Sins of a Solar Empire Collectors Edition

List Price: $49.99 Discount Price: $44.95

Features:

• Take control of one of three space-faring races as you work to establish your dominance of the galaxy in Sins of a Solar Empire. Through a combination of diplomacy, economic savvy, the spread of culture and of course sheer brute force and victory on the battlefield you will establish order over your corner of the galaxy.
• Explore the Epic Scale of a Dynamic Galaxy - Explore and conquer neighboring planets and distant solar systems in a massively scaled, fully 3D galaxy featuring planets, clusters of asteroids, rare comets and radiant stars
• Customize and Improve Powerful Units - As battle-hardened capital ships advance in level, their core offensive and defensive systems are improved and their unique abilities are unlocked. Try out the devastating Raze Planet, the tactical Clairvoyance and the hull ravaging Phase Missile Swarm.
• Take on Multiple Roles - Transition between the roles of emperor and fleet commander as you zoom-in seamlessly to direct a crucial battle while managing the rest of your empire effortlessly on the same screen
• Extensive Diplomatic and Economic Strategies - Diplomatic and economic strategies can exercise a variety of options including forging and breaking alliances, trading resources, placing bounties on backstabbing ex-allies and over-powered tyrants, blockading enemy planets, establishing trade routes and manipulating the commodities market

Customer Reviews:

awesome [Posted on 2008-03-30]
This game is pretty awesome. As far as space combat goes, it really is top notch....a little like Eve. My only gripe about the game is that there is no ground combat. You glass a planet and then have to build a fresh new colony on it.

Pretty good 4X space RTS game... [Posted on 2008-04-06]
This game is pretty fun. I'm a micromanagement type of player so I couldn't say I enjoyed every aspect of this game. But, for someone looking for a good looking, 4X space RTS, who doesn't care for too much detail/micromanagement, this is the game for you.

There are a wide variety of scenarios and maps to let you play just about any type of game you want. When I say wide, I mean it. Loads of maps.

Ship building is simpler than other games in that you get a couple of starting ship types and then research to gain the others (there are 5-6 frigate class ships, then corsairs). You start with a capital ship and need to research the ability to expand your fleet and the number of capital ships you can have. Other research upgrades your fleet's abilities while your capital ships level up with experience giving you a sort of mini-RPG game as your capital ships gain new abilities.

Resource management is simplified down to two resources (not including money). Crystal and Metal are mined from asteroids in the various systems you control. You can also trade them on the black market in case you have a surplus. Each planet produces taxes and you have to...wait for it...research the ability to colonize harsher worlds like arctic and volcanic worlds (not sure how you colonize a volcanic world but hey, it's science FICTION).

The visuals in the game are pretty nice (the trailers are part of the reason I was drawn to this game). You can scroll down to the individual ships and watch them as they fight your opponents ships. They aren't crazy detailed at the highest zoom, which is unfortunate, but then again, you can smoothly go from close up to galactic view with a quick scroll so, I guess there's some give and take.

The AI, even on easy, has a tendency to do a better job of building out crazy fleets...I guess they know how to play the game better than I could so I must be missing something. :)

Diplomacy is very simplistic. It has an interesting twist but it's one sided in a way. You can propose treaties and such but that's about it. They can offer you bounties if you accomplish something or if you do something for them (like give them resources). I'd have liked to been able to offer the same sort of bounties they offered and/or have the ability to bundle an offer with a request (sort of like Civ 4).

All in all, it's a good game to grab if you're into this genre. I've played a number of games like this over the years and each one has had good things and bad things (no one ever really gets it "right" for me anyways).

The good here include the graphics/visuals, variety of maps, general simplicity of gameplay (in that it allows you to oversee your empire without having to spend too much time worrying about system 22939 in the middle of nowhere), ship RPG gaming, and simple resource management.

The bad here are the simplicity of features that I'd think some people would like complex like diplomacy, ship designs/abilities and the like and some confusion in the research tree (I needed to research some ability to allow myself to expand my fleet or something for one of the non-human races and I could not find the ability ANYWHERE in the research tree!).

NOT USABLE ON MY COMPUTER [Posted on 2008-04-29]
Ok, so I don't know how well it performs. Or how fun it is. I didn't find out my computer was probably too slow at 1.3 Mz, and too little RAM at 512 MB, and too little power in my graphics card. In my defense, I don't think that was all spelled out to me up front. I read it later in the README FILE after I loaded it and was unable to keep it running for more than 2 minutes. So, I still think the pitch on the game sounds great, and I got a new power house game playing laptop on order as of today. I'll make it work in a week or two, for sure! Buy this program, but make sure you got the power to play it. Or the money to buy the power to do so.

SINS [Posted on 2008-06-26]
As many have said before this is a great game. The game has a pretty low learning curve but the AI will keep you honest. This is not a fast paced game. You can go get a drink or do a BIO run and not lose the battle during the brief time you are away from the keyboard. For the most part the games are not a quick affair. There is your typical build up your fleet and go and destroy stuff. You can RUSH your opponent but there will be no Zerg like attacks in this game. This is a very slow paced enjoyable game that most people will like if they are into 4x type games. I recommend this game to all of my friends who are looking for something a little bit slower in pace yet still requires some thought in what you are going to attack or defend.

This is only t [Posted on 2008-07-11]
After being a bit slow to get on board with SoaSE I am VERY impressed both with the gameplay and the best visuals I have seen in a game environment.

The gameplay is big but not hard to understand if you read the freaking manual! And play through the supplied tutorials.

You will need at least a capable computer. If you have a low end system it won't handle the strain and you probably shouldn't be worrying about buying high graphic, processor intensive products anyway.

If you do have a capable system....Stand back you are gonna be impressed.

EOF

Click here for more details and discount information...