As I understood it, The Pit was designed to be something quick they could put out to generate money to keep working on SotS, but no idea how it’s done as far as sales.
KevinC
2804
It’s done well enough to warrant an expansion, I believe, so there’s that at least!
I stopped playing after the all clear when it appeared the AI was cheating horribly. I would destroy 100’s of enemy ships and the hordes kept coming. Even switching to those empires couldn’t explain how a similar-sized AI empire could outproduce me by huge margins.
KevinC
2806
I’ve heard that complaint in Endless Space but the complaint I hear most often with SOTS2 is the AI is too weak economically!
Why do you say that? Did they stop working on the game? Any insider info? I thought they work on a DLC.
KevinC
2808
I apologize, that was poor forum etiquette on my part to not provide a link along with my statement. Let me rectify that!
It was first brought to my attention in a couple threads like this one (and another I can’t find at the moment) on the Kerberos forums, where someone asked if there were future plans. The answer was basically that it is up to Paradox, not Kerberos, and that Kerberos couldn’t really speak about the matter. This was brought up because forum-goers noticed SOTS2 was listed in the Paradox “Classic Games” section instead of “Recently Published Games”, which typically means it’s EOL. So someone went and inquired on the Paradox forums if there were any expansion plans and got this response:
I realize he says “near future” and not “never”, but I take that as typical PR-speak. Given all the info above, it appears for all intents and purposes that Paradox is not funding additional expansions for SOTS2. Given that the contract gave Paradox publishing rights to SOTS2 and its expansions, I’m unsure where that leaves the franchise even if Kerberos is able to make some money off of their indie titles like The Pit.
To think we could have had NorthStar…
Janster
2810
It’s taken as far as it gets now I think…but I’d buy an expansion called AI.
Scotten
2811
I’ve read similar/same threads that KevinC linked/read too. And if anyone ever posts a “What’s the future of SotS2?” thread, it ends up getting ugly (in the typical Kerberos way)
Yep. I just saw this response from the lead dev when this questions was raised. Real classy. And this is coming from someone who really enjoyed the first and second SOTS.
Re: Anything cooking up for SotS 2 or has the gal been shelved?
by Mecron » Thu May 23, 2013 7:29 pm
“yes but rest assured there is no greater way to earn twat points than to start topics like this here”
http://www.kerberos-productions.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=48865
Thanks KevinC. Yo that’s it then :/
Ground combat wasn’t implemented yet, I guess.
KevinC
2814
That was planned for the 3rd expansion, IIRC.
I doubt Paradox will give Kerb another dime for dev time.
Klaatu
2817
Looking closely at that thread, it is unclear to what the dev is responding “yes” to. Most likely it is to this question by the topic starter: “…just wondering if development is currently active for the game.”
So, Q: development still active? A: yes.
Or, less likely, he’s answering yes to this question just upthread from his post: “I wonder if not funding and publishing the 2nd and 3rd expansions would be a breach of contract on Paradox’s end, and thusly Kerberos could self-publish 'em using a crowd sourcing method (because they still own the IP)?”
But I suppose it’s possible it’s a “yes” to the question in the subject “has the gal been shelved?” :)
Klaatu: I wouldn’t try to discern his motives. He’s always had an amazingly caustic attitude towards Kerberos’ customers since the original SotS. I generally do not let it bother me, but the issues with SotS2 could be his comeuppance.
KevinC
2819
It’s part of the social contract there. The devs make themselves available and are a constant presence on the forums but with the caveat that they will interact with others as a regular forum goer / human being. It definitely results in a very different atmosphere and Mecron can be a bit of a grumpy ass, but people there know the score and are okay with it.
To his credit it goes both ways. I’ve seen people take him to task without threads of bans, post deletions, etc.
Yeah, most regular Kerberos forum goers are well used to Mecron. I think there’s even a thread dedicated to some of his Mecronism’s. He’s an intelligent guy that doesn’t put up with (what he sees as) stupid questions or people criticising/complaining unjustly. However, he’s always contributing on the forums and does take criticism when it’s vallid.
They are still developing patches for the game, but a lot of their time at the moment is focused on expansions for SOTS : The Pit. The last patch for SOTS 2 made a big difference to the A.I., but unfortunately, it’s still not up to SOTS 1 level.
Personally, I feel they need to get the A.I. at a challenging level and the U.I. more streamlined before adding any further complexity through an expansion.
Yeah I’ve always said it’s a testament to how great SotS I was that I bought it despite the attitude of the devs, Mecron in particular. :P
He seems to mean well, but I just find most of his posts unprofessional and personally I wouldn’t put up with an employee posting like that for long.
Absolutely, he’s the most unprofessional CEO of any company I’ve ever dealt with, gaming or otherwise. I think everything they’ve released over the years has been criticised heavily, and years of criticism would turn anyone that way. Even SOTS 1 took a battering until eventually turning into one of the best 4x space games ever after a few expansions.
