POSTED: 5 JULY
Up front, I like grand strategy. If done right.
SD being in Early Access, one can only hope that "Early" stands for "Oh-so very, very Early". As it is, the game hovers haplessly in limbo between confusing and aggravating. Compairing it to Crusader Kings 3 is like comparing a soap box car to a Lamborghinii - both have four wheels, one on each corner.
SD's UI is nothing short of a crime. For instance, when one clicks on a system, one gets some little picture of its sun. Cool, except, in order to get the vital information about the population unrest level, one needs to click on the appropriate sub-menu. That gets old with three starter planets already. Is there a reason, why there isn't a comprehensive summary in the top menu, say, in place of the pretty picture?
So then, let's talk about unrest. Say, your own system starts with around 40% and a growth of roughly 3% per turn. Which means, if nothing changes, then the rabble throws stones through your bedroom window in 20 turns - unless you use two of your precious action points every second turn to soothe the masses. Time to find out, what exactly it is you did wrong. One half of the aggravation is "Complacency". Turns out, less developed neighbor systems within your own hegemony make the richer system unhappy - because its nobles are bored. No joke. Which means every penny invested in your capital undermines your population control permanently. The other half of the aggravation is that they are "offended by ruler act". Rightfully so, because they complained about a disease outbreak and you (who started with the attribute "intelligent") decided, the latter was the result of their smell, so you sent perfume. Which was a special event. Looking at this it is hard to decide, what makes less sense. On one hand, there is the fact that the leader of a star-faring entity (ruled from an asteroid belt, no less) sends perfume to a disease outbreak - but the smelly subjects know better. On the other hand, the event happens repeatedly, and repeatedly your only option is to click "ok". Don't you love it, when the game makes the decisions for you? And of course, your vassals can't stay on top of their unrest. So there go another 2 AP to quell unrest. For each vassal. For every turn.
Talking about special events. Special events are suffocating the game. Barons (system owners) can and will break their vassalage randoomly. If you're dumb enough to accept such a baron's offer, you will be hated by a whole lot of people including your own - just to see him pledge to someone else ten turns later. So all you can ever get out of such a deal is hatred and the hole in the pocket for every penny spent on the habitual traitor. Contender for the crown of Stupidest Event Ever is, when a liege of a neighbor faction starts to hate you, because you failed to publicly criticize a heinous act of a baron, who was - I kid you not - their vasall. Then again, top of the pops is the "option" to have a fling (including blood relatives). You don't want to? Tough luck. Now your mood falls like an anvil off a cliff in Looney Tunes (because you're sooo in lurve) - and everybody hates you, because hey, you didn't think they believed it when you said "no", did ya?
Another disaster very much not like CK3 is family planning. You're in a society that wants to rebuild after the Big Badda Boom. So you have "foot" shortages (it's bad not to have feet, right?). Of course, in the perfume-addled laser brain of your duke toon, that means there are too many people. Result? Everybody is only allowed one child. Which, in effect, would half your population every generation and exterminate your tax base long before you go extinct. Which fits perfectly in line with the nonsensical setup and would just be one more thing you better don't think too hard about - except, the nonsense limits your household size. Since you start over the limit, your heir better waits a while to be born. That's not possible, because every couple will have their one child, whether you like it or not? In the end, all you can do is forbid ANY marriage to begin with. There is absolutely no ensuring an heir, let alone a mere glimpse of the breeding game. Which should be receiving standing ovations from the peanut gallery, because in the last 11 turns a full third of your subjects decided to hate you - I guess, because there are too many Thursdays in the week.
Yeah, yeah, whatever. What about war? Grand strategy and all that jazz. Depends on what you're talking about. Raids? Sure, makes a whole lot of sense in space. Well, it trashes any diplomatic effort, which hasn't been made senseless by random events. Battles? Sure, except that allies are randomized AFTER your choice to attack. And of course, ten turns after your completely random success your baron may just decide to defect. If that is not enough silliness, you get frequent requests of invaders for help to beat your own barons to pulp.
The list is a lot longer, but what it all comes down to is that this game is not like CK3. In its current design it is not even a miserable copy. It is, instead, a never-ending random sequence of completely idiotic events, which ruin any attempt at what little gameplay the mechanics sensibly allow so far.
