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I nearly deleted this game off my hard drive thinking it was just another Sins of a Solar Empire type of game.
I'm glad I stuck with it. I've enjoyed the game however I reached the point where it is just not as fun for me
and I will toss this game on the shelf next to the other games I use to like. I got my moneys worth. It is just,
for me, the flaws of the game out weigh my present enjoyment. Anyway here are the specifics...
Good
+++I like the design of the races and how each race has unique traits, combat philosophy, and ship design. They had some clever ideas I thought.
+++The game allows tactical combat and no free camera gives a bit of the "fog of war" during combat.
+++I enjoy the technology tree. Each game you get different available technologies. So if one game you built armored BattleStar Galactica type ships and the next game you may have Star Trek type of ships with phasers, photon torpedoes, and shields.
+++The game has less micro management than many games of this genre which some people like and some don't. However they missed so many opportunities to make the game have even less micro-management. The game "Stars!" by Empire Intergalactic is the granddaddy of them all. Stars! had many nice features to reduce micromanagement and I wish designers would get a hold of this game and learn from it. And I think the game is abandonware right now. I think you can run it on Windows XP however the newer OS won't run the game.
Bad
---I have a problem with play balance. Depending on draw of the randomly chosen ai races, the game balance is non-existent due to three unintended consequences due to the game design of learning languages:
-1st: Combat technology disadvantage.
To initiate diplomacy with a foreign race, you must research their language which takes several turns to get to a proficient level. And while you are researching their language your plans to research better armor, better shields, and better weapons are stopped cold until you learn their language. The result is if you research a language, your ships will be one generation behind the times in combat. Stop all military research to learn their language? Come on guys, we can walk and chew gum at the same time.
-2nd: A diplomacy advantage or diplomacy disadvantage
Diplomacy can turn a losing game into a winner. And while you are researching a language, your opponents of the same race don't have to research any language. They just talk immediately and form alliances and other treaties. I've had games where 5 of the 7 ai races were the same. This just ruins the game for me. If you are the minority race, the game is hell. If you are in the majority you have a significant advantage.
-3rd: Fun factor disadvantage
I enjoy playing against all the races especially the bugs. And if random draw gives an unacceptable game, I reload a new game. Over-and-over again...this is not fun for me yet I do it to get a game I would enjoy. I've reached my limit. No more. This game is going on the shelf. Being able to choose the races of my opponent is a must feature for me.
---I'm not a big fan of the strategic map graphics in this game. The tactical maps during combat have nice graphics. On the strategic map it is just to hard to see the stars. Especially after you have explored a star. This makes using the games planet reports a must. Before I discovered the planet reports, I spent sometimes 10 minutes hunting down a specific star I wanted to colonize. Get rid of the "realistic" star strategic map and gives us something we can see. The old game Stars! had a wonderful display that was much more efficient than the cumbersome planet reports in SOTS. Find a copy of Stars!, a Windows XP operating system, and learn from the game design masters...
---The explanation of the effects of the technology you research is non-existent. And to be fair, I concede the game manual is not useless...however is is almost useless. This results in an unnecessary learning curve that I would have preferred to have avoided. I miss Stars!
---I need a girlfriend and less computer games in my life. :)
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