Ashes of the Singularity Escalation (now merged)

[Elixer]

Odd, I thought there would be a thread on this game already, but, I haven't seen a dedicated thread for this game yet.

I noticed this game is $25 (https://store.stardock.com/product/ESD-SDE-W071 --steam key) until Feb 29th, and they are currently at beta 2, which should be the last beta before the release according to their roadmap.

Has anyone gotten a chance to try this one out yet?

The graphics look much better than Planetary Annihilation, along the lines of supreme commander 1, but, I can't really tell from the vids if there is any lasting replay value here, or how the campaign mode will end up?

There don't seem to be many different unit types available, only about a handful that I have seen.
Haven't seen anything like shield units either (like SC had).

I also noticed they have this game on GOG, but, it really isn't DRM free, since it needs the GOG client to actually work, and on top of that, you can't play battles with steam people either.

No word yet if this is cross platform as well for battles, so you can have windows vs linux vs macs all playing in the same game.

No working LAN yet either, right?

Is the AI actually non-cheating?


*edit, see https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...ation-now-merged.2465316/page-3#post-38742594 for full details on the original game & the new Escalation game that everyone is getting for free.

 

[IEC]

Is the AI actually non-cheating?

Yep:

World's first Multi-core non-cheating AI engine
While Ashes has a strong multiplayer feature set, it includes what is arguably the most sophisticated AI engine ever devised for a real-time strategy game. Ashes of the Singularity requires a minimum of 4-cores on your CPU. In exchange, players get an AI that can create complex strategies that can play by the same rules as you do providing a level of challenge never before seen in a single player RTS.

 

[shortylickens]

I know for a fact the AI in Galactic Civilizations II is non-cheating and I'm fairly certain its multicore. Or it least GalCiv 3 is.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I would suggest holding off personally. Reviews seem positive but at this time there is not a whole lot to it.

 

[TidusZ]

I'm waiting for full release + reviews, been burned by stardock before

 

[Anteaus]

I know for a fact the AI in Galactic Civilizations II is non-cheating and I'm fairly certain its multicore. Or it least GalCiv 3 is.

Ashes is one of the first games with a game engine written from the ground up for 64-bit, multi-threading, and large amounts of RAM. Many games that claim to support multicore in reality run single core processes and merely move some of the secondary processes to other cores. Worse, many of the same games run on game engines that were originally 32-bit and therefore aren't optimized.

This fact is why single core performance is still so important in PC gaming. Games like Ashes will make my X99 sing.

You may very well be correct about GalCiv 3 though, since it was designed as 64-bit. That said, as a turn based game it doesn't make as good a tech demo for multithreaded gaming as an RTS like Ashes will.

 

[bbhaag]

Isn't this game the "Oh look what DX12 can do!" game? Its a lot like Crysis isn't it? A crap load of eye candy but not a lot of substance.

 

[KMFJD]

Way too many CTD for me, played like 10 games, only completed 2 the rest crashed

 

[XavierMace]

Way too many CTD for me, played like 10 games, only completed 2 the rest crashed

I've played 20-30 games, no crashes.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

So is this game like Supreme Commander or like C&C or like some recent craptacular rts games?

 

[Anteaus]

So is this game like Supreme Commander or like C&C or like some recent craptacular rts games?

It's a spiritual successor to Supreme Commander.

 

[futurefields]

Isn't this game the "Oh look what DX12 can do!" game? Its a lot like Crysis isn't it? A crap load of eye candy but not a lot of substance.

Looks like you didn't even make it to the 2nd post of this thread. Try reading.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

It's a spiritual successor to Supreme Commander.

I've seen that in advertisements my question is does in play like Sup Com or does it play like something else but has a big map?

 

[KMFJD]

I wouldn't spend money on it yet, it has some potential though

Things i didn't like:
limit amount of unit types (18?)
unit ai is dreadful
not much micro, just send in your army and hope for the best the ai can do
resource gathering on rails (just follow the lines to your resources)

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I wouldn't spend money on it yet, it has some potential though

Things i didn't like:
limit amount of units (18?)
unit ai is dreadful
not much micro, just send in your army and hope for the best the ai can do
resource gathering on rails (just follow the lines to your resources)

Mmmm this is what I feared. Thanks

 

[KMFJD]

I've played 20-30 games, no crashes.

Anything that forces focus from the game causes it to ctd (like alt tabbing or something popping up) in my experience.

 

[Elixer]

So, from what I read, this is a tech demo with some game play elements, and it is too early to tell how everything will shape up, since nobody has had a chance to see how the campaign will work out (and not even bug tested?).

 

[Fire&Blood]

I know for a fact the AI in Galactic Civilizations II is non-cheating and I'm fairly certain its multicore. Or it least GalCiv 3 is.

Sins of a Solar Empire doesn't seem to have a cheating AI either. I'm playing alone vs 2 AI on vicious in Rebellion right now. It's still early in the war but I am moving my fleets well to cover all of my planets and got lucky twice with jumps to give their vulnerable fleets a beating to remember. The enemies have same initial resource values but they are brutally efficient with those resources. My odds of winning are ~10%, if the AI cheated I probably would have been crushed already.

I'll probably jump in after reviews.

 

[XavierMace]

I wouldn't spend money on it yet, it has some potential though

Things i didn't like:
limit amount of units (18?)
unit ai is dreadful
not much micro, just send in your army and hope for the best the ai can do
resource gathering on rails (just follow the lines to your resources)

If you only had 18 units, you were doing something seriously wrong.

 

[KMFJD]

If you only had 18 units, you were doing something seriously wrong.

there isn't very much unit variety

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Bah. I want a Sins of a Solar Empire 2 with robust online multiplayer features.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I'm always suspicious of Star Dock

 

[Elixer]

If you only had 18 units, you were doing something seriously wrong.

I think he meant 18 different unit types, not you can only produce 18 units.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Sins of a Solar Empire doesn't seem to have a cheating AI either. I'm playing alone vs 2 AI on vicious in Rebellion right now. It's still early in the war but I am moving my fleets well to cover all of my planets and got lucky twice with jumps to give their vulnerable fleets a beating to remember. The enemies have same initial resource values but they are brutally efficient with those resources. My odds of winning are ~10%, if the AI cheated I probably would have been crushed already.

The cheat is that it gets a 6x economic boost. If you can play Vicious, you should come try it in online multiplayer against human opponents. There's even 5 on 5 games (10 humans, no AI).

 

[IslandDog]

The release date is set for March 31, and a new trailer for the announcement is out.

https://youtu.be/uPT7RjhhL14

Now it's time for the game's release, and we are ready to bring you what you've been waiting for! We have listened to your feedback and have continued to refine and balance the game all through its time in Early Access. With your help, we have improved our multiplayer experience and have been enjoying our "Devs vs. Fans" Fridays.

We have added several maps since our first beta and by the time we release 1.0 you will have the ability to edit maps to your own preferences! Closer to release, we will create a post with instructions and tips for how to do this.

Finally, we can't wait to tell you all more about the Ascendancy Wars campaign that will become available in full at the time of release. Keep an eye out on our forums for more information, and certainly load the game up when 1.0 releases on March 31st and give it a try for yourself!