[E3 2011] Sword of the Stars II: Lords of Winter

[Ghostbear]

Like the first game, Sword of the Stars 2 is a 4X title from Kerberos Productions. The series harkens back to the Master of Orion games of old and does it admirably. So join me as we conquer the galaxy.

You will lead one of six playable factions through the game learning new technologies and destroying the armies of your enemies. Speaking of tech, one thing that I though was particularly interesting was the fact that the tech tree varies every time you load the game. So, no memorizing that killer tech rush. For example, one game Mason Beams may be right after normal lasers, the next game, Mason Beams may not show up at all.

Shipbuilding is another major feature from the first game that carries over to the sequel. You'll start with the basic ships that you'll need to play the game, but if I were you I'd take advantage of the ship builder. You can modify existing ships or build your own from scratch. In addition to the major sections of a ship, you'll be able to add modules to your vessels giving a warship a better scanner suite or a colonizer ship a small weapons load out.


Multiplayer looks to be a lot of fun, with the overworld being turn based. Combat happens if two opposing factions end up in the same area at the end of a turn. In combat you can have your ships perform evasive manuvers, have them shift to take hits on other sections of the ship or have them target specific parts of enemy vessels. Tired of your enemy fleeing into the void? Take out those engines and he'll be sticking around. The combat is real time but only last for short time, if the battle was not finished you will return to the turn based mode where you will have a chance to repair, get your ships out or even stay and finish the fight.

I walked away from my demo impressed and I look forward to playing the game at the end of the summer.

[Pale Ale]

Wait, do systems have more than one planet now?

MADNESS!!!

[Superman's Dead]

Tell me about the first game. I was just doing a search for a thread about it, and couldn't find one.

Reading books about the British Navy has me fiending for a suitable space diplomacy/war simulator with different types of ships and plenty of customization. Is this what I'm looking for?

[Darkmatter]

Wow a lot of the gameplay features sound really good. The only negative I saw was that the graphics seemed a bit weak. Sins of a Solar Empire came out quite a while ago and from what I can tell, it looks better then this game. Of course graphics are secondary to gameplay, especially in games like these.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of this.

[Darkmatter]

Originally Posted by Superman's Dead

Tell me about the first game. I was just doing a search for a thread about it, and couldn't find one.

Reading books about the British Navy has me fiending for a suitable space diplomacy/war simulator with different types of ships and plenty of customization. Is this what I'm looking for?

I assume you've played Sins of a Solar Empire.

[Superman's Dead]

Originally Posted by Darkmatter

I assume you've played Sins of a Solar Empire.

Nope, didn't have a worthy PC until recently. Is THAT what I'm looking for?

[CappinCanuck]

Originally Posted by Darkmatter

Wow a lot of the gameplay features sound really good. The only negative I saw was that the graphics seemed a bit weak. Sins of a Solar Empire came out quite a while ago and from what I can tell, it looks better then this game. Of course graphics are secondary to gameplay, especially in games like these.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of this.

The trailer isn't representative of the graphics quality. It looks worse than the first Sword of the Stars and much worse than a lot of other trailers and screenshots I've seen.

SotS was one of my favourite games in recent years. I'm so jealous you got to try it out Ghostbear.

[Darkmatter]

Originally Posted by Superman's Dead

Nope, didn't have a worthy PC until recently. Is THAT what I'm looking for?

Oh yes. Yes it is.

[Vermillion]

BUY SINS NOW!

Where does this rate in the 4x space with the most recent Masters of Orion?

[Superman's Dead]

Sins is still a little too expensive for my blood. Maybe I'll just nab MoO 2 again.

[CappinCanuck]

Originally Posted by Vermillion

BUY SINS NOW!

Where does this rate in the 4x space with the most recent Masters of Orion?

Can't be too certain until it's released. SotS though was the closest thing I've ever run across that got me as excited as MOO2 did about the 4x space genre -- and the most similar in gameplay as well. Every dev journal I've seen also indicated they're expanding towards being more like MOO with SotS2 as well. I particularly like that the races are significantly different in gameplay and the humour. I'm really excited to seeing the direction they went in.