One of the best sci-fi space strategy/RTS games I've ever played other than the legend of the galactic heroes. There is a learning curve and at first everything can be confusing, but the more time spend the more you can realise that this game has alot of content to offer and alot of different ways to customize and play, totally worth every penny of it.

This game is great!

It beats other similar games in graphics, game disign, replayability, and whatever i can think of. Only game I think I could like even more than this one is Sword of the stas 2.

I highly reccomend it, specially if you have been disapointed by games which like Master of Orion 3 get you all exited to then end up being dull and emotionless. The games battle sistem is 10/10, you can have great fun watching your battleships playing a fire and maneuver tactic while trying to edge your enemies, and the several scenarios are interesting.

The devs have put a great deal of imagination and effort in making the experience of playing each race unique, even to the point that each race has a different engine which gives advantages and disadvantages to that faction.

Another great aspect of this game is that micromanagement is greatly reduced thanks to simple yet very good menus, and the interface is extremely effective and limited to just a dozen of screens.

I highly recommend these game to anyone who likes the combination of TBS galactic empire building and RTS fleet sized battles.

The best technology implementation I've seen in a 4X makes for an exciting experience even if other parts of the game feels a bit dated. The 3D star map is a nice take but it gets a bit to get used. Worst part of the game is RTS combat, it feels slow and a little hard to keep track of everything that is happening.

Sword of the Stars is Kerberos Production's flagship product. Initially released as a core game and three expansions, the Complete Collection allows you to grab everything in one go. Kerberos has since superseded this with SotS II, but that game had numerous, critical quality issues on launch and is still being patched.

In a way, that is why I purchased SotS Complete: I respected Kerberos' handling of the crisis and wanted to support them, but since SotS II launches through Steam I won't buy it. I therefore invested in Complete - and I'm glad I did.

This is a 4X game where you start as one of several races. The starting conditions are somewhat customizable though there is a random element. (Example: You can start with up to 15 techs, but the game chooses which ones). From there you are placed on a map where it's ultimately winner take all.

Though many of the techs are common to all races, each one has a few 'personal' surprises. Most importantly, each has a different way of traveling through space meaning a strategy that might work against one could be worthless against another. Further, while there are techs you will have each game, several don't always show up. Your favorite tech may simply not exist in your current game. Now what?

Colonial management is pretty straight forward, as is your economy and ship construction. You can customize your ship's weapons, engines and several other components (like mission: Scout? Armor? Tanker?) based on available tech. All this simplicity allows you to focus on SotS's strong suit: Warfare.

Once two groups of hostile units meet you have the option to simulate the battle, where the computer I suppose makes some random rolls and calls it a day, or to control the battle manually. Combat space is more or less two dimensional with a few graphic tricks to simulate 3D. The ship and weapon renderings are beautiful. A little behind modern tech perhaps, but this game is a couple of years old now. You can specifically aim your weapons at any point on the enemy's hull if you choose to target weapons or want to simply tear off its engine.

My only real problem with SotS is the diplomacy, which is lacking. The game attempted using several icons to simulate a conversation (I like you, I hate you, etc.) but it's not that innovative nor executed that well. Perhaps that's for the best - in a 4X game you're ultimately trying to kill everyone, so any diplomacy I'd care to make would be along the lines of 'I'll kill you later.'

There are also alien menaces - independent of any human or AI opponents. These can range from mildly annoying to game changers and civilization destroyers. My first moment of awe in game came when one of these menaces showed up at my colony, effortlessly brushed aside my defense, fired some weapon that made my satellites simply vanish, then simply left.

There is at least one site dedicated to strategy, tactics and backstory with plenty of ideas (and spoilers). It's not that likely you'll get lost while playing, but if you do that's where to go. The community seems open and welcoming.

Overall, SotS is a FUN game. It's not as deep as some others, but offers more than enough strategy to satisfy most gamers. It is comparable to classics like Masters of Orion (with better graphics), and reminds me of an old 4x game called 'Spaceward Ho!'

SOTS is a game that I 'hate to love'. It is a very interesting and well thought out spin on the 4x genre of games. While there are a few disappointments and/or frustrations, overall the game is very satisfying and easy to learn (for the most part).

