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Great Game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Sword of the Stars is a great game, it can take a while to get into it but well worth it. If you buy sots I highly recommend you get born of blood also or the CE edition if you can find it.

Unlike most games such as sins of a solar empire where every game almost always ends with same tactics, No sots game is ever really the same, random tech tree's, random events etc.

Also unlike alot of games you can logon to xfire and chat with the devs post on forums and they will respond.

Don't trust this review though go to the site and download the CE demo, give it a try you won't regret it.

Macro Management fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 22, 2008
Author: Amazon User

After playing for quite a while I have found that this game is very entertaining and is hugely replayable. While the 3D star map does take some getting used to, the simple tech tree and simplified system development controls free the player to think about strategy, instead of micromanaging every single colony.

It reminds of Master of Orion, rather than Master of Orion II or III. Real time combat is exciting and more involved than just the rock / paper / scissors approach so many RTS games use. Each tech has multiple counters and there are no ultimate technologies that lead to instant galactic domination. Your early ships are never really obsolete and can compete even in the late game stages (albeit, not very effectively. Still, they can slow an enemy advance or thin out the enemy fleet to allow your main force an easier combat) which says volumes for thought the developers put into the technology tree.

The game itself is set in the earliest stages of galactic exploration and conquest. Each race begins without any real contact with the others, and default to a hostile reaction. Your ships are very small, ~30m for destroyers, ~90m for cruisers and around 270m for dreadnoughts. For size comparisons think about a WWII German U-Boat for Destroyers, Firefly's Serenity for a Cruiser and a modern aircraft carrier for Dreadnoughts.

This games most standout feature, however is the use of momentum physics in its real time combat. Ships have to fight inertia when maneuvering, which can lead to some interesting, even disastrous combat situations with collisions and radical evasive maneuvers. The graphics in combat are superb considering the low end system requirements and the developers active participation on their game forum is truly remarkable. Their constant attention to fan input and their efforts to improve their product are constantly making this game better and more fun to play.

I would recommend this game to fan of the 4x genre.

No Middle Ground, You'll Love It or Hate it

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 15, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have listened and read quite a few reviews on this game. Here is what it comes down to in simple terms: If you like a game that gets in to specifics, quantities even going out two or three decimals, fine details in building a civilization - you will not like this game. If you don't enjoy working with 3D interfaces - you will not like this game. And, I don't care what the box says in specs, if you don't have 2 GB RAM, L2 Cache, and 256 video card - your computer will not like this game.

The folks who do like it enjoy the colorful and intense battle scenes. Oh yeah, lasers, phasers, EM pulses, graviton, positron, and-kind of right on weapons being exchanged by the combatants. They like simplicity in their battle interface. They like simplicity in their scientific progress interface. They aren't into heavy diplomacy sessions, or overly intense economic readings. It's simply a fun game, with some strategy and some arcade play, that demands a lot of memory (good luck if you have an older system to get beyond 30 star systems, the stronger ones get taxed at 75 star systems in terms of processing).

There you go...that's it. If you know what you like, and you know what this delivers, go for it. If it doesn't fit your bill, don't buy it, or cry over it. You get what you pay for in the long run.

Sword of the Restart

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: January 20, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Bad programming execution. Game requires a patches to play, but I could never get it to work on my desktop. (Could never see graphics of ships.) It's not a good sign when there are three patches released within a year of release.

After installing on my laptop and patching to the latest version. I got the game to work until about turn 100+. Then the graphics lockup in the ship build screen and require a complete restart to get graphics back. Basically, in the end-game, you can only play 1 - 3 turns between restarts.

In general, this game is Reach for the Stars with bad graphics. Imperium Galactica II was much more enjoyable.

Unplayable without patch, then 3-stars

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: November 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

"Sword of the Stars" computer game is completely unplayable out-of-the-box. With a good internet connection and plenty of computer savy, a patch can be installed that makes the game playable -- okay / 3-stars but not great. This game is a "take over the galexy" strategy game similar to Masters of Orion. With the patch, the remaining faults are: (1) 3-D map is confusing and cumbersome, resulting in space ships and planets that simply cannot be found and (alas) making larger games pretty much unplayable; (2) inadequate documentation; (3) ambiguous tech (e.g., "increases missle damage" but doesn't say by how much); (4) no feedback during battle on damage to ships; (5) ships during battle typically do their own thing, with only limited user controls, which makes your tactics pretty much irrelevant. The user interface is easy to use and learn (if you have the patch), as advertised; and the plot ideas / goals are kind of fun. The problems are annoying enough, though, that this game simply doesn't have staying power. Few FAQs and Walkthroughs exist, and so cannot provide support to make up for the game's inadequecies.

