Matrix Games Forums

Armada 2526, Galactic Civilizations 2, and Sword of the Stars.

I would like to know about general comparisons of the three games.

My Armada 2526 is on the way from ordering from Gamestop website. I have Galactic Civilizations 2(with Dark Avatar but not Twilight of the Arnor). I do not have Sword of the Stars.

My impressions(from playing and reading) are that Galactic Civilizations 2 focuses on imperial management, Sword of the Stars focuses on tactical combat, and Armada 2526 is a good balance of imperial management and tactical combat(with a little improvement on the way from the developer).

Is that an accurate impression? If so, I think I will enjoy Armada 2526.

Armada leans more towards imperial management.
 
I like it somewhat better than GalCIv2 because it's leaner and plays better on larger maps. And I don't have to deal with dozens of constructors and babysitting starbases. The whole starbase mechanic in GC2, while cool, bogs the game down and becomes a minigame in of itself.
 
 
 
 

My impressions(from playing and reading) are that Galactic Civilizations 2 focuses on imperial management, Sword of the Stars focuses on tactical combat, and Armada 2526 is a good balance of imperial management and tactical combat(with a little improvement on the way from the developer).

This is how I see it too.

How do the graphics in Armada compare to something like Homeworld? Homeworld had INCREDIBLE graphics. Although graphics are not so important to me in WW2 games I prefer my sci-fi games to be state of the art. For some reason graphics seem to make or break a sci-fi game to me where they don't so much others.

So...my question, how good are the graphics in Armada?

The graphics in Armada are great for this kind of a game. Homeworld and Sins have better graphics but these games are more focus on tactical combat and spaceship management. But Aramada is a 4x game and only spacecombat is some kind of RTS but empire building is turnbase(WEGO). Armada is the perfect balance of all. The more i play it the more i gone a like it. Only Imperium Galactica 2 my fav. game ever i like more. But maby Aramada2526 will replace it after some time . 

What about the game map? Is it in 3d or 2d? I mean are you building your space empire on a 2d map or a 3d map? Also what about the battles? Are they fought in 2d or 3d? When I say 3d I mean like Homeworld. Homeworld you could steer your ships in ALL directions, not just right/left, up/down.

Gary,

Homeworld was really a game with a very different focus, the entire point of the game was beautiful 3D space battles. I don't think you can really compare that any more than you can compare a WWII FPS to a WWII Wargame. With that said, the battles are in 3D, but they are mainly fought on a pseudo-2D plane to keep things easy to see and keep track of.

Regards,

- Erik

-The main/strategy/galactic map screen is on a 2d plane. I, and many others, prefer it that way for less confusing play. On a grand scale, spiral galaxies and parts of other galaxies can be viewed as a 2D plane.

-The battles are on a 2D plane. I, and many others, prefer it that way for less confusing play. On a grand scale, solar systems and parts of space can be viewed as a 2D plane.

What about the main map or whatever you build your empire on? Is that in 3d or 2d? I realize that 3d is hard to do but it just seems most appropriate to a space game to me. Granted I haven't played many space games. Homeworld is about the only one. So I may not have a very good grasp of what is practical and what isn't. [&:]

EDIT: Sorry, cross post with Wade1000

Well i like the combat system for Armada2526. I give orders or group spaceships en set paths in 2d. After that i switch to the F6 key to follow the battle in a 3d kind of view. But to set flight paths and targets i switch to 2d to get the better view. To be honest it takes a while to get used to it. Like Erik told its another kind of game as Homeworld. 

ORIGINAL: Wade1000

-The main/strategy/galactic map screen is on a 2d plane. I, and many others, prefer it that way for less confusing play. On a grand scale, spiral galaxies and parts of other galaxies can be viewed as a 2D plane.

-The battles are on a 2D plane. I, and many others, prefer it that way for less confusing play. On a grand scale, solar systems and parts of space can be viewed as a 2D plane.

Well is the camera angle on the 2d planes at least adjustable so you can sort of gain different perspectives on a battle? I mean it isn't a fixed view from directly above I hope. [:(]

The spacemap where you can colonise systems and build your empire is a 2 map. Also building you empire is turn base. But that is just the great thing. Not like sins where all is in RTS style. 

ORIGINAL: Gary Childress

ORIGINAL: Wade1000

-The main/strategy/galactic map screen is on a 2d plane. I, and many others, prefer it that way for less confusing play. On a grand scale, spiral galaxies and parts of other galaxies can be viewed as a 2D plane.

-The battles are on a 2D plane. I, and many others, prefer it that way for less confusing play. On a grand scale, solar systems and parts of space can be viewed as a 2D plane.

