2008 Strategy Game of the Year - Sins of a Solar Empire

Island Dog wrote:
Stele wrote:

Huh so even if you buy it from their site you will get a Steam code? Are they going Steamworks? That would be incredible for matchmaking.

Yes to both questions.

Oh hell yes.

The GWJ SoaSE Steam group just got way more important.

Stele wrote:
Island Dog wrote:
Stele wrote:

Huh so even if you buy it from their site you will get a Steam code? Are they going Steamworks? That would be incredible for matchmaking.

Yes to both questions.

Oh hell yes.

The GWJ SoaSE Steam group just got way more important. ;)

IMAGE(http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn50/ColdstreamGWJ/Imin.jpg)

I'm looking forward to the return of Saturday Sins so Kazar and I can mass LRMs again.

Xeknos wrote:

I'm looking forward to the return of Saturday Sins so Kazar and I can mass LRMs again.

So am I! Your Saturday mornings are my Saturday nights I get to play with you guys!

Xeknos wrote:

I'm looking forward to the return of Saturday Sins so Kazar and I can mass LRMs again.

I started with the light frigate spam, then realized that LRMs were better. I still remember that first game where I got owned by the other team and was able to borrow a planet from an ally to keep myself in the game. Since I had no room for military and civic structures, all I could build was light frigates. So I build 100 of them

kazar wrote:
Xeknos wrote:

I'm looking forward to the return of Saturday Sins so Kazar and I can mass LRMs again.

I started with the light frigate spam, then realized that LRMs were better. I still remember that first game where I got owned by the other team and was able to borrow a planet from an ally to keep myself in the game. Since I had no room for military and civic structures, all I could build was light frigates. So I build 100 of them :)

I remember. We called it the Purple Storm.

I'm lookin forward to gettin in on some games now that I have Saturdays off.

To anybody who is looking forward to the beta.

Might want to clear your calendars in early March......

I may of missed the first time you all got to play this game every saturday, but not this time. This time I will be here waiting, waiting to play each and every one of you for control of the galaxy!

*As long as your name is not Jam3 because that guy is just plain out scary macro deity.

You guys see this? Ironclad working on a free-to-play fantasy RTS hybrid thing.

Island Dog wrote:

To anybody who is looking forward to the beta.

Might want to clear your calendars in early March......

Calendar cleared.

Tigerbill wrote:
Island Dog wrote:

To anybody who is looking forward to the beta.

Might want to clear your calendars in early March......

Calendar cleared. :)

Will Wurm Online be down?

oilypenguin wrote:
Tigerbill wrote:
Island Dog wrote:

To anybody who is looking forward to the beta.

Might want to clear your calendars in early March......

Calendar cleared. :)

Will Wurm Online be down?

Quiet you!

So, I just pulled Trinity out the other day after buying it on sale a while back. Any tips for a noob about to fumble around in SP?

The tutorials do a good job of setting up the basic idea, but I imagine I'll need to dig deep in the shortcuts menu if I ever want to try MP.

Kloreep wrote:

So, I just pulled Trinity out the other day after buying it on sale a while back. Any tips for a noob about to fumble around in SP?

The tutorials do a good job of setting up the basic idea, but I imagine I'll need to dig deep in the shortcuts menu if I ever want to try MP. :)

First time out, I'd choose a map with a single opposing force, set to the easiest AI level. This will let give you all the time and space you need to mess about with ships, buildings, fleets, etc. without having to actively worry about the AI stomping you. Figure out what style you like (economic, defensive, offensive) and then start figuring out strategies for more challenging opponents. Build order isn't terribly important, IMO, but generally most people make their first (free!) capital ship a colony ship, scrap the cap ship building immediately after the free cap ship is built (to get back those resources), and send out scouts on auto-explore right away. Upgrade planets as quickly as possible, so they're not an economic drain (it's actually possible to screw yourself over and get a negative income with too many new planets too quickly). I like having pirates attack me, as it levels up my cap ships. Other than that, have fun.

