Is this game worth getting if im only a single player?

I have always been a single player whenever im playing any game due to the problems that i always have with internet connection.Not the ports problem but it's the speed and stability of my connection.

I have been thinking of whether should i get this awesome game.This game has great support,good graphics and low system requirements.

The only thing that is holding me back:

Is this game's single player good enough to be the reason for me to buy this game since i dont play multiplayer at all?
59,143 views 34 replies
Reply #1 Top
I pretty much only play single player, but that is more due to time restrictions.

Average game is 2 hrs.
Reply #2 Top
I wouldn't buy it for single player until we can see the 1.03 AI. At the moment it is a very relaxed single player game, you can use monoculture fleets, the AI will always run away if you show up with or take out certain kinds of ships, it does not play a particularly imaginative game either in its economy or combat, rarely adapts or changes up its strategies even with the different AI 'flavours', the black market and pirates and diplomacy are tedious ... overall it is just a shadow of its online self. I would be surprised to see it rating more than 7/10 if it was only a single player skirmishable game, in its current state. They really ought to have either built a stronger set of single player features and especially AIs, or marketed it as more of an online-centric game like eg. World In Conflict.

Online it is definitely worth the 9s and 10s it has been scoring. It's simply awesome, that you can get a half dozen or more fickle internet gamers to play for hours at a stretch for a single game says it all really. Put it another way - buying this will give you the biggest incentive to fix your internet connection issues you could possibly imagine. Even more than free pornography.
Reply #3 Top
I only play solo and i like it. :)

It depends what you're looking for though. If you've read the descriptions of the game and think you might like it, you probably will.

I think of it as "Masters of Orion 2 morphed into a RTS". The game is weak on diplomacy and heavy on fleet tactics.



Reply #4 Top
Single player is fun enough to buy this game in its current state. IC promised better AI in 103 and even more and better AI in 104.
Reply #5 Top
@boxox,

The current problem i have now is the damn cap for my internet connection.I cant play anything online with 50GB cap shared with 7+ people.

I guess i just use Sins as an incentive for me to move out and find my own place to get a better no restriction connection.

I think i'll just have some fun with the single player ai first before going to multi.

Besides,how mod-able is this game?
Reply #6 Top
I'm my self mostly a hardcore SP and IMO I would say go for it but remember we all have different taste :) If you don't like standard game then you can choose between some modifications to the game from download site. These enhance Sins in many different directions.

Redion
Reply #7 Top
Yeah,i did see there are quite a lot of Sins mods that are in the making.

If not,i could learn to mod Sins if im really bored with the ai.

I did the same for Dawn of War.Modding can be fun too,you know but i want to know how moddable is Sins?
Reply #8 Top
@ cheesenium - don't mistake me, the single player game is a good couple of weeks worth of play, even with the dodgy AI. You would probably get as much play time just starting to learn the game vs the AIs as you would playing through a whole campaign of C&C3 or similar. The steep learning curve makes even a half-arsed AI quite a challenge while you are figuring things out, and figuring out the game takes a while. That said, I have only run into a couple of people anywhere near as bad as the 'normal' AI online in a dozen games so far, and a lot of the mechanics to do with the black market, pirates and diplomacy only become clear in their purpose when you are playing a large free team FFA game. I believe it was Brad from Stardock who made a post a while back saying that he didn't plan to take Galciv2 into the multiplayer domain because there are inherent game design decisions that come from focussing on one or the other. Sins seems designed as a multiplayer game to nearly the same extent that Galciv2 was designed as a single player game. Yes you can have a decent game as a single player Vs AI skirmish, but it kind of defeats the point of a lot of the innovative features Ironclad coded into the game.
Reply #9 Top
Yeah,dont worry about that.

I do know most of the games today are designed for multiplayer.Sins is just one of them that did for the SP.

I dont plan to play this game for weeks.I did want to play it for years,if it's good.
Reply #10 Top
Yeah,dont worry about that.

I do know most of the games today are designed for multiplayer.Sins is just one of them that did for the SP.

I didnt want to play this game for a few weeks.I did want to play it for years,if it's good.
Reply #11 Top
Yeah,dont worry about that.

I do know most of the games today are designed for multiplayer.Sins is just one of them that did more for the SP.

I didnt want to play this game for a few weeks.I did want to play it for years,if it's good.
Reply #13 Top
I would say yes, but why will you not play multiplayer at all?
Reply #14 Top
I would say yes, but why will you not play multiplayer at all?
End of quote


I would want to play multiplayer but i cant.My land lord doesnt allow me to play any games online.

It's just ridiculous to have 50GB to share with 8 people.I guess i'll just hold on for a while.

How long does an average Sins game take?
Reply #15 Top

It's fun single player, but Galactic Civilizations 2 is a far superior single player game by the same company and it's very similar. If you haven't tried Galactic Civ yet then I'd get that instead, even if you have then there's a new expansion coming out soon you might wanna wait for.

