I had to buy this game again in order to review it. My hours played does not include the older Steam version that isn't sold anymore.

This is hands down my favourite game of all time. Therefore I am actually going to take time writing this review.

Ridiculously deep, engaging gameplay that can allow for 250+ hours for a single large game - a game filled with desperate struggles against merciless and highly adaptable AI in long late-night/early morning sessions. A very nice physics engine allows for some interesting RTS battles with completely customised ships bristling with esoteric weaponry - from the humble red laser to giant space revolvers that shoot asteroids that glass planets.

With a quasi-randomised tech tree system and 6 different races that each play completely differently, it is easy to spend thousands of hours on this game and still not experience everything it has to offer. Multiplayer is just as good - coordinate with a friend or compete against them in 4X/RTT combined gameplay. If you thought multiplayer games of Sins of a Solar Empire or Civ were long, this game is somewhat longer, but rewards you with deep satisfaction during and after play.

Overall it is similar to the Master of Orion series of games if you remember those, but also feels akin to Total War with the RTT combined with turn-based strategy, and the depth of control available during battles. Most of the time you are trying to expand, tech up and survive in a turn-based 4X type strategic map.

However, if one of your ships encounters something hostile, you are given the option to fight manually; this is often very rewarding, you are able to visually assess the ships, including tech level and weaponry, and to also destroy them with extreme prejudice (or not if you prefer). The RTT game engine allows polygon targeting, allowing you to aim shots at precise parts of their ships - snipe off their turrets or shoot out their engines so their inertia causes them to crash into a planet. The level of detail simulated allows for incredibly fun and often unpredictable fights. This is not like Sins, where ships have simple health bars and succumb after a set number of hits; exactly what and where you hit things is of great importance - hit a tanker in the fuel tanks hard enough and be rewarded with a satisfying secondary explosion, sometimes disintegrating the ship and everything small within a large radius.

Visually, it is quite dated now, something that they tried to fix in the sequel, which is somewhat buggy and sometimes broken. However, this original is very well polished, and I would highly recommend this gem of a game to anyone with half a brain and some patience.

If you do end up enjoying it as much as I have, the sequel may be worth trying, but be prepared for a general feeling of lack of completeness that is absent in this original. I wouldn't fault the devs too much for that, Paradox wanted them to release at an incomplete point and it was do-or-die for the studio. It has come a long way since release but the devs aimed a bit too high and fell short. This does not mean it is terrible, much fun is to be had, with a lot of new things to be tried - if you have the patience and an SSD to cope with the *occasional* CTD - (occasional is a relative term).

TL;DR: this is a very good and underrated game, buy it (it is also cheap), play it. Don't buy the second one if you are new to the series unless you are a masochist with too much money.

This is one of the most underated 4X games ive played. Ive put way more than 112 hours into it before i had steam. The combat controls take a bit of getting used to but once you have those nailed this game will eat hours of your life.

Planet management and the tech tree are easy to understand but the tech still retains depth. After an 8 hour long game you will still have lots of tech still to discover.
Whilst the graphics are a little dated it really doesnt matter once you are playing and you are immersed. Combat is enjoyable to watch especially when you have 3 massive dreadnoughts trying to face off against an entire enemy fleet.



This is a really solid game one of my favourite random buys ever .Its worth every penny and if you see it in a sale definatly grab it!

Classic game, runs great on older cpu's, and has almost infite replay value. Much better than newer games coming out.

A galactic civilization sim with fleet combat and multi system resource management. For an older game it holds up amazingly well in its detail and the gravity of the battles. I especially recommend the complete collection for the variety of races and the ships relative to their race. Various scenarios and challenge levels and even third party gallactic threats loom when enough time passes.
Internet multiplayer is down so hamachi or another LAN program will be needed. Oh, there's also simultaneous turns where the rounds progress when everyone concludes their turn as opposed to waiting for other players to finish before ever starting.

There's even a wiki for the races if you're into that kinda additional info.

If you like space battles featuring fleets of custom ships, buy this game.
If you like colonizing, conquering, and converting other factions or races, buy this game!
If you have ever wanted to be the undying sage presence that guides an ancient race of space-faring birds as they subjugate the far reaches of the abyss, tearing through the galaxy on the quest to restore their empire to it's former glory, BUY THIS GAME!

A truely epic space 4X game. Turn based, but with real time combat inbetween turns. Find your way through a huge tech tree that changes with each race and play through.

A surprising favorite among 4X games. I've put 90% of my time into this game before getting it on Steam, and I still come back to it now and again. Everything about SotS is cut down to its best aspects; empire management is user friendly and simplified, but still a powerful way to gain an advantage, while combat is straight to the point and engaging. You will never spend twenty minutes meticulously planning your next turn. Instead you'll be rushing to make new designs and push production, scraping together fleets to push your advantage and stave off annihilation.

If this game had better publishing, it would rank among the classics. And once you think you've played it out, just try the ACM mod.