CONS: The simplified economic system, while a nice change, has/had the potential to be much more in depth. The space battles, while fun and interesting, favor who has the bigger gun over tactics more than anything. And the AI, to say the least, is absolutely merciless. If you want a challenge, this game is for you!

Overall, again, this game is on my list of 'hate to love' because I can't stop playing it!

One of the best 4X games I have ever played. Many aspects, like colony development or economy, while still very important, have been simplified, so they do not require much of micromanagement. Instead of that, player can focus on researching new technologies (there is a lot of them), projecting new ships (again: lots of options to choose from, especially in late game) and sending them to battle, both with rival emperies and even more alien menaces haunting your corner of galaxy. The six playable races are quite different from one another, they even have their own, uniqe star drives, which affects their tactics in a great way. To make things even more interesting, tech tree is partially random (though some races have higher chances to "roll" some technologies), so when you start the game, you are not really sure what would you be able to research, and what techs could be your enemies working on. In others words, you have to think, adapt and sometimes, just try to do well with what you have when tech tree really, really hates you and you can only hope to salvege some new, shiny weapon from the wrecks of enemy fleet you've beaten, despite using severly outdated ships.

Yes, it's not newest or prettiest (though it's nit ugly either!) game on market, and it may initially not seem like much, but trust me: if you like the genre, and want to play something that requres thinking, but doesn't burry you in unnecessary data, give this game a chance.

This game is sadly not as well know as it deserves, it may be slightly confusing to begin with but it makes up for it in its immersive and expansive gameplay, switching from a TBS empire management game to a RTS space combat game. The variation in races substantial improves the games replayability. The tech tree also allows alot of variation in gameplay, so you play how you want, or how you have to. My only flaw with the game was the time wasted in meaningless battles or in transit in combat, but when i finally gave the options screen a read i realised that any problem had a quick shortcut to fix it, such as the CTR+PGUP which speeds up time,

Overall SOTS CC is a game that should be in anyone's collection who is interested in the 4x genre or even if they want to play a complicated game that is challenging as well as fun to play.

5/5, Due to the fact it is exactly what i'm looking for in a game.

I would highly recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of the 4X genre. It's a truly unique and addictive take on empire management, with a compelling dose of up close 3D space combat thrown in for good measure.

The Good:

Streamlined empire management: No need to micro manage 100s of stars

3D combat is nuanced and engaging

6 races, each of which play entirely differently

Randomized tech tree: No optimal research path.

Fully Customizable ships: Dozens of ship section, 100s of weapons, 100s of technologies make for diverse gameplay.

100s of hours of gameplay.

The Bad:

No Campaign, only a few very difficult scenarios.

Tutorials are fan made videos, no getting up to speed tutorials.

Make heavy use of (sots.­rorschach.­net) if you want to know what things are in game.

The Ugly:

The AI will rape you to death eat your flesh and sew your skins into its clothes at higher difficulties. If you are very, very lucky it will do it in that order.

You will spend hours upon hours in that "just one more turn" mindset.

This game would get 5 stars for it's very unique races, interesting race unique gamplay styles, and overall race-tailored gameplay (did I say race enough? A race is more than a cosmetic thing in this game, it's BIG!), but unfortunately I found myself disliking the fact that ships are treated very "mass unit" and many die in combat, it's pretty much impossible to take a powerful "technological edge" in my experience as numbers seem to most-often prevail as you have more units to spare in the inevitable death match. Also, combat is timed which I really don't like. Thus I have to mark off a star, but don't let that dissuade you, at it's current pricing this is a very good game for the money! It also runs on very low end systems, I used a Mobility Radeon X1300 for example. :)

4/5 stars!

Being discounted because SotS II is coming out, this collection is a steal for anyone remotely interested in designing and commanding space ships to blow up other space ships. Streamlined turn based empire gameplay with real-time battles (and as much as I like true 3D, I'm glad the battles are in "one plane" 3D). 6 unique races, yes actually unique in terms of graphics, gameplay, everything, plenty of good mods. I already own a second copy, I bought the collection just so I could easily re-installing it without going to 3 different game sites.

Sword of the Stars is a classic 4X game (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) in which players explore realistic galaxies full of interesting and (potentially) hostile alien life forms. In Sword of the Stars you'll need to know the basics of economic management, fleet tactics, strategic maneuvering and ship design to survive against the other players and random encounters.

