Star Ruler 2

[Castruccio]

Has anyone tried this out yet?  It looks like it launched today at $24.99.  It is tempting, but I try to be cautious about new 4x games since so many are train wrecks.

[Shrugging Khan]

If it's anything like Star Ruler 1, it won't even be half-finished, with most of the important game mechanics just plain missing, no semblance of balance or playability, and selling only on the basis of "LOOK YOU CAN MAKE SHIPS BIG". The, in the five or so years following release, modders will slowly add content to give it some saving graces.

In short - I won't buy it before I hear of every single bad thing there is to say about it.

[screamingpalm]

It's really really good.
Well designed and lots of fun imo.

[Zebeast46]

I saw a gameplay video of it and the ground combat did not look very good (sort of a simple square base combat) but the space combat looked really cool. And a lot of reviews (user reviews) said it was basically a good version of star ruler 1 (i have never played either game so I cant comment on that.

[Aklyon]

Its still somewhat confusing, but the tutorial works much better than what I remember of SR1's, it has a much better ui, and while you can still make huge ships, whether you can afford to build one is a different question entirely. The space combat looks pretty nice, but the tech tree is a damn mess and makes no sense in where it goes. Theres a mod to fix that and make it actually go in clearer directions however. Also the irc function from SR1 still exists if you need to ask people something about the game, and its still a real time with pause 4x.

[screamingpalm]

I saw a gameplay video of it and the ground combat did not look very good (sort of a simple square base combat) but the space combat looked really cool. And a lot of reviews (user reviews) said it was basically a good version of star ruler 1 (i have never played either game so I cant comment on that.

Ground combat? I think you're talking about Star Drive 2?

[Zebeast46]

*facepalm* *smashes head against table multiple times then chucks cat at nearest piece of furniture* ya I think I was talking about star drive 2 and not star ruler 2. *facepalms again*

[screamingpalm]

Understandable, many seem to be mixing up the two, so not just you.

[kasnavada]

I tried it. It's a nice game, totally unlike the wreck that was star ruler 1 and the wreck that was stardrive 1.

Balance is more or less ok. It's quite short though, the AI is not strong enough, but even star ruler one was more of a sandbox kind of game rather than a competition.

Multiplayer suffers a bit from lack of publicity as nearly no one reviewed it.

[Shrugging Khan]

I tried it too, and it seems like an incredibly oversimplified thing. Much more game-y, glossy; less of a simulation or a sandbox in its particular niche, and more of an attempt to get into the mainstream RTS/4X pool. Accessibility may be the chief term here.

Which means that it's completely worthless to me. A waste of attention; better off not existing. A step back, degeneration, a shameful display.

I mad.

[Brenda_Webb]

Have played this one. The best part about Star Ruler 2 I feel is that in spite of being a real time game, it doesn't require too much micromanagement or stress, focusing more on strategy and overall tactics than small-scale skirmishing. Also, the mechanics of the game are best described as brilliant. You feel as if you are running a massive, ponderous empire in space. It may take a bit of time for SR1 players to get used to it because it is based on individual hexes, with ships being divided into flagships and support ships. Overall, it's a greatly put-together game.

[eRe4s3r]

I actually like it somewhat (Disclaimer, got it for free because I worked on Star Ruler 1)

But I also agree a bit with Shrugging Khan. The game itself is very.. streamlined, not a bad thing at all. The problem is that the higher gameplay (colonies, resources etc.) becomes really simple because of it. And you have very few tangible choices. It doesn't matter what planet gives water to what planet, or food, or MK3 resources. Or really, what ship config is in your fleet, as long as it can shoot better and has more armor than the enemy. However that does make for some pretty cool battles, especially when 3 or 4 fleets are involved.

And to finish my tangential rant, I mean that it becomes boring because there isn't anything challenging. At least not if you understand how the game works.

I will admit though that it is by FAR the best reimagination of space 4x so far. Compare it to the snooze fest that is GalCiv 3.. yikes. Zero innovation or evolution in THAT.. so Star Ruler 2 has that going for it. If mods bring Legend of Galactic Heroes weapons and ships into this I will be addicted for a while.

[zespri]

What innovations does Star Rulers 2 have comparing to GalCiv 3?

[kasnavada]

It's fun ?

More seriously, I won't have Galciv 3. It's another (dumb) moo-clone with an over-agressive expansive AI and (very very very) large amount of micro-management. What's good and innovative with star ruler 2 is that the game is far less tedious than most of the competition. Another thing is the links between planets to upgrade them. Basically they went with the idea of large developped planets having to be "supported" by the exports of "lesser" planets. And, yes, bugs are few and the game works.

Then again, sadly, most of the people in the space 4X hate the very thought of not having to manage 50+ buildings on every single of the 8 planets on 20+ different systems, wants to rebuild 8 different size of ships every time than a research finishes, and so on... If that's what you're after, and think that doing differently from forcing a player to make millions of mindless choices is "dumbing down" a game, then star ruler 2 is not for you.

That said, star ruler 2 is quite easy against the AI - focus seems to have been made on multiplayer, and games can be short (I generally finish in 3-4 hours, basically what a civ5 game takes me, more or less. Finally, despite no one reviewing it and people not buying it on behalf of star ruler one being THAT bad, they got enough money for a single expansion to be done, so we can expect more work on that game =).

[zespri]

Then again, sadly, most of the people in the space 4X hate the very thought of not having to manage 50+ buildings on every single of the 8 planets on 20+ different systems, wants to rebuild 8 different size of ships every time than a research finishes, and so on...

That's exactly why (minus the exaggeration) it looks to me that GalCiv 3 is a better game - I played it and quite liked it. I'm on the edge about Start Ruler 2 - have not bought it yet, and that's why I asked the question.