What is the particularity of this 4X ?

[Keboom]

I'm hesitating between this one and Stellaris.

Can someone explain to me the difference between both ? Or what is particular in this one ?

[GoaFan77]

Sins is a hybrid between RTS and 4X. Probably a bit heavier into the RTS side. If you're familiar with Homeworld or Supreme Commander, imagine something like that but in space with 4X elements.

I haven't really played Stellaris, but from what I understand combat is far better in Sins. On the other hand, you have fixed races and ships you play with instead of a more MOO style race/unit customization Stellaris seems to have.

[WHIPperSNAPper]

Stellaris feels more like a 4X game where you don't have any control over the units in combat. In contrast Sins is more of a (relatively) slow (compared to a button masher like Starcraft) RTS that has some light 4X elements with a focus on combat and tactics where you control the units in combat.

[ncaa|Seawolf]

Originally posted by tomasoltis:

well, stellar one is from greedy exploiting pdx. That means Much Big Talk about how how great all it is but it is just talk.

I compared their policy with drug dealers, at first they give you a taste and then squeeze you out of money, so I got a warning for talking about drugs lol. I started a topic after that calling out the moderator a terrorist power abuser. A power abuser not letting peopole hear the other side of the story because in his head it is his money at stake. So, for me truth is at stake and I have no respect for such money-driven skum.

Anyway, so, stellar bs is about first of all : FLUFF. Disregard fluff, it tries to target your feelings, and targets you with liberal propaganda of the swedish govt and others, virtue faking, apart from these, when you strip the level of useless story, written all over the place from pretty much every sci-fi genre and all their fantasies, then some proper doomsday scenarios and so on, all that being in the fluff ...

Are you alright there, buddy?

[Ark]

Both are great games, honestly, so i can understand your issue of picking between them. I'd recommend getting both, when able to.

Sins is more on the strategy/tactical side. You have limited control over planets, compared to Stellaris, but more control over units. You've got less customization in Sins, and less tech, but the game is more fastpaced and more combat oriented. (as an example; micromanaging your ships in Sins can be key to winning. Stellaris automates your ships in combat, your height of control is a retreat button, if i recall correctly.)

Stellaris is great in that its got alot of lore. You get to make a custom race, with a custom backstory (optional), and you get much more control over the tech that your race goes for, and what weapon systems and armor/shields that your ships will use. The problem, in my opinion, is that Stellaris doesn't necessarily respect the player's time. One save can easily extend over a week's worth of sessions. Sins can also do this, but you'll get alot more done in half the time.

Now, Stellaris, like most of Paradox's games, has changed drastically over the years with the DLC/Expansion focus they have. Each DLC/Expansion changes the game and comes with freebie updates that may or may not change core aspects of the game, helping keeping it fresh. But it gets expensive. SoaSE gets less DLC's, but the gameplay is solid, and definitely worth a purchase.

So TLDR;
Sins of a Solar Empire: More strategy, less 4X, faster, better combat control, less customization, few events and lore
Stellaris: A bit less strategy, more 4X, slower, less combat control, more customization, abundance of events and lore.

Sidenote: Stellaris does, in fact, not try to shove politics down your throat, other than the necessary ingame politics, which is not reflecting real life politics.

[lancegan]

Honestly, the major decision for me is the graphics. Going from something like Stellaris to Sins, which I used to love, is like going from cutting edge capability to an old dos based game. Even the menus are completely outdated. The graphics legit give me a headache now and I cant get into the game at all because of the interface etc. I keep looking it up though hoping for a release the modernizes the game so I can play again.

Ill check into the mods though and see. Overall, you just dont get the same immersion with Sins. I've played Sins for about 70ish hours total and need to get a life after looking at the number for Stellaris.... 1700+

[b4ry]

Originally posted by ncaa|Seawolf:

Originally posted by tomasoltis:

well, stellar one is from greedy exploiting pdx. That means Much Big Talk about how how great all it is but it is just talk.

I compared their policy with drug dealers, at first they give you a taste and then squeeze you out of money, so I got a warning for talking about drugs lol. I started a topic after that calling out the moderator a terrorist power abuser. A power abuser not letting peopole hear the other side of the story because in his head it is his money at stake. So, for me truth is at stake and I have no respect for such money-driven skum.

Anyway, so, stellar bs is about first of all : FLUFF. Disregard fluff, it tries to target your feelings, and targets you with liberal propaganda of the swedish govt and others, virtue faking, apart from these, when you strip the level of useless story, written all over the place from pretty much every sci-fi genre and all their fantasies, then some proper doomsday scenarios and so on, all that being in the fluff ...

Are you alright there, buddy?

He has just spoken the truth about Paradox so I guess he is the one alright here.

[sumquy]

i have almost 500 hours in stellaris and probably twice that in sins and honestly it is very difficult to compare them because they are so different. sins is a much faster paced game where depending on the map, you can reach end game in hours or days. stellaris is a much slower pace, but has a lot more depth and scale to it. stellaris is also a much newer game and still has updates and dlc coming out for it. i count both of them among my favorite games. sins: trinity (game plus first 2 dlc) is on sale right now for 5 bucks and you should absolutely go get it right now. stellaris i would say to pick up the base game when it is on sale and if you like it, then go deep with the dlc.

