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[PkC] Opinionated & Infallible

What makes this the epitome of RTS strategy games?

tactical and strategic depth

The most important criteria for ANY strategy game. How many ways are there to win? How many different strategies does the game allow for and reward? With the scope of the game and the sheer number of versatile and diverse units, FA offers more depth than any other RTS. Include in this all the different strategic buildings and you have a wealth of play styles, and a wealth of tactical options.

For instance:

Let's say you are being harassed by a Tier (T) 1 bomber. What can you use to counter it?

You have: T1/T2/T3 fighters. T1/T2 Anti Air (AA) ground units. T1/T2/T3 static AA defenses. And 2-4 naval units that come equipped with AA defenses. that's 10-14 different units to combat that particular unit. No other game allows for such versatility. Sure some are better than others (as you would want and expect) but that's the strategy- what are your goals going into the mission and how do you achieve that goal with the units you have at your disposal? there are simply a million different ways to play with the combination of units. No other RTS has the same freedom, especially since they all use "hard counters" of 1 or 2 units.

simulation

It is rare to find an RTS that is a simulation, indeed the only other big name is total annihilation (I know there is one other but I do not know the name of it). never EVER underestimate the gains in gameplay dynamics that you receive from playing a simulation. If someone doubts the veracity of the argument that a simulation improves gameplay, they simply do not understand how much of a difference it really makes. If your aircraft flies too close to artillery, there is a (small) chance it could get taken out by a shell intended for somewhere else on the map. I saw an amusing video recently where a player flew his fighters too close to his flying experimental unit, and when the experimental fired, it managed to hit half his supporting fighters- you simply cannot get this type of dynamic in the purely maths-based rules you find in all other games. If units walk in front of other units they will get hit instead of the unit that is now behind.

What does this all mean?

DYNAMIC battles. They are unpredictable. There is no more "oh I have 5 footmen he has 4 grunts, im going to lose". A unit might simply be microed behind a legde so that unit X cannot fire on it. Not because there's an arbitrary rule stating "units in area of X get +50% to armour bonus" -unit X cannot be hit simply because there is something in the way. This allows for real strategy when placing buildings too. Put your static defenses in a "ditch" and artillery will have a harder time hitting it, again, not because of any bullshit rules. Bubble shields are great for protecting those IN the bubble, but ALSO those that are stationed BEHIND the bubble, because enemies firing at them will hit the bubble first. You cant get that kind of dynamic without a simulation.

This also changes balance. Any unit that can hit any other unit will hit that unit, no penalty! There are no silly rules to remember "oh, magic does extra damage to heavy armour". What this means is that you don't get ridiculous things happening, like in empire at war where an ATAT had been coded to be useless against ground troops. I mean, we all saw them tear humans up in empire strikes back didn�t we? It means enough of unit X will beat unit Y, no matter how powerful. This adds to tactical variety "oh, he's got that super duper unit, but if I mass enough of my average unit I might just get over the top of him".

It allows for artillery to be useless against units, as well as being AWESOME againt units AND buildings. How? Simple. Artillery projectiles are relatively slow, meaning a good player can micro his troops out of the way. BUT, if the artillery still manages to hit, then it does its full, regular damage. No need for bonus damage against buildings and reduced damage to units. It just happened NATURALLY and fluidly, and again, makes sense!!!

It means real tactics come into play and you get real rewards- forcing a well-executed pincer on an opponent works because dynamically. Again, there are no "if you execute a pincer you get +50% to attack rolls", it works because you have come into behind (or to the side) of an opponent, and it takes valuable time for the unit's TURRET and/or DIRECTION to shift to face the new threat. It means that if a group of units such as aircraft retreat, they can no longer fire on you because their turret's rotation is limited.

