Got this the other day for $20.
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Really liking it after around 9 hours of play time. It takes 4 to 5 hours to learn how to play effectively, but once you get into the groove of things it really
starts to take off. I really like it because it reminds me of Rise of Nations, the only other RTS game that I really liked. It's the combination of nation building
(well, rather than "nations and cities" it's "factions and planets") and real time space battles that really get me going. Think if you took the empire building of
Civilization IV, and the battle gameplay of Homeworld and/or Total War... but made them all in real time, all the time.
There is no story mode, rather it's just got skirmish mode and multiplayer, but the games can last really long. A 1v1 match on a single solar system will take
around 3-6 hours. While larger matches may take you days. I think I'm gonna be playing this a lot for the next good while. My first match had me lost in the sauce,
so I was the clear loser pretty quick (I only got around a pitiful 3 planets after two hours, while my enemy had more than 10). So I tried again, turned off pirate raids,
and set the difficulty to easy. That time I steam-rolled over them and amassed a massive flotilla of ships with hundreds of units and a dozen capital ships.
The thing that impresses me the most is the reliable AI of your units and the way battles play out. Rather than direct fire exactly, you really just guide your armies
to battles and they take care of themselves. You can skip along the galaxy managing and building, while just tending to your war effort with minimal complications,
the AI just works the way you'd want them to. The empire tree is also very interesting, it's basically a way to call on any unit or factory or planet from anywhere
you are without having to actually go to it. The whole thing just works like a well oiled machine.
Blah blah yea yea. The end.