Stromko

I'd have to critique the creature builder as well, for some entirely unnecessary limitations. You can't use the carnivore or herbivore mouths if you're an omnivore, or vice versa etc. So if you want to have an herbivore with mandibles, you can't, because mandible mouths are only for carnivores. That limits both aesthetic and gameplay possibilities for no particular reason. You can just use the external creature creator and mix-and-match all you like, and then inject that into the creature pha

I find freighters to be very useful and I use them every game. It's the only way I ever haul myself out of debt in the early to mid game, and you shouldn't underestimate the importance of anything that improves your relations with other races, unless you like being ganged up on. If you're doing very well they might turn against you anyway, but by then you won't need them so much. Building economy starbases for no other purpose than to increase trade revenue doesn't seem worthwhile, espe

Oh, and my two cents on pirates is that they're actually quite helpful and I've wanted to actually add to MY bounty several times to ensure they attack me. Why? Capships! A decent fleet with capships can handle pirates no problem and gain access to potent abilities without ever meeting the 'real' enemies. Other enemies don't throw away big fleets in battles they can't possibly win, thus giving you loads of experience without your capships truly being threatened. I guess their s

I'd call this a vital feature, it's certainly a feature every good RTS has and I've just been baffled it's not already in. In multiplayer couldn't it just be handled democratically? Pick an average speed amongst what everyone 'votes' for by tapping their = and - keys and there you go, nobody gets forced that much. Even a single dissenter could stop it from being maximum speed, at least, but the majority still gets it 'pretty fast' so they don't boot the poor bastard. It must be

Good post Dragoon, but the back ranks aren't much safer than the front ranks, you can come in from the front and you won't be blocked from moving in to fire at their support ships. I don't think most sides have an ability to 'pull aggro' and choose who the enemy has to fight first, and repair/replenish abilities don't seem to work on percentage so a weaker capship can be restored by the fleet almost as well. The small timing difference that attacking from the sides or rear mak

Sins of a Solar Empires does have the four x's accounted for, but a lot of other things that're typically in a 4X game, particularly a 4X game set in space, are missing or simplified. There's no custom ships. Capships gaining experience and letting you choose abilities doesn't count, because eventually (should they survive long enough) they will all have the same four abilities. I know Civ4 doesn't have this and that's considered a 4X too, but I'm talking about Custom ships is

Though I always build the Kol first (when firepower is at a premium), I consider the Akkan to be an absolutely crucial part of a big fleet. It's usually very easy for the enemy to retreat from any battle they can't win. I can usually only catch up with them for a few seconds at the edge of the gravity well, and the ion bolt ability means I can stop a capship from fleeing and my fleet can kill it. This was key to my only victory so far, that, and restarting over and over until I had some

I ran into the same issue as the original poster. It's frustrating, and all this talk about how much siege frigates are setting back the empire that uses them to rush with, are frankly bull. What's 'bull' about it is that those siege frigates are not sacrificed in the strategy. Once they encounter something that can actually destroy them, they either flee or move onto the next planet and commence more bombing. They can keep wrecking up sh*t. I didn't actually lose my homeworld

I haven't tried a lot of diplomacy so maybe I'll like it more when I try it out more, but presently, I'm very underwhelmed by it. Doing inane tasks to make a number go up, a number that means they'll be more likely to accept tasks from me. Hm. Might be better when I'm taking advantage of it instead of the other way around. Didn't get around to it last game though, I was too busy trying to deal with 4 siege frigates that were marching through my empire destroying all my planets. There wa