My Review of Stars in Shadow

[DDPD]

I started a new site and have been writing my thoughts on 4X games over there. I'll have video up soon, but here's my written review here: https://www.the4xplorer.com/reviews/sta ... 018-review

[zolobolo]

Nice review, also enjoyed the other two

Agree with most of your observations except maybe for influence: while it is definitively true that it is to easy to come by, there is actually some other use for it besides diplomacy treaties: buying ships and buying slaves. Sadly the later two are far too niche mechanics for most players to pick up on and are not critical for success, but the peaces are there ... just needs some rebalancing which will hopefully be done via the diplomacy update

When you mentioned galciv 3 I realized that that was bothering me as well: it sorely lacks its own personality. It is great for making your own adventure by allowing a crazy amount of customization for the races... but it all felt empty for me after a short time. Guess this is also partly the reason why I keep coming back to SiS (besides the tactical combat: yes we want it! ): it really has its own personality which shines consequently through every peace of UI element (much better even then in ES2 in my opinion)

[DDPD]

Yeah, those are good points regarding influence, I forgot about them and I’ll edit my thoughts to reflect that. The general point still stands, though.

I appreciate you taking the time to read it, though. I’ll keep updating the site as SiS and other games evolve.

Thanks again!

[zolobolo]

Yes we agree: influence needs some love

Hope you will create reviews also for ES2, MoO 2016 and Stellaris - would love to read your opinion on them as well

Even though we are kinda living in the golden age of 4X games including space 4X I was disappointed by the big titles

ES2, you have already mentioned that you like their UI: but for me it is too often inconsistent: galaxy map is a mess full with useless graphical noise and menus riddled with a bunch of low-res low-quality icons. Loved EL as a fantasy/sci-fi title but ES2 lacks all the charm of their previous title

Stellaris has been praised from all heavens and at least the expectation was understandable before release as (on paper) it was addressing all the issues plaguing the genre (diplomacy, endgame, micro MGMT, random race generation etc).
Still it was a huge disappointed for me: combat is boring (no agency), ships are ugly blocks, menu is lifeless excel sheet and I found myself constantly looking at the metal reserve to hit pause and issue a build order: just don't understand why this was made into real-time (no added-value - you end up clicking more than in a turn based title)

[DDPD]

Definitely plan to lay out my thoughts on all of those and for sure, I agree with you on both accounts for ES2 and Stellaris.

I’m going to be writing about At the Gates, Interstelar Space Genesis, Warhammer Gladius and a few others! Lots to keep me busy

[zolobolo]

Gladius looks promising (love 40 strategy), thanks for the tip

One more thing: there is the area of planetary invasion which is the black sheep of 4X game mechanics. I always find find it interesting to compare this functionality between the various titles, as due to the involved difficulties and little effort going into them there are wildly differing solutions and quality involved.

Especial Galciv 3 went through several iterations when it comes to planetary invasion - at least 3 generations of it - none feeling as a final solution
ES2 also took an innovative crack at it and failed spectacularly in my opinion. Though debate is sometimes going on in the forum and DEV team promised to overhaul the mechanic around a half a year ago but not holding out for it

Surprisingly SiS also took a quite effective punch at this: seems to be based on MoO mechanic (I have only played the 2016 version), but has more options like raiding, militia and starvation involved which I haven't seen anywhere else and it works! Reminds me strongly on the colony MGMT mechanic: the changes really seem like best-practices for the genre: no useless information and UI elements but some interesting (even if limited) options

[DDPD]

Gladius looks promising (love 40 strategy), thanks for the tip

One more thing: there is the area of planetary invasion which is the black sheep of 4X game mechanics. I always find find it interesting to compare this functionality between the various titles, as due to the involved difficulties and little effort going into them there are wildly differing solutions and quality involved.

Especial Galciv 3 went through several iterations when it comes to planetary invasion - at least 3 generations of it - none feeling as a final solution
ES2 also took an innovative crack at it and failed spectacularly in my opinion. Though debate is sometimes going on in the forum and DEV team promised to overhaul the mechanic around a half a year ago but not holding out for it

Surprisingly SiS also took a quite effective punch at this: seems to be based on MoO mechanic (I have only played the 2016 version), but has more options like raiding, militia and starvation involved which I haven't seen anywhere else and it works! Reminds me strongly on the colony MGMT mechanic: the changes really seem like best-practices for the genre: no useless information and UI elements but some interesting (even if limited) options

You have a lot of good insight and thoughts on 4X games! You should write more often about them.

I think the ground combat idea is a fantastic one. I’ll be doing something in he future on it. Thank you for the inspiration!

[zolobolo]

You are welcome man. You can always count on people to share their opinion (more often then not we do this even when not asked to)

That being said I will not be putting out any proper reviews but do enjoy reading them so wish you best of luck with your project

[DDPD]

I have a video companion for my writing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kylLZ3M5SxA&t=1083s

The original review is here: https://www.the4xplorer.com/reviews/sta ... 018-review