Have a noob question

Sins isn't a click fest unless you want it to be.

The game can be slowed down, but some people who played GALCIV2 before still had a hard time adapting to the speed of Sins. (I can't say for sure, I haven't played anything but Sins.)

It all depends on how much you play and practice it.

Good luck.

Competitively it can be, but against the AI I often just let my units auto attack and watch. You'll naturally want to keep them from running into minefields and key them next to repair bays, but its really nothing like Total War. Watch some youtube videos or try the very outdated Demo and you should get a sense of how combat is like.

One reviewer once described Sins as a combination of Homeworld and GalCiv2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY-NSNhgydY

It's much more of an RTS than a Turn-based-strategy game.  However, it is not a clickfest like Starcraft.  In Sins, the amount of micromanagement required has been cut down to a minimum.  You still need to micromanage things, but nothing like in Starcraft.  If you can deliver one click per second or even one every two seconds you should be fine.

I'm not a fan of clickfests either, so I didn't like Starcraft much but I love Sins.

Not a click fest no. It does play differently then GalCivII and doesn't quite have the 3D aspect that made Homeworld much beloved but as I to own/owned those games I would highly recommend this as well.

Ok thanks guys.  I too loved Homeword one of two RTS games I liked (the other Being the Total War series of games)

I'll check out the videos on You tube an probably get it

I too am a newb.  I bought the game ~6 weeks ago.  I picked up the basics fairly quick but the AI was kicking my arse.  I could not get far enough along to learn all the more advanced technologies.  Then I had an idea.

I started playing games with 4 or more players and teamed up with another and set difficulties so my partner was very strong and the enemy was standard.   He (my AI partner) did most of the hard work while I kept researching and building.  I only took 4 planets and a couple of asteroids but I was able to research all the way to the end.

that was with Tek.  I'm going to do the same the the other two systems. 

just one newb advice to another

enjoy

If you're playing the AI and want to learn how to easily beat it... scout a lot initially, research starbases as soon as possible, and build one at your front lines. The AI will suicide its fleet on it every time. You will win. Don't even bother killing the local militia along the way if you can help it (until you're ready to colonize the planet, in which case kill the siege frigates first).

Once you know how to beat the AI, it gets really boring: the next step is to come online and play against people who don't make the same predictable AI mistakes over and over and over again. (well... most people improve, although I've come across a few exceptions)

Also, it's TEC, not Tek.

Sins of a Solar Empire combines a slowed down version of typical RTS combat (most similar in principle to Warcraft III) with a more streamlined empire building economy similar to a typical TBS game.  It comes across as a fine hybrid, adopting many of the strengths of both RTS and TBS styled games.  Depending on where you stand on those issues this could be a good or a bad thing.  The reflex aspect of micromanagement typified by games like Starcraft isn't present, but the multi-tasking aspect of micromanagement is quite prominent.

The "only 4 planets" issue is your primary problem.  A tiny empire like that basically doesn't have enough cash to do much of anything.  Generally speaking, technology is a terrible investment for small empires, which need to focus on military so they can grow.  With a small empire, you can eventually reach higher tech levels, but it will take you practically forever.  If you want to play a researcher, you need to focus on rapid colonization to build up a sufficiently large empire. 

Remember, economy and military comes first.  Your early-game tech focus should be unlocking new unit types, structures, and abilities.  You want to spend the bulk of your income growing your empire, building infrastructure like trade ports, and building military units to defend yourself.  Once you reach a mature empire with a solid economy and a large fleet, then you can start phasing in technologies, but if you do it too early you'll either cripple your fleet or your empire.  If your fleet is too weak, you'll get killed off in the short-run.  If your empire is too weak, you'll get killed off in the long-run.

Can I create my own races/empires like in Galciv 2?

Not without modding or using other mods. There are some great mods out there that turn the game into Star Trek, Star Wars, Star Gate and many many others.

Thanks for the info.  All is appreciated.  I'm such a noob I looked on this forum for 30 minutes before I discovered there were no starbases in Sins of a Solar Empire.  You have to get Entrenchment to build starbases.   ... which I have now.

Another newb observation.  I thought you had to complete all research to the left of a piece of research you wanted to achieve.  Now I know you don't.  All you need (as far as I've found out ... correct me I'm wrong) is to build the appropriate number of research facilities and satisfy the prerequisites to what you want.  I was wasting a lot of money on research I did not even need.

My current game is going quite well.  I'm in a four player game and I have as many planets as the others plus more asterioids to mine.  I'm learning this great game and post this stuff to maybe help others who are trying to learn.  Thanks to all ... oh! and I'll try to use the correct nomenclature from now on. 

Some techs have a pre-requisite, if you examine the research tree you should see some arrows showing you what you need to research first.

You got it.

Sounds like you're on the path to success.

no questions ... just observations

An absolutely wonderful game this is. I've played many hours now against the AI and finally got to a point where I feel moderately competent at keeping my butt from being wiped from existence.  And what fun its been learning.  I have won the last few games in 4 or more player games with a (an AI) teammate to help (this help is how I bought time to learn). Then (so far) they turn on me leading to even more fun battling for control of our solar system against my one time friend.

What I think would be a very interesting change would be to have the planets orbit their respective Suns. This would add a dynamic to phase jumping; i.e. travel between planets would vary depending on orbital positions. Other than orbiting planets the only other addition would be to add warship development so you can design and build your own ship concepts.

