Polaris Sector - another new space 4x

[Jarhead0331]

Are you sure about there being no automated colonization? The tutorial states that you can select a planet, click on the "plan colonization" button and the AI will do the rest.

[bbmike]

Polaris Sector, in my mind, is very much a modern adaptation of Imperium Galactica II. 

I'm only a couple hours in, but I can see it being a fun faster paced 4x game with a few minor tweaks.  I would like to see automated colonization where I could just click "colonize this" and a ship would automatically be built, launch, and colonize.  It would really help things move along.  Right now you have to build the ship, then manually load colonists, then get there, then click colonize.  Colonization and population movement could be automated.

Exploration is interesting, I've found several components to things that will build something bigger (once I find all the pieces).

The most fun part of the game is designing ships and flinging them at the AI.  The quicker they can get us into that, the more fun it will be.

I do wish they'd steal the planetary assault from Imperium Galactica II.  It'd be fun to fight past a defending fleet to attack planets while facing fire from planetary based defenses.   Man....IG2 was such a fun game...

That is already in the game on the planet screen.  ;)

[Jarhead0331]

^ninja'ed you, dude.

[republic]

Maybe I accidentally micromanaged it.  I clicked plan colonization, but I already had a ship building.  It didn't immediately go out.  I bet what happened is that it added a ship to the end of the queue that would have done it had I not already colonized it.

I'll try again tonight without a ship in the queue.

[mikeck]

When you find a planet that can be colonized, click on it so it switches to the planet view screen. Over the planet should be an overlay that says "plan colonization" or something. Just click on that and then what "plan" you want (industrial, agricultural, science, Etc). The AI will build your colony ship,load it and colonize automatically

[panzerde]

Basically there's a lot about space 4X games that I find very tiresome at this point. I've posted many times on this subject, but it just amazes me how little original thinking there is, and how much Sid Meier's template for Civilization -- a game, what, now almost 30 years old? -- still dominates this genre of strategy game. I'm looking forward to Stallaris but I'm not hugely confident it's going to break out of the Sid Meier mold in a radical way.

Distant Worlds is, to me, still the gold standard in space 4X. Polaris Sector really just sounds like more of the same...

This is exactly where I'm at right now with all the recent 4X games, including Polaris Sector. Unless the game really breaks the mold in some way, I might as well play DW.

Some of what I'm hearing about the ship combat and ship design does sound good. It reminds me of Space Empires V, a generally unplayable game but one that I really liked the ship design and combat portions of.

In terms of star lanes - is it just star lanes, or are there warp points in the star systems? Star lanes are kind of meh, but if you actually have to deal with defending and assaulting warp points, that can get interesting.

[bbmike]

Far as I know it's just star lanes (and wormholes) but you can set the 'density' of the lanes. I haven't adjusted that yet but in my games so far there are critical choke point systems.

[panzerde]

As far as the mission system, it never really bothered me, and I never understood all the hate it received. I mean, I think it adds immersion. Its just like deploying a carrier task force today. You wouldn't send a fleet into the South China Sea without a clearly defined mission and set of goals. Likewise, you wouldn't send a fleet to a far flung planet with no purpose or rationale. The mission types are diverse enough to facilitate most any goal a player could think of. Exploration, relocation, colonization, strike, invasion, patrol, interdiction, etc. Its just not something that detracted from my enjoyment of the game.

+1

SOTS II is a very underrated game and one I've really enjoyed playing over the years. The mission system makes complete sense to me and I feel like it gives the game a lot of structure and depth (dare I say immersion?) that other 4X games lack. The mission system also encourages the creation of specialist ships tailored to mission types, which is again very realistic.

You may have just saved me the cost of Polaris Sector. I'll probably reload SOTS II and fire it up instead. Damn good game.

[TacticalWargames]

I've said this before..but I will say again..the x4 genre seems so formulaic. Really needs someone to think out side the box and breath some fresh air into it. Not sure how though with this type of game. Though I'm sure someone much clever than me will think of something.

I'm not that into the genre but from the outside looking in they seem all the same but with varying visual impact.

[republic]

Unless the game really breaks the mold in some way, I might as well play DW.

That is my problem as well.  I actually ended up playing Distant Worlds for awhile after playing Polaris for a few hours.  Distant Worlds is just sooooo incredibly good at what it does.  Definitely worth every penny I spent on it over the years.

[Ian C]

I got SOTS II Enhanced Edition on steam sale a while back but never played. From the positive comments I've read here I think it's time to dive in.

[republic]

I got SOTS II Enhanced Edition on steam sale a while back but never played. From the positive comments I've read here I think it's time to dive in.

I should probably try it again.  I was so overwhelmingly disappointed at launch I deleted it and never looked back.  I was a big fan of the original SOTS, the different UI and audio elements were great.

[Sparhawk]

I'm a big fan of SOTS II. I'm looking forward to these new space 4x's but would really like the next generation of SOTS as well (without the growing pains).

[MikeGER]

The time (7h) i had spend with the game ....  i like it so far, and had fun exploring it! :)
well, i didn't had played any 4x-games for a longer time, so that has to be taken into account.
and i am also maybe not a all to typical 4x-gamer, i don't care all to much much about races or how they look (if the are birds, Koalas, or Ghostryder's badly rendered always-tabledacing-'space-vixens'-variations ;-) ) and diplomacy, trade, and empire-corporation management.

I like the way the research is managed in so detailed here, and it feels like the author actually has some real life scientific background knowledge under his belt that goes beyond watching endless StartTrek episodes and playing older 4x games in the past.

I have much fun with the ship designer trying to test a different concept to get an edge in the upcoming battles with pirates that were able to hurt me badly (well, my stupidy ...i underestimated their fighters)
At the moment i build a strong corvettes with very short range but pair it with a tanker to reach other star
also i design a scout ship type that is selfsustained and plan to send it through wormholes and it will never be stranded, it can  generte its fuel parked at distant suns ... i like the lonely exploring of a huge galaxy and gave the ship full passive spying capabilities too, to spy a little when i run into other inhabitants, maybe... 

and hope i can explore the the tactical battles some more.   ...and also the planetary invasions later in the game

but to do this all i need the damend resources ...and i need them now ;)

[JasonPratt]

[snipped for mispost in wrong thread  :P ]