Sins of a Solar Empire

Velas is absolutely right about the Pirates. They're one of my favorite parts of the game. Playing single player, I'll often sit a small 5 capital ship battlegroup escorted by around 20 Kodiak heavy cruisers and 10 light fighter carriers in orbit around the planet nearest the pirate base and level them up all the way to level 9, and then rotate that battlegroup out for a fresh group once they get maxed out.

I hope there is a UK release. This game deserves to do well. Hopefully alot of people won't be put off with direct download or buying from abroad. Cannot for the life of me understand why there is no Euro/Asia release.

Originally Posted by Bungle
I hope there is a UK release. This game deserves to do well. Hopefully alot of people won't be put off with direct download or buying from abroad. Cannot for the life of me understand why there is no Euro/Asia release.

You can buy & download can't you? O.o

Originally Posted by DarkLord7854
You can buy & download can't you? O.o

I've already got it. Didn't find a UK retailer that stocked it. Used the direct download method from the stardock site. I wouldn't have known about it until Veles mentioned it in a post. I suspect there are many more potential sales being lost due to the lack of awareness, atm at least. Hope the game sells well, cos a sequel based on this type of gameplay would be great.

Pirates are obviously like Marmite: you either like them or you don't. Remember that I've only had a short time with the game to write my review. I can see where they can be tactically beneficial, but I still think that they come too early in the game, nor are they explained in the tutorials (at least, not that I remember).

The game does shine, and the fact that it's been in beta for a year shows. As I said in the review, other companies should take note.
The AI is probably some of the best I've seen in a game of this type. I love how they don't just rush at you, all guns blazing - they'll try and chip away and keep sending scouts to find a chink in your armour. If you've left a gap, I like how the AI is good enough to exploit that gap.

It's a polished game, but not necessarily for everyone.

Think I'll need to 'acquire' a copy to try it out before deciding to buy or not.
I could wait for the demo, but screw that.
In this day and age, who wants to wait for anything???

Except for maybe some publishers to wait til a game's ready before its released... :D

OK, almost got a copy of the game now (damn I love my connection sometimes).

Where can I get the latest patch, 1.02 I think it is?
Is it only available through their own distribution steam-alike app?
Doesn't really matter as I'll be able to evaluate the game without it and get it if I buy it.
Is there any show-stopper bugs in the v1.00 of the game?

Airchie, if you legally purchase the game you won't have to worry about finding the patch.

And what is all this talk abut Steam? Why ruin a great game like Sins with that.

Originally Posted by Obiwan-shenobi
Airchie, if you legally purchase the game you won't have to worry about finding the patch.

I realise that, but I'd like to know I like it before I buy, hence why I asked about a demo earlier.
Since there is no demo, I'm about to play the full game gotten from 'alternate means' to see if I like it before buying.

We discourage such activity, especially since this is a game from a smaller studio. Please do not discuss such activities further in this discussion and, preferably, don't do them either.

I hear ya.
I don't condone the stealing of games.
I'm treating it as a fully-featured demo for now.
I will buy it if I like it.

I believe it will be coming to europe in boxed form at some point, but the publication rights aren't completely sorted out yet so there's a delay. I think it's being published in europe by a german company.

The main problem I had with pirates at first was there was nothing about them really in the tutorials, you had to get the hang of them yourself, I didn't like them initially but now I've got used to how the mechanics work I like them.

OK. Stardock were kind enough to send us two copies of this game, which means we've got one spare game to give away. It's an unopened (obviously) Collector's Edition of the game, complete with Tech Tree Poster, Music CD, Artwork Posters and a Hotkey card.

Let me know if you're interested in getting a free copy, and I'll make a random draw based on the level of response.

Sign me up :D

Originally Posted by Flibblebot
OK. Stardock were kind enough to send us two copies of this game, which means we've got one spare game to give away. It's an unopened (obviously) Collector's Edition of the game, complete with Tech Tree Poster, Music CD, Artwork Posters and a Hotkey card.

Let me know if you're interested in getting a free copy, and I'll make a random draw based on the level of response.

I'd love to enter :)

Originally Posted by Flibblebot
We've got one spare game to give away. It's an unopened (obviously) Collector's Edition of the game, complete with Tech Tree Poster, Music CD, Artwork Posters and a Hotkey card.

Let me know if you're interested in getting a free copy, and I'll make a random draw based on the level of response.

Yep, put me down for some of that action please, kind sir.

I'll also enter, I wouldn't mind having a real copy in my hands.

Enter me please. The game looks really promising - And it will take hours to complete scenarios with dozens of planets? I best consult the wife!!

Originally Posted by DarkLord7854
I'd love to enter :)

Seconded. Where do I sign up?

OK, I have the following people who have entered:

Airchie
DarkLord7854
Bungle
Veles
Leitchy
Sparrowhawk

If anyone else wants a chance, reply here. I'll give it until 10am GMT on Thursday 28th Feb (ie tomorrow morning, UK time) before I make the draw.

Cool, gives me time to see if I like it enough to buy it.
If not, I'll withdraw so someone else with a greater interest in the game can have a greater chance of winning. :)

Ooh ooh! Me me! :)

*Ahem* I mean: Yes, I guess I'll enter.

Enter me! Enter me!

My only gripe after playing it, is that it is quite easy to retreat, you need to attack on their planets to cause some damage.
IMHO it makes the game much more static.

Defenses cannot be really upgraded to defend against the swarm of units in the end game too. It is a very solid game though and multiplayer is quite fun.
It is funny to see that it ended up at the #5 place in these rankings:

http://www.gamestats.com/index/gpm/pc.html

Although this has alot more to do with the fact that there are very few PC releases nowadays ...

And the winner, chosen at random from a hat by my beautiful assistant, is...



...DarkLord7854. If you send me your address by PM, I'll stick it in the post tomorrow.