Saturday, March 01, 2008, 08:45:45 AM »

ok, i have joined the fold. put in about five hours on a game so far and i've still only got nine of seventeen planets. sort of getting the hang of thing now though and it's a lot of fun. PMs, msns, or emails if you want a game.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #66 on:** Saturday, March 01, 2008, 05:52:11 PM »

I'm realizing now just how bad we are at setting this kind of thing up. We should make a game scheduler forum with like a calendar and stuff.

So today/tonight I think Sy and I are going to play a big marathon session. Dunno' if we'll be playing competitively or cooperatively or what, but I wanted to throw a notice up here in case anyone else who has the game wanted to join up. If you guys are interested, let us know (feel free to hop on IRC or send me a PM or whatever).

angrykeebler · « **Reply #67 on:** Saturday, March 01, 2008, 10:55:44 PM »

im way 2 drunk 2 play

sirean_syan · « **Reply #68 on:** Sunday, March 02, 2008, 12:29:16 AM »

Someone give you a wine cooler?

MysterD · « **Reply #69 on:** Wednesday, March 19, 2008, 01:36:10 PM »

This game WILL have an expansion pack.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #70 on:** Wednesday, March 19, 2008, 08:30:39 PM »

Fucking awesome. I'm so down with that.

MysterD · « **Reply #71 on:** Friday, March 21, 2008, 01:52:19 PM »

550 MB Demo for this Sins of a Solar Empire has been released.

I been wanting to try this -- and I ain't even much of a Strategy game guy, so yeah; mad cool. Count me in on this DL.

Quote

Sins of a Solar Empire Demo [March 21, 2008, 1:01 pm ET] - Viewing Comments

A demo for Sins of a Solar Empire Demo is now available to sample Ironclad Games' 4X space strategy game. The 549 MB demo makes its debut on GameSpot (registration required), where word is: "This demo gives you four tutorials, two small maps with up to two AI players, one randomly generated medium map with up to 3 AI players, and 90 minutes of playing time (single-player only)." The demo is now also mirrored on AtomicGamer, ComputerGames.ro, FanGaming, FileFront, FileShack, Gamer's Hell, and PixelRage.

MysterD · « **Reply #72 on:** Thursday, April 10, 2008, 08:28:03 PM »

For all you game owners, Patch 1.04 for this game is now out.

MysterD · « **Reply #73 on:** Sunday, May 18, 2008, 03:20:22 PM »

Patch 1.05 due out this Tuesday.
Here's a PREVIEW of Patch Log for Patch 1.05 for Sins, which will include 2 new game-maps.

Quote

Sins v1.05 Preview
Tweaks, fixes and maps!
By Yarlen Posted May 15, 2008 14:32:54

Next Tuesday we'll be releasing the v1.05 update for Sins of a Solar Empire that should address many of the multiplayer issues some players have reported. This is a minor patch, however; more substantial updates will arrive with version 1.1.

v1.05 Changes:

* Fixed bug deallocating particle pool memory.
* Fixed cargo ship related crash caused when loading a saved game.
* Increased the maximum length of map description text. If the text is too long, it will no longer crash the game.
* AI missions no longer continue if a human player has taken over for them.
* AI controlled units will no longer still have AI-control if a human player has taken over for them.
* Fixed crash when attempting to toggle the autocast state for an uncontrollable ship/planet module.
* Fixed capturable resource mines from being considered damageable.
* Fixed sync error in multiplayer games caused by cannon autocast targetting.
* Fixed squad owner infocards to gracefully handle large numbers of squads (100+).
* Fixed crash if you run out of video memory when loading textures.
* Planet asteroid setup now uses TotalMaxResourcesAsteroids parameter again.
* Added two new maps: Melting Point and Ancient Gifts.
* ICO accounts will now be forced to logout if you attempt to login with the same account.
* Malice changed to fix CPU issues in the late game due to previous implementation of the ability. Malice now accumulates damage on affected targets and then spreads that damage when the buff expires, rather than spreading damage as soon as damage is applied. Its duration, cooldown and AM cost have all been reduced to reflect this. Malice is now target capped as well at 8/16/24 targets.
* Fixed bug in galaxy generator related to vertical planet offsets when planets are too close together.
* New default texture quality settings set.

MysterD · « **Reply #74 on:** Sunday, June 08, 2008, 05:23:59 AM »

Sins is $24.99 at Circuit City this week (6-8-2008 to 2-2008).

Shit, I gotta go try the demo I DL'ed, but was too lazy to install and try...like now.

EDIT:
Tried the demo.
This game is cool....but ummm, I suck at it.
I guess that's what I get for not playing many of these types of games...

EDIT #2:
So, I played this game non-stop until...well, demo time ran out.
I think I need to get into more strategy games.

I got my planet attacked a few times, fended off some big fleets that fled, destroyed some enemies. Yeah, some mad cool stuff.

Great runs on HIGHEST always above 30 Frames per sec w/ AA 4x cranked up.

scottws · « **Reply #75 on:** Sunday, June 08, 2008, 08:44:00 PM »

Saw this at Best Buy today, but it was still $45.

MysterD · « **Reply #76 on:** Sunday, June 08, 2008, 09:11:04 PM »

Quote from: scottws on Sunday, June 08, 2008, 08:44:00 PM

Saw this at Best Buy today, but it was still $45.

Do you have a CC Flyer from this week's Sunday newspaper?
If so, take your Circuit City flyer over to Best Buy and have them do a price match at Customer Service.
BB allows for price matching.

I do the "CC-price match" all the time at BB, since my BB is like 5 mins from my house, whereas CC is like 20 mins from home.

scottws · « **Reply #77 on:** Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 06:09:36 PM »

So I finally got this game. Actually, I got Trinity which comes with both expansions. I've only played a few times so far, always with both expansions enabled.

I had previously read that it was a 4X game with RTS leanings. I'd say that's about accurate, though it doesn't really remind me too much of Civilization or Galactic Civilizatons II. It reminds me more of a cross between Homeworld and Star Wars: Rebellion.

Pretty cool game, but why are there even diplomacy research trees and options? It seems like you are automatically at perpetual war with the AI and there is no effort on the part of the AI for diplomacy. I can't believe how long a game takes. I took a day off yesterday, partly to dig in, and I played from like 9am - 3pm against on AI opponent. It was a blast though. I need to try normal or one of the other races next.

Also, it's funny that the previous post in this thread mentions Circuit City.

MysterD · « **Reply #78 on:** Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 06:23:59 PM »

Quote from: scottws on Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 06:09:36 PM

Also, it's funny that the previous post in this thread mentions Circuit City.

I think that's b/c we've had other threads talking about Sins, such as MysterD's Entrenchment thread and Idol's Entrenchment is out thread and Idol's cheap Entrenchment is $5.00 thread [MyD's side note: old sale; sale is now over currently].

News:

Author Topic: Sins of a Solar Empire (Read 16248 times)