You can't see anything but what is in front of your pug face. Look behind the curtain. If stardock gets fucked over because of piracy they have NO ONE to blame but the wolves that share the industry with them!

Hi, Mr Wolf.

Freespace 2: Lost Souls
http://www.sectorgame.com/aldo/

Downloaded it yesterday (extremely fast speeds) and spent the whole night learning that thing. Pretty addictive game but I'm far from completely understanding it. I usually don't buy digital copies but: THIS is the way it has to be done. Fast downloads, no DRM. Thank you, Stardock. Now go and buy their game!


This comment was edited on Feb 5, 09:17.

Hey Surf, they're an independent developer with very little money.

You may not realize it, but it costs money and time to make a demo. You have to pay the people working on it and there's no "make demo button".

There's no valid reason to steal from them, and you're being a dick to even suggest it. They've said there's going to be a demo.

How about wait for a demo, or don't get to try it. If you pirate it and DO like it, you're highly unlikely to buy it in any case with the type of argument you're "bringing forth."

Next it'll be "I'll buy the next game I like after pirating it, but I'm a bit broke right now."
This comment was edited on Feb 5, 02:34.

If stardock gets fucked over because of piracy they have NO ONE to blame but the wolves that share the industry with them!

So Smurf, you're saying that you have no problem fucking an an honest developer because their competitors are scum?

Jesus, you're some kind of retard aren't you?


This comment was edited on Feb 5, 02:17.

"This is the one damn publisher that still gives a fuck about us gamers, and you support them by threatening to steal their software. Well done. You should really be proud of yourself. I hope some day someone steals all your shit, so you can see for yourself how that feels. "

No, fuck you Creston. This industry is FULL of thieves, they are known as developers that have exploited people, lied in reviews or PAID COMPANIES TO REVIEW THEIR GAMES HIGHLY, gamespot anyone?

SO fuck you again Creston. I am this way because of this industry. I am this way because I have been fucked over so many times and screwed, and made an unwilling beta tester from companies like EA.

So go eat shit. You defending this developer blindly is like defending the one lawyer in America that does something good for the people, while the other 5 million lawyers fuck you in the ass.

You can't see anything but what is in front of your pug face. Look behind the curtain. If stardock gets fucked over because of piracy they have NO ONE to blame but the wolves that share the industry with them!

Bhuric, Javelis LRM's are very useful - they outrange static defense is a good hint and there are more hints on how they can be used in the manual. (manual.pdf in your sins directory)

FloridaHoudini, both your concerns are addressed here "Is Sins Easy to Play?" : http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/?forumid=402&aid=174536#1439921

I hate to talk about the demo/pirate issue when their are so many gameplay related questions here but its disheartening to think we have to make such a tough moral choice. If we release the demo early that means the retail build suffers quality (1 month of development) but if we don't we get pirated (which is particularly rough since we have ZERO DRM! We understand that people don't always want to see games in their best light (aka hype situations) which is partly why we've had a year long beta with absolutely no NDA. Sins screenshots, previews, movies (check out the dates in youtube), and the often brutal beta forums have been available since last March. And believe me, developing a game with the whole world watching is rough - especially in the early days when we got torn apart day in day out. When I hear comments like this I wonder if it was worth it. We'll find out shortly I guess. Anyways, I made a detailed post about this on the official forums. Check out reply #22 at http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/?forumid=402&aid=174611#1439868.

Thanks again for the support!

1. Will I be able to orient myself?

From the 3 seconds of the game that I've seen, it does seem to work on a plane. So that should help. But it's hard for me to relate to that issue, since I'm like a human pigeon.

2. Is it too much to manage or can my units be self-servicing to a degree?

No, your units are pretty smart in this game. I don't know that they'll do EVERYTHING by themselves, but you can automate a huge portion of the game. And your capships aren't going to stupidly sit there while some bombers are blowing them to shit, because you're not clicking on the "attack" button.

Will I lose a significant edge if I am unable to quickly skirt between planets and trade/barter/conquer/move/defend/scan whatever you can do with a planet and the outlying resources and then move to the next planet and do the same?

I can't say for sure, since I haven't played much, but the empire chart/map thing on the side seems pretty handy at giving you a lot of info at a glance. As far as rushing and quickly conquering planets, I'm sure that's a viable strategy, but I don't know if it's necessarily any better than just fortifying and slowly going out and conquering (which is my preferred way of playing anyways.)


