http://pc.ign.com/objects/775/775249.html

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/sinsof...=result;title;0

This is 1 of the games of 2008 i'm actually looking forward to, based on the beta reviews and previews by various game sites.

From what I read, it's kinda of a hybrid between Homeworld/Homeworld 2 and Galactic Civilization

But the thing is, local distributors do not even list the game yet even though the release is already scheduled for next monday....

Give some thoughts bout this game if you want

Hmm I'll wait and see the reviews and youtubes.

Yeah,this is one of the games im also waiting for.Looks good and the developers had work with Relic to create HW:C.

Actually there has been very good feedback from those who played the beta. They say the game really is good and the real time element in a 4X game works quite well...They pulled it off well... and check this out:

Minimum Requirements:

* Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista
* 1.8 GHz Single-Core Processor
* 512 MB RAM (1 GB for Windows Vista)
* 128 MB DirectX 9 3D Video Card (Radeon 9600 / GeForce FX 6600 and above)
* DirectX 9.0c Compatible Sound Card
* DVD-ROM Drive
* 3 GB Hard Drive Space
* Keyboard and Mouse
* DirectX 9.0c

Recommended Requirements:

* 2.2 GHz Dual- or Quad-Core Processor
* 1 GB RAM (2 GB for Windows Vista)
* 256 MB DirectX 9 3D Video Card (Radeon X1600 / GeForce 7600 and above)

The minimum requirement is really good and the game runs very well on older systems Unfortunately the bad news is that i have not seen any local retailer/distributer listing this game yet!!! Its not in the catalogue for both TSB and pcgame.com.my!!!!!!!!!!

3GB hard disk space?They must be joking.It's so little for today's game standard.

Even my old com can run this game.Awesome.Hope my new rig can take it in medium-full.

I just hope it comes with Artificial Intelligent,not Artificial Idiots.

well stardock is famous for their galactic civilization series....
so i'm really looking forward to this game, as it's now married to my favorite space rts 10 years back or so in homeworld/homeworld 2
tat 2 games was really revolutionary at that time as it introduced 3d movement system, and had a really got story line to boot

wat type of game is this?

It's more like a strategy game.

Really look forward to it since it tries to innovate RTS genre.

More like chess type?Or fast action like Dow and Tiberium wars

Not really sure but im quite sure than it's a more slow paced like Homeworld style.Read the previews for a better idea of what is it.

Not sure if this one will reach our shores

also, reviews said everything in game will happens in real time....
won't want to be caught in a situation where my main fleet is off attacking some planets, then my homeworld kena attack by enemy in the same time...
warping also takes time and is not an instant action

is it possible to ask TSB to bring it in?
seems like they only bring games from major game publishing companies

if this is the case, probably i'll need to resort to internet for it first,then get it if it evers come to malaysia
this game might have online component, but with the scale described, a game itself might be pretty long, especially if many planets are involved

For now we can only resort to digital distribution. Stardock has their own store:
http://www.sinsofasolarempire.com/store.aspx

Its US$49.95...I might get it that way....I no credit card lah so i need to use other peoples one Oh forgot to mention too that Stardock will not use any copy protection stuff on this game too! If only more publishers did this.


http://blogs.ign.com/Stardock_Games/2008/02/01/79094/
ON MINIMUM REQUIREMENT

Friday, February 01, 2008

Upgrades
I used to always have a state of the art computer. Every year, I upgraded. But then, one day, I realized I was only doing it because some computer game was forcing me to. I think in hindsight I could justify it because there truly was a huge graphical improvement in the shift from 2D sprite games to real 3D games. The difference between Doom and Quake3D on my Voodoo 2 card, was pretty huge. But nowadays, I just can't justify the expense of upgrading just because some new game has some fancy particle system. Why can't the game just be smart enough to go without it? While most games do have options to reduce the graphics quality, the results still end up requiring the user to have some monster machine all too often just to play the thing. With Sins of a Solar Empire, we want as many people as possible to be able to play the game without having to upgrade anything.