Sword of the Stars: Complete Collection rolls all three of the Sword of the Stars expansions into one package, delivering new races, new technologies and weapons, even new scenarios to play out. The system is designed with simplicity and function at the forefront, creating fast-paced play that keeps the player engaged and challenged. Though difficult to master, it is easy enough to play after reviewing the PDF manual and tutorial videos included.

In short, if you're looking for a versatile and very playable space conquest-style game, try this one out. The price is low, the value high, and the fun potentially endless.

Um ótimo exemplar da geração de GalCiv II, Civilization, SotS é um clássico em relação ao gênero estratégia espacial, com tudo o que um jogador deveria querer. Uma história densa e condizente com a ideia do jogo, microgerenciamento em relação as pesquisas, onde a sua civilização pode ser customizada da forma que se desejar e combates furiosos e bastante realistas, aonde permite uma intensa liberdade ao jogador.

O que pode afastar o iniciante é a dificuldade do jogo inicial, visto ser bastante complexo, de forma que o jogador novato deve ir com calma, utilizando da paciência para absorver as diversas facetas deste grande jogo.

So far this game is deffinatly one of the best space strategy games ive played. Theres a few things in it I dont care for too much, but its hardly game breaking. AI Rebellion is such a pain.

Great Game, with the complete collection the replay value of the game cannot be over stressed. Random Maps, random tech tree, random encounters. Have been playing it on and off since it first came out. The Complete Collection is just so much better, 6 races to play each with unique ship appearance and propulsion systems. And at Gamersgate prices it becomes a no brainer.

Sword of the Stars is, for Master of Orion fans like myself, a bit of a godsend. It's a fair turn-based 4X game, with interesting races, real-time fleet battles, and different tactical and research options for each race. Humankind, for example, will use pre-existing jump routes, while the Hivers will travel to a system in sublight, drop a gate, and then be able to shift units through the gate. This means that each race has a different play style, and it's fun.

The race visuals are not, it's true, very pretty, but the 3D research circle is an interesting vidual trick, and the ships themselves have, for the most part, their own racial feel, which is quite nice. The voice-acting, similarly, can vary between "HAM IT UP!" and well done, but, overall, it's quite fun. It's definitely not for everyone though, as games can take a long time, and some of the in-game events can be very discouraging (I once had four of my Hiver colonies attacked by Von Neumann machines... which devastated my economy and screwed me over.)

If you like 4X TBS, space, and don't mind some slightly iffy visuals and VA in places, I'd say go and get this, and keep an eye out for the sequel!

A turn based strategy game with modern graphics, real-time tactical combat, a varied tech tree and varied races that have major differences? This honestly DOES feel more like how Master of Orion 3 should have been.

INTRODUCCION

Sword of the Stars es un juego de estratégia en el que tendremos que movernos por un universo de planeta en planeta expandiendo nuestro imperio, luchando contra nuestros enemigos, haciendo alianzas y aprendiendo tanto sobre nosotros mismos como sobre el resto de aliens que existen.

CONTENIDO

Tras el anuncio en el pasado E3 del lanzamiento de la segunda parte de este juego y hemos decidido hacer el análisis de Sword of the Stars Complete Collection que salió hace pocos meses, que incluye el juego original con sus 3 expansiones.

La pega que está íntegramente en ingles y con la complejidad que tiene, sin un buen nivel es posible que no sepas lo que haces.

Lo bueno que es un juego entretenido para los fans de la estrategia, pues te dará horas y horas de diversión ya que aparte de tener diversas pantallas para elegir, podemos realizarlas muchas veces sin aburrirnos pues tenemos 6 razas para elegir cada una totalmente nueva y además aunque repitamos la misma pantalla con la misma raza la partida será totalmente diferente. Eso sin olvidar el modo online que nos dará todavía más juego.

Gráficamente no podemos esperar mucho de él, pues el juego original tiene ya sus añitos pero a pesar de eso, dado el tipo de juego que es, nadie los compra por sus graficos ¿verdad?

