Sins of a Solar Empire

[Softball]

Picked this up today, and it looks damn good. You HAVE to check out the videos for it, the game has an amazing scope and looks very well done. It's a combination of Total Annihalation + Homeworld, and it has MP COOP and you can save your MP game in progress!

SOASE VIDEO 1

SOASE VIDEO 2

and some screenshots:

SCREENSHOT 1

SCREENSHOT 2

SCREENSHOT 3

Did I mention it has MP COOP and you can save your MP game in progress?

[VEGETA]

I will pick it up tomorow so we can do it the weekend. and softball DAM YOU

Note in oen they say its a lot like Total Anilation, IE Supreme Commander ya ya sold dam u

[Falker]

I saw this on IGN the other day. Looks promising. I’ll definitely give it a try. Aye it reminded me of Homeworld too.

[VEGETA]

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)




WOW those are lower then expected. Nice to see a gam producer who spends time tweeking games so you don't need the god of pc's to play.

[Softball]

I'm running the game at 1920x1200 @ 2xFSAA, graphics settings maxxed out and I'm getting 60FPS across the board. And with the randomly generated maps, I can see myself playing this game for a long long time. I can't wait to try this in MP COOP.

[VEGETA]

Well I plan on having this tonight so who interested in trying a round, Gator Softball ??

[Softball]

I'm still learning the game, not sure I'm ready to dig into MP just yet. There are 4 tutorial missions, and it took like 30-40 min to complete the first one. Let's get through the tutorials first then maybe we can give it a try over the weekend.

I am really liking this game so far. The camera controls are similar to SC, where you can zoom in and out where your mouse cursor is. In the first tutorial, you capture an asteroid mining sector (colonize) and you bombard an enemy planet with your capital ship. Very very cool. Traveling between sectors is pretty cool, reminds me a LOT of Babylon 5. The whole game reminds me of Babylon 5 actually, very slow paced.

[VEGETA]

did you read the story behind the 3 races off the main web page. the group that came from the empire 10,000 years ago the Vasari, that has been more or less chased constantley. u watch the group that destroyed there empire are a 4th race for a expansion pack.

read lore here
http://www.sinsofasolarempire.com/lore.aspx

[Softball]

I'll have to try all three races and see which I like the best. I really like how they focused on the MP aspect of this game. About damned time.

[VEGETA]

Again its not a massive outfit like ea games who just rush crap out the door, I find the smaller ones more willing to put time into the game as if it don't sell they are screwed right. Hell look at there requirements to run the thing, so low compared to other new games yet similar graphics correct.

[Gator]

got my copy today - we can always get in an MP match with no AI and just play it like a sandbox. At least some portion of the tutorials is a must, tho.

[Hammer]

does the game have the z axis? can it deply in 3d, or is t really just 2d and it looks like 3d on the map???

i.e. if i remember homeworld could do z axis - elevations, whatever you want to call it.

[Falker]

yes the camera is just like home world with 3d. I had to switch it in the options window to get the mouse and camera the way i liked it. It works good now. You can swing around ships and zoom in tight for a closer look , or wheel back for a planetary view and your fleet in orbit.

Not bad , not the greatest but I haven’t built up my fleet enough to have any fun with it yet. The space ships look cool as well as the space fights once you build up to a more advanced level adding bigger and better weapons on your ships. Though I think the explosions could be better.

It’s too bad that I cant find a planet far off in my own little corner of space where I could mass build my empire then come out swinging. I just played 6 player and the computer kicked my but after 3 hours of game play ;) Though I only did the first tutorial. The others must grab up the planets right away in order to build up their fleets that fast. It took my forever to get a few battle ships off the line. I was just coming along when they jumped in and blew me away. Still , now i'm egger to try it again this weekend.

[VEGETA]

Steel the answer is no. You can tilt around under and whatever around the map but you don't worry about the Z axes so you don't say go up 1000 meters in Z axes. Now that being said ships will go over and under each other if a planet is in the way I have seen them go up over it. So you don't control Z axes but there is some Z axes int he game.

I skipped homeworld 1 but tried homeworld 2 and found the controls where a complete pain to use, here they are simpler and its a playable game. but ya I know the Z axes they also did Z axes to a degree in Startrek Armada 2 to a degree, not as much as homeworld but more then this game. But not having control over Z axes Ie height of the craft simplifies the game but in the end dose not make this any less a space based game.

[VEGETA]

Pirates

well simple solution put bounty on other players, thats why we are being hit so hard there is bounty's on us

Here are links on the topic. sot heyc an work for you to hit the AI to


http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/?f ... aid=176027
http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/?f ... aid=175318

[Falker]

here's a nice shot of the camera panning around with x-y-and z-axis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbg8_uDYOZQ

[VEGETA]

wish I could see it but can't at work, dam filters


But ya you can move around the Z axes beautifully but you can't order a ship to move on the Z axes. But again I really don't think its takes anything away form the game at all.

[Softball]

According to this video, you can use the Z-Axis.

LINK

I'll have to figure out how to do it. Some boards I've read say to use the ~ key. I'm trying to confirm this.


I played SE for a good 2 hours last night. I have to say, this is a VERY fun and VERY well done game. I didn't want to stop playing, but I was falling asleep (1:30am). The depth of the game us amazing, each race has it's own pros and cons, lots and lots of research upgrades, and the AI is no slouch. I attacked an asteroid belt held by the enemy AI with 4 capital ships, 3 cruisers, and 3 smaller ships. I destroyed most of them, but the remaining ships warping out of the system. 5 minutes later, I received a "whisper" (private message) from the AI saying that they had a little present on the way to me. They retaliated and hit me with a fleet 2-3 times the size of mine, and whipped my ass. The "whispers" are quite funny, I had received some messages from the pirates earlier in the game, talking about plundering and pillaging.


Veg, have you tried using a proxy server? Like Ninja Proxy? http://www.ninjaproxy.com/

[VEGETA]

ok well then maybe I am wrong but that also means depending on how much of a Z axes we can use that ships could fly above the range of fixed guns so making defenses is more difficult. that being said screw the guns go for fighter bays, man those tear up stuff. Also note Z axes in any game I have played in is complex to deal with as technically you are looking at a 2D screen right, hard to get the Z axis sometimes but so far the controls have been amazing so maybe it works well here. But ya I am still amazed at how well the dam game playes, it looks amazing don't require urber hardware and it don't slow down. Now note thigns like shadows and such are not needed in space as much.

[Softball]

In the battle I described above, my framerate dipped to 16-20. Only when I was panning the camera around really fast though, and it was in an asteroid belt. Lots going on.