Sins of a Solar Empire is a strategy game. It's a real-time strategy for sure but its goal is to also appeal to as wide a range of gamers as possible. That means the game should be satisfying for grognards with older machines who would be perfectly happy if the game played with just icons on a grid all the way to users who have mega machines who want to see individual missiles shooting out of frigates in a huge epic Battlestar Galactica-like battle.

Now, in the case of Sins, the engine was designed from scratch to support a much wider range of hardware than is typical. Part of the reason for this was pretty straight forward - Stardock and Ironclad didn't want to have to upgrade everyone's machines to some monster setup to develop and test the game. But the bigger reason is this: Sales. Actual sales numbers of different games are not often reported. But there are ways of finding out within a reasonable margin of error how well a given game sold. The dirty secret of the PC game industry is that games with high hardware requirements don't sell nearly as well as games with more modest requirements. And as an indie, we need every gamer we can get. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking that there's necessarily some correlation between what gets covered in game magazines and how well that game actually has sold. Some of the biggest name PC games have with high hardware requirements have sold very low quantities on the PC. You just don't hear about it. And for us, our goal isn't to be the coolest developer. We want as many people as possible to buy our game.

There's also the multiplayer element to consider. Sins of a Solar Empire has a really impressive single player experience, especially for an RTS. But we want to make sure that we can get critical mass in terms of multiplayer. That means making sure as many potential gamers as possible can play the game. That means the game should run great if you have say a Geforce 6x level card. My ThinkPad T40 plays it (ATI 9600 era card). That's what I used to demo the game when I visited PC Gamer and GfW last year. When we release the demo in March, one of the big goals of it will be to let people who have really marginal systems be able to take a crack at it to see if they can play it. That's because our official minimum requirements are quite a bit higher than they need to be so those who are below the minimum will be able to try out the demo and decide for themselves.



At the end of the day the question strategy gamers have to ask is: Is it really a good game? Is it fun? With Sins, I think the answer is yes. It has great graphics for those who have mega hardware but even for those with aging machines, the game plays well and still looks pretty good (as good as the state of the art games did when they bought their machines).

Also this is quite a handy post about how a game in Sins will be like with pictures too:
http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/index.aspx?aid=174538

I might get this game. I have Galciv II Dark Avatar from stardock, and its pretty awesome single player. I hope Brad Wardell makes sure Sin lives up to Galciv cunning AI.

thanks for the internet link
i was considering bt earlier, but if there's a digital download, tat's all the better
but then i'll be missing all the physical manual, box etc which comes with the boxset

nice graphic with low hardware requirement

is this game already available in other country and malaysia too?

Feb 4th(US i presume) is the release date...no plans of release in Malaysia yet...

Is there any demos released?

This game seems to be damn good.

Quoted from a Stardock Employee:


From this thread:
http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/?aid=174481

What do they they mean by trouble?

I think he was merely replying to the notion that some people will take the liberty to pirate the game to 'try' it out. LOL no real trouble lah...he was just being dramatic...what did you expect developers to say about people pirating their game.

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Added on February 3, 2008, 10:46 pmSome Sins of a solar empire lore for you guys...all from the official website..


The Story So Far...

10,000 Years Ago
The Vasari Empire ruled over countless worlds. Relentless and unstoppable, the Dark Fleet sought to eclipse ever more until a cataclysmic error brought it all to an abrupt end. With their worlds destroyed and their species all but wiped out, the survivors began a desperate race to outrun their past.


100 Years Ago
During the formation of the Trade Order, emissaries found a single world orbiting a giant red star on the periphery of what was to become Trader Space. The people of that desert planet were eventually found to be practicing the utmost in scientific and social deviancy; ancient taboos long since assumed to be law. Shocked and disgusted, the Trader Worlds conspired to have their forgotten brethren exiled far outside the territory they were claiming as their own.