Eso sí aunque no sean de última tecnología hay que quitarse el sombrero con los diseñadores pues simplemente viendo la cantidad de planetas que hay y el gran número de naves, satélites y plataformas que podemos construir (sí, construir las naves en este juego no es solo por diversión si no que diseñadas solo vienen las básicas, el resto que vayamos consiguiendo con muestras investigación las tendremos que ensamblar nosotros mismos) podemos disfrutar de un gran número de detalles que nos harán disfrutar como críos con una piruleta.

La jugabilidad como ya he mencionado es muy compleja pues tendremos que manejar un montón de planetas, además de las relaciones diplomáticas, la economía, eso sin olvidarnos de las mejoras que consigamos en muchas ramas con nuestras investigaciones, desde un simple laser hasta armas de destrucción masiva, además de aprender idiomas, biología, defensas, etc… todo eso para lograr que nuestro imperio domine la galaxia.

Se echa de menos modo campaña o quizá un tutorial jugable no por videos como el que trae el juego.

Las voces están muy conseguidas, dándole a cada raza un acento según sus características físicas. Eso sí no tendremos una gran variedad de diálogo, pues cada raza tiene muy pocas frases por desgracia.

Para finalizar voy a nombrar que trae esta colección, tanto el contenido original como el de sus expansiones:

Sword of the Stars :

• 4 razas diferentes: Humanos, Hiver, Tarkas y Lilr.

• Más de 150 tecnologías diferentes en un árbol tecnológico dinámico.

• Más de 40 armas.

• Las clases de naves para construir son el destructor, el crucero y el dreadnought.

• Hasta 8 jugadores online

Born of Blood

• Nueva raza, los esclavistas Zuul con 90 nuevas naves y su sistema de navegación de Túnel.

• 25 nuevas tecnologías.

• 15 armas nuevas.

• Nuevas naves: Guerra, Proyector, Embarque y un nuevo tipo de defensa satélite, la Plataforma de Defensa Torpedo.

• 4 encuentros galácticos adicionales, 3 escenarios únicos y 6 mapas originales.

• Nuevas características de juego, incluyendo Esclavitud, Rutas Comerciales y Comunicaciones Diplomáticas.

A Murder of Crows

• Sexta Raza, los Morrigi con su sistema de navegación particular, Grav Flok.

• 12 naves nuevas.

• 15 armas nuevas.

• 27 nuevas tecnologías.

• Naves transportadoras de drones incluidas en los 3 tipos de tamaños.

• Naves constructoras, una variedad de estaciones orbitales, naves espías, naves de vigilancia policial, etc.

• Un completo conjunto de mejoras y nuevos elementos para la interfaz.

Argos Naval Yard

• 19 nuevas tecnologías.

• Más de 75 nuevas naves que poder construir.

• 10 nuevas armas.

• 3 nuevos escenarios para un solo jugador / multijugador con mapas en cooperativo.

CONCLUSIÓN

Tenemos ante nosotros un juego que aunque antiguo tiene mucho que dar todavía, al menos hasta que llegue su segunda parte.

I'm usually not a fan of 4X games. I like the idea of them, but they're usually bogged down in heaping piles of spreadsheets and details that block my view of the actual game I'm supposed to be playing, where I make a miscalculation in one of the windows that dooms my space-faring empire to failure.

Sword of the Stars addresses this concern for people like me, cutting the micromanagement to a minimum. It provides you with extensive research and ship building capabilities, an in-depth look at the galaxy map for you to explore with scouting expeditions, and everything else you would expect from a game of this type, only refined and smoothed out to provide a sleeker, quicker experience with satisfying real time fleet battles. The only thing missing is more in-depth planet management. As it is, planets simply increase in population independent of you, which makes them feel somewhat distant and out of your reach, but that's a minor criticism on the part of a genuinely great game.

Nice game! It's somewhat similar to other space strategy games, but it seems to be somewhat difficult at the beginning. Unfortunately I could not install it on WIndows XP SP3, it displayed an error message when tried to launch the setup file. THis might not be related to the game, but it's pretty annoying.

As about the gameplay, it is pretty interesting and exciting.

An original perspective on the 4x genre. It's no Moo2, but each species has unique hardcoded traits that change their style of play. Some use warpgates, some use jumplanes, some just fly along. The races you've seen before. Research is lacking depth. In fact the whole game is lacking depth. It's more or less a 4x primer.

Sword of the Stars is a good 4X game with six races and randomized tech trees.

