FAQ - Observer Mode

A Spectator mode?  There isn't one.  You can watch finished games--games that are automatically recorded--but not live games as they are happening.  You can watch replays of your own games or download replays that other people have posted (but they have to be for the exact same version--update version--of your current install.

Had not noticed this about Observer Mode. From the FAQ, what it be say:

Q. Is there be an Observer mode?

A. Yes.

Q. What is the maximum number of players allowed within a game?

A. Up to 10 players may be present as participants or observers.

This seems fairly clear. And is emphasized by "is there be" which is the transfinite present hyper activated tense used by all great game developers when they are unusually proud of something.

Yet, this Observer mode it done be something so wondrous, illustrious, and glorious that they is been decided to keep it all to themselves! And they ain't not never be about to let us no-goodnik common folk in on it!

Online players may well imagine their games up on a large screen at StarDock where the devs sit around guzzling soft drinks, snorting pop corn, and belching forth great guffaws of laughter at the amateurish strategies and tactics thus secretly vouchsafed and laid naked before their lustful eyes!

The Devs are ALIENS watching us play until they have learned all of humanity's strategies and can enslave us with minimum losses!

I'd like to see an observer mode though.  We could theoretically make one through moddage.  Make OBSERVER a race who can not build ships and has an upgrde that makes its planet invunerable, then have everyone accept an alliance at the start.

Be better if there were actually an observer mode set into the game, though.

-Twilight Storm | My life for the Dahkri

Sins is a great game for online multiplayer, but some of the non-gameplay aspects could use some work.

So there's no observer mode? Is this going to be changed? Otherwise can you update the FAQ page? It's very unfair for those of us who bought the game expecting the feature that was promised.

Alternateively, you can enter as a player and just have someone nearby bomb you, but no, as far as I know, there is no observer mode.

(After they bomb you, select Keep playing and you'll see the whole map as if you had a ship in each grav well.)

-Twilight Storm

That's what I was suggesting with my silly comment.

The only game I play with an Observer feature is Guild Wars. And in GW Observer is limited to watching replays of high level PvP contests. It is useful to see what builds are in use and how to play the character in a PvP setting. Other than that, the entertainment value is rather limited.

If you can find some replays that work with the current version (good luck) you can learn a bit. But even there, you do not get to see all the buttons being pushed. You can watch the empire tree and see what is being built and generally keep up with the strategy in use, look at the research, and watch battles.

Having done that, the only way to learn more about the game is to play it.

There are numerous Sins of a Solar Empire videos on Youtube, but very few with detailed commentary. It would help new players if there was a standard tutorial video for each faction showing buildout and gameplay for perhaps 20 or 30 minutes.

But nobody has ever done that and my machine does not have the capacity to handle the video recording software.