all i can say is that it is a game with loud irritating noises in battles that are not nearly as big as they should be

http://www.strategycore.co.uk/pg/sotsreview

That guy who reviewed sots realy loves his space games

I guess that is a nice way of putting it.

That was a very weird review.

Well, that's my review. It's weird in what way?

TB & RT = apples & oranges. Ironclad and Kerberos went their seperate ways because they had two different visions, each studio can only work on one game at a time, but playing is a different story. We play what we want because we pay the money, as opposed to earning it with a single product.

I am still playing SotS as my #1 TB4X in single player mode, no problemo. SotS is a very playable game, AI and turn processing much improved post patches, true it has some flaws and its own particular type of fanboi, but what game doesn't?

That includes SoaSE, which looks like it is shaping up, I might get that too.

But IMHO nothing beats SupCom for multiplayer at the moment except it is a laggy hardware wasting ***** ! Still a fun game though.

The SOTS expansion promises to add a lot more depth to the core game.I will see what that brings and might give it another try.

There seems to be an information void with "Sword of the Stars: Born of Blood"; there is no previews, no public screenshots, no box art, a vague list of additions, and all for an expansion coming out within the month of April, 2007. In addition, they set this expected release date only a month ago, and it seems they either ran into some serious setbacks or they are planning one hell of a stealthy release.

Kind of hard to get interested (or renew one's hope) in a game that is an enigma such as this.

Actually there is a ot of info about the expansion on the Kerberos forums. the devs have released several screen shots of new weapons and ships. here are also fiction stories written to introduce you to the new race. The devs have not told the communty about any setbacks so it must be on schedule. If it makes you feel any better they have been working on the expansion since before the original was realeased.

In all honesty, that doesn't make things much better for them, they need to get the press ball rolling, and start making such information more widely known to get attention towards their expansion.

Right now, they have a website, which frankly should be spilling with information on the expansion this close to release. Yet, are more content -- releasing tidbits throughout forum posts?

That should be the publishers job.

I actually play SOTS all the time. With the 1.2.2 patch, the AI is mean and the lag is pretty much gone for fleets <800 ships (if you have a decent (read: Good but not top of the line) system, though hundreds of ships will cause lag on almost any system regardless of spec (unless the ships are little tiny 1 pixel icons). Granted, diplomacy and tactical combat is a bit shallow (OK, diplo is a disaster), and a 350 star map with humans is confusing at times, it is still a great war-based game. It just takes a bit of time before you get the hang of things.

BTW, IIRC, it's actually the developers who are running the site (or at least the forums).

I used to play sword of the stars a lot, but it had a couple problems

Did they ever fix the auto combat? It used to be horrible...
It didn't take into account anything like shields, engines, point defense. It looked like it just used attack and health to decide a winner.
Also, did they fix the ships AI? They turned horribly, and my dreadnaughts would waste 32 missiles on a destroyer that only needed 4.

All of those except the missiles were fixed in the latest patch The human cruisers no longer have drunk drivers

The additions to the strategy (trade, more diplomacy, POLITICAL map) are definitely very appealing. I hope I get to do the BoB review as well.

I love SOTS, moreso than Galciv2. The battles are an element of this. If you think they're shallow, then you really didnt play enough or get up the tech tree. I wish it had more empire-building features also, but it just simply isnt and wasnt designed to be that type of game. However(!), I am glad they listened to the fans, who vastly wanted a more empire-building 4x style to it, and are adding it with the expansion. A terrific game that came out of no where.

The 3D map is actually pretty simple, I dont really see the issue some people have. Right-click, spin turn, your planets are highlighted and fleets are obvious. If you have a 300 star sphere, then maybe it gets tough lol -- so dont put a 300 star sphere -- Cluster it, hourglass, spiral (so you still get a middle-range sphere in the middle) whatever. It's even easier if you dont spin around the camera too much, you get accustomed to looking at your empire a certain way and where everything is.

Looks like it right now - but - lets see whats gonna happen :/

Who knows in future betas all kind of things will popup that will change this, but I doubt it as this would mean lots of work and time.

Maybe, just maybe - I just got suckered into buying this by those trendy words & hype.

You do realize this is a stripped down version of the game, right?

