Topic: Sins of a Solar Empire

[Morslok]

Anyone else looking forward to playing this game?  I probably won't get it right away, I'm low on cash, but so far it seems like my kind of game.

It's a sci-fi space RTS that incorporates empire management stuff like a turn based 4x game from what I can gather.

When I first heard about it my initial reaction was not very excited.  But recently after I had been trolling around galciv2.com for a while I stumbled on it again and actually learned some stuff about it, and became intrigued.  Funny, that's the same thing that happened when I first heard of stalker.  I went "meh" then learned more about it and went "oooo".

Anyway it comes out in a few days (Feb 4th I believe) and I was wondering what other people thought of it.

[Cool AN]

I really want this game. I can't wait but my computer is so crappy that I probably can't play it properly.

[Morslok]

The system requirements aren't that much really, this is from the faq on their site:

Q.  What are the hardware requirements?
A.  The Iron Engine takes advantage of the latest machines and scales to support older hardware as well.

Minimum Requirements:

    * Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista
    * 1.8 GHz Single-Core Processor
    * 512 MB RAM (1 GB for Windows Vista)
    * 128 MB DirectX 9 3D Video Card (Radeon 9600 / GeForce FX 6600 and above)
    * DirectX 9.0c Compatible Sound Card
    * DVD-ROM Drive
    * 3 GB Hard Drive Space
    * Keyboard and Mouse
    * DirectX 9.0c

Recommended Requirements:

    * 2.2 GHz Dual- or Quad-Core Processor
    * 1 GB RAM (2 GB for Windows Vista)
    * 256 MB DirectX 9 3D Video Card (Radeon X1600 / GeForce 7600 and above)

And I also saw on their forums that these minimum requirements are actually true, the game will run with decent framerate on the minimum system (unlike some other recent games whose requirements were actually higher than what they printed on the box and the minimum system wouldn't even run it.)

[GameManic]

I am really looking foward to this one aswell.  Its the type of game I have been interested in playing a long time but no one ever made it  .  Since is just a few days away we can set up some games if anyone else is getting it on day one (provided we have compatible schedules).

[smurfslayer]

I've been looking forward to it for a while now. Looks really good.

[Fobok]

I'm pre-ordering (yeah, only a few days, but still) as soon as my credit card payment goes through.

[Tr0n]

Funny.  I just posted about Sins' interesting copy protection stance.  Needless to say, I will be getting this game.  It appears to be a wonderful hybrid of RTS/SIM/4X.  A WoW buddy has been in Beta for Sins and I played it on his system (dual core with an ATI HD2600 or sometihng of the sort).  It can get a little bit slow at times, but this is Beta so anything is possible in the final game. 

I have a few irks with it right now, but none of them take away from the overall experience.  Some of the issues I had also probably could be attributed to my crappy play style.  Anyway, one of my favorite things about the game is the persistence of the capital ships and their apparent worth.  Match a Level 1 cap with a level 10, the the level 10 will crush the weaker one.  So, in MP games, there will be a little fear when that L10 dreadnaught jumps into the middle of a battle you thought you had won with your two weakened level 5 cap ships.  I remember in most games, a ship adding to the battle just meant a new strategy, but the strength of these cap ships and their levels (and abilities) can turn the tide of a battle.

Even small games can take a long time.  I played a game vs the easy PC and (though my strategy sucked), and it took about 4 hours using my patented Turtle Style of gameplay.   But this is aided by the fact that you make more strategic decisions.  They're not kidding when they say the micromanagement is greatly reduced.  It's right at that "reduced to a fault" level, as you frequently (as a noob) watch your fleets jump into a trap and get raped by a stronger opposing force.  There's sometimes nothing you can do aside from give a retreat order when you're being pummeled.  The only ships capable of turning the tide is ... more ships... or cap ships. 

To that effect, though, a player who knows how to use special abilities of his ships often can take a narrow loss and turn it into a decisive win.  Most every sepecial skill can be eset to Autocast, where the AI will decide how these skills are to be used.  But some ships are based around support roles and their skills, while very powerful, have a long cooldown or require lots of antimatter (energy) to use.  Deciding when to use these powers to the most effect can really make a difference.

Bottom line, this game takes the 4X game I love and changes it from turn based to real time.  Throw in some diplomacy mechanics, large tech trees, pirates (organized pirates and very very powerful pirates), visual beauty, and a host of customization of maps and game rules and you have a possible true golden child of the 4X/RTS/Sim genres. 