Reply #16 Top
Short game - someone gets punked early - 10-20 minutes and not much fun. A good fun game with a small map on 'fast' will run ~1-2 hours vs equally skilled players, longer if noone goes for the headshot with the orbital cannons. A medium game will run ~3-5 hours. Large and Huge games can potentially hit triple digits. Generally speaking, each orbiting object around a star will add 10-20 minutes or so to a game and the big maps can have hundreds of those. But! The saving grace is, you can save and resume the game at any time. Bear in mind that the AI in 1.02 is acknowledged as deficient by the devs and is set for at least two further upgrades which shouldn't be too far away from now.

If you have 8 people sharing a network is there anything stopping you making it a LAN party game on weekends?
Reply #17 Top
Almost every strategy/tactical game I own I play more 'skirmish' than I play multiplayer or single play campaign. For that reason to me this game is absolutely worth it - its a great rts contest, very satisfying when you finally hammer A.I. opponents.
Reply #18 Top
All i play is single player, once in a rare while, i will team up with a friend so we can take on multiple AI's.

As is the game is great, with future promises by IC in the very near future. Lots and lots of interesting mods out there that adds alot of fun to the game. Check out the modding section.

If you like RTS and space combat, you will not be dissapointed.
Reply #19 Top
Yes, I think the game is a good singleplayer purchase. However, you need to be comfortable with both the classic 4X game style of things like Master of Orion and the fast paced style of RTS games like Age of Empires or Supreme Commander. The unique merit of SoaSE is the unusual combination of elements, but if you hate either genre you will find things in SoaSE you don't like.

You can have a lot of fun just with 3 AI players on a medium random map. That's what I would recommend for singleplayer. It will take a couple of games before you start winning on random maps, so don't be disheartened at that. It helps if you do the tutorial and there are some good tips on this forum.
Reply #20 Top
Games can take as long as you want them to, anything from an hour to what will probably be literally weeks of in-game time.

I played the largest 'small' map, 27 planets on one star in 6 hours, the smallest small map, 7 planets, 1 star, in 45 minutes, the largest random map, 5 stars, and 80+ planets, I believe, in 19 hours, and I'm starting a 10-star, 400+ planet map from the game's in-game custom map making tool which I expect will take hundreds of hours, especially since I have it set to slow. Outside of the dead-end, one-exit 3-planet cluster my starting world was in, the phase jump out to the next planet was 45 minutes long, for my scout. needless to say, I'm 8 hours into the game, have 8 planets colonized, and I have the tech tree fully researched out, and the fleet is now building up. thank god for windowed mode and dual monitors, run Sins on the widescreen, and pull up a browser on the side, makes for a great way to pass the time.
Reply #21 Top
Yes, I think the game is a good singleplayer purchase. However, you need to be comfortable with both the classic 4X game style of things like Master of Orion and the fast paced style of RTS games like Age of Empires or Supreme Commander. The unique merit of SoaSE is the unusual combination of elements, but if you hate either genre you will find things in SoaSE you don't like.
End of quote


I dont play much 4X games,other than Settlers which i really enjoy.It's satisfying to have a large strong empire after playing for hours and i believe Sins can give me that satisfaction too.

For the usual RTS,i play hell lot of them.From the grand daddy of RTS,Dune 2 to CoH,i have played almost all of them.

If you have 8 people sharing a network is there anything stopping you making it a LAN party game on weekends?
End of quote


Doubt that my room mates play this game.Everyone there is a non-gamer.

Would be great to have your room mates playing this game together.
Reply #22 Top
The AI's not very strong and the single player diplomacy system is lousy. I mostly play single player and I regret having bought the game at this point, you'd be smart to wait, at least until they release a demo and you can try it out.
Reply #23 Top
I mainly play SP on the weekdays and MP on the weekends due to time constraints. But I would say it is definitely worth it, it is still fun and the main thing that annoys me is the cowardly AI that will never put up a fight. However, this should be fixed in 1.03 so just hone up your skills/get familiar to the game for MP.
Reply #24 Top
It's fun single player, but Galactic Civilizations 2 is a far superior single player game by the same company and it's very similar. If you haven't tried Galactic Civ yet then I'd get that instead, even if you have then there's a new expansion coming out soon you might wanna wait for.
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You should also let him know that Gal Civ is a completely turn based game.

Reply #25 Top
The single player game has great potential but is painfully flawed at this time.

Imagine spending hours getting your giant fleet built and your tech raised only to spend the rest of the game chasing around enemy fleets that just refuse to engage you for any reason. It's beyond frustrating and basically just makes you want to quit. The game relies heavily (due to lack of strong defensive units) on massed ships (i.e. A giant fleet) and thus the game devolves into a chase. You won't be able to pick-off enemy ships faster than it can replace them. If you attempt to jump to the capitol AI planets the others will bum-rush your capitol planet and smash your face.

Even if you use good strategy and trap an enemy fleet they can just turn and run with very minimal damage even if you're using the so-called phase jump inhibitors (which don't work).

Thus, you end up playing cat and mouse with a computer that won't fight. I'm putting the game away until the AI is improved, there is a way to stop spam phase jumping, and there is something to free me up from babysitting my main chokepoint. Until then it's not really fun beyond a basic Civ-builder (although there are no planet screens like in Civ so there's not a lot as far as planet building beyond the meager defenses).

With time I think this will be a very nice game but like most computer games released in this decade it's nowhere near ready for prime-time. If you buy now you are basically paying $50 for Beta... which isn't a bad thing if that's your thing.