Sword of the Stars

List Price: $19.99 Discount Price: $6.72

Features:

• Play as the Humans, insect-like Hivers, reptilian Tarkas&enigmatic Liir
• Travel to 40 stars in a spherical galaxy, with unlimited turn gameplay
• Unique, random technology tree helps pave the road to galactic domination

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

Beer and Pretzels [Posted on 2007-11-03]
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.

Unplayable without patch, then 3-stars [Posted on 2007-11-20]
"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.

Sword of the Restart [Posted on 2008-01-20]
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.

No Middle Ground, You'll Love It or Hate it [Posted on 2008-02-15]
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.

Macro Management fun! [Posted on 2008-03-22]
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.

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