10 Years Ago
The Trader Worlds prospered in an era of lucrative trade and relative peace. Stories of their ancestor's wars had long since passed into the depths of the oldest archives; the methods and machines by which they conducted those affairs long since buried. Consequently, when the Vasari Exodus Fleet arrived, the outlying Trader Worlds paid dearly.

In a battle for survival, the Traders find a new impetus to rediscover the ways of their savage past.


Now
The Exiled have returned; a transformed people calling themselves "The Advent". With a vast fleet of advanced warships and mysterious weapons, they bring a growing number of worlds under their control. The already struggling Trader Emergency Coalition finds itself caught in a two-front war that appears utterly hopeless.

The fate of the galaxy is at hand and one must rise to face the Sins of a Solar Empire.


The Faction In Sins



Trader Emergency Coalition


The Trader Worlds Enjoyed a golden era of lucrative trade and relative peace under the strict guidelines of the interplanetary Trade Order. They had forgotten their ancient history of war and replaced it with a future of endless prosperity. The arrival of the Vasari caught the Traders completely unprepared.

Advance exploratory waves from the Vasari Exodus Fleet, hastily crushed and colonized over a dozen worlds. Political infighting amongst the Trade Order representatives and the independent Opulentsia, delayed the first military response by months. Finally, they sent everything they had to repel the invaders; a cobbled band of ships designed to combat piracy. The untrained, undisciplined, and poorly equipped crews met a swift demise.

Disasters continued for years but, the resilient Traders slowly learned to apply their perfection of the economic engine into an ever more powerful war machine. Factories, trade routes, and savvy businessmen were now one with star bases, supply lines and master tacticians.

Unfortunately, the disastrously poor cohesion of the independently operated planetary fleets often negated this progress. As the Vasari approached the central worlds, it became clear that their advance could not be stopped without higher levels of coordination. The Trade Order could not fulfill this role because its mandate forbade interference with the sovereign rights of the member planets. Thus, the Trader Emergency Coalition (TEC) formed despite strong opposition to the loss of planetary autonomy.

United under one authority, the TEC finally stalled the Vasari advancement, but the reprieve was brief. Their deviant brethren, exiled one-thousand years ago, have returned with a colossal fleet of sophisticated war ships and now wreak havoc across the undefended sectors. With their entire force dedicated to maintaining the Vasari line, the TEC faces a near hopeless dilemma.


The Vasari


The ancient Vasari Empire once ruled over countless worlds. Beginning at the galactic core, the empire expanded uniformly, brought hundreds of alien races under its control, and showed no signs of slowing down.

Most species encountered were young enough to be subjugated peacefully, although, some resisted and were harshly enslaved. Those who had expanded into space were quickly exterminated. Once conquered, most species were integrated into the Vasari social structure as "valued citizens". The Vasari locked each planet down and ruled from vast orbital structures, finding a minimal surface presence more effective for both production and the minimization of rebellion.

When the first of the inner planets fell, analysts initially assumed that the local species had somehow managed to rebel. They immediately requested a wing of the Dark Fleet to restore order but no status reports were ever received. Instead, three more planets dropped from the communications grid. The probability of multiple, simultaneous, and successful rebellions was exceptionally remote. Internal Intelligence concluded that a renegade force from within the Vasari engineered a revolt. As deliberations proceeded on how best to deal with the traitorous acts, another series of planets were lost, including their world of origin. The unknown enemy's rate of expansion far exceeded even that of the entire Dark Fleet. As a last resort, the Dark Fleet Veerr brought the bulk of their forces back from the expansionary frontier and massed for a blind assault on whatever was eating its way out from the central worlds.

The inhabitants of a perimeter planet were surprised when a single warship of the Dark Fleet appeared out of Phase Space bearing signs of heavy damage. Their curiosity and confusion quickly gave way to fear when they boarded the ship and found the crew apparently mad with terror.

In a rare act of autonomy, the colony decided it would be best to take precautions and temporarily evacuate to a system far from the Empire.

