Sins of a Solar Empire - It is hard to learn or am I really dumb?

[ibitato]

Hey,
I have invested about 8 hours in this game... I really like it......
The thing is, I have never been a good RTS player, but man, is this game a hell to learn or what?????

I have googled internet but I do not find any good / complete strategy guide or something .......

any ideas ???

I would really appreciate any bone you can throw.... I have little time to play over the week, so I usually go to more "play and fly" type of games (Sacred 2, FEAR, FC2, or anything I can play fast and leave).... but I fell this game is worth the effort.........

[midijunky]

I don't consider myself an expert at SoaSE (you're learning already), but I think I have my head around the basics. It definitely has more depth than the average action game, but the learning curve isn't that steep. It is more complicated than the average RTS though, especially when you factor in the tech and black market screens. There are also multiple ways to win, besides the obvious method of your ships vs theirs.

If you're having trouble I can suggest a few things. Reading the manual is helpful, it explains the differences between the races and the special abilities of their fleets. It's essential to play and use your strengths. Learning the shortcut keys is a good idea as well, because you can get things done faster. This isn't a twitch game by any means, but shortcuts give you a leg up. I resisted learning the keys at first, but they are actually mapped intuitively, so they're easy to learn. Opening moves can be important to getting established - build a capital ship early and squash the rebel ships to gain your first colonies. Your first capital ship is essentially free, so built it right away. From there, expand and research your economy and logistics, unless you're playing on a super small map. Money is the sinews of war...

I also found playing without pirates to be helpful at first, they can be a distraction as you're trying to learn other parts of the game.

Good luck with the game. I think you'll find it rewarding.

[Gunlance]

I also recommend playing with the pirates off. I also dominate the other side early on with just vast amounts of ships, and then just keep them in check for the rest of the time. This is the time I try things out and look at the tech tree and try to devise a plan for the next time.

I will say the tutorial in this game is absolute garbage.

[deathman20]

I probably logged 200 hours in this game from playing with friends to solo against the AI. I got to say that even if you think 1 strategy will work 1 time it will not work the next. I've run across that so many times where Im going going, then basically get swarmed and gone.

Its very dynamic and keeps the mind thinking if you do play it on higher difficulties. On the lower ones its quiet easy to play and little thinking is involved IMO. Just remember each map has its own advantages over another which can put things in your court or the enemies.

[lordkosc]

Start off with the TEC they are the easiest to play, and make the most money the fastest, allowing you to expand your empire and upgrade.

Also the Entrenchment Expansion is quite good.

[Tyrinon]

I picked this game up on the 13th, and like it so far. I thought the initial start up was a pain (read the manual while the game installed). I maxed my planet structures and had a small battle group w/one capital ship. Thought I was doing okay until I went to raid/take over the next planet over. I pulled back my forces b/c the computer had three capital ships sitting there. After I remembered/realized the fleet upgrades, I grew my fleet and quickly took over six planets.

The pirates were a pain, but I found them useful for leveling capital ships. When I grew tired if the pirates, I wiped out their base. At this point, I had about half the map owned and then went after achievements. Only found two artifacts, which was a drag. Ended up completing 29% of the achievements during this first game. I will probably play another round this weekend as another race, and see where that goes.

Anyone create any of their own systems? That seems to be interesting and will have to give that a try after I play a few rounds.

I have heard this was a successor to a previous game, and that game had to be micro managed like crazy. Someone at work was telling me about it, and liked it much more than this newer game. That person had adv for someone that didn't play the first game, this one would rock. I haven't played the original, and the name escapes me at the moment, but I can see this game sucking up quite a bit of my free time in the coming weeks. lol

[Prodigious]

The game isn't all that complicated. It just has a lot of depth. Fleet vs fleet engagements aren't so much about rock paper scissors type matchups between ships as it is the synergy of ships within a fleet.

Resource gathering, research, etc. are all pretty streamlined and easy to manage. The only real complications are in managing your resources properly to maximize your capabilities. For instance, maxing out planetary defenses around your homeworld will be a waste if all the possible jump points lead to heavily defended planets that you control. Likewise, you don't want to invest in population and non-defensive structures on an outlying colony that is constantly under attack until you have a firm control on surrounding areas.

The best tips I can give you are:

Choose research carefully. It costs a lot and takes plenty of time in the higher tiers. Make sure what you research is providing maximum benefit for your fleets. Don't invest in extra bombardment damage if you only have very few enemy planets you can/want to capture. Extra armor is kind of wasted if you have tons of repair ships, etc.

CAPITAL SHIPS ARE KEY. Build the initial free one as soon as you can, make sure it's a high damage offensive ship, and set it loose. Early on, 1 or 2 capital ships can single handedly secure several zones. The early game frigates you and enemies will be pumping out can't really do jack against a capital ship. And the earlier you get out the capital ships, the higher their experience level will be towards the end of the game when it really counts. Plus they are excellent planetary defenses. They can buy you a lot of time to reinforce a planet that's under attack.