Creston

Because you are not providing a demo of the game ahead of the actual retail release, you only heighten my desire to pirate this game for now.

How about you wait a fucking month, you thief? Is that going to kill you?

Had you put forth a demo 1 week before the games release, there would be no need for most of us to want to "try before you by

Yeah, and instead ALL of us would be waiting an extra month before we got the game. That sounds like a great idea. If you want to try before you buy, wait a month.

I don't want to hijack this forum here, but it really bothers me to see "No demo" or "Demo in a month"

Then take your thieving ass somewhere else. This is the one damn publisher that still gives a fuck about us gamers, and you support them by threatening to steal their software. Well done. You should really be proud of yourself. I hope some day someone steals all your shit, so you can see for yourself how that feels.

Asshole.

Creston

3.5 hours after I began downloading it's complete. I guess it's not really a huge game where footprint is concerned. Yay

Kudos again to Stardock for their absolutely AWESOME, AWESOME support. I've been reading threads on their forum most of the night, and I don't know how many guys they've got populating the tech forum and general forum, but it's quite a few.

*Gasp*, a developer/publisher who is actually there to see if everything goes okay on their big gameday launch! What's the PC gaming world coming to?!

For this reason alone, you should all go out and buy their software.

(And for all you fucking monkeys who are going to whine "A dev works on a game for like, four years, he deserves a vacation!" I just have this to say. If he's been working at it for four years, he can wait another week to be around to actually SUPPORT the game he just released. Only in the gaming industry does a manufacturer release something, and is then IMMEDIATELY unavailable to answer any issues or questions that might come up. We have worse fucking customer support in this industry than British Rail.)

Support Stardock

Creston

The only two immediate concerns I have about this game..

1. Will I be able to orient myself?
I have a terrible time in any space game getting my bearing and feeling like I am connected, or as if there is a home place for me to go to get away from it all and "adjust". To feel like I am not in the middle of nowhere with nothing but huge amounts of distance between me and civilization?

2. Is it too much to manage or can my units be self-servicing to a degree?
I suck at micromanaging and from what I see, I could have a lot of resources to account for that are spread out all over the map. Will I need to be involved in every battle or will some of my ships be able to handle their own. Will I lose a significant edge if I am unable to quickly skirt between planets and trade/barter/conquer/move/defend/scan whatever you can do with a planet and the outlying resources and then move to the next planet and do the same?

Bucky is correct, the demo will be about a month from now.

Ah good, I'll wait for that and see how it goes. Not that I don't trust Bucky's game sense, I just tend to suck when it comes to RTS games of any kind.

Machine's take on Sins units:

The cool thing, I think, about Sins...so far...is that all the units are useful, but none of them are essential. If you have a certain play style, there's a group of units you can use to play that way.

Some of the long range missile ships do a ton of damage...and do well if massed. I generally use my cap ships with support cruisers (point defense for bombers and some of those mobility restricting ones to keep enemy cap ships from running away) and a couple specialized frigates for offensives, and cruisers/frigates with system defenses for defense. Of course, it's all dependent on how strong your foe is, and how many planets you have to defend. The unit cap makes it a bit problematic if you are defending three worlds from three strong opponents (so it pays to find a bottle neck and take it...if only to free up some of your fleet for offensive stuff).

Bombers with some fighters are great for defense. They can react quite quickly to an invading force and do nice damage. And, they're a pain if you don't have any defenses of your own. I find large fighter/bomber numbers to be a characteristic of a relatively mature game though (as your cap ships increase in rank, they'll get a squadron or two of fighters/bombers).

I like the Vasari. Those missiles and waves pack a wallop. But the Advent, well, they seem to be the most fun for me based on their unique abilities. I haven't messed around with TEC a lot (I stuck with Vasari during the beta) but they seem to be the mass attack type.

Not having a demo is a cop out, period. Can you not stand by your game and at least release a demo at the same time?

This isn't fucking EA. This is a small dev, with a limited number of people. He stated that they wanted to get the retail game finished, and concentrate on that, before working on the demo.

At least I am intelligent enough to bring forth a valid argument, like it or not.

You're argument isn't valid at all. It's an excuse to justify your actions.

If you don't want to pay right now, wait on the demo. And reviews, which I'm sure there will be a number of.

