Sword of the Stars: Ultimate Collection

When it comes to exploring, expanding, exploiting and exterminating in outer space, there seems to be no one gaming formula that fits the bill for everyone.  Some prefer the planetary development found in Game Y, while others just cannot get enough of the fleet combat in Game Z.  It is for this reason that you find the community of would-be galactic emperors contentedly playing a number of 4X games that span a period of many years.  After all, why give up a good thing?

One game that has succeeded in muscling its way into the pantheon of 4X “good things” is Kerberos’ Sword of the Stars.  While initially beset by a number of rough edges, Kerberos never ceased refining their core design and, enhanced by the Born of Blood (2007) and Murder of Crows (2008) expansions, have succeeded in creating another landmark space conquest title with its own rabid fan base.  With the recent news that Paradox Interactive had picked up the franchise from the now defunct Lighthouse Interactive, I decided to revisit this series by taking the recently released Sword of the Stars: Ultimate Collection for a spin around the stars.

Customization

It’s a big universe, so what 4X strategy game would be complete without a plethora of customization options?  Sword of the Stars (SotS) provides lots of different ways to create a game.  As is par for the course with the 4X genre, the player is free to select from a wide variety of options when creating a custom game, including such items single or multiplayer, size and shape of the galaxy, AI difficulty, the frequency of random incidents, and the number and type of alien civilizations (now up to six with the recent Murder of Crows expansion).  However, SotS also includes a number of “scenarios” that allow the player to customize only a few options while presenting them with specific, pre-defined objectives and starting conditions.

Unlike some other games, the six alien civilizations in SotS are fleshed out with detailed back stories, unique ship architecture and specialized technology.  One important area of specialization that has a significant impact on gameplay is the star drive technology utilized by each race.  For example, the humans (aka “SolForce”) use a Node Drive that forces them to travel along predetermined Node lines, while the insectoid Hivers use TelePort Gates that allow instantaneous arrival at any system that contains a prepositioned gate.   Each method of travel comes with inherent advantages and disadvantages, so it is important to think carefully when selecting your race.

The Strategy Map

The heart of any 4X strategy game is the strategic map.   Unlike other games that insist on largely portraying outer space as a series of stars and planets conveniently located along a flat plane, SotS provides fully 3-D star maps.  Be warned, while I enjoyed the greater realism and challenge had in such a map where “up” and “down” is completely relative, others may find that it makes conceptualizing the war effort frustratingly difficult.  This frustration is somewhat exacerbated by the fact that while the map can be zoomed and rotated, you aren’t free to scroll from side to side.  Instead, navigating the map requires selecting a planet or a fleet that will then become the focal point for the camera’s movement.  It is as awkward system that takes some getting used to.

Upon the map the gamer finds star systems scattered about according to whatever galaxy structure was selected.    Prominently displayed is your homeworld, a planet teaming with citizenry and infrastructure eagerly awaiting the player’s first extra-solar venture.  Exploration is easily accomplished by building some “extended range” ships, preferably with tanker support, and then sending them out to find a habitable planet.

As ships travel across the map, something that can take more than a few turns depending upon drive technology and distance, the player will begin to discover that each star contains a single planet of varying size and climate, as well as some potential surprises.  Depending on your race, the climate hazard rating affects whether or not the planet is worthwhile as a colony.  Generally speaking, a planet with a climate hazard rating of under 500 is best.  With the discovery of a worthwhile candidate, a colonial ship will establish a colony that will be need a lot of tender, lovin’ care before it becomes self-sustaining.  As it develops, the player can set the rate of terraforming, infrastructure improvement, and ship construction via some easy to use sliders that control the amount of investment in each.

Of course, it’s a big, dangerous galaxy, so the strategic map will be used for less peaceful activities than colonization.  Communicated via a handy “news ticker” that runs along the bottom of the screen, all sorts of events will take place  turn to turn, from fleets arriving at their destinations, to “slavers” pillaging a planet.  Click on the news item in the ticker to trigger a pop-up window with a manga-styled illustration.  If there was combat involved, clicking on the window will give you detailed combat results, while clicking on other events will center the location on the map for closer inspection.

Rounding out the strategic map are an array of other screens, from a listing of all colonies, to a pie graph depicting revenue spent on everything from fleet upkeep to research.  There is even an intelligence screen that keeps track of detected alien technology (if you have researched that ability, of course) and a chat window where the player can communicate with both human and AI players.

All things considered, the strategic map user interface provides all the information needed from turn to turn, but could use a few tweaks, such as the aforementioned awkward control scheme, and the lack of some sort of convenient indicator of what a particular planet is currently constructing.

Research

What would a 4X game be without a research tree?  Never fear, SotS has a huge research tree that covers just about every conceivable branch of technology, from genetics to weaponry.  SotS, however, adds two unique twists.  First, unlike most tech trees that are presented as straightforward flow charts, the tech in SotS is presented as a branching tree that can be panned and zoomed, something I found adds a nice aesthetic touch.  But even more interesting than that is the fact that each alien race has a unique, randomized tech tree.  That is, even though every race will always have access to the requisite basics, certain branches of the tree will be unavailable from game to game, making each session slightly – and refreshingly – different.  Also, because each race has technology specific to it, espionage and tech trading becomes all the more important for players who want something they cannot get access to by more traditional, research-oriented means.

