Disclaimer - I don't do much in the way of Let's Plays, so this is just me trying to show off a game I've always loved. Have mercy!
looks like a cool wee game
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Sword of the Stars is a space 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) game, published way back in 2006. Since then, it's spawned a regrettable sequel, a roguelike (Sword of the Stars - The Pit) and a tabletop wargame (Ground Pounders). However, for this i'll only be looking at the original game as a sort of "After-Action Report".
What sets SotS apart, however, are two things. First, while the game is turn-based, all combat encounters are handled in real time in a 3D tactical map, so all the awesome ships and weapons we design and research can be witnessed in person.
Secondly, we have the fact that almost every ship you use is designed yourself, based on the tech you have unlocked. For example, here's a ship I made earlier.
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The S.S. Please Don't Hurt Me is a Cruiser-class ship with a Command and Control (CNC) mission section which defines its role, a Battle Bridge command section which gives it forward-mounted weapons at the expense of mobility and a Fusion Void Carver engine section.
In the bottom left you can see its weapons layout - every ship in SotS has various weapon mounts (divided into Small, Medium, Large and Special) which can hold any weapon of that size you've researched, and each mount has a specific firing arc. The position and size of mounts varies by race and section. Our command vessel (which we don't want fighting in close combat) packs several long-range sniper cannons, some missile mounts, and a last-ditch heavy beam weapon.
Every ship design can be named, from colony ships, freighters, defense platforms, all the way up to Flagship CNC Dreadnoughts. So, the best way to leave your mark on this AAR is to suggest names! Suggest any ship name you feel like, and the next time I go to design a new class of vessel, I'll have that in mind.
That's a big wall of text, so to start things off, I'll make an example game. There are 6 races in SotS (4 in the base game, 2 from expansions). For this game, I'll be playing as the Tarkas, large, warlike lizard-creatures who focus on having tough, durable brawling ships. This is how we start out, on the tactical map showing our owned planets in red, with the star indicating it's our homeworld. The bright dots around us are unexplored stars - potential colonies and potential enemy planets. We'll leave off here - next update should cover our first 20 or so turns, early exploration and colonisation.
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See you then.