How "Epic" is this game?

I'm sure you will get a lot of new answers but here is a collection of statements many of which should answer your question in one way or another: https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/?forumid=440&aid=155866&p=2#1378218.

From my perspective, I honestly feel it is the most epic real-time game I've ever played. The design goal was to have as much 4X as we could manage in real-time. We've drawn just as much influence from games like GalCiv and Moo2 as we have from Homeworld and Starcraft. Keep in mind as well that many of the 4X elements (like the new diplomacy model) haven't even been revealed yet

What, Blair beats me to a response telling people how cool the game is? Unpossible!

But, he is quite right, it's a very unique game that really stands out among the RTS genre. In the past there have been games that tried to do something similar, but I feel that Sins really nails it. Currently in beta 4, it's shifted a bit more towards the RTS element, but as Blair said most of the new/cool features and improvements are still kept under wraps

You can get a great idea about how the game is played by watching Multianna's gameplay videos (very high quality, too!). Linky!

In short, if you're looking for a recommendation, you've got mine

Well, managing planets in sins is a bit toned down from what it would be like in MoO2 or civ 4, basically where in the former you have all sorts of projects, in sins it is abstracted to upgrades (several per type) affecting the planet itself (population i.e. cash generation, health, defensive capabilities, fleet support, artifacts (little extra boni) and structure points). on top of the upgrades you can build logistics structures that enable research or boost resources gain or give other abilites. tactical structures provide static defenses.

I'd say it packs a very good amount of custumization, but its more accessible and a bit quicker than their pendants from the tbs world.

concerning epic, that is mostly dependant on the galaxy size you are playing. the smallest games can be over in less than an hour and you won't make much of the tech tree, longer games can easily be as long as tbs session, so like 10 - 15 hours. to be fair, I would say in larger games, after a few hours most active participants have reached the end of the tech tree and it will be more a strategic maneuvering and slugfest. so yes, at some point the dynamic changes, but it can be very epic.

what is more rts oriented is that technology works more like rts than tbs, although there is vastly more content than in rts normally. similarily you will keep almost all your unit types from start to end, but will improve your stats with research, so more of a starcraf system than MoO2 or Civ where you just get better versions of unit types and sometimes new unit types altogether. that is not to say research is not useful though, as a few upgrades can make a huge difference and there are many.

you can also browse around a bit or use the search function or watch multiannas videos, all that will give you more complete impression on what the game is like. I'd say if you like both rts and tbs and have interest in space operas and ship battles, you cannot do a whole lot wrong here.

Look at the pics in that thread
A LOTS OF SHIPS

Thats what the engin supports, but youll need a good computer for 10k Ships and you wont see that much ships in the unmoded game.
But in big games you could see battles with many many ships in it(and fighters).
Its not as epic as I want it to be(my computer couldnt stand that so its good for me) but Soase is nothing like you have seen before
Its like Babylon5 or Battlestar Galactica in a game... but more.

It was obviously streamlined to fit into a RTS framework, especially for MP (there wont be pausing every 10 seconds for one person to start deciding what to do)

The tech tree and building options are nothing like moo2, but are significantly better than most previous RTS 4xgames(o.r.b, hegemonia and a few others).

heres some clear differences between moo2 and sins
-moo2 is turn based, sins real time.
-moo2 has hundreds of things to research (although most will not be researched in many games, especially if you don't have the special racial trait ).
-moo2 has ship customization (many more types of ships can be designed, although many fulfil the same purpose).
-moo2 has much more in-depth planet developement(e.g. upgrading from factory I to factory II and assingning more pop from industry to farming).
-moo2 has governors/leaders (sins might have this later on).
-moo2 has actual planet invasions.
-sins has cultural influence in a way that does not appear in moo2.



Heres some actual numbers from sins (it might increase with some content we dont have access to yet):

structures and planetary developement:
~24 types of orbital structures can be built around planets per faction (some are shared across factions like ore mines, others are unique to factions).
~7 types of upgrades to planets (e.g. increasing pop, or amount of orbital sturctures or exploring the planet to find special things).

ships:
~15 types of ships per faction (some share common functionality across factions, e.g. colonizers).

Research:
Research wise its hard to give an exact number, cause some of it is just upgrades of former things (which appears in most games including moo2), or increasing the amount of capital ships allowed to be built. Including everything its upwards of 90 different things per faction (some of these have multiple upgrades within themselves).

Did you just steal Schem's favorite word?

I think he did.

"me"?

Epimatic.

Now that is going on my desk right beside the Rigist At Work sign. lol

I would think the first thing you'd want on your desk is one of those big red "EASY" buttons!

LOL

no, they have a big red LAZY button

No Ironclad doesn't get buttons, Stardock on the other hand has a "Zap Blair button", which they use whenever he disobeys their orders.

I think this thread can be summed up in two sentances

"Pretty damn Epic"
and
"blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah ZAP BLAIR!!! blah blah blah blah blah: blah."

Oooh, shiny button!

That's how he got so good at Sins, everytime he did something wrong Stardock zaps him. The movtivation to kick ass gets pretty high under those circumstances.   

*lines ScourgeOfGod in front of Blair's spiky metal boot, passes out popcorn to onlookers.*