History VideoGame / SwordOfTheStars

A sequel called ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXThLOnfSdQ Sword of the Stars II: The Lords of Winter]]'' was released in Oct 2011, well before it was ready. Backlash ensued, and Kerberos promised to inform the player base when the game was actually done. As of June 1st, 2012, the "pre-all clear version" has been released and the game can be considered to be almost at the "release candidate" stage and therefore playable, but the official "all clear" has yet to be given.

* NiceGuy: According to the lore, the current Moru Quan of the Morrigi, Tokhata the white/The just, as of the SOTS2 era. He is responsible for bringing the Morrigi Confederation into the multiracial federation it is is the current era. And all because the previous Quan's xenophobia threatened the human colony that had saved his life. Things sort of snowballed from there. See also BewareTheNiceOnes.

* Nice guy: according to the lore, the current Moru quan of the Morrigi Tokhata the white/Th ejust, as of the SOTS2 era.he is responsible for bringing the morrigi confederation into the multiracial federation it is is the current era. and all because the previous Quan's xenophobia threatened the human colony that had saved his life.things sort of snowballed from there. see also beware the nice ones, androclies lion (not sure if appropriate for a sentient, please correct if necessary, delete this bracketed text after review either way)

* BlandNameProduct: A few system names, such as [[BattlestarGalactica Kaprica]] and [[VideoGame/{{Homeworld}} Heegaraa]].

* CyberCyclops: Human ships with the AI command section. It swoops back and forth, [[BattlestarGalactica Cylon]]-style.

* EveryoneIsBi: Morrigi sexuality is . . . complicated. Although male and female Morrigi will meet to reproduce (in an act called "the Descent"), long-term heterosexual romances amongst the Morrigi ''can'' happen, but are fairly rare. With their socities separated by gender, most long-term romantic domestic partnership amongst Morrigi happens between members of the same sex.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Averted initially. [=CnC=] vessels aren't meant for straight fights, and even the dreadnought-based Armada [=CnC=] is weaker than proper combat dreads. The sequel's Leviathans play this straight however.

* LawOfChromaticSuperiority: Played with. Drives increase in power from fission (orange) to fusion (yellow) to antimatter (purple). Lasers go red, green, purple, blue, gold. Plasma is green, yellow, purple.

In a far-distant future, after ecological disasters caused the deaths of millions, humanity has united and reached into the stars. An accident with a deep scanner ring aimed at the sun has given access to a dimension known as [[SubspaceOrHyperspace Nodespace]], making FTL travel a reality. The military/space organization known as [=SolForce=] heads humanity's defense and space exploration and readies a [[SettlingTheFrontier colonization project]].

However, mere moments after the first node-drive equipped colony ship is launched, Earth is attacked by a fleet belonging to a race known as [[BeePeople Hivers]], and only survive utter destruction by [[NuclearOption firing the species' entire stockpile of ballistic missiles at the invasion]], forcing their retreat. After the dust settles, the remnants of humanity gather under [=SolForce=]'s banner, which is intent on seeing humanity take its place amongst the powers of the galaxy at any cost. [=SolForce=]'s official motto is "Per Ardua Ad Astra" (Latin meaning "through hardship, the stars"), but it's an open secret that its true motto is "Repensum Est Canicula" (literally, "Payback is a Bitch"). As the Node Drive allows humanity to expand, they not only discover that the Hiver 'invasion fleet' was only an explorer fleet belonging to one of countless Hiver clans, but they also discover the ProudWarriorRace Tarka, who consider the object of war to be to kill the other guy ''first'' however effectively you can and [[TheSocialDarwinist gleefully pounce on anything weaker than them]]. Eventually, they also encounter the mysterious Liir, a race of intelligent, telepathic, telekinetic, ([[BewareTheNiceOnes mos]][[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass tly]]) pacifistic [[SapientCetaceans dolphins]] who were former slaves of a unknown species, the Suul'ka, now supposedly extinct due to the Liir rising up against them.

The first expansion, ''Born of Blood'', added a host of new gameplay additions and a new species called the Zuul ([[{{Ghostbusters}} No relation]]), a race of SuperSoldier marsupials designed by [[AbusivePrecursors the Suul'ka]], out on a holy crusade to find their masters and brutally enslave and kill off anything else in their path. A second expansion called ''A Murder of Crows'' was later released, adding even more complexity and a new species called the Morrigi, a race of [[{{Precursors}} ancient bird-people]] who once ruled most of known space, and have come back from the brink of extinction (again, at the supposed hands of Suul'ka) to reclaim their old colonies and burial grounds from the new upstarts -- by force, if necessary. A final expansion pack called ''Argos Naval Yard'', basically a big hunk 'o ship parts and technologies, was released in June 2009.