Master of SimHomeworld II, if you will .

[Morslok]

...pirates (organized pirates and very very powerful pirates)...

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to seeing how that bounty system works out, sounds like an awesome concept, something where you can actually just throw money at it without wasting your own ships.

Some of the devs on the forums have said that it would actually pain them to play the game as it was in the betas compared to it's current incarnation.

Also, lets not forget the game will retail for 40 bucks, I'm sure that will help pirates convert.

[Rax Dakkar]

I've been super excited about this game ever since it was announced.  Galactic Civilizations II is still one of my favortie all time strategy games, as was Homeworld 2, and the developers often called this game a combination of the two.

[Person21]

I per ordered this a few days ago, though I'm not that exited. Probably because I have mixed feeling about a 4X game in real time.

[Cool AN]

Every time I think of this game I think of giant space battles supported by a giant empire in the background that keeps advancing only because of the constant battles.

Needless to say, I have to take a cold shower after that.

[Poised]

I pre ordered too, I've not read or seen much about this game, only enough to know that I want it, and I barely even feel the wait because I havent been exposed to too much hype

[Person21]

So, has anybody finished downloading yet?

EDIT: I finally got the game downloaded, after some problems with the E-Mail.

[Veraal]

looks interresting, though im not buying till i hear from you what you think.

[GameManic]

I have it now aswell.  It only took like 20 minutes to download and install once I got my email so that was good.  The learning curve is going to take a while so I will save my judgement for later.

[Person21]

My first impressions are that this game is awesome and has eliminated that bad taste in my mouth that "Sword of the Stars" left. Though that is just a first impression.

[GameManic]

If you have already set up your online account add Gamemanic as a friend. Perhaps we can get a game going tomorrow at around this time.

[Brandonazz]

I found this game meh-ish. I like to see what I'm doing, not control from unit trees.

[Sub]

So I bought the downloadable version of this game, because I'm lazy.  I already have a stardock.net account since I have galciv2, so i decided to use that one.  It's telling me my password is invalid though, even though I'm 100 percent sure I'm using the right password.  It also won't email me a new password.  It's also not letting me create a new account.  I hate stardock central. 

I emailed support asking for help.

[Josasa]

Got the game and am now addicted to it. We should definately try to get multiplayer going. Josasa is my account name with my 'player' being Cripes Amighty.

It was a pain to get an online account, the only trouble i had was typing in the CD code. After relooking over it i found an error and was able to create an account. Yeah!

[Danzik]

I heard an interview with the developers on the 1up podcast and Sins sounds really interesting.  Would like to hear a few more peoples takes on the game before purchasing it though.

[Hammerman58]

Idk i have mixed feeling about the game. Its interesting but wheres the story or structure?

[Sub]

I read the page they put on their website for the story.  It's pretty bad, be glad they didn't include the story ingame 

Anyways, I'm liking the game a lot, the more I play it, the more it grows on me.

[GameManic]

So after owning this game for a few days and playing some games I have to say that it is good.  It you like this type of strategic game wether it is 4X or slow strategic RTS then its a perfect match.  It is not for you if you like quick games that could end in a glorious rush.  A 4 player free for all in medium to large map can last over 4 hours if everyone goes for non combat methods of winning.  Every game will last a long time because it takes a long time to raze and then re-colonize enemy planets.  It should be great fun to set up a game with friends because random players tend to leave when things don't go their way and really it just sucks to know you have lost and have to wait an hour for them to completely kill you.  On a side not the map size can vary widely.  You can have a 1v1 with a 7 planet solar system or a large 10 player game with 3 solar systems and over 50 planets between them; those are just the pre-made maps.

I will add you to my friends josasa to see if we can get a game going.  Once again I go by Gamemanic in the game.

[Sub]

There's actually maps with 102 planets, which sounds daunting as hell.

[GameManic]

Yeah, you can set up maps that you can play over the course of several months.  Since you can save the games and start from where you left off even if its a multiplayer game the map can get pretty huge if you want them to.

[Veraal]

There's actually maps with 102 planets, which sounds daunting as hell.

And how many does Spore have?

What does that sound to you?

[Hammerman58]

Ya but spores planets are easy to get to each other. Sin planets take a few hours to get a few colonized.

