PenicillinX57

If anything I would say this is a simpler Supreme Commander. The learning curve isn't as steep. In SC you build a shield generator you have to worry about powering it with energy. In SotS you build a shield generator around a planet, you just have to worry about it being destroyed. Wow, nice! I would have never guessed that from seeing the interface and some gameplay movies. SupCom does have some annoyingly tedious base management. I h

I did a quick search on this subject and didn't find anything, so I'll just ask again. A lot of the info on Sins seems to indicate that it's some kind of Homeworld/Supreme Commander/GalCiv hybrid. How then, specifically, does it compare to SupCom? Is it faster or slower? Is the unit control easy or somewhat cumbersome? I'd love to download the beta, but I'd like to know a little more first if this game is something I can manage, or if it will make my brain explode. Thanks!

Well, now that I'm more informed (according to the PC Gamer preview) the resources are finite, so making sure they don't run out is a part of the game. Bad news for Total Annihilation fans, but apparently this opens up market manipulation strategies. I guess we'll have to wait and see how it works in the beta

I'm still more concerned about how the resource collection is fundamentally carried out. Is it through a planet management screen with sliders for what is being collected (like every turn based 4X game), or is it through placing mining structures directly onto the tactical map (like every RTS game)? All the logistics curves can be tweaked during beta

That's what I'm talking about schematicsninja. The planets should have infinitely available resources, but the rate at which you can mine them must be limited. I love how resource collection is done in the Civilization games, for example. Each city has a unique set of resources it can be collecting, and you have to decide how to distribute the city's work force to collect them. As the city grows you get more workers and can collect resources faster, but there is a limit to that too

I'm not so much worried about how the resource collection is managed. I'm more concerned about how it fits into the game. For example, in most modern RTS games (especially the recent Relic games--Dawn of War, CoH) every player has a limited supply of resources depending on the resource nodes that they control. The gameplay comes in deciding how to use these resources to the best possible effect. Do I spend this fuel now to build a jeep, or do I wait until I can afford a tank? <

While playing some Supreme Commander this afternoon, the thought occurred to me that resource collection in RTS games is just a giant pain in the ass. In SupCom, for example, you have to individually lay down each power generator and mass collector. This works great in the beginning of a match because you can just queue up a nice big set of orders and move on to something else. But a few minutes later, you have to queue up more resource collection and tediously manage the upgrading of every s

A big thing in hardcore RTS playing is measuring the APM (Actions Per Minute) that are required to be a "good" player. Starcraft players can average some 200 APM, meaning they click on units, hit hotkeys, or give orders 200 times per minute--which is a lot. Personally, I find such gameplay exhausting. Others, though, love the degree of control it gives. With Sins being such a game on such a gigantic scale, I imagine there's a lot for the player to do. Does this mean it's going to

Great idea SteamLab. Supreme Commander already has the basic functionality for this system laid out in that you can create a big, complicated build que from your factory and set the factory to automatically group all the units it produces. Still, being able to save your que or your "fleet scheme" would be really cool so that you didn't have to manually enter it every time...

Wow, the game is looking gorgeous . Mad props to your art and graphic guys. BTW, is there anyway we can get those screenshots in high-res for use as desktop wallpaper?

I'm talking less about "swarming" with one massive fleet and more about "rushing" with individual units. In games like StarCraft you can send a handful of units over to the enemy base to do some harassment early on. In Civilization, though, if you send units over to enemy cities one at a time you might as well just be throwing them away. I HATE rushing in RTS games. Granted it's a viable strategy for a game in which you're trying to build a tiny field base and harrass the enem

Anybody know any specifics about not just match length but the speed of the gameplay? Do the units crank out of your factories every few seconds, or does it take 10 minutes to build a single ship? The speed of the building, combat, and movement greatly affects how the game actually plays. In Starcraft you can afford to just continually fling units at your opponent to harrass them. But in typical 4X turn based games you need to build up a considerable force and make a large strategi

Thanks for the answers guys. I do have one more question, though. What is the speed of the game like? I am sure it depends highly on the size of the map, but how long will a typical multiplayer match take? 15 minutes? An hour? Several hours? Do the bases and factories just fly right up like in most RTS games, or do things gradually build up over time? This obviously has an effect on the number and size of the combat engagements. Will there be lots of small skirmishes and rushes to destro

To clarify, don't think of the base building so much in terms of it being ground-based or space-based. Think of it more in terms of the actual tedium of the structure placement. Do you have to hand-place each individual factory, defense turret, and radar station, or is the entire base just a big, arbitrary mass? In Starcraft, TA, SupCom, etc. you have to hand-place all your base structures. Adding to the tedium, you have to give the order to some type of builder unit. (Command and C

Hey everybody, I've just discovered Sins and am quite interested in what I'm hearing about it! However, I'd like to know a little bit more about how the game actually plays. I know it involves building a giant galactic empire and crushing your enemies (like any good strategy game) but there are some specific genre trends that I'm hoping Sins can kick. Specifically, how detailed is the base building and the mechanism for managing it? Are the bases going to be built like they are in RT