Simply put one of my Favorite 4X strategy games to date, why you ask? well the game has a very large MoO3 feel to it and that game took up alot of my childhood,,,and i didnt even know what i was doing. The tech tree is also rather intruiging as it doesnt stay the same. sometimes you can research a tech and sometimes sometimes you cant which gives the game a little more challenge. the combat is also pretty interesting although i do feel like they are a bit too strict about the amount of units you can have fighting as it seems a little too few even with the Command and Control ships.

as for the diplomacy i think this is one of the more interesting takes on it. after all it makes sense to have to research an alien language before you can speak it, that being said they do tend to decline or betray a little often. lastly the races (as far as i can tell so far) are reasonably balanced and there is no "pick this race and win" but the randomised tech tree can make it seem so.

TL;DR version: The game is good and not trying it when you claim to like 4X games gets your cookies conviscated

Pros:

A very deep strategy game combining slow paced turn based strategy with battles handled in a tactically rich real-time, so fans of either should find something to enjoy. Gameplay is smooth, Intuitive, and mostly bug-free at this point.There is seemingly limitless customization with a wealth of ship designs and weapons systems to implement all with their own strengths and weaknesses, countless tech options allowing you to customize your playstyle depending on what research you choose to specialize in, along with each playable race feeling truly unique in their playstyle. Multiple scenarios to play through with differing victory condition based on your race and/or faction within that race.

Cons:

The sheer amount of information on the screen and choices to make can be a little mind boggling at first but is fairly intuitive and doesn't take too long to learn. Graphics are a bit dated at this time but certainly acceptable. Music is forgettable but maintains a pleasant atmosphere in the game. The AI doesnt scale particularly well however often remaining pretty easy on any difficulty but you can offset that with handicaps while setting up the match. RNG tech availability can leave a game terribly unbalanced if you're extremely unlucky. Lack of a true 'story mode' may turn off some players.

Overall a solid game that has given me hundreds of hours of entertainment long before it was available on steam,

One of my favourite strategy games of all time, this 4X game allows for great replayability with signifigant depth. The randomised tech tree means no two games are the same, and each race being truely unique allows for signifigant characterisation and favourites to be developed. I've owned this game as a boxed copy for years and still replay it - a game i'd recommend to anyone who likes strategy games (real time or turn based).

Probably the best x4 I've ever played. No kidding. It's almost like Stars! without the micromanagement. The only problem is that the servers are down, so you'll have to use hamachi (eww) or something for multiplayer.

Best space 4x game I have ever played. Each race travels differently. Every game has a different research tree. Awesome random events. Only issue is automating battles with drones and balance of some weapons.

old school
in depth
Space Strategy
FUN

This is a great 4x game. It has a few shortcommings, but overall its a highly enjoyable game worthy of many many playthoughs. One would figure that the sequal would be awesome... but this one is good.

Very fun game with random tech tree to spice up each playthrough. The combat is well paced going from simple to complex as you research new guns and toys for your ships. The trading feels a little overpowered.

HOOOLY CRAP THIS GAME IS AWESOME. If you love a deep backstory, chalenging gameplay, but simple and easy-to-use interface, then GET THIS GAME. I've only played the tutorial and I'm drowning my computer in moneyz, but nothing is happening. I recomend this, just flat out, this may be one of the best games ever made.

It is a good game and I want to thank Cyber for getting it for me.

So my friend introduced me to this game as he wanted more friends to play with. It was an old game (relatively) and I expected a few laughs and not much else. I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask for Civilization in space. I didn't ask for all the lore and all the different races and ships. I didn't ask for interesting space combat and with ship by ship construction and pretty high level strategy. They even forced multiple maps down my throat with a tech tree that is randomly generated from game to game! It was horrible. Terrible. I didn't want this.

On a more serious note. The game is fun, as usual especially with friends. Has a pretty good learning curve, interesting races with tons of lore to read. Every race plays different and is interesting in what they are good and not good at. Good mechanics and has actual space battle where you control the ships in 3d space. It can be a bit daunting at times and for some people it might get boring if things get slow. However I very much liked this game. Certainly gave me some sleepless nights staying up to play it. Graphics are solid. No real complaints, though games do tend to go very long.

+/+ Unique take on research.
+/+ Simple ship building UI.
+/+ First encounters with alien species is handled very well.
+/+ All six species have unique play styles and lore as well as provide unique opponents to fight.
+/+ Micromanagement decreases with game length.
+/+ full 3 dimensional star maps (with many choices included a ‘2D’ star map for those who prefer 2D).
+/+ Games are very customizable.

+/- Turn-based star map with real-time battles (kind of like Total War in space).
+/- Economy management is relatively simple.
+/- Graphics are nothing to write home about (not that important for a 4x strategy game IMO).

-/- SotS lacks a sufficient tutorial and the UI fails to present all relevant information.
-/- Sound effects range from average to bad. Some may even find them offensive.
-/- Lacks steam features.

Verdict: 8.8/10. SotS is a very impressive and unique take on the 4x genre. The developer managed to create a game design that scales the micromanagement with empire size. The ship design is one of the best I’ve seen in a 4x game (Star Ruler would be my only contender). The game has a steep learning curve and requires some forum reading/let’s plays to gain a moderate understanding of the underlying mechanics. If you are willing to invest the time, you will find a lot to love in Sword of the Stars.

An extremely in-depth and large-scope turn-based space empire building simulator. It gives enough freedom to feel in control but does not get bogged down with a ton of menus. Though it looks a touch dated by now it is still easily the best I've found in the genre. (There is a sequel, and there are a LOT of reasons I'm writing a recommendation for the original instead of that).