Again, all of this rewards a player that can use their troops well, and makes it more of a its how you use your units rather than what units you have moreso than any other RTS available.

freedom

This kind of ties in with the other two topics, but what the hell. Because of its rich tactical nature and the fact that it is a simulation, there are no hard and fast rules to victory. In many other RTS's its all about buildings heaps of troops and sending them to your opponents base. Repeat. But in FA you really need to be aware and prepared for anything. Tactical missile strikes, hidden bases behind your lines of defense, troop drops behind enemy lines, stealthed fighter-bombers, mobile bombs, navy bombardment, having your bases captured and used against you, amphibious units sneaking up on you unprotected etc etc etc. I have watched dozens of replays and I rarely see the same tactics twice. Thus intel plays more of a role than any other game that has come before, which is cool because you then have to worry about jamming, stealth, and cloaking! If you lose the information war you'll probably lose the game. Again, this really rewards sound strategy.

The diversity of all the new units makes play really interesting, and adds more to the tactical depth and the freedom of how you choose to play. If you found map control unimportant in supcom, you will be VERY pleased with how important map control is in forged alliance. It means you are fighting over the entire map for the majority of the game! The action is better than anything ive played or seen. Hundreds and hundreds of versatile, diverse units all shooting the shit out of each other. And because there's no bullshit hard-counter rules, it is MUCH more satisfying.

build templates

Ok, this might not appeal to some but I think it is fantastic.

Load a sandbox game (testing to just play with yourself).

Build any combination of structures. Save.

Load a multiplayer game and BINGO! There's your saved group of structures ready to be built in the order you originally built them. no more fucking around in your base building economy or defenses. You simply load a saved template and you're away! I love this because it really allows for some creative, sexy & functional base designs and forward firebases without you having to spend the time designing them!! It saves SO much time! And that's more time you get for moving your troops around.

Nobody says you have to like FA more than other titles in the RTS genre, but I am simply stating that FA is easily the best in the categories I have briefly outlined. Tactical/strategic depth, simulation & freedom are the most important aspects of a strategy title however, and there can be no argument that FA wins hands down in these departments. Make no mistake, FA is the strategy title for adults that want as much freedom from their gameplay as possible. And gameplay > all.

Pick up the standalone expansion for about $30US and try it for yourself.

5 massive massive armies out of 5

Sins of a solar empire is undoubtedly the first successful game of its type, and I applaud stardock for going boldly where others have tried and failed. Unfortunately, the merging of genres is always going to come at a cost to either or both formats, and SoaSE is no exception.

Branded as the first "4RTX" game, blending RTS elements and the grander, turn-based expansion, and SoaSE is definitely a fun game to play. Who doesn't like managing massive armadas in real time, conquering the galaxy? I know I certainly do. It brings back memories of master of orion 2, a turn-based game I played to death for ages. You use your fleet to kick ass around the solar system and colonise planets to generate more income so you can afford to kick even more arse.

The interface in sins really really shines, and it reminiscent of pkc's favourite RTS of all time everything is within easy reach and the zoom makes controlling huge fleets a breeze. Zoom in, zoom out, what could be easier? Managing what's going on on each planet is a little more complicated however, and I found finding say, the fleet-building structure every time I wanted to change the rally point to be needlessly time consuming. That said, im playing on a 32" tv that's approximately 5 feet away, so that might be I struggled to identify the structure or icon on the planet tree to the right. The same goes for identifying each unit when zoomed out, for some reason sins went for an icon representing the race, rather than each individual unit which I think was a bad move. You KNOW which troops are yours by the colour, the symbol isnt really adding anything to the gameplay, which it could imo. Otherwise, it was all trouble-free sailing for me. It was nice to have an "auto-place" structure option to save you the time of microing everything, though I did find some of the choices it made were a little dubious.

