Horrible game....What am I missing??

Well play easy. Play with a team but lock the teams for you don't have to pay them. Make your teammate AI hard for he can take the brunt for you. Then at least you have time to see how things work and play.

You could also build your own map where you put in only a few ChockPoints into your main worlds for its easier to play.

The key to defending your systems is that to jump into a system the AI and you have to jump from Star To Star (normally). If you position fleets in the stars they can give you warning and set you up to follow and defend core providences.

The Light Frigates of most Empires are the brunt of the forces cause they are long range. Make tons and you should be ok.

Yes, what he/she said, with emphasis on negotiating Cease Fires or better with at least a few A.I.s. I suspect that if you can even maintain a 50% relationship with a faction, they may not ally against you - you may keep them in an indecisive state.

Balancing some of the extortionistic demands of A.I. quests with your own conquering is a challenge, but once you have a few games where *you* are not the focus of every faction (and I know what that is like!) you should have fun. Fingers crossed for thee.

Hi Specop,

From what you describe it appears that this is the "thing" to love about the game.

The challenge .... trying to figure out if there is a way to win. Your post is very well written and detailed. When has a game brought so much emotion ?

Give it some time ... I can see your going to love it.

Cheers.

Yes it is your end.

If you have a problem with the game mechanics or the pace of the game then fair enough, but not liking the game because it's too hard is pretty unjustified when there's a perfectly good easy mode setting, and maps which don't even have pirates at all.

First game I played I got smacked by pirates too, you know what I did? I played a random map without pirates against easy mode until I learned the game. Once you grasp the mechanics of the game it's not hard to beat multiple AIs at once with or without pirates.

To have a FFA without missions you need to have "Lock teams" even if there is no teams. This help keeps the AI from ganging up on you while you learn the game.

Also a trick which often works when it comes to pirates in to place a small bid on any two empires right before the pirate raid. Most of the time the AI will continue bid on those two where you placed the bids instead of placing them on someone that has no bid on them. (hopefully that includes you)

Dude. First off, are you putting money on other player's heads with the pirates, because if you are, they should be leaving you alone altogether and beating the hell out of everyone else. Second, make them easy opponents that have an economic or defensive strategy option (when selecting them), that way they won't be so damn aggressive. Third, play on a huge map with lots of planets, that way you have a long while to build up research and forces before the AI comes knocking at your door with a fleet of 50 frigates. Fourth, get the psydar, or psidar, or whatever it is called in the research screen. It will warn you if someone is entering phase space outside of your plants. Lastly, make your own map. This way, you can known where the choke points are. When i first got started, i created a 1v1 map with an assload of plants in each of two star systems. I connected the planets' phase lanes in a linear fashion, so that to get to one planet, you have to go through one at a time. This way, it is extremely easy to stop an attacking enemy, as they only have a single, long path to attack you on. So just take it easy, play on easy and learn the steps to kicking some solar ass. Sins is a freaking wonderful game and there isnt much wrong with it, so before long i am sure you will enjoy the experience. good luck.

Part of the tactics is balancing relations with the other races. To get the pirates off your back, simply increase the bounty on another race. If you dont have the cash, hit up the black market and sell some resources. Make friends with one or two of the other races by doing their missions or giving them tribute. I will say, this is a pretty rudimentary way of making friends and needs to be expanded upon, but for now, its sufficient. With 3-4 planets, your basic economy with level 2 logistics should be more then sufficient to have a steady rate of income. You should have 2-3 cap ships and a slew of frigates, not to mention defenders for your leading most planets. Once those are defended, work your way outward, capping other planets, but maintaining relations with your "friends". Keep the bounty up on the faction you are attacking and dont cap planets in the path of the pirates (ie planets directly connect to the pirate main base). There are other, more effective strategies out there, but that is the one I like to use. I find it challenging to keep up relations and balance funds, but games are about challenge and not silver spoon feedings from mom.

Anyway, I hope that helps you and I hope you start to enjoy the game because it really is one of a kind and I dont think it could have been done any better, short of more time and production funds. Also, just wait for some more patches.

Also, you can play without pirates entirely. There are random maps with no pirates. Try that!

As well as make sure there are two empires that has a bounty on them as the AI seldom puts a bounty on a third party.

It's funny, I love this game, but everyone I've heard/read from said the pirate kicked their rumps their first game. It shocked me at first, but now I love it because I know if your econimically better, you can finally feel some power. And I think it's pure system shock for so many people use to rushing in all RTS games that they actually have to "expand", not explode. . . .

