Alliance of the Sacred Suns - if CK2, Stellaris, and MOO3 (Emrich Edition) had a strategy baby

It’s a program called Portrait Maker. The author is about to update it and add a lot more Sci Fi ‘pieces’ to the process, so I’m excited about that. It’s quite a good program for the price, and it allows someone like me with limited artistic ability and no freehand ability to turn out reasonably accurate faces in minimum time. - S

Thanks! -S

Welcome and thank you! I should have 2 more posted this weekend, and eventually the series of 8 on our YT channel. -S

Thank you, evil twin! (I mean, I like the portraits, but I see the allure of the other ones) -S

Thanks! You probably set some of the seed corn in motion years ago when you were the first curator to invite me to talk about AotSS (then Imperia) so a lot of the credit goes to you, Brian!

-S

Would it be more beneficial if I waited to buy for the Kickstarter campaign to try to push it over the finish line, or buy it now?

I’m tentatively assuming the former would be better in the long run, since it’s a public contribution to the project’s momentum.

Honestly, the most beneficial thing (and best for you!) would be to buy it now at the cheap price, and then tell people you know about AotSS (if you like it, of course!). I have zero marketing budget so WOM is pretty much the only way I can sell the game at this point. (Of course, part of the Kickstarter budget is to go from zero to tiny marketing budget, so…) But it’s totally up to you!

-S

Wow very cool thread! Looking forward to it. Hope you can do good music that’s fitting. Looks like it’s going to be a lot of hours in the game.

Any chance you have a link? Thanks!

I am happy to play my part and help in any way I can, buddy.

Always appreciated sir! :-)
-S

I have spent a few hours trying to get started, both in-game and looking at documentation and the first video. I have yet to get to the point where I can make a plausible stab at completing turn #1. :)

I am fascinated, but also confused by lots of things, and frustrated by some things (which may turn out to be misunderstandings on my part, I am consistently poor at game interfaces). In no particular order:

The tooltips which are included are extremely thorough and helpful. But lots of icons, etc. lack tooltips. Probably my number one issue at the moment, in terms of dealing with the learning curve. Many of them (and acronyms) are tooltipped somewhere, or else explained in the video. But in other places just the icon or acronym. Makes for a slog while learning.

When I am in Political mode and click on my home system, I see a Systems ideology Overview. However, some of this is unexpected; for example, during game setup I saw that Neomerican culture was rated 8 for Body Purism but here it says 7. Does that mean it can be changed by game events? Or maybe by my actions? There are two little squares on the spectrum. What does that mean? And each end of the spectrum has, what I thought was the icon for power. Great tooltip saying what each of these cultural categories means, but lots of questions.

The concept of a planet and a system are intuitive, and I find them all easily within the interface. But a province? In your video tutorial you address this, but as you actually correct your wording just at that point, and I am unclear as to your meaning. I can find the province governor, but beyond that it seems loosely like the constellation.

The main menu seems to have no “settings” where you can turn off the sound. Actually, “Options” does not work on the main screen either. So I had to exit the game to watch your You Tube tutorial, preventing using it bit by bit and using it to try things in-game.

In your video tutorial, you talk about planet ratings such as how good it is at mining rare materials. But is this intrinsic to the planet, or a function of current efficiency?

And again from the video, the sound goes out just as you go into the jobs on the planet. There are two rows of numbers. Is this potential and filled? Filled and unfilled? (Not clear about all the job icons, either.)

The entire piece about cultural beliefs remains very murky in my mind. I pick a culture at the start, but when I open the game, I find that some of my holdings are of that culture and some are not. Furthermore, on the last setup screen I see two items under culture, not visibly connected to the aspects of the culture I chose, and possibly randomized. Not sure how that fits in.

What does it mean, a “Culture Primary Deviance”? Neomericans get a 5 in Warrior Ethos and Tolerance… the middle of the scale. This does not sound like it deviates very far from moderation on these matters. They get a 2 in Xeno-Tolerance, which is within a point of all the other cultures. Again, this does not sound like much of a deviation. I’m thinking there is more to this than I am understanding.

Setup seems to create extremely varied conditions. One time, every single House was in Cold War with me. Another time, three were cooperative, and one of the others was indifferent. Usually the Xyl expected power is 4+k, but another time just 2.7k. Usually my House has vastly more to work with than other Houses, but not always… Is this randomization working as intended?

I have yet to find anything about Minor Houses.

I see the other Major House Tradition levels, but I am still searching for where mine are given. I find it odd that my House is left out of the Houses Overview.

So far, I am finding navigation through the UI odd. There does not seem to be a way to go back a screen. Right click is the only way out of the current screen and it takes you to the basic home screen… And I see no way to, say, sort characters by intelligence. Or by mining ability… No screen that simply lists your governors and viceroys… So let’s say my analysis of my situation is that I need to upgrade mining heavy materials; it is highly unwieldy to figure out a location that has higher potential than is being utilized. (Not that I understand at this point how to improve it.)

A very annoying habit of the screen to drift to the edge, while in another window (looking, for example, at the documentation). If there is a quick way of centering, I have not found it.

Lots of good questions here, a few quality-of-life features that have yet to be added. I’ll be home this evening and try to answer your questions in detail. Thank you for the feedback! Everything is working as intended based on what you have said but as you have no doubt seen there is a LOT going on. I do plan to update the options screen with some sound options since I think you’re not the only one who will use the video tutorials. I will commit to recording at least 2 more plus a ‘first 3 turn’ video walking through what you should be looking at! Would that help?

-S

Does the option button work? I really need to find a way to turn off that music.

I haven’t bought it yet, but I hope to do so soon. Looks great!

That would be great. The game would be instantly much more accessible.

Uh oh, one more question. My Domestic Prime shows a Vengeance symbol.

  1. By the wording on the mouse over, I assume that I have sworn vengeance on her, rather than the other way around?

  2. If so, I see no way do as the mouse over says and end the conflict.

I’ll add that feature for .7.0.4 next week!

-S

Thanks! Even if it’s just an overall mute button that would be fine - that onClick “beep” is harsh too.

I want to throw money at you! But website says my email is already registered and yet will not send me a password reset so it wont let me purchase. This happened to anyone else?