Sins of a Solar Empire... wow.

[JJJ]

Hey,

Its not retro-related but I had to pass on some impressions of Sins of a Solar Empire. Its a PC RTS/4X hybrid by Stardock. I picked it up online from Stardock for $30.

This is an incredible game. I am not a fan of RTS games. I am a huge fan of Master of Orion-type 4X games. But Sins manages to really bridge the gap between them. The best thing about this game is you don't *need* to micromanage your forces. You can assemble a fleet, give it orders to attack an enemy's planet, and basically assume that the AI won't f*ck things up.

The tech tree is very deep and there seems to be quite a few different strategies to pursue.

Has anyone else picked this up? Thoughts?

[fast]

I played it right when it came out. At the time it was right click only which really threw me for a loop. If they added in left click I will go pick it up, right after Demigod.

[JJJ]

How do you mean right click only? You select stuff with left, and move/attack with right. I'm not a RTS guy, so I guess thats non-standard?

Demigod looks really good too. However, there is no demo. I'm hesitant to buy any PC game without a demo, since obviously it could run like shite on my system.

Speaking of which, Sins runs just amazingly smooth. I have everything to max, AA 4x at my LCD's 1650x1080 and its perfect. Zoomed in a heavy, heavy battle there may be slowdown - but mostly its just smooth and looks great. (pretty average system, 3ghz Core 2 Duo and 8800 320mb vid card)

Next I think I'll buy this Entrenchment pack. $10, adds starbases and some other cool stuff. But I need a bit more practice with the standard stuff before adding more to it, I think.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

How do you mean right click only? You select stuff with left, and move/attack with right. I'm not a RTS guy, so I guess thats non-standard?

Demigod looks really good too. However, there is no demo. I'm hesitant to buy any PC game without a demo, since obviously it could run like shite on my system.

Speaking of which, Sins runs just amazingly smooth. I have everything to max, AA 4x at my LCD's 1650x1080 and its perfect. Zoomed in a heavy, heavy battle there may be slowdown - but mostly its just smooth and looks great. (pretty average system, 3ghz Core 2 Duo and 8800 320mb vid card)

Next I think I'll buy this Entrenchment pack. $10, adds starbases and some other cool stuff. But I need a bit more practice with the standard stuff before adding more to it, I think.

That actually is standard. I can run it medium settings on a GMA900 and highest on an 8400m level card (minus aa) at 1400x1050. The game is pretty sweet though.

[JJJ]

Ryan, you mean Sins or Demigod? I would like to hear performance impressions of Demigod since there is no demo... I've heard its pretty heavy.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Ryan, you mean Sins or Demigod? I would like to hear performance impressions of Demigod since there is no demo... I've heard its pretty heavy.

Sorry I'm talking about Sins.

[fast]

Damn. The right click, or Blizzard, control scheme has taken over damn near all RTS games in the past few years. Very few still offer Left click by default (heck even C&C3 needed to be patched for that). I just cant adapt to a right click game, I have failed miserably at playing Starcraft for the past ten years.

[Mozgus]

I instantly lost interest in Sins when I played online, got raped, and was told to leave. This happens to me in every RTS game ever made.

[Niode]

I instantly lost interest in Sins when I played online, got raped, and was told to leave. This happens to me in every RTS game ever made.

So, so true.

I like RTS games, but as soon as I play them online I hate the entire genre, the people who design the games and their entire families. I want to just tank rush their faces in. Then strangle them with my mouse cord.

[Marspants]

I like playing RTS against friends lan or alliance against AI, we're never really any good but it's fun once in awhile.

Didn't Sins have dual monitor support? I remember seeing my brother with a map on one and it looked pretty cool, I haven't got to try it myself though.