[james-kond]

Quite liked Sins of an Solar Empire (odd name)

here is my review: http://archgamer.blogspot.com/2008/02/sins-of-solar-empire-review.html 

[Veraal]

Nice review. Made me consider buying even more.

Also, your avatar, is that a Sload?

[james-kond]

Nice review. Made me consider buying even more.

Also, your avatar, is that a Sload?

Thanks, and yeah that's a Sload

[Daxx]

Quite liked Sins of an Solar Empire (odd name)

Interesting review, although I don't think you described the game enough.

Also, your English is terrible. I'm guessing it might not be your first language, but I cringe when I read a poorly-written review.

[james-kond]

Quite liked Sins of an Solar Empire (odd name)

Interesting review, although I don't think you described the game enough.

Also, your English is terrible. I'm guessing it might not be your first language, but I cringe when I read a poorly-written review.

Yes sorry about the English
and yes the game is maybe to deep for me to describe in one review and i don't like writing an 5 page long review.

[Person21]

The game really isn't that deep.

Its much more slow paced RTS than 4X

[B.A.S.]

Thanks for the review im a fan of Stardock and I prefere slower paced Strategy Games like Galactic Civilization and the Medieval series so this will have to be a must when I get my new rig.

[Krakow Sam]

Slow paced you say? I must buy this.

I like RTSs, but I hate most of the ones available, mainly because victory has less to do with strategy and more to do with who has memorised more hotkeys and tech trees and has a $400 precision gaming mouse.

[Cool AN]

Slow paced you say? I must buy this.

I like RTSs, but I hate most of the ones available, mainly because victory has less to do with strategy and more to do with who has memorised more hotkeys and tech trees and has a $400 precision gaming mouse.

I agree with Sam, as usual though I would like to add rushing as one of the banes of RTS gaming. I hate all rushers.

[Krakow Sam]

Hmmm, having looked into the system requirements I'm not sure if my puny laptop will run it.

What have other people's experiences been with trying to run the game?
My laptop is a centrino duo and doesn't seem to have a graphics card (it has *something*, but I don't think it can be classed as a graphics card). However, it runs games like Total War comfortably on low settings, and apparently meets the minimum requirements for HL2 (although I haven't tried it) and TF2 (which actually didn't work, but I don't think its due to a problem with the graphics).

Note, that your responses to this post will directly influence my decision to gamble $40 on buying this game.

[Person21]

I just make the minimum requirements and I was surprised by how well it ran.


The only time I saw any lag was after I had won, and I build up a massive fleet to take out the pirates. (Almost everything was on medium)

[james-kond]

It runs very smoothly for all the stuff that's on screen at once, and if you have loaded one game the other games you will load will load very fast

[Josasa]

Slow paced you say? I must buy this.

I like RTSs, but I hate most of the ones available, mainly because victory has less to do with strategy and more to do with who has memorised more hotkeys and tech trees and has a $400 precision gaming mouse.

When you say it doesn't have a graphics card are you talking about how RAM space is taken away from it or something like that? Because that's what my laptop does and it works fine (but i do have 2GB of RAM). And i've only got one Intel Pentium processor. Don't know if that helps.

[Krakow Sam]

Hmmm, I only have 0.99GB of RAM.

[Daxx]

Note, that your responses to this post will directly influence my decision to gamble $40 on buying this game.

Go into a shop and directly ask if your computer will meet the minimum system specs.

Then take it home and try it. If it doesn't run, you're well within your rights as a consumer to take it back for a full refund (the specific clause is fitness for purpose, which it will fail to meet if it doesn't run). The fact that you've asked them gives you more legal leverage.

EDIT: Make sure to demand your money back, don't settle for store credit or a replacement game.

[Sub]

Question for anyone who has the game:

How do I make all of my ships phasejump at the same time?

[Fobok]

Question for anyone who has the game:

How do I make all of my ships phasejump at the same time?

On the bottom right panel there's a little button, when you have more than one ship selected, showing a green upward arrow. Right click on that so that it shows multiple green upward arrows. All selected ships will now jump at once.

[Gorman Conall]

Slow paced you say? I must buy this.

I like RTSs, but I hate most of the ones available, mainly because victory has less to do with strategy and more to do with who has memorised more hotkeys and tech trees and has a $400 precision gaming mouse.

Wow holy hell i honestly thought i was the only person that thought like that.

The star craft community wanted to hang me for not playing on the fastest speed...

[T-BirD]

The star craft community wanted to hang me for not playing on the fastest speed...