Sins has a long and slightly complicated research tree, but this mainly revolved around upgraded versions of the previous. Still, it certainly makes you choose your upgrades wisely, as it takes a long time to afford everything if you also want to field a fleet. There are a number of different trees, and a number of different branches within each tree, so it will take you a while to get your head around whats what, and because the upgrades work in a different manner than the hardcore statistics, it can be a little confusing to appreciate exactly how useful some of the technologies are. For instance, frigates have an average damage of 10, but when you upgrade the damage, it says "5% improvement" - it would have been better to say something like "+2 to damage" instead, but that could just be me. Otherwise, its all pretty obvious for anyone that's played any 4X game.

My favourite innovation of the game was the economy, because it included a quasi share market that ive never seen in a game before (outside the space trading shooters). Its much more simplistic that I would like, but there's still a small thrill of trying to ruin competing empire's economies by lowering or increasing the share price for the goods needed to build, research and expand. I've always enjoyed warring by proxy in 4X games so this feature was a welcome addition.

Sins is no doubt a good game, but it isnt too long before any seasoned gamer will come to realise its limitations. Like ive already said, you cant blend strategy genres and do both equal justice. The planet upgrades are a pretty standard fair and nothing particularly "cool" about them, at no stage do I feel as though any of my planets possess any "character" or individuality from any other. With only 8 upgrade types per planet, it�s all a bit "meh" for me. That said, if too much were added it would probably bog down the RTS element, so you can certainly appreciate why stardock chose to go in this direction. Its simplicity though might feel a bit generic for those that really love the 4X experience.

Piracy is the other problem, at least when facing the AI. There really isnt a penalty for bidding everything you have so the pirates attack another empire. Because the pirates are so strong in number, you really don�t lose anything by spending all you've got in bounties on other empires. Money is fairly easy to come by after 30 minutes so its just too easy to war by proxy, and the gain is just too high imo. That said, the option of sending pirates against the enemy is very cool, its just a little overpowered at the moment.

For me though, it�s the RTS element that really lets the game down. Its just, well, a little boring. Maybe ive been spoiled with the frantic stress and constant warfare of forged alliance, but the actual fighting in sins is incredibly simplistic. There doesn�t seem to be any better tactic than getting all of your units to gang up on a single enemy unit, and then the next and so on. Since the speeds of most units are relatively comparable, there's little to be gained from moving fleets around, as before too long the enemy will have been able to catch you anyway. The insta-hit mechanic is also back with a vengeance, which can make for laughable pyro technics with weapons fire coming out of units at silly angles. Sure, some units, especially the capital ships have special abilities, but it really just feels like warcraft in space, except worse because the UI (for some ridiculously INSANE reason) doesn�t bring up your selected troops when you select more than one vessel. This forces you to click each and every capital ship in order to use their special abilities, if you don�t have them on "insta-cast". Shameful ommision here imo. Makes fighting a battle even less fun.

The pyrotechnics of space battle is decent, but considering there's no real map background, I thought more effort and CPU power could've been put into the sounds and effects. Its kinda like watching a babylon 5 episode, just less cool. Every single unit feels too small, and you really have to zoom in to get a feel for whats going on, because the lasers are non-existant when zoomed out. The quasi 3d camera does work very very well, but again, because this game really only works in 2D, it feels a lot less cool than homeworld.

I've definitely been spoiled with forged alliance's animations such as turret-tracking, and units with movable parts, so the bland unit designs and FX was a disappointment. There are NO firing FX whatsoever, beyond a flash and laser etc being shot out from the unit. Given the lack of map background beyond the planet, it�s a shame more time wasn�t taken with some funky ship animations. I really feel this ruins the immersion of the game. That said, it certainly has much lower spec requirement.

Sound is pretty ordinary, and the voice overs for all races is ABYSMAL. If you like cheesy shit, then you might like it, but hearing some adolescent male's constant commentary gets old after 5 seconds. You can turn them off, but then you don�t receive the various warnings that are necessary to have if you wanna keep track of everything. Some of the unit sound effects are cool, but generally they fall into the "meh" category. Considering supreme commander came out a year ago, its hard not to be disappointed with a new game that pales into comparison.

