Install/play/uninstall.....Install/play (my review of the game)

from Sins Forums

First off, sorry for the odd title, but in many ways it describes my experience with the game since this is essential what happened with the game on my computer.

 

I bought the game because I’m a sucker for Space games and having played Galactic Civilizations I and II, I recently installed the game with high expectations.

 

Everything works perfect, no problems on the technical side. I was thrilled with the game play and all the new stuff. A good UI, and an easy to learn game in many ways.

 

So how come I uninstalled the game after only a couple of skirmish games?

 

I had a few games, and playing on normal against (or with, depending on the diplomatic relations) 7 AI’s, and eventually loosing, I finally had a good start and enough experience to fight back and eventually take over one solar system (or is it a galaxy?).

 

At this point in the game I had many planets and the biggest fleet possible, consisting of many high level capital ships and armadas of smaller crafts. I started fighting the AI in another galaxy which had teamed up so basically it was me against two other civilizations. We fought huge wars, and it was fun, but the AI kept running away resulting in me giving chase and taken over one planet after the other. And I started to get really really bored. I could easily see that this was going to repeat itself through planet after planet and galaxy after galaxy (played a huge map). So I though, what’s the point?

 

I started up a new game and played as one of the other races. They had some different skills, which was fun, but eventually I was chasing the AI around the galaxy again, and having to defend myself against the mandatory "seeker vessel/siege frigate/" attacks which normally ruined my planet before enough defense was in place (the fleet moved from one planet to the other) to wipe out the attacking ships.

 

After this, mouse and cat game with the AI, I uninstalled the game, and though back on the starwars game rebellion where you could build Interdicter Stardestroyers to prevent the AI from running all the time and eventually crush their fleet – how I missed that ability. Even with the jump inhibitors on the planet the AI in SoSE always got away with the majority of their fleet.

 

After playing other games for a couple of weeks I visited this site and read about the upcoming Entrenchment and though I have another go at it – missing some of the elements in the game. I remember I thought that SoSE feels like a "basic" game. Like some base model just waiting to get additional stuff added! More ships, definitely better planetary defense etc. Games like X3-Reunion, where people mod the game like crazy, gets the playability prolonged for years and years and year.

 

At the moment, I’m playing a large galaxy game, and generally enjoying myself, even though I still have to chase the AI around. I’m discovering more and more stuff I like, even though I can’t wait to the new add on comes out! I played a game where I had 4 planets, and begun to fight the AI’s. Eventually I was fighting 6 different AI’s which had joined forces and I eventually lost the game to a HUGE fleet from my opponents, but man I fought hard and laughed afterwards.

 

Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to give my opinion on another excellent game from Stardock and Ironclad, which I love to play now, and I hope it will become so much more in the future! You have definitely created a good foundation to build up one of the best strategy games out there – I look forward to the expansions in the future.

19,304 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

The thing they built into the AI is they would rather retreat back to a safer system and keep most of its fleet at some little asteroid then have the entire solar system lost... versus if you chase them, you spend less time going after the planetary objects and more time chasing them... I found if you start going after their planets with the capital ships, they tend to hang out one or two jumps away... just nail the planets one by one and you will slowly whittle away their fleet...

 

It can also help to spread out your forces a little bit so if they jump in with a decent sized fleet, you can have some backup one jump away... they tend to stay and fight if the numbers are close to even...

If you and 5 of your friends were standing in the street with no one else around... and then a group of 50 guys came around with weapons of any sort to hurt you, would you stick around and fight or turn around an retreat, maybe taking a few along the way? The game takes the same perspective... now if those 50 guys had 20 others around each of your retreat paths, you wouldn't have much anywhere to go...

I know, bad analogy but maybe it will help you enjoy the game more.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

 

Playing against the AI is...boring.

Why not click the Ironclad Online button, make an ICO account, and come play the game in online multiplayer against live human opponents?  (And no, it doesn't take hours and hours to finish a game; a 3v3 on the large random single star map is normally decided within an hour-and-a-half and is normally over within two hours.)

Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

(And no, it doesn't take hours and hours to finish a game; a 3v3 on the large random single star map is normally decided within an hour-and-a-half and is normally over within two hours.)
End of quote

How many 10 player FFAs are played on ICO? ;)

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

I rarely play online anymore because it seems most of the players out there have some sort of super fast building capacity hack... I am sitting here waiting on resources just to build a few ships, one or two buildings and they have 4-5 times the fleet and 4-5 planets to my 1 within 15-20 minutes. It is like this almost every single online game I have been a part of.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

bah stupid edit not working...

 

I can go up against 6 hard AI players and be able to keep up with them but when I go online playing the exact same way they are sitting there with some sort of massive hack with extra resources...

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting screwballl, reply 4
I rarely play online anymore because it seems most of the players out there have some sort of super fast building capacity hack... I am sitting here waiting on resources just to build a few ships, one or two buildings and they have 4-5 times the fleet and 4-5 planets to my 1 within 15-20 minutes. It is like this almost every single online game I have been a part of.
End of screwballl's quote

Maybe you need to learn how to play the game better?  Are you building a capital ship at the beginning (preferably a mothership)?  Are you taking nearby neutral extractors?  Are you scouting?

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting screwballl, reply 4
I rarely play online anymore because it seems most of the players out there have some sort of super fast building capacity hack... I am sitting here waiting on resources just to build a few ships, one or two buildings and they have 4-5 times the fleet and 4-5 planets to my 1 within 15-20 minutes. It is like this almost every single online game I have been a part of.
End of screwballl's quote

If you build a single capital ship, early, it will let you clear just about any (depending on the ship) system except perhaps terran and desert.  Whether this ship is a colony ship or not, building your capship factory and ONE (and only one) cap ship should be a VERY early priority.

At least one scout ship should be created early.  This is to ensure that you can scout all the neighboring systems BEFORE your slow, lumbering cap ship goes all the way out there only to find it's an uninhabitable gas giant.

In multiplayer, early teching usually takes a back burner to getting a significant fleet together (and colonizing like crazy) because swarms DO happen.

Buy a scout, get a cap ship EARLY.  Only upgrade to your home planet you should want early is possibly max population.  Max logistics or defence slots, bombard resistance, all that should be basically summarily ignored until you have some semblance of a solid fleet.

These pieces of advice are MINIMAL, and i'm sure many who read them think one should do more.  This is sort of the bare bones manditory list, and should give you ample breathing room to establish your own strategic style.

Edit:what seems like hacks is usually just rapid expansion and militarization at complete expense of long term development until a certain point in the game.

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top

screwball - i play mostly online and i haven't seen any evidence of hacks. it is far more likely that your opponents are expanding more efficiently than you are. watch your replays!