Sins of a Solar Empire

[Dragor]

Got Sins of a Solar Empire yesterday for £4 second-hand- sadly not the full collection, but I'd still say it's a good deal. I'm enjoying the game a lot, but I'm wondering if anybody can give me any basic tips. Problems I'm having so far is that the enemy completely swarms me with fighters and bombers, and my flak frigates (and even an anti-aircraft capital ship) just don't seem to stem the tide or really do anything against them at all.

What should I focus on in the early-game? Infrastructure, rapid expansion, or military might?

Discuss away, Playgrounders!

[Guancyto]

Well, the first one is easy.

Fighters, fighters, fighters. Flak is not the solution to strike craft, strike craft are! :smallwink:

[ninja_penguin]

Yeah, fighters shred other ships. If you're fighting the advent though, it can be a pain, I think their carriers are even worse.

In general, I always make fighter squadrons on my capital ships (excepting the carrier type, which has enough space for bombers, too), just to avoid being pestered to death.

Also, your first capital ship is free! Churn one out fast. Colonizer capital ships can sometimes be really worth it early on, depending on what stars you've got nearby.

And for me in the early game, it depended mostly on what the nearby planets/players/etc. were, regarding whether I fleeted up, teched up, or colonized like a crazy man.

[Dragor]

Toned down the difficulty to easy and played as the Advent, trying out the "MOAR FIGHTERS" tactic which the Advent I'd been fighting on Normal had. Obviously the difficulty is turned down, but daym do they take down everything fast. It's just not as cool as a Dreadnought bristling with huge cannons though :smalltongue:

Compensating for something much?

I have to say, playing on Easy gave me a better chance to actually take a better look at the system. I'm always that kind of guy who tries to refine his economy a liiiittle too much and neglects his military, so I slammed straight down the Harmony tree as the Advent, grabbing the Trade and Crystal techs ASAP (metal is never a problem for me, at least not early on).

The game is immensely addicting, so I'm wondering... are the expansions worth it?

[warty goblin]

The game is immensely addicting, so I'm wondering... are the expansions worth it?

Absolutely. Entrenchment alters the game's balance in some pretty fundamental, and beneficial, ways. Starbases allow one to seriously defend a planet without half one's fleet, the improved defenses are worth a lot on their own, and the new anti-building ships are pretty fun as well. Besides which, theres very little that looks cooler than an upgraded starbase dealing loads of death to entire fleets.

Diplomacy is a bit more subtle, but probably alters more. There's only a few new ship types, but the options for interacting with the AI are really good. Having one as an ally is useful for more than just not having to worry about being attacked from one flank. The pirates also got seriously buffed up, which personally I like.

A note: if you got the base game used, your serial number is probably already registered to somebody else's account, so you can't get updates. I suspect, but do not know for sure, that the updates require a registered copy of the base game to work. Even if you don't end up getting any of them, it's worth buying a new copy just for the patches, which make the game a lot better.

[ninja_penguin]

I'm afraid I don't know. I only have played the base game, then my computer stopped being able to run it, so I never got the expansions.

Also, I know that the Advent tends to run a bit crystal heavy on their techs, I don't recall if the other two races trend any specific direction off the top of my head.

And overall, you'll still want to invest in capital ships for their special abilities, and their ability to level up. It's entirely worth it.

Also, carriers tend to end up exploded if somebody can close the distance to them. Or if you're in the environmental effect that says 'no deployment of fighters/bombers'. I once manage to ambush an Advent fleet in one of those, and it was pretty one-sided.

[Lord Herman]

Also note that another (this time stand-alone) expansion is on the way. It's a lot bigger than the other expansions, adding two new classes of ships (smaller corvettes and ginormous titan ships), improved graphics, two subraces (loyalist and rebel) for each race, and other stuff I forgot about.

I remember reading somewhere it'd be out november this year, but don't quote me on that.

[Dragor]

Absolutely. Entrenchment alters the game's balance in some pretty fundamental, and beneficial, ways. Starbases allow one to seriously defend a planet without half one's fleet, the improved defenses are worth a lot on their own, and the new anti-building ships are pretty fun as well. Besides which, theres very little that looks cooler than an upgraded starbase dealing loads of death to entire fleets.

Diplomacy is a bit more subtle, but probably alters more. There's only a few new ship types, but the options for interacting with the AI are really good. Having one as an ally is useful for more than just not having to worry about being attacked from one flank. The pirates also got seriously buffed up, which personally I like.

A note: if you got the base game used, your serial number is probably already registered to somebody else's account, so you can't get updates. I suspect, but do not know for sure, that the updates require a registered copy of the base game to work. Even if you don't end up getting any of them, it's worth buying a new copy just for the patches, which make the game a lot better.

I actually managed to register the game on Impulse quite successfully... somebody really/ didn't like this game. The expansions sound good, I might give them a go once I put more hours into the game. :smallsmile:

And a new expansion? Sounds pretty dedicated! I didn't know the game had such a huge fanbase. I picked it up solely on the mention of the odd Playgrounder and from reviews I remember reading years back now.

[NotAEvilToaster]

Hey, I just got this game too, Trinity, sadly, off the internet, not used, and it was expensive. In any case, its a pretty cool game! Also, once, a starbase with mostly only fighters, but a full load, destroyed my entire fleet. GRRAAAAH. I used to be able to just hide until late game, while massing an army of the Missile Frigates... But now I actually have to actually use Flak Frigates.

[Timberwolf]

If you're playing Entrenchment, use the Anti building cruisers if they have a starbase that's over 10000 health. You only need about 4, but they're well worth it Build carrier cruisers as well. They got a lot better with the expansions because they can hold more than 1 squadron.

Late game, when enemy fighter spam is a real danger, my stomping fleet usually consists of...

60% battleships, 30% carriers, a colonisation capital ship, one other that I feel like using, Destra Crusaders, Aeria Drone hosts, Solonus Adjudicators (x4 :smallbiggrin:) and a whole ton of fighters. I usually have somewhere in the region of 80 squadrons of small craft, 60 or so fighters, 20 bombers and the bombers go and hit the starbase as well as the Adjudicators.

Also, getting the game off Impulse, Stardock's version of Steam, is surprisingly cheap. I got Trinity for £15 back when it was a new product, it's £24.99 now, which isn't horrendous.

Sins - Rebellion is coming at the end of the year it says. This looks very interesting.

This is what Impulse / Stardock have to say about what's coming


•New Factions: Players decide whether to become Loyalists or Rebels, which unlocks a unique new tech tree granting them new technologies and ship variants.
•New Titan-class ships: Massive warships for each race that dwarf capital ships, these deadly new monsters are capable of wiping out entire enemy fleets single-handedly.
•New Capital Ships: A new capital ship class arrives, giving players new strategic options.
•New Corvette-class ships: Small, highly maneuverable light ships that are adept at a variety of tasks.
•Loyalist and Rebel versions of some of the existing Sins’ frigates and cruisers, each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses.
•Updated lighting and particle effects for enhanced visuals.
•New Victory Conditions to allow for more variety, differing strategies and shorter game sessions.
•Additional capital ship ability levels, for greater strategic choice.
•Impulse::Reactor support for chat, friends, achievements and more.


I like the look of this