Well is the camera angle on the 2d planes at least adjustable so you can sort of gain different perspectives on a battle? I mean it isn't a fixed view from directly above I hope. [:(]

You can change camera angle by pressing down mousewheel.

In freecamera mode the problem is that if you let go the camera will snap back to its original angel so you need to keep pressing continiously.

In shiplocked mode the camera does not snap back but the problem is that everytime the ship turns the camera turns too making the camera very jerky. You need to adjust the camera continously with the scrollwheel to keep focus.

Also the controls are mostly backwards what they are in other games so youll need somtime to get used to it at all. Ive pressed wrong buttons countless times. I hope they would fix these controls but if they dont Ill just try to live with it.

The battle plane itself is comparable to sots and empire at war. Ships move mostly in 2d but there is some movement in 3d too. It gives a fair illusion of 3d.

ORIGINAL: Gary Childress

ORIGINAL: Wade1000

-The main/strategy/galactic map screen is on a 2d plane. I, and many others, prefer it that way for less confusing play. On a grand scale, spiral galaxies and parts of other galaxies can be viewed as a 2D plane.

-The battles are on a 2D plane. I, and many others, prefer it that way for less confusing play. On a grand scale, solar systems and parts of space can be viewed as a 2D plane.

Well is the camera angle on the 2d planes at least adjustable so you can sort of gain different perspectives on a battle? I mean it isn't a fixed view from directly above I hope. [:(]

Yes, like Iaika states, you can move the camera around to enjoy different views.

ORIGINAL: Wade1000

ORIGINAL: Gary Childress

ORIGINAL: Wade1000

-The main/strategy/galactic map screen is on a 2d plane. I, and many others, prefer it that way for less confusing play. On a grand scale, spiral galaxies and parts of other galaxies can be viewed as a 2D plane.

-The battles are on a 2D plane. I, and many others, prefer it that way for less confusing play. On a grand scale, solar systems and parts of space can be viewed as a 2D plane.

Well is the camera angle on the 2d planes at least adjustable so you can sort of gain different perspectives on a battle? I mean it isn't a fixed view from directly above I hope. [:(]

Yes, like Iaika states, you can move the camera around to enjoy different views.

What are the graphics like? How would you rate them compared to other space sims? Unfortunately I haven't seen many screen shots to get much of an idea what the game looks like. For some reason when it comes to sci-fi I'm more particular about graphics than I am about historically based wargames. Graphics make or brake a sci-fi game for me. They have to be sharp looking.

Screen shots:

http://www.ntronium.com/Armada2526%20Gallery.html

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/376 ... rmada.2526

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/376 ... ada%202526

I would say that Sword of the stars is way more Total war in space than this game, here the tactical combat isn't really the main point, its more like an ad-hoc thing to the management of your empire.

Sword of the stars with all expansion packs is actually relatively detailed, but main focus is on battles, which imho is pretty cool. Galciv is all colony management, with battles being a simple affair.

Graphics wise, eh the 3d graphics of SOTS is way better than anything else, Galciv 2 has the best UI and map, this game offers something from both worlds, but will have to work on excel in either.

GalCiv2 also has the best ship design feature too.

ORIGINAL: killroyishere

GalCiv2 also has the best ship design feature too.

Most of that is just eyecandy allthough the playermade shippacks in mods were great. In armada 2526 I dont miss it at all allthough I liked the way it was done in Sots, because in that game it felt that it really made a difference (0% eyecandy). You could clearly see the results in sots battle.

I just played my second game of armada2526 to 0700am today. That adds up to like 12 hours for the second game and Im nowhere near finished. If the game was any more detailed I might not ever finish it due to lack of free time. Im not sure anymore if best 4x game is one with most details.

However I had great fun in battles even and now Im starting to think armada is possible the best 4x game for me together with sots. The reason I stopped playing sots was that the hard difficulty was too merciless. I spent days working on single game only getting beated so badly I didnt dare to come back.

ORIGINAL: killroyishere

GalCiv2 also has the best ship design feature too.

Although GalCiv2's ship design is applauded by some I think it's anoying. It's like playing with children's Legos or blocks. It's much less ship DESIGN and more ship STYLING. And the starting base and the pieces are all ugly to me unless one wants to spend much time trying to make a better looking ship.

As emperor/leader/president/etcetera, I'd rather have my people design ships and captain starships.

Ships design and detailed ship control in 4X games are overated in my opinion.

Although, an OPTION to design ships in a very basic way or an experience upgrade system for units and ships like Civilization 4 would add more immersion to Armada 2526.