Hater gonna hate.

Just reminder it took 6 years to get the AI to where it is now in SoTS 1. 

I can wait 6 years...

SotS2 just never became what I hoped it would.  Oh well, not the first time a new direction for a franchise wasn't what I wanted it to be.

http://www.gamestop.com/pc/games/sword-of-the-stars-ii-lords-of-winter/97844

http://games.gs1.net/games/sword-of-the-stars-ii-lords-of-winter

http://www.pcgamestore.com/games/sword-of-the-stars-ii-lords-of-winter

http://www.greenmangaming.com/s/us/en/pc/games/strategy/sword-of-the-stars-ii-lords-of-winter/

Sots 2 20$

Steam sale Sots 2 10$ and Sots 1 & 2 20$ http://store.steampowered.com/app/42990/

Ok they are starting to feed us details, 

2 New leviathan classes...Invasion and SuperHeavy Transport. Both can act as command ships but at reduced ability from standard LV's.

New admiral traits

New ship attributes

Everyone gets new Heavy missile sections for dreads, cruisers and platforms.

And as mentioned, the ability to give fleet based orders as opposed to just objective based.

Super transport carries defense assets, up to and including asteroid monitors 

Cybernetics tree...Jaeger missiles...with AI control dubious, heavy ship missiles run with the grafted brains of hunting animals as their control core. Just launch and watch them hunt. 

And then there are cerebro-energetic enhancer modules that take psi adepts and hook them up to power amplification systems.

More coming... 

The free expansion will come out tomorrow around 1pm eastern and yes it will break saves.

New Manual for the expansion- http://www.kerberos-productions.com/sots2_motd/SotS2-EOF_v1-0_301112.pdf

Since I like TBS like Age of Wonders and HoMM I thought I'd like SoTS II but after watching a clip of it in a Steam thread it seems to be about clicking around in menus most of the time like Galactic Civilizations II. In any case, GalCiv II was too much menues, too little action.

I want to like the game but I'm not gonna fool myself again like I did with GalCiv II

So Hawawaa, what's the best clip or let's play there is SoTS or SoTS II ?

SoTS would be more like the Total War Series then GalCiv II.

It is menu intestive in the turn based part of the game, but really combat which is real time, you can really just push 2 butoons and the game blows ships up for you. 

Its not 100% perfect but it does work well, letting the AI do it for you.

As ryat said it plays more like Total War series than Gal2.

Just alot more depth/awesomeness/im very much lost at what Im doing.

Exactly. Ryat is correct. SoTS2 has much more in common with the Total War series than anything else. I gave it another run after EoF was released. It is definitely playable, and a lot smoother now since the "all clear". However my two main pet peeves still stand. The clunky UI, and the at times confusing Fleet mechanic. I can add the still busted galactopedia to the list, but that has nothing to do with game play.

It does have some of the old SoTS 1 features i liked. Like the ship designing, and the random research trees. I finally got a taste of tactical combat. Which is still much like SoTS 1. However in the first battles the AI Suul'ka Horde Mk 3 fleets got wiped out. By my default non-upgraded armor cruiser Sol Force fleets. It wasnt till later that AI fleets started sending in higher tech ships, and i started losing battles. Which to me was a pleasant surprise. I didnt finish that game but it was the first time i actually enjoyed playing SoTS 2.

The fleet mechanic is something you really have to get used to. While Colonize, Survey, and Construction missions are pretty self explanatory. Combat actions could be disastrous if you time it wrong, Like me ordering a fleet to patrol a system too soon, and they finished the mission the turn before the enemy showed up. Lost a world because of that, and because i didn't station fleets there.

The game still annoys me because of the pet peeves, but it is definitely getting better with each update.

Should I try Sword of the Stars or Sword of the Stars II ?

I'm a competetive RTS gamer who also like the Age of Wonders series (if a short way to describe me is needed).

I've never played Total War (Yeah I know, HOW could I have missed that series).

I need some way to give input in combats. Is that possible?

Well, SoTS will give you great expereience as it finished in development. Great game cant go wrong.

SoTS 2 is growing, has its growing pains still. Great game though, IMHO a improvement. But others might argue that.

Some of the core mechanics are the same in both games but there is enough difference in both that playing the first might not help you play the second. It took me a long time to get out the SoTS 1 mentality and into SoTS 2 mentality.