Do you, as an adult, not have the will power to wait? Are you such an infant that you think you have the right to take anything you feel like?

Fuck off, and take the warez shit elsewhere.



------------------------------------------------
http://niggytardust.com/saulwilliams/menu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4zXIyyaJss&NR=1

You're a moron Smurf, using any bullshit excuse to justify yourself.

it is worse that their fan-base steals from them.

Please don't include people like Surf in your definition of 'fan base'. It's insulting to the rest of us, especially when everything that was said boils down to 'I pirate because I can't wait.'

Ugh. I shouldn't even have responded.


Back on topic.

Can anyone give me a quick breakdown of the three races? For example, one's defensive minded and economic, etc. I'm sure I'll get a feel for 'em all eventually, but I'd like to learn with the one that'll best fit my play style.

I completely disagree with all your posts. You guys make a sweeping judgement that the company who made this game is right, that any attempts from them to market this game with website ads and magazine ads doesn't try to reel you in.

Its called hype. Maybe you guys should look it up and take a course in marketing.

I am not defending pirating, but I am also not defending advertising that shows the games in its best light the entire time.

Not having a demo is a cop out, period. Can you not stand by your game and at least release a demo at the same time?

If I am so wrong, why does piracy exist? At least I have the nuts to give you a reason, right or wrong. Instead I get a bunch of yahoo's that blindly think piracy is wrong across the board.

What if I don't like the game? I delete it and save myself $30-60 from a NO RETURN POLICY industry, which is another cop out. How does this hurt the game company? I am not selling their game, I am not playing it, I am not buying it. It doesn't go on the company list as a purchase, so that statistics are not thrown off.

I don't see how I could possibly hurt this company at all by simply downloading and trying the game out. If I like it they get a sale, if not, I go home with no wear and tear on my pocket book and the company doesn't get a jaded gamer.


At least I am intelligent enough to bring forth a valid argument, like it or not.

This comment was edited on Feb 4, 23:37.

This game is actually quite easy to get a grasp on (compared to other 4x's) once you've played it a couple times

Yeah, again, it's not the how to do stuff I'm having a problem with. I know how to claim planets, build defenses, etc. The main problem I'm dealing with is just trying to figure out why/when to do things. For example, the missile frigates - are they really that useful? Is it important to scan the surface of your planets, or is that just a fringe "search for artifacts" benefit? When should I be putting money into buying off the pirates?

I'm sure all of these things will become clear as I play the game more, but it would have been nice if the tutorials had done a basic job of teaching you simple ordering.

yeah.. Surf..
err, you don't HAVE to play it right now ya know. So your excuse is pretty piss poor, and also in very bad taste all things considered.

We get a dev to show up and talk to us about the game and you throw out the pirate shit? Uncool.
-------------------------
back on topic:
http://www.draginol.com/images/SinsofaSolarEmpireAARRageoftheIshendi_F14F/20080131_1700.png
is what I wanted to see..
a tech tree so i know that i can upgrade the birdsnot out of my ships.

@ surf

blame lack of a demo as the reason you pirate software? wow... how low can you really get?

like MachineMk2 said - curb your enthusiasm and just get the game later rather than steal from the hard-working folks.

bad enough middle-man-publishers 'steal' from the little-dev-guys, it is worse that their fan-base steals from them.

I've so had it with people using the lack of a demo as an excuse to steal software.

You're a thief, regardless of the reason.

Here's an idea: if you don't think the game is good (which this one is) then exercise a little restraint. Don't buy it. Wait the month and then try the demo.

I like Stardock's business model. They have great customer service. And it's whiners like Surf that are driving games away from PCs.

Furthermore, the "I'll buy it if it's good" is complete crap. You're ethical enough to buy it once you've stolen it? Sure.

Heh. There. Done.

I had this same problem with Dangerous Waters. People were pirating this game which basically was just robbing money straight from the dev. Sometimes, you just have to put your faith in a small dev and think of it as a contribution to their continued development of good games down the line. Some of you bitch about EA then you go out and steal from these folks. Brilliant.

Anyway. I'm done ranting.

Sins compared to GalCiv 2: lighter on the micromanagement, heavier on the RTS combat. Not to say they are much the same, but that's generally how I view it.
This comment was edited on Feb 4, 23:06.