[[TheWikiRule The wiki]] for the first game can be found [[http://sots.rorschach.net/Main_Page here]], and the second game's [[http://sots2.rorschach.net/SotS2_Codex here]].

** An early AI research. Yes, it is a big boost to all your future research, so it makes sense to get it early... except that early on it'll either take 200 turns to get, or a few dozen turns to get with the research cranked up reasonably, which virtually guarantees an AI rebellion halfway through.

* BugWar: Subverted by the game's canon backstory. Humanity ''thought'' it was getting into one when they went into space and started hitting back at the Hivers. Then they learned the Hivers were all sentient and sociable, with an individual intelligence like a human, and furthermore that they weren't all united and that the Hivers that attacked Earth had been TheRemnant of a princess-less clan who had been defeated and exiled by the others. Humanity has essentially murdered millions of innocent Hivers through guilt by association (belonging to the same species). Although humanity sued for peace after learning this, several Hiver clans still haven't forgiven them for it.

* CallBack: The intro for the sequel shows again a human [[TitleDrop Sword of the Stars-class dreadnaught]] firing a BeamSpam [[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou at the camera]]. Only here the Suu'ka declare they won't be stopped by sword, and [[EldritchAbomination a tentacle smashes]] the ship in half.

* GhostShip: The Alien Derelicts. Morrigi ship graveyards may also count. There is also a Ghost Ship random encounter.

* HordeOfAlienLocusts: Locusts. Originally a mamallian carbon race, who decided to become transcarbon. They consider themselves perfect, and only allow a "perfect" replication of individual units.

* ScienceIsBad: While, like many 4X games, researching new technologies is vital to your survivial to keep up in the LensmanArmsRace, some research has a dark side. Researching Bio-weapons has a chance to unleash said Bio-weapons on one of your own planets, and researching AI technology has a chance of causing an [[AIIsACrapshoot AI rebellion]].
** And then there's the last added scenario, where the objective is to gather the huge alien wreckages that served as random encounters from the beginning, to restore them to working order. Once you do, it turns out those huge things were just ''helmets'' of the Suul'ka. Oh, and they now send a signal to wake them up. Cue the sequel.

** The Herald's speech has choice cuts from ''{{Ghostbusters}}'', not forgetting ''Zuul''.

* SpaceIsCold: When a Suul'ka first teleports himself into space, he takes a sphere of water with him that 'freezes instantly in a vacuum'. Riiiight...

<<|TurnBasedStrategy|>>

The first expansion, ''Born of Blood'', added a host of new gameplay additions and a new species called the Zuul ([[{{Ghostbusters}} No relation]]), a race of SuperSoldier marsupials designed by [[AbusivePrecursors the Suul'ka]], out on a holy crusade to find their masters and brutally enslave and kill off anything else in their path. A second expansion called ''A Murder of Crows'' was recently released, adding even more complexity and a new species called the Morrigi, a race of [[{{Precursors}} ancient bird-people]] who once ruled most of known space, and have come back from the brink of extinction (again, at the supposed hands of Suul'ka) to reclaim their old colonies and burial grounds from the new upstarts -- by force, if necessary. A final expansion pack called ''Argos Naval Yard'', basically a big hunk 'o ship parts and technologies, was released in June 2009.

A sequel called ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXThLOnfSdQ Sword of the Stars II: The Lords of Winter]]'' was released in Oct 2011, well before it was ready. Backlash ensued, and Kerberos promised to inform the player base when the game was actually done. As of June 1st, 2012, the "pre-all clear version" has been released and the game can be considered to be almost at the "release candidate" stage and therefore playable, but the official "all clear" has yet to be given. Nearly nine months have passed since the game's official release.

* {{Expy}}: Several Grand Menaces carry inspiration from earlier sources. The Puppet Master is based on the Beast from ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}: Cataclysm'' (which was made by the team that would become KP). The System Killer reminds one of the [[PlanetEater The Doomsday Machine]] from ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}: TOS''. The Peacekeeper is based on the spaceship in TheDayTheEarthStoodStill. [=SolForce=] resembles [[Series/{{Babylon 5}} EarthForce]] in more than just name.

In a far-distant future, after ecological disasters caused the deaths of millions, humanity has united and reached into the stars. An accident with a deep scanner ring aimed at the sun has given access to a dimension known as [[SubspaceOrHyperspace Nodespace]], making FTL travel a reality. The military/space organization known as [=SolForce=] heads humanity's defense and space exploration and readies a colonization project.

