Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

[Zaydin]

I have been curious about Sins of a Solar Empire, but I have never actually tried it myself. I'm an avid RTS and grand strategy gamer (with a few shooters mixed in occasionally), so I'm guessing I would like it? How is the single player skirmish aspect? I can't stand playing RTS games online with random people.

The skirmish mode is pretty fun; I usually stick to single player skirmishes, since I don't really want to commit to spending a few hours playing a map online. The AI doesn't seem to cheat too much, but I also haven't played in a while. The AI does have an infuriating habit of waiting until the last second when a pirate raid is forming to up the bounty on you so that the pirates go after you, though. Overall, though, I have found myself spending days on some of the largest map sizes to finish that particular map. Smaller maps can just take a few hours.

On the surface, in basic Sins, teh three factions seem similar, having ships that fill similar roles in fleets. But the differences between the factions actually become fairly clear later in the game and techs get researched; the TEC (normal humans) get the best overall economy in the game and the thickest armor for their ships, the Advent (Psychic humans) get the best culture and some of the best shield upgrades, if memory serves, while the Vasari have superior abilities for navigating space, and I think their resource extraction rates are superior, too. Again, haven't played in a while, so I don't remember their tech tree differences off the top of my head. The Vasari missile weapons also are unique in that they can research tech that gives their missiles a chance to bypass shields entirely and inflict hull damage to the target.

 

[Zaydin]

About 2 days to go until release.

 

[Paladin2905]

Only played the original vanilla, but that was worth every penny- I was actually waiting until all three expansions were out to pick it up again, so I'm happy to see this one on its way out. I always loved the concept, it played at a more reasonable pace for me than a lot of modern RTS standards.

 

[Zaydin]

Only played the original vanilla, but that was worth every penny- I was actually waiting until all three expansions were out to pick it up again, so I'm happy to see this one on its way out. I always loved the concept, it played at a more reasonable pace for me than a lot of modern RTS standards.

I do kinda like the slower pace, personally. Certainly more than I like how fast things move in, say, Starcraft 2. On the other hand, that slower pace is also something of a double-edged sword, since the slower nature might turn off some RTS fans. And I remember hearing just after Diplomacy came out that I was diappointed to learn at the time that the planned third expansion got cancelled. So I was very excited when I heard that Rebellion had been uncanceled last year.

 

[Zaydin]

On a semi-related note, I think I've about given up on the official Sins forums; it seems like half the threads I see are threads made by trolls who think they are funny when in reality they aren't.

 

[Smooth Operator]

I'm not yet sure if it's enough new things for another purchase but I will be keeping a close eye on things, it is after all one of my very favorite RTS games out there.

I still really want them to do a campaign, with a proper writer they could make it so bloody epic.

 

[Zaydin]

I'm not yet sure if it's enough new things for another purchase but I will be keeping a close eye on things, it is after all one of my very favorite RTS games out there.

I still really want them to do a campaign, with a proper writer they could make it so bloody epic.

Honestly, given the nature of Sins, I'm not sure if they could make a story campaign that was fun from a gameplay standpoint. Look at the campaign for Galactic Civilizations 2; it had a story campaign and it was terrible, mainly due to resetting the tech tree and everything between 'missions'.

 

[Soluncreed]

What's new in Rebellion though? I saw it was $40, I'd want a lot of new stuff to warrant that price.

 

[Legiondude]

Only played the original vanilla, but that was worth every penny- I was actually waiting until all three expansions were out to pick it up again, so I'm happy to see this one on its way out. I always loved the concept, it played at a more reasonable pace for me than a lot of modern RTS standards.

I do kinda like the slower pace, personally. Certainly more than I like how fast things move in, say, Starcraft 2. On the other hand, that slower pace is also something of a double-edged sword, since the slower nature might turn off some RTS fans. And I remember hearing just after Diplomacy came out that I was diappointed to learn at the time that the planned third expansion got cancelled. So I was very excited when I heard that Rebellion had been uncanceled last year.

Yeah, but there's still that speed control with the + - keys. So I can blow through 50 hours of game time in just a sitting if I get really bored.

Can't wait for Rebellion, gonna build a fleet of nothing but Marzas around my Titan. Kill EVERYTHING

 

[Evilpigeon]

Sins is great, I did get rebellion and I've played through a skirmish or two. But I just don't have anyone to play with online, really annoying :/

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

What's new in Rebellion though? I saw it was $40, I'd want a lot of new stuff to warrant that price.

From what I read, there are:

Each race is split into loyalist/rebels, each with different paths in their respective tech trees.

Titan class warships, massive monsters that can do serious damage.

A new capital ship for each race, and the abilities scale 4,4,4,2 so max level capitals will not be able to max out all their abilities, but be specialised for different roles.

New ship class corvette, a ship type in-between fighters/bombers and frigates.

Updated graphics and optimization.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Honestly, given the nature of Sins, I'm not sure if they could make a story campaign that was fun from a gameplay standpoint. Look at the campaign for Galactic Civilizations 2; it had a story campaign and it was terrible, mainly due to resetting the tech tree and everything between 'missions'.

Well thats why you don't put numpties on your campaign dev team.
If they put some proper effort into it I think they could make something amazing because they can get the player to progressively learn the game systems and not just stumble into trial by fire MP.
And even what little story they have now has a nice setup of "we went peaceful an feeble but then we were attacked...", so from that you can easily build up mission by mission slowly growing into the full faction force, getting some nice context on every ship and faction... could be pretty damn cool, I envision it as the next Homeworld.

