This game features jump lines between systems? I’m already dubious as that’s a feature I hate in games. Still, a positive review none the less - I’ll wait for more (and specifically from my trusty gamespy/ign/gamespot triumvirate)
Yeah, the planets in a system are connected by jump lines. Later on you can get a long range jump technology but essentially you have to follow the jump paths between systems. I don’t see that as a problem myself, but if you don’t like them then you should seriously consider not getting this game as it’s pretty central to the strategy of this game.
Once I figure out how to play I’d be up for a trial of the network version of this thing. I’m guessing it would be a LONG game though. I wonder how it works in real time…
-XT
I’d have to be stupid to get into another Doper game. I always get creamed.
Still, this looks pretty cool…
Okay, I’m in.
Gotta find the damn game first…
I’m only running single core a 1.5 GHz here. What are ya’ll running it on?
Pentium D 3.0 Ghz with 2 gig of RAM here. Runs just fine at the highest settings. Unless you have a really old video card it should work fine for you.
-XT
I just bought the game. I knew it was being released (From the Gal Civ II forums) but when I went to Best Buy yesterday, it wasn’t on the shelf. I double checked the release date and saw it was released, so I went to Best Buy today to buy it and it still wasn’t on the shelf. I had to have them go into the back stockroom and bring it out for me.
I would have just bought it through Stardock’s site, but I had $50 in Best Buy gift cards since Christmas that I wanted to use.
I haven’t really played it yet, just installed it and downloaded the update. I really only bought it before the reviews came out because it was Stardock. They are a company that deserves my support, and if the game isn’t that good, or it has bugs (which I really doubt) I know Stardock will support it, and make it better.
I might be intreasted in playing a Doper game sometime soon, let me learn how to play first though. In fact, let me get back to my lurking of the SDMB so I will have time to play some tonight (you see where my priorities are 
)
I’m playing the game and lurking. You can alt tab out of the game and still hear when events happen. As I build up resources I can tab out and check my mail and such and still make it back when the dreaded ‘Pirate raid detected’ message comes my way.
I’ll be up for a 'doper game as well once I figure out what the hell I’m doing.
-XT
So is it Gal Civ II with jump lanes? So far GC2 is great but I’m not seeing the big difference between the two games. Well, at least not in this thread - I’ll need to check wargamer.com I guess.
The main difference is that this is a Real Time game, not turn based. This ofcourse completely changes the pace of the game, but not necessarily the strategic goals. It is essentially Gal Civ II in real time and less micromanagement.
There are other differences than that. In Sins there is no ship customisation, only three races to play (with completely different strategies/approaches), battles are interactive/strategic… The RTS approach makes it a completely different kind of game.
Are ships moving around in a truly three dimensional space, or is it just a flat plane made to look like it’s floating in a three dimensional space?
-FrL-
When you zoom in they are stacked in 3D, but think of it like a cylinder…a very small cylinder width wise. You can only give orders to ships to move in the X-Y axis (the circle being the gravity well of the planet in question).
Found out about that Pirate base last night for anyone interested. I finally found it at the junction of the various planets near the systems sun. It was most gratifying to roll in 6 capital ships backup up by fighters and various frigates and other support type ships and wipe them out. The Pirate base was the most heavily defended in the game thus far (well, besides my own defenses where were pretty formidable). They had a number of fixed defenses, air craft hangers for launching fighters and bombers, a couple of other defensive structures and a bunch of small mobile units. The computer must not have the same logistics limitations as we so, as I launched my attach after sucking them in to fight one of my main planets.
Even with all those defenses though my fleet didn’t sustain much damage. I could practically hear the squeals of dismay (or perhaps cries of ARG!) when my fleet started systematically trashing their main base and their defenses all the while crying ‘Payback is a BITCH!’.
-XT
Sweet! Do the pirate assaults still happen though?
Interestingly yeah…they do. After I wiped out their main base I was surprised to hear the ‘Pirate Raid!’ message again. Sure enough, they hit one of my frontier worlds. But it was a very weak raid…they didn’t even make it past the first tier of outer gun turrets. I didn’t even bother sending my mobile force there, just let them die in the outer ring.
My guess is that the Pirate base is different than the pirate raids…i.e. the actual pirate ships don’t come from the base but are probably event generated when that timer thingy gets to 0:00.
Took your advice last night and started playing with the bounty stuff. Worked like a charm. I could nearly always out bid the other races which noticeably made the pirate raids a lot less (though interestingly they still did periodically raid my worlds even when I was the highest bidder).
Can’t wait to play again tonight. After Mythbusters I intend to start a new game having pretty much done everything there is to do in the first game I tried.
-XT
For those of you who wanted the early Out of the Box pre-review (which is different than a preview of course :)), here it is.
-XT
Two new reviews:
http://www.gamedaily.com/games/sins-of-a-solar-empire/pc/game-reviews/review/5553/1948/
http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=767&page=1
And from penny arcade: http://www.penny-arcade.com/
So far so good. Waiting on Gamespot to release a review, supposedly PC Gamer and Games for windows reviewers are also impressed.
And I also finally beat the easy AI after a 2 hour game last night, and got to kick some pirate booty (heh) as well!
Decided to throw my hat in the ring and downloaded it and have been playing it for a couple of hours. It’s interesting, although it’s strange playing a game like this in real time. Still getting my head around how to play strategically, but it’s a lot of fun.
I definitely don’t recommend this game to anyone who wants to get some sleep any time in the near future. This game has kept me up past 2am since I got it…and last night I told myself ‘Definitely going to bed at midnight…latest!’. Just one more raid. Just one more planet to take. Looked at the clock expecting it to be around 1ish…and it was 5:30am. Just in time to get up to go to work!
-XT
you are going to kick my ass.
You’re so fucked.
I may have to get this game as well. I’ll find a way to exploit the AI like I usually do.