Has anyone tried the new 1.2.2.2 patch? It came out last month I think.

I haven't played SOTS since February... Maybe I'll reinstall it.

I play SotS. I find it's pretty fun and there is actually more strategy and tactics involved in the real time battles than most people realize. The demo does not do the game justice.

Really the only thing I don't like about SotS is that you have no control over z-axis in combat. The ships will move around slightly to avoid things and can be knocked "off the plane" by mass drivers... But it's enough fun that I can get over that.

I do not agree that 3d combat is too hard for people... They seem to think it is. That's the biggest problem I have with it.

Sins rectifies my need for real 3d combat in space.

Great, from what I have experienced, I see they've pretty much recified everything and corrected the game balances, check the update logs for 1.2.1 and .2, lots of adds and changes.

Ah yes, I have been meaning to get to this post lol.

Sorry but this is a very poor review, there are issues but these are not them. You should have played the game a bit more.


True.


Wrong. It's fairly simple to navigate and it is only kind of confusing when you start a new map, new galaxy - as it kind of should be. After about 10 turns, you start getting accustomed to it.


Really? Are you sure? You're describing the very last part of tech tree, where you have dreadnoughts, yes? That'snot 95% of the game, and even at that point you can have something like 40 destroyers, or 12 cruisers or 4 dreads with backup cruisers. Plus that's only the first wave, there are more , and the entire logistical side of fleets. Refinery ships, repair and salvage, miners, jamming and radar and command and about 5 other varieties of pieces of fleets that are relevant. Not to mention that if you're lucky to have some unique tech trees, this can change a lot of things. Including a massive cloaked destroyer torpedo fleet, alongside a dreadnaught, there's more at work here.


Wrong. The requirements are race based anyway, has nothing to do with player or ai. There is a reason why you're limited, and it's part of the gameplay and playing skill. Hint, you know the biology tech tree? Research it.


I really dont know what you're talking about here. A Medium defence station is a cruiser, with 1/3 or 1/4 the weapons. If you are losing 3 cruisers to one, you're doing something very wrong. I've always found defences to be so easy, 1 on 1 (aka, small defense platforms vs. destroyers or medium defense platforms vs. cruisers) that I let the battles auto-resolve. It's only an issue when there are enemy fleets snooping around .


Research better engines to move faster. And you have perfect control, learn to use some of the automated options and integrate them into a strategy.


Actually, that's probably the worst thing you could do. Do you understand economics? You have to pay for those new ships, and if you have enough money to float new fleets and still have enough of them to defend and expand, you're doing something wrong. I wouldnt be surprised if this is part of the reason why you're having so much trouble overall. It's not always about having the latest weapons, and that thinking will usually result in your ass being kicked before you get to cruisers heh.


Like I noted above, you're doing something wrong. Learn the game better, create better ship designs. As the platforms rotate around a planet, you can usually deal with 1 medium and 1 small platform at a time. You have at least 5-7 cruisers with a cruiser sized command ship, so... what is the issue? You have 6 ships with 2x or 3x the hp/armour and 4-5x the weapons on each.
Maybe you're having problems with the missiles they shoot? That's the only thing I can think of... A full 10 med and 10 small platforms + the planet, can shoot a lot of missiles in a volley every few seconds, this is true. You may lose a few ships even trying to approach the planet, this is simply realistic, but you know there is a point-defence system to place on your ships, right? If you lay out the PD on the top and bottom of your hull, you're pretty much invincible to missiles coming from platforms and planets. Also, if you see large volleys, you may want to halt your fleet so your turrets can fire more accurately.

Regardless, I'm no SOTS fanboy or anything. I just dont like reviews like this about any game. If you are going to review something, make sure you've actually played it and understand how it works and how to win. I've seen things like this for Supreme Commander a plenty, and it's often new players who know little to nothing and complain about difficulty and bad mechanics when it's really just their skill.

Anyway, OP I hope that helps you out a bit anyway to get over some of these "issues," go kill some Tarkas.

You can also check out the expansion for it that should be coming out probably middle of june or something it sounds pretty cool adding diplomacy and everything.

Not to mention that 3D political galaxy map is a HUGE addition. The ones who found the map confusing should have a much easier job at navigating.