Research is conducted in the standard fashion of dedicating a portion of your excess planetary budget to it.  The more the player dedicates, the faster the research.  However, in a nice twist, research budgets can go “over budget” for an unspecified number of turns.  This adds a nice amount of uncertainty to just when the player will have access to those desperately needed UV lasers, for example.  Of course, the player can “boost” research by adding an extra research payment per turn, but boosted research comes with dangers - as when my scientists got carried away and killed over a million of my citizens because their research on photonic torpedoes went very awry….

Ship Design

Sword of the Stars allows the player to create three classes of warship: destroyers, cruisers and dreadnaughts, amongst other items such as space stations and defense satellites.  Each design in split into three parts:  Command, Mission and Engine segments.  As the player advances in the tech tree, more specialized ships components become available, such as a biome midsection for cruiser-sized colonial vessels.  Finally, scattered about the hull of each vessel are locations in which the player can place certain types of weaponry.  All in all, getting the hang of designing a ship becomes a rather straightforward process - really, just a matter of flipping through the different components, mixing and matching as you go with the appropriate weaponry.  For those who crave quantifiable specifics, the top of the ship design screen provides a smattering of such information as cost, turning speed, and range.  Lastly, a 3-D mockup of the ship is displayed up top, allowing you to see your grand creation in detail, complete with firing arcs for all weaponry.

As simple as the process is, care must be used in your designs as the AI will come up with an interesting mix of counter-designs.  For example, I once headed into combat with cruisers armed to the teeth with missile batteries. I was confident of victory…until I encountered a foe that had its vessels decked out with point defense systems that wiped my missiles from the sky, leaving my ships virtually defanged as the AI cut them to pieces with quick-firing lasers.   It was a painful, but important lesson.

Real-time Combat

While the strategy map portion of the game is turn-based, when fleets meet in battle the game switches to a real-time combat resolution phase.  It is here that the wisdom of your ship designs will be put to the test as every weapon is individually modeled, each shot individually tracked.  There’s no strength bars here – when weapons impact, they leave visible damage and affect specific systems.

The player can control his fleet via some basic, fleet-wide commands (e.g., close to attack) or he can give specific commands to specific vessels.  If he is so inclined, with a click of the mouse the player can even pinpoint specific locations upon an enemy vessel that he wants to hit.  Is an enemy vessel too fast?  Target its engines.   Is a heavy laser battery causing trouble?  Blast it with a torpedo.

As the battle is presented in space - occasionally with terrain, such as asteroid fields or planets, providing interesting tactical wrinkles - it is easy for the player to lose his bearings.  To help him out, the player can access a “sensor screen” that provides a simplified overview of the battle using wireframe objects and arrow markers for ships.  Initially, this view is little more useful than as a simplified radar screen, but as the player ascends the tech tree, more bells and whistles will be added to the point where it will be possible to direct the actual battle from this screen.

When ships close and weapons begin to fire, it can be an impressive sight.  While the graphics are a bit dated by current standards (this is a 2006 game, after all), battles still contain plenty of nice detail, such as swiveling turrets and opening missile hatches.  Each weapon has a distinctive look too, so just by watching the action unfold you will be able to tell which weapon is dealing death and destruction.  Inflict enough damage, and a ship’s section will become visibly battered.  Deal enough damage, and the section and/or ship will break apart and explode.

It should be pointed out that while the player can only maneuver his vessels along a flat plane, ships, of their own accord, will adjust their height during battle.  As such, battles have a nice fluidity to them as vessels maneuver in three dimensions to gain an advantage; albeit, occasionally they will flounder about as they try to adjust their distance from a target.

Like everything else in SotS, the tech tree has a tremendous influence on these tactical battles.  Initially, the player will be limited to commanding just three ships at a time.  However, as C3 technology is researched, the player can command more and more ships, and even specify the order in which reinforcements should arrive.  In this way, perhaps more than any other 4X science fiction game, SotS really makes every engagement feel like something more than a mere “pew-pew” lightshow.  I just wish that someday Kerberos would add some sort of experience modifier for those veteran ships that somehow survive such a deadly battlefield.

So What’s Not to Like?

This isn’t your softball, George Lucas science fiction future!  Sword of the Stars plays hardball in every category.  Not only are the AIs very challenging, but sometimes bad things just happen to good aliens.  It is not unheard of for a struggling empire to get its homeworld wiped out by a Von Neumann probe, or some other deep space terror for that matter.  As every turn is an adventure in SotS, the frustration factor can be a bit high as a player can do everything right, and still get knocked out of the game via the cruel, 2.725 K hand of fate.

The game can also be slow at times.  Space is big…and this game reminds the player of this fact as even with star drive technology, it can take some time for your fleets to get anywhere.  And while the real-time battles are fun, they can become a repetitive grind early on in the game when small fleets are the norm and hit and run tactics rule – something that makes for less than thrilling combat (fortunately, the player can auto-resolve any battle he chooses).

Another shortcoming is the superficial diplomacy model in the game.  While the player can manage basic relations, complex diplomacy is not really an option.  In Sword of the Stars, diplomacy is largely what you do to kill time before launching the next attack.