Need recommendations: Sins of a Solar Empire vs. Galactic Civilizations II

[redsteven]

Ironically, both Sins of a Solar Empire and Galactic Civilizations II are published by the same company.

They're both relatively new games - Solar Empire released in February of this year, and Galactic Civ's second expansion released.... about 10 days ago

I know that Solar Empire is RTS and Galactic Civ is turn-based, which is a pretty dramatic difference. I haven't had a chance to try out the demos yet, but I was wondering if any of you have any opinions on which game I should get.

To give you some background information, I'm sort of picky when it comes to strategy games. I loved Starcraft and Master of Orion II. Command and Conquer 3, on the other hand, I had considered purchasing, but after playing the demo I feel like it is a little bit too fast-paced for my liking.

How well does Galactic Civ II stack up to Master of Orion 2?

 

[Denali9]

sins

Did not try Galactic Civ II but bought Sins and I got bored of it rather quickly, you end up winning by just making sure you have the biggest fleet and there is very little variance to the game.

 

[Keleko]

They're different games, really. Sins is an action oriented real-time game on a larger scale than just about any other RTS. Galactic Civ II is probably the best turn based 4x strategy game currently available. So it depends on what kind of game you're looking for.

If you want a turn based strategy game that is not as combat oriented, you get GC II. Games will likely last for days or more depending on the map size. There's a lot of flexibility in the strategies available. There's a lot of tech to research. You design your own ships. There's a lot of diplomacy options. It's also a much more mature game with a respected AI. However, it isn't flashy. Combat is all auto-calculated. You won't be wowed by the look of it. I can't comment on the online play since I don't actually own the game, but I have played the demo and read a lot about the game from people who do play it. This game probably compares more to the Civilization line of strategy games than MOO2 as far as the specifics of the game play go.

Sins is a real time strategy with some turn based 4x components put in with real time waits instead of turns. It can get some really huge maps on when compared to most other RTS games. It, too, can take days to play a game on the really large maps. It's flashy, and there are mods that improve the look beyond the base game. You can micro-manage combat to some extent, though it isn't really as necessary as it is with most other RTS games. However, the game is not as mature as GC II, largely because it is a newer release. The AI is still pretty weak compared to GC II. The strength of the game, as it is with most RTS games, is the online play. That's where the true competition is. It is also less flexible as far as the tech tree and lacks the ability to create custom units. Diplomacy is mostly ally or enemy. In the end it is an RTS with a large scale. Note that it handles this large scale beautifully. The UI is really well done for handling the scale of this game.

I hope that helps. It doesn't really tell you which game to play. It depends on what kind of game you want to play. I enjoy Sins, but until the AI matures, it doesn't have much lasting value for me. I don't have the time to play it online. Once it becomes more challenging as they patch it (it has gotten better since release already), the longevity of the game will improve.

 

[redsteven]

Thanks for the responses.

I'm gonna try Sins later tonight - I have the demo downloading right now.

Galactic Civ II is very overwhelming at first, and there's no included tutorial (apparently the developers had the genius idea of greying out the giant "TUTORIALS" button in the main menu and leaving it out of the demo)
I'm looking at the manual now but I still don't think it's anywhere near as helpful as a true tutorial would have been.

The fact that there apparently is not tactical combat in GCII is also a big turn of for me : \
I loved the combat in Master of Orion II