SotS2 All-clear is here!

[Zed-F]

It took a lot longer than I expected -- over a full year -- but SotS2 is nearly at the all-clear point. The next official SotS2 update should be the all-clear update.

SotS2 official forums penultimate update post

The all-clear update is what I personally have been waiting for before jumping into SotS2 again. Of course, GW2 is occupying a lot of my attention at the moment (and has a Halloween update coming up I am sure), so I will have to make a call as to when I can devote some time to SotS2, and how much. But I'm definitely looking forward to being able to play a stable and fairly feature-complete version of the game!

Note that there are a couple things the devs wanted to include in the all-clear version but have not been able to for various reasons, the main one being scenarios. (Apparently their scenario guy was in a music band, and had to leave Kerberos to go on tour with his band.) Still, most of the comments on the official forums these days are pretty positive about how the game has shaped up over the last year, so it looks like a good time to jump in.

[haphazard1]

Thanks for keeping us updated, Zed-F! I have been busy lately with the new X-COM, and have plans to play Torchlight II when I find some time. But I have been looking forward to SotS II reaching the all-clear.

[Zed-F]

Hey folks!

Sorry for the long wait but I am extremely happy and proud to give the all
clear signal and invite you all back to a bright and shiny SotS2. While
“all clear” in no way means support for the game has ended or that we have
no plans for additions, it does mean that the game is in the shape we would
have wished it to be upon release. From here we will be going on to a
regularly scheduled set of updates that continue to fill out and flesh out
the SotS2 universe as well as adding new maps, scenarios and plenty of
quality of life suggestions.

We would like to thank Paradox for continuing to distribute Sword of the
Stars/ Sword of the stars 2 and look forward to working with them on any
future expansions. We also want to issue a heartfelt thanks to the players
who stood by us in those dark early months and who believed us when we said
this game would be fixed. We owe a great deal to the players who stuck it
out through all the dozens of updates and fixes and kept reporting the bugs
and posting their saves. Their input has made for a bigger and better SotS2
than could have been achieved at release even under the best of conditions.
Everyone who enjoys playing this game from this date on, owes those
impromptu testers a great deal of thanks. And finally for those of you who
are reading this now and booting up the game, we would like to thank you
for your patience and welcome you back. There is a great game waiting for
you now and a big universe waiting to be explored.

The Future:
As said, this announcement does not mean the end of SotS2 support. In fact,
should any of you be curious, feel free to come by our boards and see our
plans to support SotS2 indefinitely. For now, you can look forward to your
next SotS2 update in approximately 3 weeks and it should include such tasty
treats as:
--Selectable Teams at startup
--Revised Empire economics screen
--Even more AI tuning
--SotSpedia tuning and more entries
--And a pack of new maps.

While too far down the line for particulars, I can tell you that the
following update after that should see the return of scenarios and a treat
or two for the holidays!


So once again, I would like to thank you all for your patience and
understanding during the road back and hope you all enjoy this game as it
was meant to be!

Martin E. Cirulis
CEO/Creative Director
Kerberos Productions

[Erick the Red]

Wow, I had given up on this game. It comes at a bad time for me relative to other games, but I'm certainly looking forward to reading any posted stories. Maybe I can jump in around December or January.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

I've heard the game is still shit

Maybe I should hop back into SotS 1, haven't touched that for a while.

[Zed-F]

I've heard the game is still shit

I wouldn't agree with that assessment. I've been playing the last week and enjoying the learning process, with some quibbles. It's certainly not going to please someone looking for SotS1 with better graphics, however.

Good points: space combat is impressive, strategic game pacing feels realistic once you get used to the UI, there are lots of different techs and strategies to try

Still could use polish: UI needs fine tuning to reduce busywork and improve screen load times, AI is a work in progress (but both are much better than a year ago)

Other notes: Game complexity can be overwhelming without some dedicated research into how the game works. Don't expect a completely bug-free experience; consider the game to have just been launched now and expect some bugs accordingly.

Maybe I should hop back into SotS 1, haven't touched that for a while.

SotS1 does have the benefit of 6 years of development behind it, and it certainly shows! If I were coming at both games fresh right now, I think I'd probably prefer SotS1. But I've played enough of it that I really need to be in the right mood to want to fire it up again.

[Zed-F]

Here's a good place to see some streams of folks playing SotS2, for anyone wondering what the game is actually like in action. The person hosting the stream is one of the better SotS2 multiplayer gamers and is pretty knowledgeable.

http://www.kerberos-productions.com/foru...37&t=35803

[Zed-F]

Well here is a pleasant surprise! :D

http://www.kerberos-productions.com/foru...37&t=36401
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/cont...ed-Edition

An expansion due out at the end of the month. No word about any such thing until today, and we just had the all clear announcement recently, so this was a bit unexpected, especially considering The Pit has been in development simultaneously. But welcome news nonetheless.

There is a trailer on the Paradox site (follow the link) for the curious.