Intra-Genre Comparison of Spaced-Based RTS- Sins vs.........
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I just bought Sins, played it all night, my eyes are red, I'm kinda cranky. BUT... absolutely LOVE IT. Playing it last night, however, got me thinking. Space-based RTS has been tried before with varying levels of success. So... I've been reading a lot of posts by players and wondering whether their comments on Sins are tempered by other comparable gaming experiences. Does anyone remember Star Trek Armada or Conquest: Frontier Wars? You'll find my thoughts and comparisons of these titles to Sins below. I was wondering if anybody else have thoughts on the subject.
In my opinion, a most mediocre attempt at tackling this aspect of the gaming came from the folks who did Star Trek Armada, a largely story-based and 2-dimensional cookie-cutter RTS (in more ways than one). One big "map" with artificial "barriers" like an asteroid belt that my super-advanced starship can't seem to bypass. No sandbox mode, just a long, drawn-out single player campaign without a single innovation, like playing C&C in space.
A year later, in 2001, a great title came out called Conquest: Frontier Wars which bares many similarities to Sins of a Solar Empire. It was much less pretty to look at then Sins, but very fun to play. It was in zoomable, rotatable, 2-d. It had 3 distinctive races: humans, energy robots, and anthropomorphic insects. Players built orbital industrial belts around planets as structures (think back to that belt around the Moon in Starship Troopers).
The player was allowed to wage war through multiple star systems, linked via wormholes; these systems were each about as big as a map in Star Trek Armada (by my estimate)
. C:FW also featured all the different ship types you'd see in Sins: missile frigates, battleships, dreadnaughts, carriers, etc. all with their own special abilities. It also featured a great Fleet Management AI (like Sins but different) that allowed players to form cohesive fleets behind distinct AI admirals, all with their own tactics, specialties, and ways of making war.
The most unique aspect of the game (which made reviewers sit up and take notice) was the fact the game introduced the concept of supply lines, the theory being that ships need ammunition to fight a war (something us armchair admirals tend to forget). Thus, every system a player conquered required him to quickly establish a supply route or else face the prospect of getting pushed out or annihilated entirely once supply reserves dwindled. Supplies were represented by a seperate bar below a ship's health bar which dwindled as active combat operations continued. Unlike Antimatter in Sins, it didn't recharge on its own. To replenish a a fleet's supplys, you had to secure the system's wormhole with a "jumpgate" and estbalish a supply platform, which then automatically replenished supplies in a given radius. OR you could build vulnerable freighter-like supply ships whose huge (but not bottomless) cargoholds were filled to overflowing with supplies and were dispersed to friendly ships in a given radius. However, in a pitch battle, they'd be an opponents first targets. It was an interesting mechanic, not at all cumbersome as many would think.
In short... great game. Comparable to Sins of a Solar Empire in many respects. If none of the developers or modders out there have played it, give it a try; might give you ideas for an expansion or something. Oh... it also featured a very competent single-player CAMPAIGN, which helped the player get a feel for the races controlled (my one and only critique of Sins).
Any other thoughts on comparable space-based RTS?
In my opinion, a most mediocre attempt at tackling this aspect of the gaming came from the folks who did Star Trek Armada, a largely story-based and 2-dimensional cookie-cutter RTS (in more ways than one). One big "map" with artificial "barriers" like an asteroid belt that my super-advanced starship can't seem to bypass. No sandbox mode, just a long, drawn-out single player campaign without a single innovation, like playing C&C in space.
A year later, in 2001, a great title came out called Conquest: Frontier Wars which bares many similarities to Sins of a Solar Empire. It was much less pretty to look at then Sins, but very fun to play. It was in zoomable, rotatable, 2-d. It had 3 distinctive races: humans, energy robots, and anthropomorphic insects. Players built orbital industrial belts around planets as structures (think back to that belt around the Moon in Starship Troopers).
The player was allowed to wage war through multiple star systems, linked via wormholes; these systems were each about as big as a map in Star Trek Armada (by my estimate)
. C:FW also featured all the different ship types you'd see in Sins: missile frigates, battleships, dreadnaughts, carriers, etc. all with their own special abilities. It also featured a great Fleet Management AI (like Sins but different) that allowed players to form cohesive fleets behind distinct AI admirals, all with their own tactics, specialties, and ways of making war. The most unique aspect of the game (which made reviewers sit up and take notice) was the fact the game introduced the concept of supply lines, the theory being that ships need ammunition to fight a war (something us armchair admirals tend to forget). Thus, every system a player conquered required him to quickly establish a supply route or else face the prospect of getting pushed out or annihilated entirely once supply reserves dwindled. Supplies were represented by a seperate bar below a ship's health bar which dwindled as active combat operations continued. Unlike Antimatter in Sins, it didn't recharge on its own. To replenish a a fleet's supplys, you had to secure the system's wormhole with a "jumpgate" and estbalish a supply platform, which then automatically replenished supplies in a given radius. OR you could build vulnerable freighter-like supply ships whose huge (but not bottomless) cargoholds were filled to overflowing with supplies and were dispersed to friendly ships in a given radius. However, in a pitch battle, they'd be an opponents first targets. It was an interesting mechanic, not at all cumbersome as many would think.
In short... great game. Comparable to Sins of a Solar Empire in many respects. If none of the developers or modders out there have played it, give it a try; might give you ideas for an expansion or something. Oh... it also featured a very competent single-player CAMPAIGN, which helped the player get a feel for the races controlled (my one and only critique of Sins).
Any other thoughts on comparable space-based RTS?
