Hey Sammo,
I saw this and was quite psyched...Then I went and got an 'evaluation' copy.

It's got everything I want in an RTS, but somehow I'm quite bored by it. I dunno why, I played Starcraft for like 7 years. Maybe there's a lack of a single player campaign?

from what i've seen and read, its kinda like home world with a mix of galactic civilzations, its on a super large scale

Tried playing it for a second time open minded tonight.

Played for about an hour.

I found it to be a great concept executed terribly. It's boring as hell.

So, something about the concept of this game had me going back and retrying it... and failing... and retrying it a couple days later, etc.

I finally realized it was this wasn't a normal RTS, there was a level of strategy and complexity I hadn't encountered while playing previous RTS games.


I restructured my playing style.

I am straight fucking hooked.

I second this motion.

I was very hooked on this for a period of time, and left it only because I tend to game hop rather repeatedly, only to return some other day.

1. What really sets this apart is that it's in real-time; no turn-based crap like you'd usually see in a game of this scale. This also means you don't have to wait a week for a turn to process.
2. The dynamic of having a finite number of capital ships also adds a lot. It forces you to allocate resources intelligently and not over-extend yourself.
3. The research tree doesn't bog you down for hours like in some games. It's to the point and short, but still retains a lot of importance. The notion of needing research stations to progress the tree is somewhat neat, if a bit pointless; it's really not hard or expensive to build the research stations necessary.
4. I really like how the locations are connected and the way all ships can be in battle in any one location. I think back to MOO in which only a subset of fleets would fight it out and, even if you have a hundred other ships there, the enemy could progress into your territory without confrontation. That alone made me despise that game.

The one thing I've seen elsewhere that has left me with an empty feeling in this game is GalCiv2's customizable ships. But to be honest, that was going above and beyond, and I wouldn't expect all companies to go that route.

In conclusion, I'd see this up there with the likes of Imperium Galactica 2 as far as gameplay goes, but with a much better battle engine (IG2's failing point) and a capacity for a much larger galaxy and a lot more players. This is what Star Wars: Empire at War -should- have been. Yes, I have pent up frustration with that game given LucasArt's old "Rebellion" game had a similar concept and a larger scale; if now dated. But ultimately I agree with Gamespot: 9 / 10



Note: I only do this shit single-player/skirmish-modes, so can't speak for MP.

I hated Civ and Subcom... I love this.