[z|A|bik2]

People are trying to push their agenda too much here. I dunno why are people placing their frustration with paradox on stellaris as a game.

Anyway, there is a pretty simple answer to your question.
If you are for a GAME, then you go for sins of a solar empire.
If you are for ROLEPLAYING, then you go for stellaris.

Stellaris makes no sense, without roleplaying. Imagining you are some kind of space emperor. And it is very important to actually read thousands of event text messages, to dive into the atmosphere of the game.

However if you simply want to play, maybe enjoy a mod of your beloved science fiction (sins is mostly famous for it's mods), than SOASE will provide you the gameplay.

So those games are not "compareable" in same things, but have their distinct purpose. One game is for playing a game (sins), another game is for (role)playing an emperror (stellaris).

[Mr.Person]

Putting it short and sweet: I like sins for the combat and the visuals, I like Stellaris for the management and the ability to mod stack.

[Schism Navigator]

@tomas: You were warned once before about attacking other developers. You are on a one month ban buddy.

@Mikel: Obviously we are biased here but if you are looking for more combat focused gameplay Sins has the edge. If you want something more like a real-time game of MoO then Stellaris is better for that. Please buy our game though, we need to feed the space unicorns.

[Sugam]

Originally posted by Schism Navigator:

Please buy our game though, we need to feed the space unicorns.

Less worries about that ,I have already found and adopted a few so there will be less mouths to be fed.

[Schism Navigator]

Originally posted by Sugam:

Originally posted by Schism Navigator:

Please buy our game though, we need to feed the space unicorns.

Less worries about that ,I have already found and adopted a few so there will be less mouths to be fed.

Tell Felicity I miss her.

[z|A|bik2]

Originally posted by Schism Navigator:

Tell Felicity I miss her.

But if he "found and adopted" felicity, which was in your zone of influence/part of your unicorn family/e.g., isn't that basicly kidnapping of a space unicorn?

[Scheneighnay]

Sins is way more RTS than 4X, but I should also point out that Paradox is a terrible developer, which is reason alone to avoid Stellaris.

Hearts of Iron 4 has had glaring issues since day 1, and instead of addressing them, Paradox keeps adding more overpriced DLC which add more problems and make existing issues worse.
They're one of those "if we can't put a price tag on it, we don't care" studios.

[Alpheus]

Just my opinion

Literally 4X stands for eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate. Most RTS games have the latter 3 X's, only missing the eXplore. So I think RTS that support random map generation like Age of Empires, Rise of Nations and even Kohan would fit the bill as RT4X in the literal sense.

But the mainstream steoreotype of 4X is that they are games about empire-building, meaning a very strong bias to the 2nd X. As 4X games become more complicated, the 3rd X also expands, and more peaceful aspects of empire-building also get more emphasised. (It is a bit ironic that for most people the criteria of a proper 4X game is to have features that work against the last X).

What SoaSE brought to the field was in a large part thematic. Even though games like RoN might incorporate more mainstream 4X features, they do not feels like having a large empire: most often the geographical layout of the map looks like half a Simcity map, and the handful of settlements/cities a player looks more like few hamlets randomly sprinkled across it. In SoaSE, various parts of the game are consistent in conveying feel of large empires, in the way it allows the player to zoom all the way from solar system map down to individual planets and ships, the level of abstraction in planet management, and sizable fleets jumping between planets, etc.

I think the strength of SoaSE lies in the way it successfully simplifies 4X elements well enough and integrate with the RTS core to produce a thematic, playable and well-polished game, with a slick and efficient GUI and good graphics. It is also very moddable, and produced several very high quality mods ranging from Star Trek, Star Wars and other themes. It can feel like getting 2-3 games in one.

I have not delved deep into Stellaris, but it is a Grand-Strategy/Empire-Sim and 4X hybrid. The galaxy size is much larger than SoaSE. As PDX's brand of Grand-Strategy is basically Empire-Sim, after adding in the eXplore elements, Stellaris is pretty much a full-blown 4X and very customizable. PDX's games tend to have a lot of details, sometimes too much on irrelevant aspects and too little on others, and often have seemingly complicated and detailed but actually just convoluted BS modelings on some economic/political matters. Fortunately in Stellaris it seems the modelings are mostly consistent with Sci-Fi 4X conventions and apparently not too much BS is going on. However, the complexity and resulting cluttered UI is probably not for everyone.

If you are comfortable with complicated sim games and want to experience 4X, then it might be better to try Stellaris for a fuller 4X experience, especially with the free weekend and sale going on.

If you are looking for a 4X-ish RTS, then SoaSE would be great. It is remarkable that the vast majority of people either love it or like it, but rarely hate it (unlike PDX's games). However, if you do, I am not sure if Trinity is the best choice. It was the older iteration of the game and not compatible with the newer DLCs and mods, so if you want to go deeper into the series you would need to get Rebellion anyway. I believe the ultimate edtion is on sale on Humble Bundle Store.

Ultimately, despite the similiar premise, the gameplay of SoaSE and Stellaris actually do not feel overlapping. It should be perfectly fine to get both if you like the space theme.