Each race is unique in some way. This game has a turn based 3d star map and a horizontal 2d combat map.

On the star map you explore, research, build and expand. All in a turn based manner.

On the combat map you have battles that take place in four minute rounds, if no conclusion is reached the battle ends with a draw and continues in the next round.

You can play scenarios, custom maps or multiplayer.

SotS is a solid game, good for fans of the genre and new players.

Sword of The Stars is a very understated 4X game. The empire management and expansion is simple enough to not be overwhelming, but detailed enough to avoid blandness. The tech system combines an element of randomness with one of luck and strategy - forcing the player to adapt on a game-to-game basis. The combat system itself allows space-based tactics to be practiced intuitively and beautifully.

Sword of the Stars Complete is an interesting take on 4x gaming, with the tech trees, race varieties, and ship design being very well done. However, there are very limited diplomacy options, and all research is focused exclusively on making your ships more powerful; there is absolutely no planetary or system development (other than how many orbiting defense platforms you choose to build). In addition, battles eventually end up being a bore because of how slow the ships move. All in all, it was disappointing for me, but if you're content with the sort of "expand and destroy" genre of games this falls into, you'll probably enjoy it.

A very unique 4X game. There isn't the focus on diplomacy you would find in other games. This game is more about dominance through combat. It has a great research system and RTS style battles (which I haven't got the hang of yet). Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with this game and it is great fun!

Sword of the stars is a great indie 4x game, focused on expanding territory, researching new technology, and building and destroying ships. The game splits its time between a strategy map, where you manage planetary resources, construction, and fleet movement, and a tactical map where your ships are pitted against either an enemy fleet or a random alien encounter.

Battles are short, easy enough to control, and satisfying, with the tech you've acquired and equipped changing the battles dramatically. Small features like being able to target individual ship sections and even weapons on the enemy ships make the battles interesting at early stages of the game and at the later stages. Graphics aren't too detailed, but they don't get in the way of the gameplay.

The strategic map side of the game works well, but few things are labeled or self explanatory so there is a bit of a learning curve. Still, the control of how planets function can be fairly automated, but is open to more precise control if you want to put the effort into it.

What makes this game different from traditional 4x games is the tech tree. Every technology has a certain percentage to be researched in any given game. For example, the ballistic weapons tech tree has a high probability of availability for humans and hivers, but less for liir and morrigi. This gives each race distinct advantages and disadvantages and makes every game different. It's a great way to give the replayability a boost.

Overall, the game is great, with solid 4x fundamentals and surprising polish from an indie developer. The expansion packs add a lot to the game, so I recommend the complete collection if you're interested. If you like the total war games or the civ games, you'll probably find something to like in SotS, I definitely recommend it!

A very good 4x space game. What I found to be the best feature for me was the multi player functions. Still has a active community going today and being able to join into games in progress and leave as you will was a nice feature

A very good 4X space game. Much simpler than other 4X games, yet still difficult to master and provides many hours of enjoyment. Each race has its own unique FTL system, meaning a different strategy must be employed for each race. The one downside is the random tech tree, which really doesn't add anything to the game and just annoys you when you realize that you didn't get AI virus or AI slave and the AI rebellion has just crippled your empire. There are ways around the random tech tree, but it requires editing game files.

This is a great in-depth space game with lots of details. The tech trees are awesome, and the space battles have everything you could want.

It's a little bit obtuse, I'll admit, but there's a lot of races to choose from, and each is unique. Sometimes it's a challenge to choose one that you feel like playing, but there's always a sense of accomplishment when you feel that you've mastered (or at least begun to understand) the unique aspects of a certain race.

The gameplay is the sort of thing that should come naturally to a lot of people. You can autoresolve battles if you feel like playing the game as a more traditional TBS, or you can resolve them in a RTS mode.

I love it, though it's really quite unforgiving if you don't know what you're doing or if you're a newbie to the style. (Admittedly, I may just be horrible)

This game is by far one of my favorite games ever. The vast difference in play style of the 6 races and the randomized tech tree makes it highly replayable. I have played this game since its release in 2006 and I still get shocked by the rare tech or random encounter that I never saw before.

For $20 this game should be a no-brainer for every 4x fan out there.

Great game and well worth the money.

