Store Page
Sword of the Stars II: Enhanced Edition
All Discussions Screenshots Artwork Broadcasts Videos News Guides Reviews

Sword of the Stars II: Enhanced Edition

Store Page
View Stats:
Global Achievements
Fames Aug 11, 2017 @ 9:53pm
Is this... Fixed?
You know what I mean ahaha. Is it in a playable fun state? Worth a buy?
< >
Showing 1-15 of 16 comments
PlanetEvolve Aug 12, 2017 @ 12:07am 
It's pretty good, yeah. Most of the bugs and issues have been fixed, although the game is dead in the sense that it probably won't get any more patches or updates.
#1
Fames Aug 12, 2017 @ 12:12am 
Just want it to be playable my man... Any good mods I should use?
#2
chaosguy Aug 13, 2017 @ 9:31am 
Sorta, but not really, though it can be fun. It's playable for the patient as if you try to play vs more than 4 AI opponents the game will definitely show slow down between turns once you're over turn 100 (as there's a lot going on for it to keep track of). Also the AI does not play the Loa faction well at all. Thats said, if you stick to a 5 player or smaller map, skip the Loa, and don't mind if the computer takes a while to "think" about its turn (in actuality its just lag) then it is playable, and definitely still one of the top space-battleship simulators.

I don't use it myself, but check the thread here about the "Reforged v1.5" mod to improve AI performance.
Last edited by chaosguy; Aug 13, 2017 @ 9:31am
#3
Glacialis Aug 13, 2017 @ 3:45pm 
Paradox made them release it Paradox style, with bare bones. Didn't work out, and there's a lot of bitterness because of it. I sure would be.
#4
Quantum Optimist Aug 14, 2017 @ 5:35am 
Paradox have become the new EA where game studios go die after they are bought.
#5
Cuddlefission Aug 24, 2017 @ 3:50pm 
Uh, Paradox never bought Kerberos. They agreed to publish a game, which Kerberos tried to deliver in a very ambitious way, but due to numerous circumstances both within and beyond their control it didn't work out. Paradox funded a couple patches, including the Enhanced Edition, but pulled the plug after a certain point rather than pouring money in forever.

That's... both sides did pretty much exactly what they're meant to. Kerberos tried their hardest to do what turned out to be way too much. It is what it is, noone was evil. Paradox certainly didn't make them decide to try and ship a AAA graphics engine from whole cloth with the resources of a small studio - that was a Kerberos decision in response to getting heavy criticism for having functional but not great graphics in the previous game. They presumably held them to a budget, and eventually release schedule, but that's not being a bad publisher, that's exactly what they're supposed to do.
#6
Slashimus Sep 7, 2017 @ 11:55am 
Originally posted by Cuddlefish:
Uh, Paradox never bought Kerberos. They agreed to publish a game, which Kerberos tried to deliver in a very ambitious way, but due to numerous circumstances both within and beyond their control it didn't work out. Paradox funded a couple patches, including the Enhanced Edition, but pulled the plug after a certain point rather than pouring money in forever.

That's... both sides did pretty much exactly what they're meant to. Kerberos tried their hardest to do what turned out to be way too much. It is what it is, noone was evil. Paradox certainly didn't make them decide to try and ship a AAA graphics engine from whole cloth with the resources of a small studio - that was a Kerberos decision in response to getting heavy criticism for having functional but not great graphics in the previous game. They presumably held them to a budget, and eventually release schedule, but that's not being a bad publisher, that's exactly what they're supposed to do.

You are actually wrong. Paradox gradually siphoned away promised funds from Kerberos as developement went along, all the while telling them "Don't worry! you can make it!"

By their own admission, they had no mechanisms in place to properly monitor game development and thus made decisions on funding out of their asses. But being the publisher, they get to walk away looking nice and clean.

With proper funding I have no doubt that SotS2 would be a history-making 4x.
#7
Cuddlefission Sep 7, 2017 @ 3:37pm 
Do you have cites on that?
#8
Slashimus Sep 7, 2017 @ 5:42pm 
There was an Angry Joe interview with them where they admitted fault.
#9
Glacialis Sep 10, 2017 @ 6:54pm 
Original Steam discussion about the interview:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/42990/discussions/0/610573009243061300/

Interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiGZZ3QDth4
Last edited by Glacialis; Sep 10, 2017 @ 6:54pm
#10
Berserk Slayer Sep 11, 2017 @ 3:23am 
Certainly Paradox has forthrightly agreed to carry the can there, as they should for they are the publisher.

That means squat when it comes to explaining what part the devs played, but it's all water under the bridge now.

This game was nearly fixed. I would have hundreds of hours in it and consider it a firm favourite if every campaign I tried didn't end up in crashes and stuff. What was attempted here was the perfect 4x space game - great tactical combat and an involving, slow-paced campaign.... nearly space 4x heaven and something other series don't even reach for. When it works, it is straight up bloody well sublime.

I still hope that when the developer is done with being the President of France he will apply his newly honed organisational skills to making sots 3 great and I will buy it, but this one gets a "play at your own risk" sign from me.
Last edited by Berserk Slayer; Sep 11, 2017 @ 3:27am
#11
fmalfeas Sep 11, 2017 @ 10:26am 
I've had very, very few crashes. It's quite good. But there's a few big things that Kerberos was never able to get to.

You can't equip Suul'ka battlesuits with weapons (the Suul'ka themselves can still fight though, and that's no trivial thing).

The AI is...not so great at Hiver, and is downright bad at Loa. Try to ensure it doesn't get to use them.

Other than those, it's overall quite good. I'm one of the people who would dearly love to find a way to let Kerb finish their vision on this, but I don't have the means. *sigh*
#12
fmalfeas Sep 11, 2017 @ 10:33am 
Also, if you want to laugh a LOT, play Liir, and make lots of Torpedo Cruisers with Enveloping Torpedos. A good Liir torp cruiser build is a complete obscenity. I've had a squadron of 6 repel a full DN led Morrigi assault that came in 3 waves in one turn. Mind you, I took losses at the end of the 3rd wave simply due to damage that got through my shields here and there in both fights. But those torps do insane damage to cruisers, and against dreads they erode every facing of the section...or if the armor is gone, tear into the structure from every facing. And each Liir cruiser can mount /6/ of the bloody things. That's the kind of firepower that only the Loa can match, and it's attached to a flickerdrive ship, so moving them around is much less painful.
#13
Excalibur Dragonbane Sep 14, 2017 @ 11:09am 
This pile of "blown apart code" as the CEO said, is nowhere near finished, nor will it ever be. Some companies take pride in their work, others do not. Kerberos is the latter.
#14
Slashimus Sep 14, 2017 @ 1:02pm 
Originally posted by Excalibur Bane:
This pile of "blown apart code" as the CEO said, is nowhere near finished, nor will it ever be. Some companies take pride in their work, others do not. Kerberos is the latter.

You have no friggin' idea what you are talking about. These are the people who made Homeworld Cataclysm, Homeworld 2, SotS1 and you think they just happened to give no ♥♥♥♥♥ about SotS 2?

Then as indies they then went on to make SotS: The Pit and Kaiju-a-GoGo. Both of which got tons of after release updates/patches and both free and paid for DLC.

Where exactly has any thought gone into the statement you posted?
#15
< >
Showing 1-15 of 16 comments
Per page: 1530 50

Sword of the Stars II: Enhanced Edition > General Discussions > Topic Details
Date Posted: Aug 11, 2017 @ 9:53pm
Posts: 16

Discussions Rules and Guidelines