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

[Jarhead0331]

I'm currently on turn 176 of my campaign.  This is the furthest I have ever gone since my day one purchase.  For the first 100 turns or so I was absolutely loving it.  It did take awhile to really get into it though...at first, things start off slow with you developing a few colonies, researching some good tech to make ship building worthwhile and expansion possible...in the mid-game, however, I started getting worn down by a grind.  Random encounters by swarms, spectres, pirates and slavers can be a real drain on resources and can prevent you from expanding or accomplishing your goal.  They don't represent a serious threat to your colonies, but they create the need for diverting resources for system defense and patrol.  It also gets annoying having to fight essentially the same battle 2 or 3 times a turn in multiple systems (I do not like auto-resolving these battles).  Things have settled down a bit, and I've expanded my empire enough to where my economy is strong enough to support multiple fleets within easy range of my key colonies.  I've researched some advanced tech and I'm back into the expansion phase of the game which is where the most fun is, so after a rut for about 25 turns, I'm back to being hardcore.

This has turned into a very good game, and I'm excited to see how it will expanded upon and improved by the developer at this point. No matter what people will say about him, he stood by this game, and in my book, fulfilled his promise to deliver something worth playing.  Better late than never!

[Yskonyn]

+1

And I agree on your sentiments about the encounters being a grind sometimes.
I recall one the devs once said in an interview that the philosophy behind the gameplay was to keep pacing high. So check and alter things quickly and press the end turn button to steam on ahead toward the main aspect of the game; ship design and combat.
It has been a definitive choice to keep the other 4x aspects lighter (although SotS 2 is more detailed than 1 in this respect).
I like the game as well now and I've been doing some MP session over the last couple of days. It really shines if you play against other humans.

[PanzersEast]

I am up and running, however I am use to SOTS I so there is a learning curve and I am not sure what strategy is most effective or some of the nuances of the game.  Overall, appears to be steady and ready to get into some battles.

I did move the random encounters down to about 40%.


PE

[Nefaro]

Does anyone have some starting tips on SOTS2? 

Also.. any bugs or actions that can cause CTDs that I should know about right now?  It's running just fine thus far but I thought I saw some mention of corrupted save game files..?

[Grim.Reaper]

If anybody was thinking about purchasing this one...now is the time...only $4.99 at Gamersgate.  Requires steam.


http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-SOTS2LW/sword-of-the-stars-ii-enhanced-edition

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I bought it with blue coins.  I held off for a few hours just to make sure it wasn't another pricing screw up on GG's part.    DL'ing now.

[Scotten]

Does anyone have some starting tips on SOTS2? 

Also.. any bugs or actions that can cause CTDs that I should know about right now?  It's running just fine thus far but I thought I saw some mention of corrupted save game files..?

Try this:

http://www.kerberos-productions.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=37699

There are as many opinions in this game as there are people who play it, but I found this post to be helpful.

[Longdan]

You made me do it again!
Sometimes I hate you guys.
You are worse than drinking buddies.
Here dan, have another one!
okay...says me

[Nefaro]

Does anyone have some starting tips on SOTS2? 

Also.. any bugs or actions that can cause CTDs that I should know about right now?  It's running just fine thus far but I thought I saw some mention of corrupted save game files..?

Try this:

http://www.kerberos-productions.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=37699

There are as many opinions in this game as there are people who play it, but I found this post to be helpful.

Thanks!

That's the kind of primer I needed.

[Scotten]

And the game is pretty much stable.  I still get the occasional crash, but the game automatically saves itself before and combat.

One of the things I like about the game is that there are many different strategies, weapons, technologies... it's not just rock-paper-scissors.  The bad thing about that is that there is not enough information to understand your decisions or plan too far ahead

Example: researching technologies, designing a ship and finally getting it into battle to realize you made some fatal flaw....

[TheCommandTent]

Does anyone have some starting tips on SOTS2? 

Also.. any bugs or actions that can cause CTDs that I should know about right now?  It's running just fine thus far but I thought I saw some mention of corrupted save game files..?

Try this:

http://www.kerberos-productions.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=37699

There are as many opinions in this game as there are people who play it, but I found this post to be helpful.

Thanks!

That's the kind of primer I needed.

+1

Now to find some time to dedicate to starting a game.