The refugees waited for signs of a safe return but instead, the signal from their warning beacons ceased. The lifetimes of the warning beacons were used to estimate the speed of the threat. It would not be long before their current position would be compromised. Additional beacons were placed at their current location and the group moved on to a considerably further destination.

Settling for a time, the refugees started to build colonies, construct new ships, and extract resources. Ultimately, their goal was to uncover the nature of the threat, to research technologies that might aid in its destruction, and to restore the rule of the Empire.

For the next ten thousand years this pattern would repeat - the growing Vasari Exodus Fleet only ever a generation ahead of the relentless, unknown enemy.

When the Vasari arrived in Trader Space ten years ago, they were confident in their ability to quickly deal with the locals. Initially, the victories were painless - the scouts alone procured the initial settlements - but as time went on it became clear that the local space-faring species would not be so easy to eliminate.

Now, the Vasari are caught in a stalemate, and in some positions, on the verge of being pushed back. A state of panic ensues. Already too entrenched in this disastrous war, the Vasari are simply unable to withdraw without catastrophic losses. Even worse, the conflict is consuming resources faster than can be put into the reserve. They will not be able to fuel the next phase of their exodus and time is running out.


The Advent


The origins of the Advent began well before recorded history. It is said they began as one of many broken peoples who sought spiritual escape on peripheral worlds following the great wars.

The earliest known records trace back to the formation of the Trade Order. At its inception, the Order sent emissaries to recruit all known inhabited planets into the organization. One such group discovered a single desert world orbiting a massive red star surprisingly populated by a thriving civilization. Excited by the profitability of this potential market, the Order authorized immediate integration and the emissaries initiated contact. The representatives of the planet decidedly rejected the membership offer.

Not willing to accept failure, the Order sent a series of market research teams to acquire data that could be used to formulate a more elaborate strategy. They received a single, incomplete report containing disturbing information.

Shocking acts of deviancy, at every level of society, violated the venerable taboos common to all the Trader Worlds. Sinful cerebral integration technologies, unrestricted biological experimentation, strange forms of collectivism, and the wholesale usage of countless neurochemicals were but a few of the transgressions.

The Trader Worlds overwhelmingly voted that such an aberration had no place within the territories of their new Order. With an instinctive fear, the Traders took control of the planet by force and exiled the inhabitants far into uncharted space.

The exiles would integrate the story of their origins into myths and prophecies. They believed that their destiny was to exact retribution and assume their rightful place in the galaxy. One thousand years later, when it became clear that the rare and precious resources that empowered their unique way of life approached exhaustion, the society unanimously decided to return their original home and fulfill their prophecies.

Oh my gawd,i want this game.

Any idea how good is the game's ai?Is it really smart and cunning or it's dumb as hell?

If this game comes with a really kick ass ai,im gonna buy this game.It's as perfect as it seems now,other than the ai.

I have to admit...i have not read many previews talking about AI but i manegaed to find this one:


This is from this preview overhere:
http://gaming.tweaktown.com/articles/874/s...view/index.html

Now i know i cant say this for sure for Sins but GalCiv 2 -> best damn AI in strategy gaming...ask anyone who has played GalCiv2 and they will say the same thing...ANd the best thing about GalCiv was that Stardock continued to improve the AI even after release( i think for a very long time)...But dont make the mistake to think Sins is a faced paced RTS...it is not...Developers have said this...they are not fans of rushes...

yeah yeah yeah.. the Ai in Galciv is cunning. And Ironclad is also getting help from the Galciv team to build Sins. Not to mention also that the guy would produced Sins is the very person that originally made Galciv.

Some of the things that I see the AI do in Galciv2.