A sequel called ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXThLOnfSdQ Sword of the Stars II: The Lords of Winter]]'' was released in Oct 2011, well before it was ready. Backlash ensued, and Kerberos promised to inform the player base when the game was actually done. As of June 1st, 2012, the "pre-all clear version" has been released and the game can be considered to be almost at the "release candidate" stage and therefore playable, but the official "all clear" has yet to be given.

* [[{{ptitleylrbmgm1}} Design-It-Yourself Equipment]]: You need to design and name every single thing you want to build. Including stuff that have a fixed design (like trade and science stations, which lacks weapons).

** And the big one: the background info about the Liir didn't specify what kind of bioweapon they used against the Suul'ka, most people just ''assumed'' it was a virus since they're so good at them. [[spoiler: But it couldn't have been a virus because Suul'ka and Liir are the same species, instead it was something bigger, [[SpaceWhale a lot bigger]]]]

* FantasticRacism: The sequel makes clear most of the factions now contain representative populations of most of the species as client worlds. However, [=SolForce=], the Tarka Empire, the Liir/Zuul alliance and the Hivers restrict political positions, "positions of moral importance", and military service (and in some cases full citizenship) to members of their own species. [[TheFederation The Morrigi Confederation]] averts this, however, allowing full citizenship and military service to all its clients (even if the Morrigi, by sheer population size, tend to dominate them).

A sequel called ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXThLOnfSdQ Sword of the Stars II: The Lords of Winter]]'' was released in Oct 2011, well before it was ready. Backlash ensued, and Kerberos promised to inform the playerbase when the game was actually done. Six months later, in March of 2012, Kerberos has not said the game is done yet. The game is still not fully stable and its features are still not all functional. Physical copies have been spotted in bargin bins for $8.99 US.

[[TheWikiRule The wiki]] can be found [[http://sots.rorschach.net/Main_Page here.]]

* {{Expy}}: Several Grand Menaces carry inspiration from earlier sources. The Puppet Master is based on the Beast from ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}: Cataclysm'' (which was made by the team that would become KP). The System Killer reminds one of the [[PlanetEater The Doomsday Machine]] from {{Star Trek}}:TOS. The Peacekeeper is based on the spaceship in TheDayTheEarthStoodStill. [=SolForce=] resembles [[Series/{{Babylon 5}} EarthForce]] in more than just name.

* AscendedMeme: The Steam achievement for colonizing a new world is called [[{{Firefly}} "and we shall call it... 'This land'"]].

* BodyHorror: The Assimilation Plague bio-weapon. A Liir specialty, although all other races have a (low) chance of acquiring it too.

* HordeOfAlienLocusts: Locusts.

* BodyHorror: The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Assimilation Plague bio-weapon]]. A Liir specialty, although all other races have a (low) chance of acquiring it too.

* EnergyAbsorption: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Absorbers]]. There's yet to be one that can absorb bullets, so use kinetics and missiles to counter.

* GhostShip: The Alien Derelicts. Morrigi ship graveyards may also count.
** Also, the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Ghost Ship]]

* HordeOfAlienLocusts: The, er, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTHeTin Locusts]].

** And then there is the unnamed weapon on a rare Grand Menace unit, the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin System Killer]]. [[StarWars It's as if a million voices cried out...]]

* ZombieApocalypse: The [[NotUsingTheZWord Xombie Plague]] bio-weapon from the sequel. It is the only bio-weapon to lack a vaccine, and will leave victim planets in a permanent state of anarchy as bands of vicious flesh-eating monsters prowl the streets and feast on the meat of the living (or, as the Zuul would call it, 'Tuesday').

* PlayerPreferredPattern: The randomised TechTree is supposed to make it hard for this to come to pass. Given that most species have specialties with very high chances of occurring, it can still occur.

* TemptingFate: The trailer to the second game opens with the unveiling of the first [=SolForce=] 'Leviathan' class ship. The speech that accompanies this event mentions that the Leviathan will obsolete fleet massings and lead to '[[TheChamberlain peace in our time]]'. You get no points for guessing what happens scant moments later.

** [[Traveller Anagathics, Battle Riders, System Defence Boats...]]

The first expansion, ''Born of Blood'', added a host of new gameplay additions and a new species called the Zuul, a race of SuperSoldier marsupials designed by [[AbusivePrecursors the Suul'ka]], out on a holy crusade to find their masters and brutally enslave and kill off anything else in their path. A second expansion called ''A Murder of Crows'' was recently released, adding even more complexity and a new species called the Morrigi, a race of [[{{Precursors}} ancient bird-people]] who once ruled most of known space, and have come back from the brink of extinction (again, at the supposed hands of Suul'ka) to reclaim their old colonies and burial grounds from the new upstarts -- by force, if necessary. A final expansion pack called ''Argos Naval Yard'', basically a big hunk 'o ship parts and technologies, was released in June 2009.