If you like the game really depends if you like 4x games. Since all but combat is Turn based, has a big big learning curve, and does take time.

Since your use to RTS, it may or may not be your thing. You have a great jump ahead during combat phases though b/c it is Real time combat. Like Star craft, or your choice of RTS. So you have control of your ships and tell them what do to etc etc etc.

There is a demo of SoTS 1. Give that a try it will the the least give you a taste of how the games flow. If you like the basic feel of it, I say dive right ahead and get SoTS 2. Since playing the first may or maynot confuse you if you do make the jump from the first to the second.

you can also watch some of these achived games to see how it plays out.

http://www.twitch.tv/terrakus

SotS1 with all the expansions is definitely what I would consider "Intro to 4X for RTS Players".  If you read the manual (I cannot stress this enough!) and play with randoms off its an easy enough move from Sins to SotS, assuming you're a Sins of a Solar Empire player.

Campaigner- Grab Sots 1 first. Loa you can win a game but they need a week or 2 weeks max of love (we are getting updates on the weekend too). The other races are playing fine though. Ai gets better with every update and everytime people shows them funky ai they fix it. Also lots of random events in Sots 1. You can play for 2-3 years and find something new. Youtube will probably start to get flooded soon and I will start my LP series in 2 weeks. 

Right now its Sots 2 = better multiplayer, I actually joined a game and took control of the ai player which wasn't in debt (making progress). Also lots of things got tweaked and changed so I'm getting a feel of everything again. 

Sots 1 = good ai and its still fun (though I miss some of the UI and screen mode features of Sots 2). Multiplayer is fun. 

Side note the Loa are pretty sweet. Transmutable fleets is awesome (turn fleets into cubes). They are middle of the pack for speed FTL (they are a gate race) and I believe they are top 3 for combat speed. Bio weapons don't work on you and your ships can't be boarded. Your ships are expensive, but you have great turret #s, accuracy, and coverage. Armor sucks but your structure is #1. Their econ is different and you can't drop below 0 or your research stops. You can grow planet populations faster than anyone else (this is tricky). Planets with low biosphere and stars with low solar activity help them grow faster. They can setup shop almost anywhere except gas giants. They can't field the biggest fleets on offense. No Psionics or cybernetics for them. Only 1 tech to grab for biotech. Oh ya emp weapons mess you up. Also you go ballistics but your made of wise clay and shooting bits of yourself at your enemy isn't the smartest idea. Also Supply doesn't hurt you as much as the other races.

The additions to the mission system is now you can click on fleets directly and give mission orders directly "fleet based missions". Exception is station building (needs 3 more little additions and its good). What Major stress said is true but I have gotten use to it, multiplayer can be mean... Also evacuation mission type is in. Get your people to safety and to other worlds when shit hits the fan.

Love all the new admiral types.

Hunter- faster ships in pursuit mode.

Defender- increase rate of fire on defense in your systems but decrease in enemy owned systems.

Attacker- Opposite of Defender...

Artillery Expert- in Stand off mode increase in rate of fire.

Psion- 20% more psionic points.

Skeptic- -20% psionic points.

Media Hero- Every victory battle +1 morale on all colonies but -6 to all colonies if this admiral dies.

Gloryhound- on defense 20% ROF but 50% more casualties on planets.

Sherman- on attack enemy planets do double damage to population and infrastructure. -2 diplo hit to all other empires as long as this admiral commands a fleet. 

Technophobe- fleet suffers reduced reaction role against Loa but +ROF against them.

Elite- Repair critical hits 100% faster but 50% upkeep costs.

Pirates have a home system (watch out for all the damn boarding pods). New grands to make you piss yourself. I'm sure there is other things I haven't found yet...

Lots of new toys to play with, AP stormers aka Rippers, tracking Proton Torpedos, new tracking burst torpedo (fusion and antimatter), emp drones, phantom missiles. Also upgrades to make drones and BR last longer before redocking. New ship modules, lots of new psionic powers, 2 new Levis invasion and super heavy transports. New heavy missile platform and missile heavy mission section. Mechaempathy- better industry and the ability to control missiles and drones! (also better gunner tracking on missiles and drones). Jaeger missiles- put brains in heavy missiles and let them do the tracking down of targets. Intangibility is back. Replicants for 30% increase in pop growth rate. 

Did I forget to mention End of Flesh is free.