That's why I mostly played the Age of Empires series around that time...fastest speed doesn't really lend itself to reactive strategy as much as clicking your pre-match plan into action as fast as possible.

[Sub]

Question for anyone who has the game:

How do I make all of my ships phasejump at the same time?

On the bottom right panel there's a little button, when you have more than one ship selected, showing a green upward arrow. Right click on that so that it shows multiple green upward arrows. All selected ships will now jump at once.

Thanks man, I appreciate it.

[darkwanderer]

This game is amazing, and they keep patching it to make it better...not just normal patching, but the "what do you want us to do and well do it" patching

[Interitus]

Well after repeated calls to stores since release I said to myself, fine, I'll buy it online. So I did. I don't quite know what to make of it yet, I've only really played two games. But one thing is for sure, the large maps look scary.

[darkwanderer]

Well after repeated calls to stores since release I said to myself, fine, I'll buy it online. So I did. I don't quite know what to make of it yet, I've only really played two games. But one thing is for sure, the large maps look scary.

yeah, remember it is a 4X rts game, i mean ive been on a 3 star map at war with 1 race for about 3 days now, and its brilliant

[Draugr]

yeah this game is crazy, i like how there is actually time to use your units abilities

[Hammerman58]

I finnally played my first game. It was a small map and it still took upwards of four hours.

[james-kond]

Im playing a lot of 'online' these days, so if somone wants to join in my xfire acc is: jameskond

[Josasa]

Just had to tell someone...

I've played a bunch of online games since getting it, but yesterday was the wierdest.

I started off in an FFA, and i was going along pretty good. I betrayed someone, and gained a few worlds with the help of another player, but then that person betrayed me. I was pissed. I focused all my resources on building a navy and destroying my betrayer. My fleet was massive, over 300 ships. I was even able to get the help of the person i betrayed, promising to rebuild him (which i was). I was finally ready to move when... LAG. I got kicked because of my ping which was due to my huge fleet. I was going to crush my opponent, his fleet wasn't even 1/4 of mine and they were attacking one of my worlds. And i lagged out...

The other game i played was an FFA. It was strange though, right off the bat everyone was creating peace treaties and trade alliances until the point where everyone was allied with everyone. We then set out on a quest to destroy the pirates and colonize the new star. There was no war between the human players which is a first to me in any online game... It was really cool, but i got lagged out of there too. Crappy router...

[Rax Dakkar]

Still enjoying the game and I think I'm ready to try an online game, if anyone wants to set up a game my name is Rax Dakkar (like always).

The one thing thats bugging me (and this is pretty universal to all RTS's) is the feeling I get that during my huge 9 FFA, every computer player was out to get me.  It wasn't a minute that would pass without another, different enemy deciding he would bomb my planet and leave.  The most annoying thing was that I was the only one actually trying to desctroy a player, not just bomb a planet and leave, but once I exausted my fleet, an AI from an entirely different galaxy comes in and takes all the planets I "liberated".  I felt so cheated, and since I lost so much just trying to kill this one guy, that with all the other players repeatedly bombing my planets, my economy was just in shambles.  I could have tried to just turtle my way through, let the AI thin themselves out, but then they would all have so many planets, I wouldn't stand a chance.

 Guess I just wasn't ready for that big a game yet.

[Evildude]

One thing I really don't like is the lack of difference in the ships.I mean, there isn't much room for variety. and all the races seem to be the same aside from the graphics and a few other minor differences.

It also bothers me that 3 separate space faring races all use (mostly) front mounted weapons. The lack of turrets is disturbing.

[Krakow Sam]

I think more ships would just get ridiculous. Aside from bog-standard acolyte/cobalt/iforgetwhatthealienshipsarecalled all the other frigates are very specialised and I really don't see how many more niches they would fill with new ship types.

I would also disagree about the races being too similar. The frigates are all pretty similar, but have different abilities when upgraded and most of the cruisers (aside from the carrier) are quite distinct support vessels.

and a few ships have turrets... well, mostly capital ships and the TEC flak cruisers >_>

[Evildude]

I think more ships would just get ridiculous. Aside from bog-standard acolyte/cobalt/iforgetwhatthealienshipsarecalled all the other frigates are very specialised and I really don't see how many more niches they would fill with new ship types.

