Sword of the Stars 2

[Benefactor]

So apparently Sword of the Stars 2 is coming out at the end of the month, anyone else looking forward to it? I played the original for quite a long time and thought it was a pretty damn good game. The sequel looks set to improve on it in seemingly every way, from including minor races, larger ships, battle riders, full systems to fight over, government options, etc etc.

Previews and vids:

Opening Cinematic from Gamescon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up3OpdYvtKw

Strategy Informer Preview:
http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/swordofthestarsii/376/preview.html

Interview with Lore writer:
http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/...winter-the-new-faction-revealed?mode=previews

SotS2 Wiki:
http://sots2.rorschach.net/SotS2_Codex

 

[Rub'Rum]

Yeah I am quite interested myself. Except I probably won't buy it until it goes on sale, which has become something I do for 95% of games I buy, because I buy too many.

Plus, judging from the previous game, there will be a plethora of expansion packs and DLC coming pretty quickly after. In those cases I like to wait 'til a bunch of them come bundled with the main game.

Hear this gaming industry? A consequence of quick x-packs and DLC means I rarely buy your games when they come out anymore.

As for the game, it seems SotS1 had become quite big and full of interesting stuff at the end compared to the base game. I hope SotS2 starts with at least as much! Seems so...

I had problems with 3D maps (disorienting, had to play flat maps ) and I kind of failed at the first game. It seems I don't have enough time to delve deeply into these kinds of games anymore. It would probably help if I had less disposable income and less incentive to buy new shiny games all the time!

PS: I don't have that much disposable income, I just don't have much to do with the little I have other than buy frickin' games

 

[Benefactor]

They have announced that over the course of the games lifetime they will make 2 expansions (one of which will add ground combat) and 1 mini-expansion (akin to Argos Naval Yard for the 1st.)

The game now starts in the Cruiser/Fusion era with I presume several techs already unlocked, there is also 6 classes of ship now, Cruiser, Dreadnought, Leviathan, Battlerider, Battlecruiser and Battleship as well as pseudo-classes like Drones and Node Fighters. Also, fighting over the entire system now means splitting your fleets up to cover more ground and means that carriers now serve an actual use. I actually hope they haven't overcomplicated it to be honest.

 

[GoodGame]

Looks cool. I find Space Cthulhu awakens to be a refreshing choice of bad guy to replace the cyborg and klingon rip-offs.

 

[Maniacal]

I'm really looking forward to getting it although I might not get it right away, partly because despite the developers living in the same province I do I have been utterly unable to find the game listed at any retailer besides digital ones like GamersGate. I'm also not really done playing Sots1 yet.

Still though, SotS2 looks freaking awesome I really like the armour damage indicator holograph-things and bigger ships with even more guns

 

[Aroddo]

I couldn't cope with the 3d map of the first game. it was so bloody hard to keep up with what was happening where.

anyway, the new screenies look good:

 

[Benefactor]

There was a 2D map type introduced eventually for those who struggled with the 3D maps, although it was terrible if you played Liir.

I could never cope with sphere maps, I always went for Spiral (relatively flat) or Clusters (the individual spheres where small enough to handle.) Because of the increased complexity of systems there is a much lower total star limit in this one, hopefully that will mean 3D maps will cause less of a headache.


edit: Although I do prefer 3D to 2D now that I've adjusted. Apparently an unexplored stars colour indicates what type of star it is now as well .

 

[MobBoss]

Is there multi-player support for it?

 

[Maniacal]

I haven't tried the flat map, I went with the 3D cluster for my games. It can be a little confusing, but when you are playing as the humans the node paths make it MUCH easier to navigate.

Those screenshots are sexy, albeit a lil' jaggy.

 

[Benefactor]

Is there multi-player support for it?

There is for the 1st one, a lot of the game was designed for making multi-player 4X a lot less painful apparently. I assume the 2nd will have roughly the same multi-player options, but to be honest I haven't looked into it.






ships do seem to look better in the game than in those screenshots, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hxVLDV3ArQ

 

[MobBoss]

Just took a look at this last night on Steam. Yes, it does say it has multi-player support for up to 8 players.

If you pre-order you get some kind of DLC for free - looks like additional skins and icons for a couple of the races.

Game gets released in 3 days maybe?

 

[Benefactor]

This Friday .
Steam has additional skins/voices/badges for Tarka (lizard people) and Hivers (bugs.) Other distributors have additional skins, voices and badges for Liir (dolphins) and Morrigi (birds/dragons.)

I'm probably going to pre-order on Steam, seeing as it has to be authenticated over it anyway.

 

[AlpsStranger]

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy...ions-ship-specifics?sid=6310925&mode=previews

In addition, a slight element of randomness will be introduced into your production line. This idea actually came from Stewart's uncle, who worked at an undisclosed automotive manufacturer. At the manufacturer, for every 100 cars produced, 95 of them would be of average quality, with no alterations to the basic design, four would be total "lemons," requiring constant care and maintenance, and one would be the super car, an expertly crafted vehicle that would run forever and exceed expectations. Stewart has adapted this design practice into the game, though the alterations will not be quite as drastic. As an example, he stated that you might just find that a ship turns a little better than you expected or requires a little more fuel than you thought.

This is going to be crazy

 

[Rub'Rum]

Just realized, I don't think this game will run on Windows XP, I think it requires DirectX10

 

[MobBoss]

Just realized, I don't think this game will run on Windows XP, I think it requires DirectX10

Requirements say vista or better.

 

[Benefactor]

Release in just a few more hours .


EDIT: I am trying to be understanding and sympathetic, etc. as the dev team are apparently working non-stop to fix it, but I am annoyed that someone sent the beta version to Steam instead of the Release copy!

 

[Adam7Eight]

EDIT: I am trying to be understanding and sympathetic, etc. as the dev team are apparently working non-stop to fix it, but I am annoyed that someone sent the beta version to Steam instead of the Release copy!

A new trend has started apparently.

 

[Rub'Rum]

EDIT: I am trying to be understanding and sympathetic, etc. as the dev team are apparently working non-stop to fix it, but I am annoyed that someone sent the beta version to Steam instead of the Release copy!

A new trend has started apparently.

Yeah didn't this happen just a month or so ago with a recent release? I can't remember which one.

 

[AlpsStranger]

Hoo boy! This one's a train wreck

Here's hoping we get some serious work on it soon. I don't have the energy to fight the "good" fight like I did with Civilization 5. I'm not personally asking for a refund in this case, but they should definitely be offering them no questions asked.

 

[Maniacal]

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if SotS2 is buggy at first, I'm getting used to that with smaller developers now (Paradox, Tripwire, and apparently SotS 1 was pretty buggy when it came out too). Hopefully they are working hard on it, though I am sure it will take some time for all the bugs to be ironed out as they do have a small team.

Also that was Dead Island that released a beta build.