I've been playing lots of 'solid-but-not-great' games lately, and this is another to put on the pile.
Star Dynasties is like Crusader Kings II but with many less mechanics, and in space. The game is basically 100% event driven with some action points to spend per turn instead of turn based with substantial empire management like in CK2. You get some good and you get some bad.
There are, what feels like, more events. Entire game is spurred on my melodramatic feudal happenings. This is very engaging, and I think genuinely even better than Crusader Kings. But that's about where the 'better than Crusader Kings' compliments end. The menus are harder to navigate, it's easy to get stuck on or behind certain menus or have events that need decisions get buried in a maze of UI pop ups. There aren't enough hotkeys to simplify navigation. There just aren't enough options for deep family management and the screens don't pleasingly allow you to dig through them.
The empire management is just too threadbare. The systems don't even have actual planets or show planet views. They just elude to the idea that people live there somewhere. Giving the game far less character. At least in Crusader Kings you have cultures and a real world map so you know what these things and places look like. In Star Dynasties you have almost no lore on a generated map that gives you very little to sink your teeth into or to RP. There's just so very little set dressing.
It's not that Star Dynasties isn't good. I very much like the events and the purely event driven space soap opera. I just think the actual mechanics within are too thin. And then the lore, limited family sizes and poor UI really lessen the 'give a shit' factor.
If you are someone who likes the idea of Crusader Kings but finds it either too complicated or feudal Europe not interesting, Star Dynasties could very well be for you. It's certainly a far, far better attempt at the CK-like genre than Great Houses of Calderia.
Star Dynasties is like Crusader Kings II but with many less mechanics, and in space. The game is basically 100% event driven with some action points to spend per turn instead of turn based with substantial empire management like in CK2. You get some good and you get some bad.
There are, what feels like, more events. Entire game is spurred on my melodramatic feudal happenings. This is very engaging, and I think genuinely even better than Crusader Kings. But that's about where the 'better than Crusader Kings' compliments end. The menus are harder to navigate, it's easy to get stuck on or behind certain menus or have events that need decisions get buried in a maze of UI pop ups. There aren't enough hotkeys to simplify navigation. There just aren't enough options for deep family management and the screens don't pleasingly allow you to dig through them.
The empire management is just too threadbare. The systems don't even have actual planets or show planet views. They just elude to the idea that people live there somewhere. Giving the game far less character. At least in Crusader Kings you have cultures and a real world map so you know what these things and places look like. In Star Dynasties you have almost no lore on a generated map that gives you very little to sink your teeth into or to RP. There's just so very little set dressing.
It's not that Star Dynasties isn't good. I very much like the events and the purely event driven space soap opera. I just think the actual mechanics within are too thin. And then the lore, limited family sizes and poor UI really lessen the 'give a shit' factor.
If you are someone who likes the idea of Crusader Kings but finds it either too complicated or feudal Europe not interesting, Star Dynasties could very well be for you. It's certainly a far, far better attempt at the CK-like genre than Great Houses of Calderia.