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Haegemonia Gold by Mischief Maker 11/01/2011, 12:17pm PDT I decided to give this gog title a spin this weekend. Holy fucking shit! This game came out in 2002??? On one hand it's obviously running on yesterday's graphics technology (apparently current GPUs can't render the specular lighting effects) but from a pure art design standpoint this is the most gorgeous space strategy game I've ever played. Unlike Homeworld or SOTS, the graphics are 80s sci fi movie internally-lit models instead of comic books or anime, and the music has its roots quite firmly in Holst's "The Planets." Even the most dinky little freighter is a beauty to behold at full zoom. How is it I never heard of this game before it hit gog? Well, actually this gold edition makes it perfectly clear: the game was released in an unfinished state, then the developers had the balls to release the missing features as an expansion pack. Haegemonia is a multiple solar system-spanning 4X. The gold edition gives you 2 packages: Legion of Iron, the original game, and the Solon Heritage, the expansion. Legion of Iron is just the single player story campaign/tutorial. The Solon Heritage adds skirmish, multiplayer, and a whole mess of bugfixes and balance adjustments, but running in a separate executable. Since this is a massive 4X running in real time, things move slowly to make the multitasking more manageable. BUT the campaign, being a glorified tutorial, only lets you control a small handful of units and planets at once. The appeal of the visuals wears off pretty quick when you're spending 5 minutes watching a wing of fighters slowly cross the solar system with nothing else to do. I can only imagine what a terrible impression this made at initial release with no skirmish or multiplayer. I wonder if SOTS 2 will suffer a similar fate as Haegemonia? In the meantime, I can't say whether the Solon Heritage's balance will pass the Fabio test, but if you've got an aging machine and want to see it render something beautiful, I give it a highly recommended on Fussbett's Fable scale.

Between Stronghold 3 and Sword of the Stars II, I have set fire to 100$ this wk by WITTGENSTEIN 10/29/2011, 8:55am PDT     Sword of the Stars 2 might be a fuck-up of Masters of Orion 3 proportions by WITTGENSTEIN 10/29/2011, 7:19pm PDT         Don't rule out plain technical incompetence by Mischief Maker 10/30/2011, 9:29am PDT             Arinn posted a blog thingie Saturday about it by WITTGENSTEIN 10/30/2011, 9:36am PDT                 yeah it turns out 4x is hard by jeep 10/30/2011, 3:59pm PDT                     Mecron sez: WE FUCKED UP, SORRY. IT'LL BE FIXED BY NOVEMBER 31ST by WITTGENSTEIN 10/30/2011, 4:47pm PDT                         Haegemonia Gold by Mischief Maker 11/01/2011, 12:17pm PDT                             Haegamonia Legions of Iron was pretty awful by WITTGENSTEIN 11/01/2011, 12:28pm PDT                             Re: Haegemonia Gold by fabio 12/13/2011, 5:05am PST                                 Nope. Better looking? NT by Mischief Maker 12/15/2011, 12:16am PST                                     When zoomed in by fabio 12/15/2011, 12:01pm PST                                         Isn't that basically what GalCiv 2 was? by Mischief Maker 12/15/2011, 2:06pm PST                                             Re: Isn't that basically what GalCiv 2 was? by laudablepuss 12/15/2011, 3:30pm PST                                                 Build a ship shaped like a gun made of smaller guns NT by fabio 12/15/2011, 6:58pm PST                                             I missed this post. :( Basically: the HW:C team split in two by WITTGENSTEIN 07/13/2013, 4:49pm PDT                     SOTS2 is appearing more GalCiv II than SOTS1 by WITTGENSTEIN 10/30/2011, 4:59pm PDT                         Re: SOTS2 is appearing more GalCiv II than SOTS1 by Mischief Shmup Enthusiast 10/30/2011, 5:32pm PDT                     There is the opposite extreme. by Mischief Shmup Enthusiast 10/30/2011, 6:01pm PDT                         freeware by fabio 10/31/2011, 10:22am PDT                         Re: There is the opposite extreme. by Fullofkittens 07/13/2013, 2:07pm PDT                         Pay 99$ to get in the alpha! NT by WITTGENSTEIN 07/13/2013, 4:39pm PDT                             I think you're mixing it up with that TA game. Overgrowth is still $30 preorder. NT by MM 07/13/2013, 9:47pm PDT                                 Well, yes, that was the sarcastic point. I've been railing against these types by WITTGENSTEIN 07/14/2013, 8:04am PDT     Sword of the Stars 2: 2 weeks after launch by WITTGENSTEIN 11/09/2011, 3:42pm PST         How 'bout now? NT by Mischief Maker 01/28/2012, 6:34pm PST             The problems are endemic to the design by WITTGENSTEIN 03/25/2012, 10:01am PDT                 Patch notes Highlights Reel (thanks SA) by WITTGENSTEIN 03/25/2012, 10:23am PDT                     Wait, is that real or from a SA joke article? by fabio 03/25/2012, 10:40am PDT                         It's real. NT by WITTGENSTEIN 03/25/2012, 2:00pm PDT                             :( by Mischief Maker 03/25/2012, 3:51pm PDT     6 months later: by WITTGENSTEIN 05/29/2012, 1:04pm PDT     The enhanced edition's out. Playable yet? by United Nations Maker 12/01/2012, 6:13am PST         ssssssssssssssssssystem update! NT by SOTS patch department 12/01/2012, 3:36pm PST     Stronghold 3 on sale for $7.50 ^_^ NT by fabio 07/04/2013, 1:10pm PDT         Fuck these games. Anyone remember that old SSI dos game Stronghold? by Eurotrash 07/04/2013, 11:53pm PDT             I still wish they'd remake Siege by fabio 07/13/2013, 1:04pm PDT                 That sounds goddamn awesome. Your best chance might be an M&B mod :( NT by fucking newbie 07/13/2013, 5:12pm PDT         Archers still OP. And there are missions where you don't have access to them by WITTGENSTEIN 07/13/2013, 4:36pm PDT             I couldn't get too far into Stronghold or Crusaders by fabio 07/13/2013, 8:49pm PDT