I would also disagree about the races being too similar. The frigates are all pretty similar, but have different abilities when upgraded and most of the cruisers (aside from the carrier) are quite distinct support vessels.

and a few ships have turrets... well, mostly capital ships and the TEC flak cruisers >_>

I think the problem is that I was kinda hoping for Homeworld 1 on a bigger scale. I'll probably grow on the game in a bit.

[Sagan]

I've also played a couple rounds of this game (which means I have played it for more than 30 hours), and I think the AI is very disappointing. Even on hard I beat them easily already, because there are a lot of situations where the AI simply makes the wrong decisions, and because there are a lot of strategies that guarantee a win. And you don't even have to search for those strategies. You stumble upon them randomly: When playing a medium map with 4 players, simply sign a Cease Fire with one of them, and you have won the game. You'd have to mess up really badly after that to lose.
And when playing against the AI, the pirates become a cheap weapon for you, and are in no way a threat at all, because the bidding behaviour of the AI is super predictable, so that the pirates always end up on your side.
I haven't tried multipayer yet, mainly because the games are too long to play in one session. How is that managed online? Or do people only play 1v1 to keep the time short?

And I agree with Evildude: There are too little differences between the races.
And I have some balance concerns, because some of the ships and abilities seem pretty useless to me.

But overall I still like the game. Else I wouldn't play it so much.

[Josasa]

There are some pretty massive games online although they mostly turn into a huge lag fest that everyone falls out of. All settings are normally on fast so the games goes pretty quick to the point where all the planets are gobbled up within the first 30 minutes on even the largest maps. The online expirience is great although they really need to fix the problem of migrating which never seems to work.

[Krakow Sam]

I don't know what game you've been playing Sagan, but every time I play the pirates seem to attack with a ferocity and frequency totally independant of the bounty I have on my opponent. The last game I played I got hit by a pirate raid before I had even finished repelling the previous one... and I didn't even have a bounty on my head!

[Sagan]

I don't know what game you've been playing Sagan, but every time I play the pirates seem to attack with a ferocity and frequency totally independant of the bounty I have on my opponent. The last game I played I got hit by a pirate raid before I had even finished repelling the previous one... and I didn't even have a bounty on my head!

When there is no bounty on anyone, just place a small bounty on someone you don't like, and the pirates will go after him rather than you. They will always go after the player who has the highest bounty on him when they start. So placing bounties outside of that time is pretty much useless. Only place bounties when the timer is flashing.

[Interitus]

When there is no bounty on anyone, just place a small bounty on someone you don't like, and the pirates will go after him rather than you. They will always go after the player who has the highest bounty on him when they start. So placing bounties outside of that time is pretty much useless. Only place bounties when the timer is flashing.

This isn't true. I have had a few cases where I did not have the highest bounty and they still came after me. It seems to be because it takes a while before they change targets and if you increae bounty on someone else too soon before they leave they will still end up attacking you.

[Poised]

Actually you get an alert saying something like "the pirates are preparing to attack", this means the pirates are still in their own system getting ready to jump in a few minutes, at that point the bidding opens, and if you go to the bidding screen, you can see that there are no crossed sword to the right of any of the names, as soon as the alert says "the pirates are moving out of their system", then a symbol of 2 crossed swords will appear to the right of whomever had the highest bounty on him, and the bidding is effectively over till the next alert arrives with information of them gathering for another attack, at wich point it starts all over.
(edit) As soon as the pirates leave their system and the bidding war is over, the amount of bounty becomes completely irrelevant untill the bidding war opens up again.

[Hammerman58]

The first game i played i never got hit with a raid. Then i noticed that the pirate were lvling the enemy capitol ship. So i just completely destroyed the pirate home world and colonized it.

[Josasa]

We need to get an online game going soon. My name is Josasa so add me as a friend, although i may be registered under Cripes Amighty as well. I've been on a lot these past few days so you should be able to catch me online (although i may be in a game).

[Arachoid]

I really hate to necro this thread, but I figured it was better than starting a new one.

I really want this game, but I think my computer will only be able to play it with the minimum graphics settings. Could someone who has the game post a screenshot of what it looks like with all the graphics at their minimum?

[Krakow Sam]

Your computer *will* be able to run it, and to be honest it'll look fine. My computer technically doesn't even make the minimum requirements because the graphics card bites, but it still plays it on more than minimum settings (although for big battles I tend to zoom out so things don't slow down).

[Morslok]

I really hate to necro this thread...

I don't think it's considered necroing if the thread is still on the front page.