 

[Zaydin]

Honestly, given the nature of Sins, I'm not sure if they could make a story campaign that was fun from a gameplay standpoint. Look at the campaign for Galactic Civilizations 2; it had a story campaign and it was terrible, mainly due to resetting the tech tree and everything between 'missions'.

Well thats why you don't put numpties on your campaign dev team.
If they put some proper effort into it I think they could make something amazing because they can get the player to progressively learn the game systems and not just stumble into trial by fire MP.
And even what little story they have now has a nice setup of "we went peaceful an feeble but then we were attacked...", so from that you can easily build up mission by mission slowly growing into the full faction force, getting some nice context on every ship and faction... could be pretty damn cool, I envision it as the next Homeworld.

I just think that 4X games like Civilization, Gal Civ 2, and to a degree, SoaSE just don't lend themselves well to a story campaign, since the whole point of those games is starting with one city/planet and turning it into a sprawling empire. In order for missions to be challenging, thoguh, the reset button has to be hit on each map for tech level, fleets, and the like, and starting over from square one.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

I played the original and Entrenchment and had tons of fun. Never got diplomacy, and buying Trinity seemed dumb with this coming out. I don't think I'll get this for full price since it feels like just another expansion to me, but I definitely want it at some point. What are the new Advent like?

 

[spectrenihlus]

I love sins and I can't wait for this mod to be finished

http://www.moddb.com/games/sins-of-a-solar-empire/mods

I finally get to play a mass effect rts

 

[loc978]

Certainly. Still bummed it's on the same single-processor-only engine, but I'm looking forward to the updates it comes with. The Sins of a Galactic Empire team is going to be able to do a lot more with the extra weapon slots on ships... I just hope they make the galaxy forge a little easier to mod. I'd love to work with all of those extra planet types they made.

 

[Zaydin]

Certainly. Still bummed it's on the same single-processor-only engine, but I'm looking forward to the updates it comes with. The Sins of a Galactic Empire team is going to be able to do a lot more with the extra weapon slots on ships... I just hope they make the galaxy forge a little easier to mod. I'd love to work with all of those extra planet types they made.

Extra planet types? As far as I know, the only new planet type being added are Dwarf Planets. Unless I missed some other additions. I know the first beta preview video mentioned 'moons' being added, but I wasn't sure if those are the same as Dwarf planet, or juts cosmetic additions to some planets gravity wells.

 

[Dryk]

anc[is]I played the original and Entrenchment and had tons of fun. Never got diplomacy, and buying Trinity seemed dumb with this coming out. I don't think I'll get this for full price since it feels like just another expansion to me, but I definitely want it at some point. What are the new Advent like?

Most of their stuff seems really subtle. A few buffs that I don't think show up on the info cards so you don't notice them, periodic resurrection of ships that sort of thing.

There are a couple of overt new abilities but yeah, I haven't really been able to pin down the changes to the Advent as easily as the others, which have far more bombastic and easy to spot upgrades.

I forget which one of them it is, but one of the Advent Titan's level 6 basically sends it into overdrive for 60 seconds before it dies... still not sold on that being useful.

 

[loc978]

Certainly. Still bummed it's on the same single-processor-only engine, but I'm looking forward to the updates it comes with. The Sins of a Galactic Empire team is going to be able to do a lot more with the extra weapon slots on ships... I just hope they make the galaxy forge a little easier to mod. I'd love to work with all of those extra planet types they made.

Extra planet types? As far as I know, the only new planet type being added are Dwarf Planets. Unless I missed some other additions. I know the first beta preview video mentioned 'moons' being added, but I wasn't sure if those are the same as Dwarf planet, or juts cosmetic additions to some planets gravity wells.

I mean in the Sins of a Galactic Empire mod. They added urban planets, swamp planets, jungle planets, oceanic planets, toxic planets, agricultural planets, academy planets, industrial planets, ice giant planets, high and low terran/desert/jungle/swamp/oceanic planets...
And I can only use about half of 'em in the galaxy forge. Adding stuff to it is a bit confusing.

 

[Zaydin]

Certainly. Still bummed it's on the same single-processor-only engine, but I'm looking forward to the updates it comes with. The Sins of a Galactic Empire team is going to be able to do a lot more with the extra weapon slots on ships... I just hope they make the galaxy forge a little easier to mod. I'd love to work with all of those extra planet types they made.

Extra planet types? As far as I know, the only new planet type being added are Dwarf Planets. Unless I missed some other additions. I know the first beta preview video mentioned 'moons' being added, but I wasn't sure if those are the same as Dwarf planet, or juts cosmetic additions to some planets gravity wells.

I mean in the Sins of a Galactic Empire mod. They added urban planets, swamp planets, jungle planets, oceanic planets, toxic planets, agricultural planets, academy planets, industrial planets, ice giant planets, high and low terran/desert/jungle/swamp/oceanic planets...
And I can only use about half of 'em in the galaxy forge. Adding stuff to it is a bit confusing.

That would explain why I hadn't heard of it; I've never bothered with mods for most of my games. The one exception is the unofficial fan patch for Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines; I need that installed to run the bloody game.