Still though, it�s a fun game to play! The "build your own map" option, common in 4X but unseen in RTS titles works like a charm, and definitely adds to the longevity of the title. Its pure child's play to make a small or massive map in less than a few minutes, then jump in and play. Of course, after a while it does seem to become "been there done that" but I enjoy a game I can play when im really stoned or drunk and just take my time, whereas online forged alliance is the most hectic game ive ever played.

I wanted to love sins, but I merely like it. Bravo to stardock for creating the first successful game of its type (I thought empire at war was abysmal) and its genuinely fun to play. Unfortunately I cant see it appealing to any of the hardcore 4X or RTS gamers for very long, because ultimately the strategy and tactical nature of the game feels a bit shallow when compared to either genre.

3.5 bombarded planets out of 5.

note this review covers multiplay and skirmish, not the single-player campaign*

RTS, like most genres these days are in a state of stagnation, better graphics, bigger explosions, but little advance in gameplay. its with great pleasure that i present you with "company of heroes", a squad-based RTS set in WW2. made by the same guys that did dawn of war (DoW), theyve taken their experience there and learned a lot from their mistakes. the resource model is nice and unique, and more importantly has an impact on the tactics of how to play. you capture points just like DoW, however they must be connected to captured territory if youre going to get the resource (which is either manpower, munitions or fuel). so you can hold most of the map but still not get any $$$ if the enemy has broken your lines of supply. makes for very interesting strategy, in terms of where you decide to hold & defend versus what you just grab coz its there.

this game has some of the best AI ive seen in an RTS. the computer will automatically skirt around hardpoints with emplaced machine guns to avoid their firing arcs, your troops will take and use cover without having to be told, and its amazingly simple to get your men facing the right way to defend a certain access point or bridge. the enemy will also bail out when they see youve marked their position with an artillery flare, so its a lot harder to hit them. you also receive nice "panic" comments from your boys "taking fire from enemy armour!" so youre told when someone needs to retreat before you get them killed.

you get experience points for killing the enemy, which can be spend on power upgrades, which come as part of 3 types (infantry, armour, airborne) (blitzkrieg, defend, terror) of which you can specialise in one for the duration of the map. will be interesting to see how the balance works here, but so far all schools are heaps of fun to play with, and reward/require different tactics to win. theres special units you can buy as part of your specialisation, or call in things like artillery or bombing runs. the effects here are well cool!

another really cool feature if the retreat function, where your troops will run for your HQ (unless theyre pinned by enemy fire) which means you can keep them alive, and then buy reinforcements at a much cheaper price than if you had to buy them from scratch. so keeping your troops alive isnt as difficult if you choose to micro like that.

sound is suitably impressive, and hearing off-map artillery support even if youre not in the vicinity is well immersing! your soldiers make some funny comments as they go about their business as well.

im hardly running it at its prettiest, but at 1024x768 with effects on medium this game looks and runs like a dream, even on the larger maps. the game interface is slick and simple, everything is within easy access and whilst things are chaotic as fuck youre still aware of whats going on more often than not.

i cannot recommend this game highly enough, is easily the best RTS ive played since warcraft 3, and certainly the one that requires the most tactics. sure, its still a race to dominate the resources, but theyve done it in such a way that makes it a whole lot of fun. the only criticisms i have is theres no fast-forward in replays, and getting a single squad out of a building when the building has a number of squads can be a bit of a pain, but hardly game-ruining

should def keep me happy until supreme commander is released.

4 1/2 tanks out of 5.

I promise I'll read your review at some point after I'm done with these bitchy tests.

you know what.

i'm going to install that stupid game you keep talking about because i really didn't give it a fair judgment.

i played it with my brother for a few days and said 'enough'.

i will post my thoughts when my brother gets back from school and we play again.

I found the tanks to be overpowered in CoH

Might check out sins of a solar empire, but for some reason CoH doesn't interest me. Might end up getting sudden strike or something though.

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