I actually was looking for something to replace MOO:2 with. If I was looking for something a bit more "StarcrAft"ish this would definitely hit the spot.

I think the biggest thing is coming right off MOO:2 and then getting this. A combination of that and every review had me expecting something vastly different.

I love MOO: 2, and I love Starcraft(Can't wait for 2), but honestly this game is as far removed from starcraft as you can get without not being an RTS. This is the next best thing for quite a few of us on here since MOO 2, and personally this is the route that MOO 3 should have gone if they wanted to change things up. Don't give up, put some more time into the game before you completely knock it off your list. It was hard for me at first, but I'm an addict now.

But... wait. So you keep losing, and you complain that every game goes the same? Maybe.. Oh, I dunno, try doing something different? Losing is god's way of saying "do it different next time".

Now you're talking about being disappointed with the comparison to MOO2, but the only thing you've mentioned that you don't like about Sins is losing. Don't you lose MOO2? Sounds boring to me...

Tips for fighting the AI:

The AI sucks against defences, especially pirates. They're too dopey to go around them. So work out which colony the AI is likely to hit (generally the one closest) and build 15 turrets, all right on top of each other at the edge of the planet closest to the direction the enemy will come from. If you want to be fancy, replace some turrets with a couple of repair platforms. The enemy will walk into the guns every single time, and die horribly.

Even if you guess wrong or if they've got a stupid number of ships, the AI also fails to hit builders unless they get too close. Build a turret behind whatever turret the enemy is shooting. Keep doing that. Turrets are cheap. It's a rare fleet that can kill turrets faster than you can build them (upgrade your tactical slots to get more free builders).

Honestly, I think the poor, unchallenging AI is one of the worst parts of the game - I very much hope the builders get a massive increase in targeting priority next patch, and just the simple human tactic of going around defences would be nice, too. The only way you ever lose a defended system is when the siege ships bums-rush your planet, so you can't rebuild turrets. You'll still do a massive amount of damage. A decent carrier fleet (all fighters) can help to back up these defence systems. Just jump back out when the sieges are dead and the enemy bombers are mostly gone - you don't want to scare the enemy away from dying at your guns.

Pirates make the game easier for you, remember that. Put a bounty on your nearest enemy - that'll keep them tied up without you needing to buy much of a fleet. When the pirates come after you, bring your capital ships to the turret planet and let them eat free xp.

When the AI attacks a turreted planet, don't bring your whole fleet to help! You want the AI to stupidly sit under the guns and die. If they see your full fleet arrive they'll run. Wait till you've murdered most of their ships, THEN bring your fleet in to follow up and perhaps take the next enemy system. Rinse, repeat, win almost every time.

Don't get more fleet capacity than you need - it costs a massive chunk of your resources. Keep your fleet lean and mean (as in, no more than 3 upgrades) until you've got lots of economy rolling and most of your research done. Small fleet means more money to boost economy, and more money for sicking the pirates on your enemies. With turrets you almost don't need a fleet against the AI, except to expand.

Remember that capital ships have very little firepower for their popcap. Capships are for their abilities. For fighting you are much better off with frigates (I usually mass the simple, first-couple-of-techs long range frigate, with a capship or two, for about the first half of the game).

Focus fire. Look in the contested system's entry in the empire tree to the left. Note the enemy forces all nicely lined up there. Select all of one type of your ships (alt-click one), then shift left-click each of their best targets one at a time (each ship type tells you what they're best at killing in their pop-up). Do the same with each type of ship (or, for ease, just do it once with the whole fleet). Attack the capships LAST (unless you've got some awesome anti-capship move, generally involving your own capships).

***Diplomacy:

Note that the game is really built around multiplayer. Yes, I'd love to see a better AI, but even then this is always going to best with multiple players. Actually, in that context the capricious diplomacy model really makes sense: you are playing a free-for-all game. You could have picked fixed teams, but didn't. So they all know, just as players would, that There Can Be Only One. Of course they want to keep their (future) enemies fighting each other. Don't you?

So yeah, they'll make an alliance with you, but only as long as you keep doing things that help them. Otherwise, what's to stop you sheltering behind them building up, and stabbing them in the back?

The diplomacy needs tweaking, but it's a relief to me to see a diplomacy model where the player doesn't have all the power. In MOO (which I love, BTW), for example, the diplomacy basically means "follow the bleeding obvious sequence of offers and they'll almost always love you eventually". How often do you get two sides to fight, just so you can take advantage later? In Sins, it's a multiplayer free-for-all (even with AIs). Alliances are temporary, they know that, and THEY are getting YOU to fight, so they can take advantage later.