The only game I played with the pirates active, I had a heck of a time building and controlling my realm because of all the pirate intervention. I guess that will be my next step.  (I have yet to learn how to issue bounties ... which i know I was the target of)

As I said, its a great game.  I'm starting a new 5 player scenario with me as Advent. The Advent are challenging because they use strange names and descriptions of the space craft; warships; etc.

thanks for a great game

In the original Sins beta they actually did this, but while more realistic it actually wasn't very fun for a whole host of reasons, so they just left the planets static. I wasn't there at the time but most people agreed it was an idea that sounded really cool but was just a pain to deal with in game.

Do yourself a favor, and stay out of Ironclad Online. The pros there are jerks, and most, if not all, of them do something called smurfing; creating an alias so that they can get into games with players they deem below their talent level, and then they stomp them. To add to it, a good chunk of people there are jerks. They'll make you regret you came on in a heartbeat.

Save yourself the trouble, and stay in singleplayer.

Are you confusing bona fide actual jerkiness with experienced regular pro players?  They're not necessarily the same thing.  A noob can be a jerk and a pro player can be friendly.  Now, there are pro players who do things that might appear to be jerky when they're really not, such as not wanting to play in a comp stomp or requesting faster speed settings for a game.

I don't think Sins is radically different from any other online multiplayer game.  As a new player in almost ANY game you can expect to get thumped.  (If not then the game is not skill- or strategy-based and lacks staying power.)

As I've said before, online multiplayer PvP, for almost all games, not just Sins, isn't for everyone.  It's not, how shall I say it, for girly men.  It's for guys who have a desire to compete.

No. It seems you are confusing SoaSE ICO for a decent MP community. I can't tell you how many posts I've read of how noobs were blatantly used by pros to use as their farming ground. They spam their chat box with 'do this, do that' in an effort to achieve their own goals, and when their 'ally' falls under attack, they do nothing.

In my opinion, you need to come out from your little box and realize that your precious online community is made up of a bunch of thugs, (AKA smurfs and trolls) and cannon fodder. (AKA noobs who go on once or twice, and get turned away permanently by said smurfs and trolls)

Those who complain are always much more loud (per person) than those who have a good time and simply log off ICO without posting anything on the forum. Don't bash ICO based on the opinions of a biased few.

If someone tells a newbie to do something, often it's because it's in the team's best interest for the newbie to be doing whatever they're failing to do. It's not because they're only useful for dying: it's because fighting and putting pressure on the enemy is something useful that many newbies are often too timid to do.

Really, JA, come online, and see how things really are. They aren't as bad as you think. If you want to and would be interested in tips on how to help your team while keeping yourself alive, I'd be happy to help, I've been working on a guide for just that purpose (for those somewhat new to more competitive Sins).

I'm not saying there aren't a few assholes here and there, because there are (just like in every online game) - but overall, it isn't as much of a problem as you think it is.

I appreciate the offer, Wrath, but I'll stay in SP with Vicious AI for now.

^^^^ This.

When the pros are giving noobs advice, it's not because they want their noob allies to just die and get bounced out of the game, it's because they want the TEAM to win the game and they need their noob ally to do something to help the TEAM.  What many people don't understand is that the online multiplayer team games are TEAM games.  It doesn't matter if you personally die.  If the team wins, you win even if you no longer have any ships or planets.  If you can occupy two opponents for much of the game and then get wiped out while in the meantime your teammates grew strong and wiped out the other opposing players, you've done a good job.

In a 5 on 5 where there is a new player, that guy's only expected job is to just try and survive, be annoying to a neighboring opponent, and buy time to allow the pros on his team to win it.  Oftentimes such new players need helpful advice in order to do that better.  Also, that sort of advice is often constructive and instructive--new guys need to learn the importance of making repair bays, for example, or of taking their asteroid ASAP at the start of the game.

Ping really isn't a big issue in this game since it's not an FPS twitch shooter.  As long as it isn't higher than say the equivalent of 250 on an FPS server you should be fine.  However, if you have a ping of say, 1000 and you get lag spikes, then it's a problem.

If you can beat Vicious AI then you're probably ready to advance to online multiplayer PvP.  It probably wouldn't take you very long to get up to speed and to be able to hang with the pros.  (Of course, even pros lose 50% of the time in games where the other players are all pros.)

I have played mostly Private MP and SP and was thinking about trying the general MP community and had a question. Does every ICO MP game generally involve tons of rushing or will people abide self imposed rush timers? I CAN rush but I think a game is much more fun when I get to mass a huge fleet of advanced warships rather than killing you early with 2 carrier caps and a sh!t load of LRF. I typically like my games in the 1.5-2 hr range so that's probably longer than most ICO MP games?

I think most people rush with said double carriers and LRF. Or rush with something else.

It depends on who you're playing, but generally most players will attempt to win using capitals and military tier 0-2ish units.

One reason is utility (1000 credits invested in early-game ships sometimes provides more of a benefit than 1000 credits invested in empire development), but another reason is time (we may not like nor have the time to play loooooong 2 hour games). Yet another reason is lag: the standard multiplayer game is 5v5, unfortunately. If everyone bided their time until they could mass 1000+ supply fleets, there would be MASSIVE lag, and the deciding factor of who would win would no longer be who is more skilled, but whose rig holds up better to the massive CPU demand of late-game. Significant lag (large fleets) makes the game unplayable and not fun.

A few people seem to have computers that can't even handle the fleets of early-game.

For these reasons and others, online players fleet very early.

Even with rushing as long as teams are balanced games last 1-1.5 h. The trick is if both opponents rush and are equal skill they will fight somewhere in the middle or if one starts to loose there is always his team-mates to come to his aid....