SoSE is a decade-old Real-Time Strategy that received a DLC pack this year. Yas!



It’s a real-time 4X game, set in another grim darkness of the far future: a lengthy war between a peaceful but somewhat closed-minded humanity, an alien race fleeing an unknown threat that had annihilated their entire empire, and a bunch of human exiles wielding psionic tech; with the latest expansion pack, each of these three factions are split in two, with different focuses among Loyalists and Rebels. It features a single-instance gamespace encompassing multiple stars and planets. The units are a broad selection of starships of various sizes, some of them carrying Lucas-esque fighters. The civilian elements are somewhat underdeveloped, if only to keep planets as singular entitites. Combat is a bit slow, if only because it can involve hundreds of ships with plenty of shield strength to go about. Capital ships act as “hero” units with RPG elements. There is no ground combat - you simply cleanse the enemy-held planet with nuclear fire before recolonizing it.



Graphics were good at the time; they are a bit dated by modern standard, but at least they aren’t hard on potatoputers.



The post-release additions included: Entrenchment, which added more options for stationary defenses and ways to destroy them, Diplomacy, and Rebellion, which added the abovementioned subfactions. The DLCs are Forbidden Worlds, including new planet types and the mechanic of planetary economy specialization, Stellar Phenomena adding more random events and star types to produce more chaotic battlefields, and Outlaw Sectors, which added smarter “barbarian”-equivalent planetary militias as well as allied militias, and buffed pirates.



With three expansion packs and three DLCs, the game is literally full of stuff – the engine can’t support more content anymore. That said, the devs’ other recent forays into non-space RTS games have been much less successful, and there is considerable room for improvements to the game’s concept.

SoSE is a decade-old Real-Time Strategy that received a DLC pack this year. Yas! It’s a real-time 4X game, set in [i]another[/i] grim darkness of the far future: a lengthy war between a peaceful but somewhat closed-minded humanity, an alien race fleeing an unknown threat that had annihilated their entire empire, and a bunch of human exiles wielding psionic tech; with the latest expansion pack, each of these three factions are split in two, with different focuses among Loyalists and Rebels. It features a single-instance gamespace encompassing multiple stars and planets. The units are a broad selection of starships of various sizes, some of them carrying Lucas-esque fighters. The civilian elements are somewhat underdeveloped, if only to keep planets as singular entitites. Combat is a bit slow, if only because it can involve hundreds of ships with plenty of shield strength to go about. Capital ships act as “hero” units with RPG elements. There is no ground combat - you simply cleanse the enemy-held planet with nuclear fire before recolonizing it. Graphics were good at the time; they are a bit dated by modern standard, but at least they aren’t hard on potatoputers. The post-release additions included: [i]Entrenchment[/i], which added more options for stationary defenses and ways to destroy them, [i]Diplomacy[/i], and [i]Rebellion[/i], which added the abovementioned subfactions. The DLCs are [i]Forbidden Worlds[/i], including new planet types and the mechanic of planetary economy specialization, [i]Stellar Phenomena[/i] adding more random events and star types to produce more chaotic battlefields, and [i]Outlaw Sectors[/i], which added smarter “barbarian”-equivalent planetary militias as well as allied militias, and buffed pirates. With three expansion packs and three DLCs, the game is literally full of stuff – the engine can’t support more content anymore. That said, the devs’ other recent forays into non-space RTS games have been much less successful, and there is considerable room for improvements to the game’s concept. Check this box if you received this product for free (?) Do you recommend this game? Yes No Cancel Save Changes