It's been so long since I've played, I will probably have no idea what I'm doing when I fire up Rebellion.

BadKen wrote:

It's been so long since I've played, I will probably have no idea what I'm doing when I fire up Rebellion.

And yet somehow I'll still be cursing your name on Saturdays.

Coldstream wrote:

Figure out what style you like (economic, defensive, offensive)

Wouldn't economic and defensive be the same thing? I'm not seeing more strategies than the basic "build up" vs. "build out" at the moment.

BTW, on economy: Am I correct in thinking that Allegiance only affects population-based (tax) credits income? Nothing else?

Coldstream wrote:

Build order isn't terribly important, IMO, but generally most people make their first (free!) capital ship a colony ship, scrap the cap ship building immediately after the free cap ship is built (to get back those resources)

I didn't try building a cap ship in the quick screw-around game I played. By "free," do you mean you're literally awarded a free initial cap ship if you build the factory? Or are you only referring to the fact that you can support one cap ship without further research, and both the factory and ship itself still require normal building resources & time?

Also, why's it so important to have a capital colony ship? It seems I can build colony frigates right away. Does a capital colonizer start colonies off in a more advanced state or somesuch?

Coldstream wrote:

send out scouts on auto-explore right away.

"auto-explore," you say. I must find this button...

At the beginning of the game, you get 1 free Cap ship if you build the factory. It's usually the Colony ship because you can send it with very little support and get a colony. An added bonus is that it gains XP and upgrades the quality of colinization i.e. lvl 2 Colonization starts you off with 1 free mining facility automatically and so on. But all five are available. Some people scrap it. I keep it around.

As for auto explore, all you need to do is right-click on most abilities to set them to auto. Be careful with auto colonize, though. Your ship will immediately colonize the planet even if you haven't killed off the neutral seige ships and most certainly lose it right after.

Economic is not the same as defensive. There are very specific tech trees for econ that allow for more efficient money making/resource gathering. This allows you to pay for whatever stratagy you feel is better which makes it ideal for learning the game. It's easier to pay for more stuff and find out what you like. Also for making your fleet of LRM spam to blot out the sun. For econ, TEC is best because they get trade ports early which is a huge boon on credit income so you can spam LRM to strike terror in the hearts of your enemies. If you find you like aggressive, make 4 ship and go get 'em NOW style, Vasaari are the race for you. They actually benefit more from extending early. The Advent have these little ships that kill your framerate by deploying these sheilds so I tend to view them as more defensive. In summation, I find TEC good for econ, Vasaari good for agression, and Advent good for Defense.

Kloreep wrote:

Wouldn't economic and defensive be the same thing? I'm not seeing more strategies than the basic "build up" vs. "build out" at the moment.

BTW, on economy: Am I correct in thinking that Allegiance only affects population-based (tax) credits income? Nothing else?

Allegiance (or lack thereof) acts as a tax on all income (credits, metal, crystal). If you hover your mouse cursor over the values up at the top of the screen showing you have much you have of each, it will drop down a list showing you how much income each planet is giving you. It will also show you how much is being lost in fleet upkeep. With respect to your other question, no, they're not the same thing. While each faction is capable of pursuing any strategy, each has a focus that it's best at. TEC is economically focused, with many of the civilian research tree options giving early/improved resource gathering. Advent is defensively focused, with research options that give bonuses for ships in controlled zones and for synergy between various structures/ships. Vasari is offensively focused, with early research options for smaller, nastier vessels.

This was especially true in the vanilla game. The expansions, especially Entrenchment, introduced substantial defensive options (such as starbases) for each faction. Probably the best way for you to figure each faction out is to sit for a bit and browse their various research trees. You'll quickly see the focus of each faction. From what I've seen of the beta, it looks like Rebellion is going to complicate the picture even more, with each faction getting a defensive/offensive option beyond its baseline tendency.

Kloreep wrote:

I didn't try building a cap ship in the quick screw-around game I played. By "free," do you mean you're literally awarded a free initial cap ship if you build the factory? Or are you only referring to the fact that you can support one cap ship without further research, and both the factory and ship itself still require normal building resources & time?