1) Cripling your economy when they cannot fight you face to face by pirating your trade routes.
2) Secretly helping you, when they don't want one of their alliance to win out right.
3) Bribing you to attack other civilization with money, techs and even ships.
3.5) Vice versa, they also bribe others to fight you. While maintainning close relation with your empire.
4) THey also trade techs to get ahead in technology amongs themselves or you.
5) Extort money and tech from you, when they see that you are weak.
6) Gang up on a civ so that they are not too powerful. Don't worry they also ask you to join the gang if you are not the one they are targeting.
7) Actually feels treaten by you if you start amassing armada of ships near their border or gets to powerful.
8) Designs ships that are effective in combat. eg. if you have weapon A, they will churn out ships that have defense against weapon A when going to war with you.
9) Kawtow to you to show that they want to avoid war with you with gifts: money.

But Galciv does not have a tactical combat between ships. And Sin of the solar empire does. So we really don't know how good the Ai for tactical ship combat gonna be till its out. But Stardock is awesome at improving their AI over time because their policy with these sort of space games is that the Ai has to be good, but yet not cheat.

I'm gonna wait this one out and see how it goes after a month. But Stardock is definitely the best space empire games developer / producer out there, so my hope are high and good about this game if Galciv are any indication.

Truly a successor of the Master of Orion, in spirit if not in name.

its allready out at local shop ?

Has anyone tried this game yet?

I am a Homeworld fan, I have all the original version of Homeworld 1, Homeworld: Cataylsm and Homeworld 2.

I heard this game was design by some of the people who previously work in Relic designing the first Homeworld.

No...and it will probably be a long time before you will see it...



Not yet( i might get it after chinese new year)...I dont think you should think this game as an RTS...its not a fast game...the starting phase is quite slow...While it may seem like in the spirit of homeworld...it moves much slower because of the scope of the game..

First review on the net:
http://www.gamedaily.com/games/sins-of-a-s...view/5553/1948/

gamespot one.
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/sinsof...ten;all;title;3

well, it's been released two days ago.


and stardock.. wtf?

out already dunno if local shop got it..

i saw someone post its iso around 1gb only..rofl...

any demo available for download?

that's the funny thing, they dun have demo before release, and 1 of the staff posted recently in the forum they will release demo later, which is after the main game is released....

well, at least after ppl test the demo, they can straight buy it without need to wait

IIRC 1 month after release

Thing is...we dont know when the retail version will reace our shores...Probably we can try the demo out before that...hopefully someone distributes it here...or you guys can get it through the stardock store digital download version now.

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Added on February 7, 2008, 1:36 amPC World Editor get hooked to Sins:
http://blogs.pcworld.com/gameon/archives/006444.html

does it have a storyline or something?
or free play lik galactic civilization?

Unfortunately no campaign...there is a story behind the lore of the game...well i posted that earlier...skirmish games...just as fun because you know the AI is quite interesting to play with unlike many other game..

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Added on February 7, 2008, 2:58 amGamespy 'out of the box' first look:
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/sins-of-a-solar-e...e/849840p1.html

Any idea is it'll somehow make way into this year's WCG?

LOL... ...Its more for people who like Civilisation type of strategy game...in other words turn based strategy games...The game takes very long to complete so its not practical for competitive gaming.

not funny but strange how come the full version release then release the demo?? who will try that demo o???

Those who wanna try and find out what the game is like b4 buying. Iraonclad admitted they cannot release the game and the demo at the same time as they do not have man power to do it. Plus they rather concerntrate on making sure the finish product is in shipshape form before selling it to public. I think that better than trying impress people with fancy demo but putting out a buggy game or delaying the game months later.

Besides this game been on public Beta test close to a year already with people posting about it everywhere including you-tube because they don't make the Beta tester sign a non-disclosure to prevent leaks. They intentionally leak it so that the public can judge it themselves even during Beta test. If they are so ashamed of their game that they don't wanna put a demo out before game release why do they even allow public beta test, and leak it some more.

Dude, this game won't please everyone especially those require fast action. But its definitely diffferent than you stock 4X space games.

Shacknews Review:
http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=767&page=1

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Added on February 8, 2008, 3:15 amI bought it...and just had a session and time flew by and i spent 3 hours not noticing...man Im sleepy...I'll give my review of it later...