As for what the low res game looks like, the bit-tech review has a good comparison.  And quite frankly if your computer is from the past 5 years or so it will run fine.

[Ping5000]

I tried it for 10 minutes, got sick from how epic it was, and then took a breather. I got really drowsy after exiting, so I fell asleep for 3 hours. It was time for bed by the time I woke up.

That is what Sins did to me. It ruined my day in a way that didn't involve me getting grossly addicted.

[Morslok]

Just thought I'd say the demo has been released.  It's single player only, you can only play as the TEC, the only map sizes available are small and medium, and you can only play it for 90 minutes.

I would tend to think that 90 minutes might not be enough, but one of the devs said on their forums that if you don't like it after 90 minutes you probably never will.

I suggest that if anyone was on the fence about the game they should give this a try.

Link

[B.A.S.]

Whaaat a timed Demo? Thats pretty lame, doesnt it take at least 2 hours to even get your first area setup fully?

[Hammerman58]

Wow that  is pretty lame to do a timed demo for this game. They should have at least made in 24 hours.

[shock223]

i bought this game a few days ago and just got done playing my first round of single player on it. i had both one AI on Easy and the other on normal to see if there would be any real difference.

the game started off with me in my own solar system and the other two AIs in a system with each other. now, i naturally start to expand and try to clamp down on my solar system and my only real problem appeared when i tried to take the pirte base in my system.

i sent my 2 capital ships and the most of my fleet to attack the base just to see them getting wiped out. my capital ships manage to phase jump to the star while the rest of the fleet was being slaugtered.

about a min or 2 later, a Massive pirte fleet appears in my system and starts to bomb my terran coloney world to oblivion on the other side of the system of where the rest of my fleet (not to meantion that my Capital ships are still licking their wounds).

at this time, i immeatly start building the existing fleet at my homeworld (it is only about 2 phase lands away and those lanes go to a volcano world or an astrobelt.) i sent my all the ships that i currently have into action and send them to the besiged world. but by the time they got their, the pirtes destoryed the colonly and started to head to the volcano world that was also undefended.

i send my existing fleet after them via the the space lane that the pirates just used (by this time, my capital ships have returned from across the system and have joined the relif force). also, i send out the fleet that i just built at my homeworld into the phase lane that connects my homeworld with the volcano world.

my plan works perfectly, the volcano world only has two space lanes: the ones that leads back to the world that the pirates just destoryed and to my heavly defended homeworld. the piraties are trapped like rats as i use both fleet to destory them and save my volcano colony.

after this happend, the game took a slower pace. i produced muliple fleets and proceed to mop up all the pirates around the colonizable worlds and instaltations and once i built up my fleet, i returned to the pirate base and proceed to take my revenge on it.


i took up the idea of having 3 sperate fleets instead of having one "grand fleet" and use them in ways that i could ambush pirates who tried to escape or currently inengaged with one of my fleets. 


all during this time, i made an allience between one of the empire that ruled in the other sector and he was consently either begging me to help him or insulting me for not helping him. after i dealt with all the pirates, a invastion fleet from the empire that we both hated came through a wormhole and started to conlize worlds that i have not touched yet. they only took one world when i sent all my 3 fleets to them and burned their world.

after this, i was in complete control of the solar system and was in the process of both fortifying the worlds that were connected to wormholes and preparing my fleets for the invastion. once i felt some saifcation that my planets were resonably safe, i sent one of my fleets into a wormhole only to find out it was a wormhole that took me to a unoccupited area of the galaxey. this is fine if i was still colonizing but at this moment,i was done with collecting resources and i didn't need one of my fleets to baby sit new colonies in that system.

i sent my "lost" fleet back into the wormhole into my solar system and sent all my fleets into the "right" wormhole and started to lay waste to the opposing empire.

i encounter some difficutles when trying to employ my "ambush" tactics on worlds. my fleets indviautally lack the punch to destroy a heavly defended "factory" worlds that the other empire was using to build it's fleets, and the empire me and my empire was facing had greater control of the sector that need for the ambush so i ended up using the grand fleet idea and started laying waste to their worlds.


as the empire's worlds begain to fall, the other empire begain to colonize what was left and start providing reinforments that helped in the epic battles that i was dealing with the other empire.

i finally won by using both the system's pirates (i paid them a huge amount), my ally, and my fleet. the other empire had two worlds left, a sand world and his homeworld. i sent a scout to the sand world and the thing i am seeing is a massive pirate fleet laying waste to his world.

