The mid-week question got me thinking about this short series of 4X games again. I really loved this series so I think I'll go on about it. It has been a bit since I played either game but hopefully I can get this mostly right...
The SotS games have turn based strategy and real time battles (with the ability to speed up, slow down or stop time). Ships can be built very quickly so that, in the late game, a single planet can churn out multiple smaller ships in one turn. The star map is FULLY 3D.
Travel depends on species. Tarka travel at a constant speed directly from star to star. Liir also move directly from star to star but they go faster when far from the start or end stars. Morrigi move faster when in large groups. Humans travel very quickly but they need to travel along node lines that are generated as part of the map when the game starts. Zuul also use node lines but they create their own. Hivers travel directly from star to star very slowly. However, once they get to a star, they can build a gate. Hiver ships can go from one gate to any other gate instantly so, if you attack a Hiver system, you better destroy that gate fast or you're likely to have their entire space force show up on the next turn!
The research tree is also a big thing for each species. The tree is pretty huge but the interesting thing about it is that some techs are going to be blocked so your scientists won't be able to figure them out. You might still get to research it after researching another relevant technology or you might be able to salvage it from destroyed enemy ships but it's pretty common for various weapons and defenses to be blocked for the whole game. Various races have different % chances to get each technology advancement (e.g. Liir are great with shields, humans are great with photon torpedoes) but you never know what surprises the RNG will have waiting for you. The point of this system was to make sure you didn't get stuck in a rut of what the "best" path through the tree was - you're really going to have to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the techs you get.
Both games also have superb ship customization - easily the best I've seen in any 4X game. When you create a ship, you typically pick a type of front section, a type of middle section, and a type of engine section (similar to Stellaris only with way more options). Once you get your sections picked out, you also need to place all your weapons on the various hard points. Those turrets come in different sizes and have different fields of fire. Targets do need to be in that field of fire, whether in front, behind, above, or below in order to be shot at. (And yes, you can spin your ship so your guns can point straight "up" to fire, or try to attack an enemy from below where few weapons can fire.)
On the minus side, while the battles are extremely detailed, the planet development is extremely basic. You get a few sliders to play with and that's it. Forget about picking different buildings for different planets. Also, because of how specific each race is, there's no custom race options. I'm sure it was enough of a nightmare to try and keep such different races balanced as is without letting players put heaven-only-knows-what out there.
The first Sword of the Stars obviously has weaker graphics but it's the most solid of the two. It's also cheapest. There's a bit of silliness to it with the way a simple tanker (oh, did I mention your ships actually need fuel to fly?) can do a better job scouting than a dedicated scout ship but it's all fleshed out and complete.
The second game, not so much. Not only did it show up in a totally unplayable state - it stayed that way, despite many patches, for at least a year. They did finally get on top of things and got the game to a playable state but, before the game could get really solid, Paradox pulled the plug on it. The game added some interesting concepts. My favorite, though many hated it, was that fleets were sent on missions. You had to send them out to attack a specific target and then RETURN HOME. You could change their home to different places or send the ships out on patrols but the game put an end to the practice of placing fleets out at the edges of claimed space and just letting them sit there for decades on end - your warriors and scouts would very much like to see their families now and again!
The SotS games have turn based strategy and real time battles (with the ability to speed up, slow down or stop time). Ships can be built very quickly so that, in the late game, a single planet can churn out multiple smaller ships in one turn. The star map is FULLY 3D.
Travel depends on species. Tarka travel at a constant speed directly from star to star. Liir also move directly from star to star but they go faster when far from the start or end stars. Morrigi move faster when in large groups. Humans travel very quickly but they need to travel along node lines that are generated as part of the map when the game starts. Zuul also use node lines but they create their own. Hivers travel directly from star to star very slowly. However, once they get to a star, they can build a gate. Hiver ships can go from one gate to any other gate instantly so, if you attack a Hiver system, you better destroy that gate fast or you're likely to have their entire space force show up on the next turn!
The research tree is also a big thing for each species. The tree is pretty huge but the interesting thing about it is that some techs are going to be blocked so your scientists won't be able to figure them out. You might still get to research it after researching another relevant technology or you might be able to salvage it from destroyed enemy ships but it's pretty common for various weapons and defenses to be blocked for the whole game. Various races have different % chances to get each technology advancement (e.g. Liir are great with shields, humans are great with photon torpedoes) but you never know what surprises the RNG will have waiting for you. The point of this system was to make sure you didn't get stuck in a rut of what the "best" path through the tree was - you're really going to have to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the techs you get.
Both games also have superb ship customization - easily the best I've seen in any 4X game. When you create a ship, you typically pick a type of front section, a type of middle section, and a type of engine section (similar to Stellaris only with way more options). Once you get your sections picked out, you also need to place all your weapons on the various hard points. Those turrets come in different sizes and have different fields of fire. Targets do need to be in that field of fire, whether in front, behind, above, or below in order to be shot at. (And yes, you can spin your ship so your guns can point straight "up" to fire, or try to attack an enemy from below where few weapons can fire.)
On the minus side, while the battles are extremely detailed, the planet development is extremely basic. You get a few sliders to play with and that's it. Forget about picking different buildings for different planets. Also, because of how specific each race is, there's no custom race options. I'm sure it was enough of a nightmare to try and keep such different races balanced as is without letting players put heaven-only-knows-what out there.
The first Sword of the Stars obviously has weaker graphics but it's the most solid of the two. It's also cheapest. There's a bit of silliness to it with the way a simple tanker (oh, did I mention your ships actually need fuel to fly?) can do a better job scouting than a dedicated scout ship but it's all fleshed out and complete.
The second game, not so much. Not only did it show up in a totally unplayable state - it stayed that way, despite many patches, for at least a year. They did finally get on top of things and got the game to a playable state but, before the game could get really solid, Paradox pulled the plug on it. The game added some interesting concepts. My favorite, though many hated it, was that fleets were sent on missions. You had to send them out to attack a specific target and then RETURN HOME. You could change their home to different places or send the ships out on patrols but the game put an end to the practice of placing fleets out at the edges of claimed space and just letting them sit there for decades on end - your warriors and scouts would very much like to see their families now and again!
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