For now...all i can saw is this game is bloody amazing!

Okay so i finally after much deliberation got the game...I must say Im not disapointed at all.. anyway my review of Sins of a Solar Empire!:

So Sins of a Solar Empire as you all know is an epic RTS + 4X game(I dont quite agree on this...I'll explain later why). It is developed by Ironclad(many of whom were in the Homeworld team) and publish by Stardock(The guys that did Galactic Civilisations 2). These are not huge comapnies that pour millions into a game production and marketing but the game has been in development for a very very long time...it was supposed to have been released back in 06.

So what has happened in that 2 years of delay you ask? Well alot! Sins now is more polished and it is quite practical. WHen you think on the outset of making a 4X game real time, it would be a nightmare controlling everything...but these guys have done a great job with th UI and the gameplay that it is quite playable.

So let me get into the gist of the review. Keep in mind so far I've only done small maps of 9 planets and another one 12 planets with just a single AI opponent.


Gameplay:
-------------
Okay lets get this out of the way. There is no single player 'campaign' like with a story etc. That is disapointing but the single player skirmishes are still awesome. They have included a ton of maps and it will probably take a normal human being a long long time to finish everyone of of them. The maps are grouped into small, medium and large maps small ranging from 9 planets and large 6/7 stars 67 planets( I have not seen a larger one and imnot sure how big the map can get). You can have an endless choice to play from as each map may have their own little secret and you may find yourself developing specific strategies for each maps based on how the planets are connected to each other. So single player and multiplayer is using the same gamplay mechanic. The only thing different about it is that in multiplayer you get a lobby and play with other humans(unsurprisingly). I'll get to multi later...

So you go into single player pick the map, race your AI opponents or you can randomise it all then get into a game. You will start out on your homeworld with two contructors and a frigate constructor with no defense! So you will eventually need to build out your scouts and send them out and some defense. There are gameplay limits to things like fleet size and even building you can build that can be increased by researching or building proper things in your planet. What is really cool is that if you want to build say a light frigate, there are multiple ways for you to do that. You can click on the frigate contructor or your planet and select it. The frigate constructor still builds it but its a cool UI design that doesnt force you to look for a particular unit if you want to build a particular thing. very smart.

There are three resources in the game, credits, metal and crystal. You get credit buy selling stuff over the black market, tax, trade etc metal and crystal by mining asteroids. Credits ties to almost everything, crystal to research and metal to ship building(you still have to pay credits for each of these...you got to pay the fellow working there right!).

So whtever you can do and build is very much tied to your research tree and let me tell ya its a big one. The tree is not large its just segmented into many different research trees. There are 4 different research trees. One is Civil research tree(planet improvements etc), hostility tree(war stuff), fleet management( you unit count and capital ship), and artifact( a special tree that is connected to artifacts you find on planet) Each of this tree is dividved into a few sub categories so yeah it is big.

So you got all these thing...what you have to do is go out and expand...colonise new planets(there are a few basic types of planets and you need to research how to colonise them) and once colonised you can build stuff in their gravity well. The gravity well is this circle surrounding your planet and all action happens in them. You travel in between planets using phase lines which are these lines that connects planets.

So part from the planet building and research you also have battles....these are real time now and are not as tactical as say Company of Heroes but can be just as fun. There is no directional damage( attacking on the rear more dmage etc) and there is no targetting specific parts of a capital ship(like in empire at war you can target the engines etc). But flanking and attacking the rear does give you a very slight advantage as you attack the side of the enemy that has no guns...so you get in more shots before they fire at you. Also not forgetting those capital ships...these will be the backbone of your army...and yes there is an experience levelling thing going on where you can level them up with more experience and they get special abilities that can and will be vital in battles.