with this info, i proceed to start the attack on the enemy's homeworld.

when my fleet got to the world, the empire's fleet was waiting for me with a level 8 dreadnought. the fleet was rather small but it was the dreadnought that i wanted dead, it took most of my fleet (i had to take my capital ships out of the action a couple of times and had them repaired in a nearby system) but i slayed that monster and by this time, my ally begain to join into the fight and we proceed to bomb his world togeather.

i only got mad at this game when i got into muliplayer... there are simply no games open most of the time that i get on (and if there are games, they have passwords on) and the game that i tried to join was so laggy that it dropped every one but the host. 

[Poised]

One of the Sin devs made an open letter about piracy, very cool read:
http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/post.aspx?postid=303512

[otaku62]

Does anybody know if you can change your name in a single player game from "New Player" to something else?

[Krakow Sam]

Its in the options menu somewhere. I don't know specifically. Just click through the submenus until you find it.

[otaku62]

Thanks - found it now. When you start a new game, there's a tab called "Player Setup" and there you can change the name.

[Veraal]

i dont get it, i am constantly attacking this army, but it keeps wanting me to do stuff for them, are they retards?

also, it feels like all other npc players are people giving me jobs, why cant i give them jobs? and why is that nearly the only major thing you do in the diplomacy screen??

[Person21]

Because the diplomacy sucks.

All you can really do is be their bitch.

[Cool AN]

I like the demo, but the AI is annoying. No matter what they always focus on military, and back stab me despite the fact that the other AI has been a huge dick towards them and I am opening a huge hole for them to attack.

Do real players remove this?

[Samog]

AI players will team up on you in an FFA. The newest patch makes them team up on the leader instead, which will probably be you anyway.

[Veraal]

the only real threat when i play are the ****ing pirates. i hate them so much.

the AI people just monkey around asking me to give them my bases and all my children and so on.
i played one game and smashed the ai player with relative ease, the game asked me to end or continue, i chose to continue.

i almost died from the constant pirate attacks. finally after a while i managed to scramble together a huge army and i strapped some high tech laser beams (i think, i get confused so i just click at random for ship improvements) and armor upgrades. i smashed the pirate base which had more defenses than all that the AI players had together.

i managed to defeat the pirates, but then a group of other pirates appeared out of nowhere and started harrassing my capital which i had emptied to fight in the last battle at the pirate home base. i managed to win though. and after this i dont really have anything more to do...

would be nice if you could add a new and unexplored star system with new and intelligent enemies.

[Neoadept]

Preferably, that would be campaign mode, but it's not meant to be...

Personally, an option to just turn pirates off would be awesome.  As it stands I can never tell if I'm winning because I'm good, or because I always buy off the pirates from the start.  I know I could just put my military into eliminating their home world from the start, but I always feel like it would leave me too vulnerable.  If diplomacy worked in any reasonable way I could work toward a temporary alliance and launch a join attack to take them down, but in a two player game the AI just won't listen, even if pirates burn their worlds to the ground every ten minutes.

Don't get me wrong, I love the game, but it's these little details that get under my skin and make me wonder "why didn't they fix this?"

[MetallicDragon]

You can turn pirates off.

[Neoadept]

What, where?  I looked for the option but couldn't find it.

[Samog]

You have to do it when you generate the map, I think.

[Veraal]

i turned them off, they were still there....?

[otaku62]

You can always raise the bounty on the AI. If their bounty is higher than yours, the pirates go after them.
But I found it's not too bad to fight them once in a while, so you can level your capital ships.

[Person21]

i turned them off, they were still there....?

Are you sure your not thinking of the local militia?

[Veraal]

local militia dont have "pirate pillager" ships.

[Josasa]

They do have pillagers in the gas clouds and other things that normally have one resource mine that you can get with a colony ship.

Also, neoadept, in order to turn off the pirates you need to have the latest update from the Sins website. That might be why you cant find it.

[LuceroJuarez]

It is an amusing game for a while, but it loses that appeal once you realize that is a sickeningly shallow game. Every game basically ends up being the same, so I really do not foresee it enjoying a long lifespan.

[Sub]

So I'm bumping this instead of making a new thread.

"micro" expansion pack was announced.  For ten dollars, I'll probably buy it

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/sinsofasolarempireentrenchment/index.html?tag=result;title;1