Sid Meier's Starships

[Gusington]

It's got a 73 on Metacritic from the professional reviews, and only one review of a 3 out of 10 on the player side.

[sandman2575]

Fun and it has some depth but it's not Civ in space.

Neither was Beyond Earth, and maybe that's part of the problem.  Sid's recent games seem to suffer from a surprising lack of imagination, playing it safe and sticking to stale formulas...

[Barthheart]

Fun and it has some depth but it's not Civ in space.

Neither was Beyond Earth, and maybe that's part of the problem.  Sid's recent games seem to suffer from a surprising lack of imagination, playing it safe and sticking to stale formulas...

I think part of the problem was everyone expecting this to BE Civ in space.... even though that was never said in any promo material.
Right from the start this game was described as a spaceship combat game where you had minor empire building. The general populous just ignored that and decided that if Sid`s name was on it, it HAD to Civ in space.

It`s fun for what it is, a light spaceship combat game with minor empire building. It`s all about trying different spaceship configurations in different combat situations and see what works.

As for Beyond Earth, it was always setup to be Colonization in space not Civ in space. Again people just projected what they wanted it to be instead of just playing it for what it is.

All this is just my $0.02 of course.... what the hell do I know.

[Capn Darwin]

+1 to what Barthheart says, it's a fun little game. Play it for what it is.  O0

[ArizonaTank]

and another +1.  Good little game.  A light romp into space combat.

[bbmike]

+1 again. Yes, it is a fun, lite game. The forums on Steam are questionable at best. When I read them I'm reminded why I don't like MMO games.

[W8taminute]

Fun and it has some depth but it's not Civ in space.

Neither was Beyond Earth, and maybe that's part of the problem.  Sid's recent games seem to suffer from a surprising lack of imagination, playing it safe and sticking to stale formulas...

I think part of the problem was everyone expecting this to BE Civ in space.... even though that was never said in any promo material.
Right from the start this game was described as a spaceship combat game where you had minor empire building. The general populous just ignored that and decided that if Sid`s name was on it, it HAD to Civ in space.

It`s fun for what it is, a light spaceship combat game with minor empire building. It`s all about trying different spaceship configurations in different combat situations and see what works.

As for Beyond Earth, it was always setup to be Colonization in space not Civ in space. Again people just projected what they wanted it to be instead of just playing it for what it is.

All this is just my $0.02 of course.... what the hell do I know.

You have some logical points there and I agree with you to a degree.  There is a segment of the population with a long history with Sid and a ton of time and money invested into his games.  I just can't be only speaking for myself when I say while we appreciate some of his new ideas and game mechanics but sometimes we want the old brought back to life with today's technology. 

What I mean by that is I remember exactly what a 1967 Ford Mustang looks and feels like.  When I look at a 2015 Mustang GT I see a bit of his ancestor built and styled into him.  I immediately know this is a Ford Mustang.  I can't do that with some of the stuff Sid is coming out with these days. 

[Steelgrave]

Ok, so if we're limited to one fleet....why am I seeing multiple fleets in use by my opponents? Is this supposed to be play balance in lieu of better AI?  I'm confused.

My first impressions of the game amount to "fun but underwhelming". The gameplay is fun, but the lack of chrome in any fashion (renaming planets or starships, the redundancy of ship designs, leaders, etc....) is disappointing. I'm quite aware this was never intended to be a 4x game and I'm fine with that. But the initial "feel" of the design is very much that of a tablet game. As someone who has shelled out hard cash and countless hours for literally every single Sid Meier game ever made for the pc....I wish I were more thrilled.

[Barthheart]

Ok, so if we're limited to one fleet....why am I seeing multiple fleets in use by my opponents? Is this supposed to be play balance in lieu of better AI?  I'm confused.

My first impressions of the game amount to "fun but underwhelming". The gameplay is fun, but the lack of chrome in any fashion (renaming planets or starships, the redundancy of ship designs, leaders, etc....) is disappointing. I'm quite aware this was never intended to be a 4x game and I'm fine with that. But the initial "feel" of the design is very much that of a tablet game. As someone who has shelled out hard cash and countless hours for literally every single Sid Meier game ever made for the pc....I wish I were more thrilled.

The AI doesn't get multiple fleets. It just looks that way during their turn resolution because they zip around a lot using the hyperspace bypasses( or whatever they are called). I didn't know we could build those at first.

Yep it's a light game that is probably more at home as a tablet game. I have both.  Mostly because I want to see what can be modded on Steam... if anything, and it's nice to play on a large screen... it's making my iPad2 chug pretty hard sometimes.....

[Steelgrave]

Guess I need to build me some of them hyperspace bypasses  O0

Found one! 

[Steelgrave]

Well....after a few hours spent playing SMS, I've come to the conclusion that the damn game IS fun and retains at least some of Sid's famous "one more turn" magic. While too often the ships may look the same, you have a lot of latitude in what you slap on them, which opens up various strategies. For my initial games, I've chosen the "stealthy" route with overpowered torpedoes. So far so good. And the combat is very visual, which is nice. I can watch my torpedoes close on an enemy and manually detonate them at the point I think they will do the most damage. So....room for improvement, Sid, but maybe a B- so far.

[BanzaiCat]

Jesus, I've been so busy this latter part of the week I totally forgot about SMS until just this moment. Installing on Steam now. Durrrrr...

[solops]

Given other competing good games that are available, this sounds like a game to pass on, unless it gets a significant re-work.

[Steelgrave]

My quick review on Steam:

Sid Meier's Starships......an out of the blue title that generated a lot of anticipation and more than a little wonder at what the package would bring. Now it's here and while it's not socks from Grandma at Christmas, it's not quite the game you were hoping for either. Good but not great, worth the price but perhaps unworthy of the legend that is Sid Meier.

This is not a 4x game nor was it ever advertised as such. It's more Ace Patrol than Civ, something fun that won't require huge chunks of your life to complete but something you can come back and jump right in to. While lacking in chrome, this game retains Sid's famous "one more turn" quality. The game is fun to play and the deeper you get into it the more strategies become apparent. I started it, played a few turns and stopped to do something else several times, then fired it up again after dinner and played it straight thru to midnight, surprised at how much time had passed.

The lack of chrome, i.e. the ability to rename your starships and planets, the lack of any leaders, not nearly enough starship models, etc..... is disappointing but not a show stopper. Hopefully, given the track record of Meier products, this will be addressed in future updates. I hope to see steam workshop support added as well to let Sid's passionate fanbase come up with their own ideas. This is the kind of game that cries out for a Star Trek/Star Wars/BSG mod from some basement genius and I can't wait to see that happen.

Over the years I've bought and played every single game Sid has ever made. This game won't add to the legend that is Sid Meier, but it won't detract from it either. You'll get more than enough gameplay from Starships to justify the cost, you just won't be sitting around 15 years from now saying "remember Sid Meier's Starships?!?! Now that was a game"!

[Barthheart]

Very good and spot on.
O0