GC2 and Sins are IMHO still a bit better games, but it really is a close call. Those games all play different and if you are into 4x you should own all of them anyways.

As it was already mentioned there is not much colony management in the game which disappointed me at first. But once you get into the game you start to enjoy the focus on ships.

I am disappointed.

Although technology trees are very interesting, and I liked combo of ship designs, combat ruined it all. Battles are slow and awkward - they are real 2d drag. Battle interface is lacking, same as fleet management. On start, there is no way to speed combats up and/or let them be automatically resolved, which is so frustrating because - many battles are not battles at all! Honestly, I don't know what they are. Minute after minute of nothingness I just couldn't handle anymore, so game is uninstalled (without giving it a chance to introduce myself better with economy and planetary management). Meh.

Good old Homeworld...

Another good strategy game.

What i like about it is that is has replay value. Tech trees are always randomized, and random encounters in space. Not to mention you can play from a small cluster of stars, to a huge one of over 200. Empire management is a piece of cake.

However, what i dislike about SOTS CC is the sloppy diplomacy, and the small scale space battles (only a certain number of ships can be put into battle at any time). Overall, a good investment.

4/5

This one comes with all expansions. By buying this game, you get a few years of honing and improving an already impressive title. I love everything about Sword of the Stars. It has an immersive background story for a game of its kind, nice graphic and fabulous tactical combat. Every race is substantially different, every one of them uses different ways to travel the void. This I haven't quite seen in any of the game in this genre. It's fresh, it's fun, it's a complete 4x experience - get it while it's still hot!

This is a massive game, but what impressed me the most was how it's controls are deceptively simple for a game of this type. It was very very easy to learn the basics and within 30 mins of starting it I was designing ships and sending expeditionary fleets out. Yet I'm still left knowing that I have a lot to learn and I'm looking forward to learning.

Well worth the price tag!

For any SCI-FI fan, who thought Master of Orion was too "un-creative" or Space Empires was too "slow pace"... This is the game that solves it all and puts it in the balance.

First, its a turned-based strategy game with real-time battles, with fully customizable ships with very unique class system, totally random but coherent and "realistic" research tree, very friendly interface, and ultimate replayability, with very pleasant advanced graphics, with great atmosphere!

Looking that, for this money that you get full game, I heartwarmingly suggest this game to any Space-sim, Space-battle lover of any creed!!

Just as Master of Orion was a must in "the days", now these days this is MUST!

Very good game! It's good choice for every 4x strategy fan. It's turn based strategy, where you can choose between 6 races, which have diiferent ships and technologies. Tech-tree is everytime randomized, so every game could be diffrent. Only time is sometimes problem, because even small game can take a lot of tie to finish it.

Sword of the Stars is a great game. The designers went the extra mile to provide a truly immersive game that rewards those who pay attention to detail and carefully craft their expansion strategy, while avoiding the micromanagement trap that so often results from that attention to detail. This game is well worth the time I spend playing it. I'm looking eagerly forward to Sword of the Stars II.

I just downloaded this, after having tried out the original and loving it. Wonderful 4x space opera. The additions of the three expansion packs really fill out the game, what with the new races, new technologies, new weapons and new ship modules. Plus, I love being able to watch the battles and controlling ships and fleets during. I agree with the earlier reviews. You just gotta get it.

Been playing this game on and off for a couple years now, and is one of the best supported games I've seen in a long time. The developer is active in its forums, and even with the upcoming Sword of the Stars 2 release they have said there is still at least 1 more patch for this game to come.

The gameplay is a load of fun, and each race needs different strategies based on their FTL drive and economics, such as Zuul who capture slaves from other races, use a form of node space similar to the Humans, but create the nodes.

Great game for those that have enjoyed games like MoO, GalCiv, Sins, and Space Empires

I had mistakenly stayed away from Sword of the Stars in the past-- Not because it looked cheesy or bad or unfun in any way, but because I knew I'd end up obsessing... devoting a massive amount of time to all of the intricacies of the game world and inspecting any and every corner of the game engine for full enjoyment.

I was right. After spending probably a thousand hours on this game, I can say I've "finished" it. Sword of the Stars is probably THE most fun 4x game I've played.

