First off I'd like to say "HEY!" to the Sins forums here; I've been visiting often but just haven't bothered to post anything. This will change.

Now to the point of the topic...

I've played a few games now with Beta 2 and have actually enjoyed myself quite a bit, given the limitations of the beta. I have a few complaints that are not particularly major, just degrees of flexibility. For example, when creating a custom galaxy, I noticed that I cannot lower the planet count lower than 20 planets. I find this a bit of a stretch... All of the games I've played thus far, on varying degrees of difficulty (though I dare-say I haven't bothered to kill myself on hard as yet), have been well over 2 1/2 hours. In fact, the only game I've finished all of the way through is one that took nearly 4 hours (I was only a few minutes shy). The rest I'm still hanging around 1 1/2 hours, and 2 hours. By allowing the number of planets to be lower, quicker games could be enjoyed. I would recommend 5 planets as the minimum; 2 starting worlds, 2 expansion worlds (the asteroid that always seems to be connected to a side), and a middle ground. On that note, that middle ground is typically a dead asteroid... I have noticed that an idea has floated around that there should be fewer (or none at all) of these dead asteroids in favor of other stellar phenomena, such as nebulae, or just open space. I agree with the philosophy mentioned in another post that having dead asteroids and such really detracts rather than adds to gameplay because of the level of tactical value that these add; massive defence grids are usually found in these locations and it makes for a rather difficult (and irritating) obstacle in our dreams of domination.   

I have other complaints, but I see no reason to list them at this stage in light of how minor they truly are - and given that it's only beta 2, I'm sure the devs (who have done a tremendous job thus far I must say!) already have corrections to them; I get the impression that they know what they're doing.   

And before I cease my writing, I must say to Multianna... I blame you for my growing addiction to this game- it was your recorded game that made me salivate for Beta 2 a couple months ago when I missed Beta 1. Argh!    Oh well, I suppose I must join you now!



Merku