Now as you can say there is a lot of gameplay and i dont think i even scratched the surface with all of these. I dont think i can write out everything. okay so lets go onto AI...which has been what most people here want to know. The AI is impressive just like in Galciv 2! On a strategic layer the AI(if played with more than one) will gang up on powerful empires, can be sneaky by making temporary alliance and waging wars by diplomatically getting other factions into war. On a tactical side...i must say its still very good. For instance i had this experience where one of my planets was attack by an Advent ship, a Battlecruiser and a seeker and i had no defense there. So i warped in my fleet from my home planet(a capital ship and 6 light frigates). As soon as i warped in i pounded them. They were outnumbered and outclassed...Here is where it gets interesting...the enemy battlecruisers knowing its end is near actually used an ion blast(special ability) on my capital ship and disabled my capital ship! Then it ran for its life away from my planet...light frigate dont do much damage and with my capital ship temporarily disabled it managed to make its getaway! Im impressed....and thats just with one AI...and I have NOT won a single game yet...its tough...

Now something must be said about the pirates in this game. The way they impement it is a bit different. A pirate raid in this game is always immenent the question is just on whom. So there is this screen where everyone tries to put bid on other factions head(put a bounty on the heads) so that the pirate will go for the on with the highest bounty on the head. This makes the games a bit more urgency most of the time as you try to outbid your opponents and sometime you find you dont have enough credit then you have to plan for the pirate raid..it defenitely wont be to everyones liking and many might find this irritating...as of right now...there all maps in the game have pirates in them...and Ironclad has already said their next update will include news maps without pirates.

There is definetely a learning curve and you will take your time to learn it..but once you get it...its hard to out it down.

Now back to the multiplayer. This game is very long...and a short game in a small map can take 2 hours and above...not your typical RTS game length. This is what makes it not a one round only multiplayer experience like WiC is. but thats not what you get this game for. The game is fun if you play with a group of friends where you can continue your game by saving an ONLINE GAME! thats a first! As off right now...its okay...it will probably get better if you can find a dedicated group of gamers that wont drop out of a long match or will continue playing the game with ouy...so if can...get a group of friends.


Graphics
----------
The graphics look clean and the map has a lot of detail. Like the little vehicles thet travels over the atmosphere of your planet. The planets look awesome abd have a lot of tiny details like that. The ships look good. Overall the graphics i would say is good but not stunning like what Crysis is. But the fact that it runs smoothly is impressive.

Sound
--------
The sound in the game is excellent. Its not to the par of what Total War games are....but its still pretty dran good. With the music rising up in battles etc.

UI
---
The user interface is pure genius. The empire tree makes it easy to manage a large empire and surprisingly it actually works. For such a large game...it is surprisingly accesible.

Support
----------
In Stardock tradition...this game will be well supported by the developers for sometime. There is already plans for a 1.2 update already and mod tools and map making tools like the glaxy forge have been available for download for everyone. There will be new maps and mods for sure. The AI will also be tweaked with time.


Summary : Im really loving this game. It reminds me of Shogun Total War and the Civilisations game. Where i got hooked and played for hours without realising the time. It reminds me of Shogun because it was such a wonderful game as i have never really had anything close to that. It gives me that kinda experience. It may not be for everyone. But it is definetely for me.

9/10

Note : I dont quite agree with the RTS tag as it can confuse certain people who seem to think this is comparable to say the Starcraft type of game or COH. The game is real time but it is not like those RTS. You would be more accurate to think about this game like and actual 4X game or a Civilisation game. The game is longgggg because its is RT4X.

I'm 60% sold on this.

Eh? How did you buy it? Through stardock or local retailer?

There is no local retailer yet...Stardock store is the way to go...There have been some small first impression on the net and its many have been extremely impressed by the game...

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Added on February 8, 2008, 5:12 pmI'll take some screenshots and post it later about the different gameplay mechanics in the game...

the game is freaking hard, and i hate the pirate , damn u pirate !!!!!!

so its like Master of Orion + Total War?

Hmmm...not really since total war is turn based and the battles happen as a separate thing...This ones more like Galciv + homeworld

just started downloading it from stardock, hope to play it by tonite, since i got tons of things to dl besides this

+ Supreme Commander