While it's different in many ways from MOO (as is apparently the bar-setter for 4x), I found it much more fun. Personally controlling the combat on a 3d holo-grid was as good as it gets for me. If you're so inclined to play through a game with the max amount of stars turned on vs 7 AI players on hard, well then may God have mercy on both your soul and social life. You will come out of the game as a diplomatic genius, a resource hoarding warlord, a marvel of shipbuilding engineering, or a beneficent explorer. Or possibly all of the above.

Any path you pick in this game will be fun (if you're into 4x). It's a bit light on resource management, but that's not a bad thing. It puts heavy emphasis on whatever you'd like it to, be it trade, research, diplomacy, exploration or war. Ship design is just as deep: you may design your ships with multiple hulls and incalculable weapon configurations, with hull and armor buffs to match.

This game is everything a 4x gamer needs. At least until the sequel arrives. 5/5

I had been looking for a new space game somewhat similar to Master of Orion: 2, and this hit the spot. I had originally bought Master of Orion: 3, but I barely played it, found it complicated, and didn't like the graphics.

The planet management is very simple, and the focus is on exploration and combat. Some features I really like:

- Customize your own ships based on the different technologies you have learned

- Very customizable random maps for unlimited playability

- Customizable opponents, including how many and of what race

- Real time combat but the user is able to pause and give orders at any time

I don't often recommend games but I highly recommend this one.

Awesome game- took a while for me to get to work (But it seems like it was just me) but I've been playing it (Still on my first game) for maaany hours now. Deep/complex-ish but still not too much information later in the game (A lot of times in 4x, especially big maps like I play, it gets waaay too hard to follow your empire in the later game- this game is pretty good at eliminating that).

This is the best 4x Space Empire game since Master of Orion 2. The space combat is both detailed and intense and the ability to create unique ships and space stations mixed with the dynamic tech tree from game to game really makes each game subtly but dramatically different. The differences between the races and the balance between them is just icing on the cake :)

Not a bad game but the space combat with your fleets is lacking some how and I just can't put my finger on it. it could be better on the space battles and more flexibility on ship customization but everything else is very good.

The Complete Collection for Swords of the Stars packs a heck of a lot of gameplay and it is highly recommended to be sure. Most of the gameplay comes from the battles and designing ships though (the ship isn't the same as Galactic Civilizations, as you can only choose hulls for three sections of a ship). So, don't expect a strong economic model or anything and there's no campaign here, though there are scenarios and randomly generated maps. They can be massive or small.

One great addition though is the randomised tech tree for each game. The core techs are available all of the time, but others like shields are randomised. The tech you lack can be acquired via other means, but there's no guarantee.

Overall, definitely recommended.

Im a late convert to this series. Infact I only started playing this game earlier this year - when the Ultimate Edition came out.

Simply put it is the best Space 4x game there is. Ive played GC, Pax Imperia, MoO & MoO 2. Plus a few Ive probably forgetton about. What makes this game special for me is the depth of strategy decision making it presents.

Couple this with a lean approach to managing many aspects of your space empire, through a very efficient interface. Add to those, a great space ship combat engine, a fantastically detailed tech. tree that changes the option you have at your disposal every time you play. The AI has not shown any weaknesses, but I havent played enough to notice any flaws and Ive played over 100 games.

The game also has a powerful and ever evolving ship design system that allows you to customs dozen of ship hull types with a hundred or more ship components to match any taste in configuration you may care to have. Even the race/faction setup and sandbox options give you more choices than you're likely to ever get round to playing.

And I havent even tried MP yet!

With all these features there really is no excuse why this game (and version) shouldnt be in your collection.

This game is simply fun, fun, fun. The clever design ensures that you wont be spending you time micromanaging for hours and battling for seconds.

Cant recommend this enough.

I tend to compare Sword of the Stars with Master of Orion. Unlike MOO there's barely any micromanaging at the planets but way more to do with ships.

While the empire management is still done in turn based fashion the battles are fought in real time.

And for me SotS is all about those battles. Tactics can go from just focusing fire on one target to destroying certain ship sections or even guns. And it looks very pretty when two fleets of ships exchange fire in every direction!

Some may not like the "candy" look of the graphics and the voice acting is not quite like with bigger studios but those are minor things when rest of game is full of fun stuff.

If you liked Masster of Orion and the like, this is a game you should not miss.