Beer and Pretzels

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: November 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a "beer and pretzels" 4x space game. It's simple, does not involve much micro management, and can create that "just one more turn" feeling that keeps you up into the wee hours. If that is what you are looking for, something light with cool RT space battles and interesting tech for different races, then this game will satisfy you. If you want something more like "Civ in Space", then move on.

Be sure and download the patches, as they apparently fix some important bugs and game elements. I DL'd after install and have had no crashes or other weirdness.

For more gameplay info you can go to this webpage:

http://sots.rorschach.net/

There's a lot of stuff there that really should have been in the manual, but finding a really good manual with full information these days (as opposed to a manual that is really an excuse to make you by a strategy guide) is becoming a lot more rare.

Almost as good as it gets

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 15, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Ok,I am reviewing the game from patch 1.1 or so, and perhaps giving it too many stars to even out older reviews. However, I personally feel that what we've got here is actually better than MOO2.

Yes, the diplomacy is very simple. Yes, there is no micromanagement. Yes, the 3d strategic map can be a bit confusing at times, although you get used to it much the same way I've gotten used to living in a 3d real world.

Many of the negative reviews here (and on reputable gaming sites)seem to indicate that people have not read the manual (by which I include the digital manual which was included in at least my boxed copy) properly: the "atrocious combat" problems can be solved with the click of the F key to refocus on any object on the screen, and setting the ships to be controlled by the computer in-game combat and expecting to have control over them yourself as well seems just silly.

The pros have been stated over and over already; but just let me repeat one: MP in a strat/tactical battle combo game. That's what the Total War crowds has been bleating about for years and have been continually told is impossible. Nope, kerberos figured it out, lads and lassies.

To be quite honest, the simplicity of the planetary control, after the dead boring Dread Lords debacle of building the same buildings again and again and again and again, is like getting air conditioning in a home where previously the temperature was in the tropical range and the internal humidity in the below sea-level range. Now you get to concentrate on playing a game. While a great fan of fiddling about on the micro level, I've been extremely disappointed at the last five years' attempts at making it work. Imperialism 1 made it a selling point. MOO3 and GalCiv 2 made me play those games for about a week before deciding I had better things to do with my time.

I'm looking forward to the expansion, but I still think that the fact that I'm still playing the original after over one and a half years more or less speaks for itself.

Fun, but a tad simple.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: March 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Sword is a turn-based 2D fleet combat game. Unlike most 4X titles, Sword's economics require very little micro-managing, and the tech tree, while extensive, is simple. That said, the controls are a tad ... subtle - you have to double-click techs to see what they do, for example - and the game lacks a lot of depth. If you're just looking for a title that will let you build a battle fleet and go smash enemy ships, with no bothering about economics, rebellions, diplomacy, spies, and the like, this is your game.

Excellent Space Conquest Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

For anyone interested in the "4X" genre of space conquest games, this title is an excellent choice. The AI is decent, the size of the universe is customizable from 16 to 350 stars, and there is a random tech tree that changes from game to game. In addition, each of the 4 playable races has a different mode of FTL travel, which adds additional complexity. Finally, unlike many games in this genre the actual space combat is incredibly complex and well done, both graphically and in terms of game play. Ships (of which there are 3 different size classes) are fully customizable, and all three size classes are useful through to the end of any given game due to tech advances. All in all, this is an amazingly fun game with high replay value.

Not a 4X game for everyone...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I love 4X "Conquer the Galaxy" type games, I was hooked from the original Starflight game. Then picked up the addiction again with MOO 1 and moved through Stars!, Space Empires III & IV, and Gal Civ 1 & 2.

Where other 4X games are going into detailed empire management (Gal Civ/Space Empires) SOTS is concentrating on Space Combat.

If you're a micro-manager type that loves to control every aspect of every colony you have, then this may not be the game for you. As others have said SOTS minimized the amount of colony management to work on the combat engine.

If you'd like a space combat game with a minimal amount of colony management, then SOTS if your game. That said, the game isn't perfect... but what is? The major issues I have are:

- Tech descriptions: It is hard to tell how much some techs will help your empire as the descriptions aren't fully detailed. (This however goes away a bit after you've played a few games and experiment with the techs.)

- Enemy Ships/Weapons: There isn't yet an interface to look at known enemy ship designs or what type of weapons they are using. What weapons did the Hivers use in that last battle? (The only way to tell is to pay very close attention in the battle and keep notes.)

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