Don't go crazy with the black market. Selling tons of extra or to buy some crystal seems nice, but you might need that ore later which means you have to buy even more black market resources, and continuously using the black market inflates the prices, costing you precious credits for minimal resource gains.

Know when to pull out. Unlike a lot of RTSs, in this game, you don't just send out ships and let them blow eachother up till nothing is left. Ships can be expensive, and pulling out of a losing situation, repairing/reinforcing, and heading back in is way better than wasting resources replacing destroyed ships.

[ibitato]

Well, that makes a good starting point, thanks to you all.......

One thing that is not pointed out on the thread ......, the "culture" part of the game......

As being as ignorant as I am / was on this game..... I was playing a ramdom big map, trying to concentrate on fleet / expansion but ....... One near-by planet almost took my capital planet...... using "culture"!!!!!!!

I had none Broadcast Centers on my planets..... so does it make it neccesary to at least have one on each plantet?????

If you are treathened "culturally speaking" by a near by planet, just building a Broadcast Center would stop it ??? I guess not, depending on their "cultural power"....

anyhow, another game save that is going to the trash can... starting again.....:bang head

[OC101]

Here is what I do when start a new game
(ok first, I found TEC is good for the start. Pound for pound, their capital ships are the most powerful with the most Hull and shields, also with highest damage outputs and armor.)
1. build crystal/mental extractors
2. max planet population cap
3. build a capital ship factory and build your first capital ship. The first capital ship is free. I usually pick the most powerful battleship, as you will have to fight your way through around 10 pirate ships at each planet. For TEC, either pick that KOL battleship or the 5th. I prefer the 5th because it seems KOL battleship's special weapon ability is bugged or something like that, either way it doesn't do 250/500/750 damage on a single hit as it says. The radiation warhead of the 5th battleship seems to work fine and it does lots of damage. Besides, whenever you build a capital ship of the 5th model, you always hear "bring up the big guns!" :p That battleship alone can destroy a fleet of pirates by itself. KOL can do that too. However, any other capital ships won't be able to fight off 10 pirate ships by themselves)

The above 3 steps would just be around 5 clicks. You should have them all done within first 10 seconds of the game. Step 3 the building of capital ship Factory, you will find you don't have enough crystal for that click after the first 2 steps, just buy the crystal from black market. It worth it. You need to get your first free capital ship out as soon as possible.

4. After you clicked on the first 3 steps, (before the actual capital ship is built, since it takes time), you need to make at least 2~3 scout ships and send them off to explore.
5. You will need to build a colony take over ship. Since you will pick the most powerful capital ship instead of the one that has "colony" ability, you will need that ship to establish new colonies after the capital ship destroy the pirates around the planet.
6. The first planet you go after should be an asteroid. There will be only around 3 pirate ships guarding it, easy to kill them with a single capital ship. And it will be fast. So you get more crystal and mental income.
7. Actually after you sent out the scout ships, use your extra income to build 2 civilian research centers. You will need them for the research of the ability to take over certain planets that require research ... such as ice planet.


During early part of the game, grab as many planets as you can. Somewhere 15~20 minutes into the game, you should have at least a few hanger defense at each planet that are your outposts(means border with enemy territories).

As for culture thing, you have no need to worry about it during the early part of the game. I just completely ignore it at the first hour or so. Later on, you will only need one culture device at every other planet. For example, if one planet of yours is connected to 3 other planets directly, you will only need one broadcast device at that planet, so the other 3 can be covered.

During early part of the game, upgrade economy as much as possible. You won't be needing military upgrade until you can pump out lots of units, and that will require the economy backup.

Later on in the game, i found that carriers are the key. You need lots of bombers and fighters to win your space battles. Get at least 20 of them for your early fleet.
However, you will need some capital ships to take the hits for your fleet and you don't want them to be destroyed. For TEC for example, I would have KOL battleship to take hits since they have the highest armor/Hull/shields, and they have the "adaptive shield" ability which can take off up to 65% of the damage from enemy fire. And you will need at least 2~3 capital ships that have that "shield restore" ability to back up your KOL battleship, also you will need 3~6 Robotic repairing ships to repair the Hull. That way, your KOL battleship just won't die. Since it only takes 35% of the damage and with both shield restore and Hull repairing it will last forever. A balanced fleet should also have lots of defense vessels against enemy bombers. They will drop enemy bombers and fighters like flies if you have enough of them. I would have at least 20~50 of those anti-bomber vessels(depend on what stage you are in the game.).