Also, why's it so important to have a capital colony ship? It seems I can build colony frigates right away. Does a capital colonizer start colonies off in a more advanced state or somesuch?

So yes, you get a completely resource-free capital ship you can build at the beginning of the game. In general, it's about how you want to use your resources. Some folks will use the capital ship coloniser because it's tough enough with a couple of small support ships to immediately start clearing out planets/moons, and usually has some nice defensive bonuses. Other folks will build out an offensive capital ship immediately and build a colony ship to come along in its wake. Both are entirely valid strategies.

Kloreep wrote:

"auto-explore," you say. I must find this button...

Click on one of your scouts and look down at the bottom right for its options. You'll see Explore as one of them. Right click on it to set it to auto. Generally, right-clicking on any ability will make it automatic if it's possible to do so. You can do a similar thing for most cruiser and capital ship abilities.

For what it's worth, if you're around tomorrow evening or over the weekend, I'd be delighted to get into vent with you and walk you through some of the basics in a 1v1 or 2v2 comp-stomp. It's something we've done for each other from the very beginning of Saturday Sins, and it's a lot of fun. I'm sure many of the other Sins players here would be happy to do the same.

Thanks for all the answers.

Coldstream wrote:

For what it's worth, if you're around tomorrow evening or over the weekend, I'd be delighted to get into vent with you and walk you through some of the basics in a 1v1 or 2v2 comp-stomp. It's something we've done for each other from the very beginning of Saturday Sins, and it's a lot of fun. I'm sure many of the other Sins players here would be happy to do the same.

I'm sure I'll be around some this weekend, a comp stomp would definitely be cool.

Speaking of which, I still need to figure out Vent. I have it installed, but my attempt to connect to the GWJ server was not a success.

Edit: And here I figured there was something I actually wasn't getting about Vent setup... nope, just Chuck "Typo" Testa.

I'll be getting some work done on my motorcycle earlier in the day, but I should be around on Steam for the rest of the day tomorrow. Give me a shout whenever, and we'll do a comp-stomp to really help you get your feet under you!

Went ahead and got Rebellion. Haven't tried the beta. Anyone been playing the recent betas? How's it coming along?

Kloreep wrote:

Went ahead and got Rebellion. Haven't tried the beta. Anyone been playing the recent betas? How's it coming along?

there is a few sound fx bugs to fix...and they need to balance the new ships to the older ones, but otherwise its pretty good. I love the new AI. They change their routes to your backfield depending on how fortified you are. Plus, they know exactly when to pump the pirates to come after you. The pirates can be a pain if you dont watch out. Overall, its pretty good.

Kloreep wrote:

Went ahead and got Rebellion. Haven't tried the beta. Anyone been playing the recent betas? How's it coming along?

Rebellion thread.

I don't know which Sins thread I should post this:

I need a good beginner's guide cause the tutorials suck. Can anyone point out one to me? Youtube or text I don't care. Agh. Lost five games to the AI already.

The AI is brutal, even on easy/normal. I find that I have to pause a lot to plan. Which probably means I would really get trounced against people. But I don't feel like it's cheating against the AI. They may not be perfect strategists, but they certainly work a lot quicker than I do, trying to remember commands, and search research trees, and so on.

Although that tends to make games last several hours... so it's not exactly a great solution. But I certainly can beat the CPU most times, grueling though it may be.

Hmm, I love playing this game against humans in person, but our games can last days since most of us are turtles. Usually ten hours in we seek to end it and freeze the host with 4 maxed out fleets fighting in one planet well. This happens to us in supreme commander a lot to, though in that the long range weapons of mass destruction are more effective. Sins long range cannons have always felt weak to me compared to other games.

Late to the game, but I just picked up Trinity. Going to poke at it when not sucked into Dragon's Dogma or DayZ. If it goes well, perhaps I'll move on to Rebellion. Would love to play some of what I've just bought with fellow Goodjers, however.

I promise not to be all mil-simmy.

Anyone up for a game today?