Sword of the Stars 2 gets the "all clear" signal

[Martok]

I received the following email last night (I believe because I'm registered at the Kerberos forums): 

Hey folks!

Sorry for the long wait but I am extremely happy and proud to give the all
clear signal and invite you all back to a bright and shiny SotS2. While
"all clear" in no way means support for the game has ended or that we have
no plans for additions, it does mean that the game is in the shape we would
have wished it to be upon release. From here we will be going on to a
regularly scheduled set of updates that continue to fill out and flesh out
the SotS2 universe as well as adding new maps, scenarios and plenty of
quality of life suggestions.

We would like to thank Paradox for continuing to distribute Sword of the
Stars/ Sword of the stars 2 and look forward to working with them on any
future expansions. We also want to issue a heartfelt thanks to the players
who stood by us in those dark early months and who believed us when we said
this game would be fixed. We owe a great deal to the players who stuck it
out through all the dozens of updates and fixes and kept reporting the bugs
and posting their saves. Their input has made for a bigger and better SotS2
than could have been achieved at release even under the best of conditions.
Everyone who enjoys playing this game from this date on, owes those
impromptu testers a great deal of thanks. And finally for those of you who
are reading this now and booting up the game, we would like to thank you
for your patience and welcome you back. There is a great game waiting for
you now and a big universe waiting to be explored.

The Future:
As said, this announcement does not mean the end of SotS2 support. In fact,
should any of you be curious, feel free to come by our boards and see our
plans to support SotS2 indefinitely. For now, you can look forward to your
next SotS2 update in approximately 3 weeks and it should include such tasty
treats as:
--Selectable Teams at startup
--Revised Empire economics screen
--Even more AI tuning
--SotSpedia tuning and more entries
--And a pack of new maps.

While too far down the line for particulars, I can tell you that the
following update after that should see the return of scenarios and a treat
or two for the holidays!


So once again, I would like to thank you all for your patience and
understanding during the road back and hope you all enjoy this game as it
was meant to be!

Martin E. Cirulis
CEO/Creative Director
Kerberos Productions

Did anyone else get this email?  It's certainly good news if true. 

[Jarhead0331]

I didn't get it, but I don't think I'm registered in their forums.  i can confirm that the game is light years better than it was at release.  I'm happy to have it in my collection.

[Tpek]

Great... now to start playing it :)

[panzerde]

I got it too.  Haven't had the chance to fire it up yet, though.

[JasonPratt]

I've still never cracked SotS 1 with all its expansive bells and whistles (up through Argo which I think was the last expansion).

So while this is great and all, I have to say I'm quite confused about why there's a SotS2 at all. Okay, the old engine was getting old (I guess, technically), but the new engine took this long to become stable: and for what?

(I'm not trying to diss it, I'm just honestly curious about what the point is supposed to be for a sequel/remake per se from a gamer perspective.)

[Grim.Reaper]

It will be interesting to see where this one goes...if I am not mistaken, it has been roughly a year since it was originally released....I wonder how many people will give it a try now?  I picked it up in some sale for something like $5 so it would seem likely that I'll at least get my enjoyment out of it, especially for that price.  According to Steam, I have only put 7 minutes into the game so far:)  Just have to find the time and mood to give it another go, although the entire release mess has always left a bad taste.

[Jarhead0331]

I tried playing last night and it seemed to be running like crap. I was downloading some porn at the time though, so that could have caused my system to slow down.

[Staggerwing]

I tried playing last night and it seemed to be running like crap. I was downloading some porn at the time though, so that could have caused my system to slow down.

That brings to mind the recent cartoon about 'Buffering'...  :D

[PanzersEast]

I tried playing last night and it seemed to be running like crap.

+1 I'm done with this one.  I have tried several times to get into this but the ui is bad and slow etc.... To the shelf with this one.


PE

[Steelgrave]

I tried playing last night and it seemed to be running like crap. I was downloading some porn at the time though, so that could have caused my system to slow down.

Ha! Downloading porn causes my system to speed up.

Oh wait....you're talking about your computer, aren't you?

Nevermind.

[Bison]

So is this still a no-go?  I keep looking at it in my Steam library and thinking I should try it out.  It's honestly hard to get a good feel on the state of the game.  Because it has so polarized the player base you really only get two opinions it's awesome or it sucks.

Reading through the forums:
It seems to still have bugs, but not game breaking bugs.  Mecron is a jerk to his customers who question the game or development progress.  It's stable to play.

[JasonPratt]

Mainly the news just gets me wanting to fire up SotS1 (complete through Argos) again.

I still haven't heard why I ought to be interested in SotS2. The new Sins of a Solar Empire expansion (or whatever it is) makes sense in marketing itself: I'm actually interested in picking that up despite never having played a single moment of Sins since its first release (though I do own the first release).

[mikeck]

I have been playing it for about 5 months now and it seems pretty bug free to me.  I mean, there are a few little ones here and there but nothing big. Runs smooth on my system. If you liked Sots 1, then you would like this one. It's basically a space tactical game with detailed ship design and research. Sadly, it lacks inbthe strategic layer and planetary development. Diplomacy sucks.

If. I want to design cool ships and blow stuff up, I play it.  If I want a 4x, I play something else.

It is stable though. But beware of the forums....just like Xcom, haters will hate

[solops]

Mainly the news just gets me wanting to fire up SotS1 (complete through Argos) again.

I still haven't heard why I ought to be interested in SotS2.

+1 to both comments.

[Yskonyn]

I've been playing SotS 2 heavily now for the last couple of days.
Still the odd crash in multiplayer, but other than that nothing serious.
Interface runs smoothly on my system and the game is just plain fun. If you were waiting for it to become playable, now is the time to reinstall.