My largest fleet ever assembled had total 200+ squadron of bombers and fighters from my carriers and capital ships. With 50 defense vessels. 12 robotic repairing ships. 3 command ships.
I usually set my fleet as "hold position" when attack a planet. So the bombers will do all the damage in the area while the fleet will stay in formation which is better for defend against enemy attacks. However, if you found the enemy planet has very few defenses and a much smaller fleet, go ahead change it to "gravity wall" to set the fleet's battleships loose to go after enemy ships themselves.

[ibitato]

Thanks, OC101

I started a new random big map, using TEC, so I will put into practice all of this.

[Archer0915]

Hey,
I have invested about 8 hours in this game... I really like it......
The thing is, I have never been a good RTS player, but man, is this game a hell to learn or what?????

I have googled internet but I do not find any good / complete strategy guide or something .......

any ideas ???

I would really appreciate any bone you can throw.... I have little time to play over the week, so I usually go to more "play and fly" type of games (Sacred 2, FEAR, FC2, or anything I can play fast and leave).... but I fell this game is worth the effort.........

Your dumb:cool:

My daughter loved the game when I first got it played religiously for an evening or two and has not touched it since. It seems to be a really cool and leveled game I think people have been spoiled in the past years by easy games I mean get with it this is easy compared to old skool games. Compared to modern games and modern gamers it may be a challenge though. No your not dumb just a little spoiled. Sacred 2, FEAR, FC2 and this is where your problem is.

[ibitato]

Your dumb:cool:

My daughter loved the game when I first got it played religiously for an evening or two and has not touched it since. It seems to be a really cool and leveled game I think people have been spoiled in the past years by easy games I mean get with it this is easy compared to old skool games. Compared to modern games and modern gamers it may be a challenge though. No your not dumb just a little spoiled. Sacred 2, FEAR, FC2 and this is where your problem is.

Ah, one is thankful for a little of honesty and straight thinking..... I might be spolied, but I wish I had more time not to be.......

I have 1 wife, 2 daughters (no pets); so I do not have much time to play games on my rig.
I wish my family gave me time to PLAY. BUT they think rigs are EVIL
:beer:

[Archer0915]

Ah, one is thankful for a little of honesty and straight thinking..... I might be spolied, but I wish I had more time not to be.......

I have 1 wife, 2 daughters (no pets); so I do not have much time to play games on my rig.
I wish my family gave me time to PLAY. BUT they think rigs are EVIL
:beer:

I have wife, disabled parents (couldnt take seeing them in a home or worse), 1 yr. old son, 2 yr. old son , 10 yr. old daughter, 2 cat's and a 15 yr old dog so I know the feeling. That is why my daughter gets to play all the games and I get to hear about it.

[deathman20]

Some how I manage to play games currently barely, and defiantly not like I use too.

Wife and a 3 month old Daughter with the starting of a kitchen/utility room/bathroom/dinning room remodel.

[Archer0915]

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=593749&page=2
Posts 46 and 57 are my new unfinished nook and my dining room that is now a bedroom for my parents. I just want a couple of weeks to my self but that will come but by that time I will be so old and decrepid that the only game I will want to play will be hit the snooze I don't want to wake up and take my meds:cool:

[ibitato]

I have wife, disabled parents (couldnt take seeing them in a home or worse), 1 yr. old son, 2 yr. old son , 10 yr. old daughter, 2 cat's and a 15 yr old dog so I know the feeling. That is why my daughter gets to play all the games and I get to hear about it.

Building new room at your house $5,000 USD
Buying new rig for your kids and for your envy $2,500 USD

What you are doing for your parents and family, has no price.

:)

You deserve to play more.

[deathman20]

Building new room at your house $5,000 USD
Buying new rig for your kids and for your envy $2,500 USD

What you are doing for your parents and family, has no price.

:)

You deserve to play more.

And for this we have Mastercard.... charge your way to Debt ;)

[gt24]

I don't know if this helps...

When I first got the game, I went into a random map. Randomness as it is, the map was essentially an hour glass style configuration on its' side. My forces were on the left, the AI was on right, and a pirate base was the center node region which connected our two regions. The Star by the way really didn't lead anywhere and there was no way to the other region without going through the pirate base.

The pirate base prevented all attacks from the AI. The pirates would attack me from time to time if I didn't pay them off and I had to liberate each system from the built-in pirates. This meant I would never be defeated and I could relax all I want to figure out how things went. When I had a fleet to bust the pirate base, I had enough to give the AI a good battle.

That map was great. It allowed me to learn the game. It was all up to "random chance" too. I wish I could find a way to rip the map out of my save games. (and go figure that you cannot even load old save games in now)

Anyways, if you mess with the system creator, try making a bottleneck map like that. It might give you enough of a defense from an AI who wants to kill you (as opposed to one that harasses you) so that you can figure out the game and get in a first win.