Which is pretty smart, really.

game gets boring after 2 weeks of playing. dunno how people can play it more than 2 weeks.

Thanks, Bob, for a comment completely unrelated to anything in the entire thread...

the thread reads "horrible game". im saying why i find it a horrible game as well. because it just gets boring too quickly. if my opinion really offended u well get over it.

Do you read the original posts? this isn't list why you think this a horrible game thread....the OP is asking if there is something wrong on his part in why he finds the game not enjoyable when everyone else does.

Basic reading comprehension

clearly every1 else doesn't find the game enjoyable me being one of them. so ur telling me i cant say why i find the game horrible? do u want me to make another thread saying why i find the game horrible? there would be no point in that so im putting the comment here.

please stop whining when i say why i find the game not that great. im free to make the comment here. i see no rules about it. im not trying to hijack this thread into a "so, why do u think the game is horrible" kind of thread. i was just expressing my opinion. i dont expect every1 to find my opinion correct at all. basic comprehension skills? lmao... please stop being arrogant.

Bob, he's saying the game is too hard. That's not generally thought of a boring, just frustrating. Bad, yes, but not boring. If anything, a hard game is something that'll keep you interested longer than an easy game. Easy games are boring.

So no, whether the game is boring or not is completely unrelated to this thread.

Sure Bob ur entitled to your opinion. I guess if I would have to play it single player I would stop playing it till 1.03 as well. For me the fun still lies in COOP play against an insane ammount of AI with friends. Not that the AI can beat us but it still a hell of a fight

And to the OP ALWAYS win the first pirate bribe. You simply dont wanna be hit by the first raid. Simple as that.

Yes. That is how the concept of a forum works. You put your topic in its own... topic. I agree you have all the right to your opinion, but if you're going to defend your own troll then atleast know what you're doing

As a side note. Who browses the forums of a game you find boring and don't want to play? Trolling?

errr i never once said that he too thinks the game is boring. thats what i think of the game. ill explain why then. i find the game too easy. combat is dull which is another main reason and also because races are basically the same.



im not going to repeat myself.

you know im not looking for an argument here. i never wanted to start an argument in the first place over my opinion. just let it go please.



but im not looking to start my own thread over it. just make a simple comment over it here and just leave it at that.



if u think that then i dont really care.

Bob I agree with you 100%.

After playing 5 games my, every single one of my friends said they are bored of the game.

Main reason is because everything is the same. There are only 3 races and each are exactly the same...

Also the battles are all exactly the same. There is no such thing as strategy in this game, it's still who ever has the biggest zerg wins easily. The hardest AI is a joke!

This game is very polished and optimized, but after playing a couple games it gets boring FAST. I'm basically done with it and it hasn't even been 2 weeks, a lot of people on the internet agree.

In fact I think getting a 90% is ludicrous from IGN. Clearly they played 1 game against each other and said wow this is fun. They never played a couple games, otherwise they would surely catch that it gets super tiring fast. This game is a solid 7.0 in my opinion. Fun for a couple games, then it's like hitting a wall.

Right, so you see the problem? We went from a thread about the game being hard, with advice being given to make it easier and perhaps a discussion about whether or not it is actually too hard and what might be done about it...

...to a discussion over whether or not it's boring, which has nothing to do with what we were talking about. This is called hijacking the thread. It's rude. If you want to talk about the game being boring, start a thread about the game being boring.

Of course, I could make a thread about hijacking threads, but I'm guessing you wouldn't read it.

sl4vik: for the record, the biggest zerg does not win. But if all you're fighting it with is a zerg of your own, then I can see why you might think the game is boring. If you'd like some advice on beating the "biggest zerg" - which is likely to make the game much more interesting for you - then... start a thread.

haha. u r so right sl4vik..

lets not bother to express our opinions here though. fanboys r going to murder us for it.

Hey guys; don't worry about Bob. He doesn't tend to read things, so he repeats things ad nauseum.


This is quite an acceptable comment to make, in my opinion - if only it were in the right thread I understand you were only responding to Bob, but:

Is about as true as you can get. I admit that this thread could have been titled better, but the true purpose of it, as established by the OP, is becoming hijacked, regardless of good intentions.
I think the lesson to us all is that if someone makes a comment that might hijack the thread, they should simply be ignored. Pretty much like a troll.
I'm guilty too! I'm perpetuating the hijack...