Sins of a Solar Empire

[Narkis]

http://www.sinsofasolarempire.com/

It's been a long time since a 4X game with awesomness of that magnitued was released. Its addictive factor is on a "holy cr@p, is that the sun rising?" level.

Check it out now. I'd post more details, but I have some planets left to glass.

[Martok]

I've been keeping my eye on this game for a while now, even before I found out Stardock was going to be publishing it. (I'm a big fan of Stardock, and their Galactic Civilizations 2 in particular, so I was excited to read they'd teamed up with Ironclad.) I can't wait to pick it up and try it out! :smallsmile:

[warty goblin]

Just downloaded it yesterday. Got steamrollered by pirates and the easy AI first game.

Just finished the second game tonight- it took four hours to beat a four star, 14 world map against a single easy AI. All I can say is thank Melkor-in-Exile I had the AI to easy, even in its dimished state it kept me hopping like nobody's business, and found about five holes in my defenses. But in the end my two part massive death fleet tracked them across space and finally burned their last planet to a crispy color of well-done with giant space death rays. Anyways, here's my impressions

+I like the UI, its the best I have just about ever seen, it manages to take up less space than that of far less complex games while still conveying much more information.

+ On Normal speed the game's startup is a bit long, since I spent a good bit of time waiting for resources to trickle in, but by the time I had more than two or three planets, the pacing felt just about perfect.

+ I like the pirates as well, they really make the setting fell more alive.

- About the only complaint I have at this point is that its sometimes unclear from a ship's inforcard what exactly it does and what it's good at, particularly for the anti-fighter ships, which have very high average damage listed but do jack to anything with armor.

[Sarastro]

I've been a long time fan of Stardock and more generally 4x since Master of Orion and Space Empires II. As such, I really want this game but I don't think my computer's specs are up to snuff. Sadness. . .

[ufo]

I might get this soon, since it seems that my computer won't handle Assassin's Creed :smallfrown: .

Can anyone give details on the download procedure?

[warty goblin]

I might get this soon, since it seems that my computer won't handle Assassin's Creed :smallfrown: .

Can anyone give details on the download procedure?

Its really easy, all you do is buy it through their online store, which is pretty much like every other online store, then they shoot you an e-mail with your serial number in it. You can then fire up Stardock Central (there's a link to it in the e-mail if you don't already have it.)

Then just click the rather hidden "Registration Information" button, in the very bottom right, select Sins of a Solar Empire from the drop-down menu therein, enter your serial and it'll download and install. The download size isn't even that big- just under 900 MB IIRC, so even with slow internet it shouldn't take to long.

One note- make sure to use the same e-mail to purchase Sins as you do when you set up Stardock Central, because otherwise things get a little more complicated. Not majorely, but enough to be annoying.

[Narkis]

I've been a long time fan of Stardock and more generally 4x since Master of Orion and Space Empires II. As such, I really want this game but I don't think my computer's specs are up to snuff. Sadness. . .

What are your specs? I've read that this game runs smoothly even in low-end systems, albeit with reduced graphics.

[Muz]

Stardock's behind this? ("Interest level...RISING...." :smallfurious:)

Is there a demo anywhere?
:smallsmile:

[ufo]

Is there a demo anywhere?
:smallsmile:

I don't think so, no. If there is, I should have found it by now.

[warty goblin]

I don't think so, no. If there is, I should have found it by now.

Rumor on the official site is that they'll be a demo in a month or so. Personally I'm glad I got it already, and I don't often buy games pre-review or demo.

[Lord Herman]

Looks awesome. And knowing Stardock, it is.

Now to wait for Stardock Central to download the game for me. Woo! Faster! Go faster!

[warty goblin]

Looks awesome. And knowing Stardock, it is.

Now to wait for Stardock Central to download the game for me. Woo! Faster! Go faster!

It is well worth the wait, trust me.
*Goes back to conquering the universe*

[Tom_Violence]

My favourite thing about this game is that the Wikipedia page seems to have been written by someone by someone who's age is perhaps still in single digits, and for whom spelling and punctuation are distant considerations.

That said though, it still looks interesting. If I recieve some sort of miracle windfall, I may even pick it up, given that I was a massive fan of Haegemonia and the like.

[Lord Herman]

Just played my first game. It's very nifty, although I did get my behind handed to me. Turns out you have to make a lot of ships. The reviews were right about the micromanagement (or the lack thereof), though - I could just leave three fleets fighting on different fronts while I was busy upgrading one of my planets.

[warty goblin]

Just played my first game. It's very nifty, although I did get my behind handed to me. Turns out you have to make a lot of ships. The reviews were right about the micromanagement (or the lack thereof), though - I could just leave three fleets fighting on different fronts while I was busy upgrading one of my planets.

Heh, I've been playing for almost a week now, and still lose most of the time. Although my most recent game I think I have a chance at. Turns out I wasn't being near aggressive enough early game with my free cap ship. It really can beat rather sizable enemy armadas all on its lonesome.

[Saithis Bladewing]

My housemate has and plays it. All I can say is WANT WANT WANT!

[Lord Herman]

I'm now halfway through my second game (after abandoning the lost cause that was my first game), and I think I'm getting the hang of it now. When you build enough fighter hangars around your planets and stuff them with bombers, you can actually build up a pretty effective defense, especially when you planet also has a shield. That, and fighters and bombers just look awesome.

[JMobius]

I've got to ask, but my understanding is that this game is sort of like a slow-paced RTS, like an RTS/TBS hybrid. I want to know, is it anything like Homeworld? If so, its mine. :)

[ufo]

Hey another question (still haven't got the game :smallsigh: )

Is this a game where I will be able to turtle, and not be too agressive early on?

[Baerdog7]

How well you're able to turtle depends on the layout of the map you're on. On a fairly closed-off map (few phase lanes between planets) it's a lot easier to fortify a bottleneck to your inner empire and hold off an enemy. This gets harder if the map is more open and has fewer bottlenecks.

Either way, it's always a good idea to do some expansion in the beginning to capture neutral planets. It's just impossible to grow if you're only relying on the resources of your home planet.

[warty goblin]

Hey another question (still haven't got the game :smallsigh: )

Is this a game where I will be able to turtle, and not be too agressive early on?

Heh, I'm in the end stages of a 1 vs. 1 small random right now and am basically going to win through creative turtling.

Things started out normally enough, I secured a volcanic planet (lots of metal) and a couple of asteroids and I think two terran planets in addition to my homeworld. I had a nice little trade network going and a decent economy. I only had three exposed planets as well, one of which was right up against the pirate base, the other two directly opposite AI held worlds.

The AI however had got a bit ahead of me in terms of planet grabbing, and I couldn't win a direct fight against it, mostly because it had a few pretty high level cap ships that would simply shred my forces if I attempted a head to head attack. We fought a few back and forth battles over a pair of worlds, with my fleet generally surviving but unable to secure a victory and often taking large losses. At first I tried a strategy of massing ship hordes, but the upkeep would have killed my relatively small economy, and loses would have been too difficult to replace because of it. I might win a few battles in other words, but likely not the war. Bribing the pirates to keep them off my back was also killing me.

Hence I adopted a temporarily defensive strategy, putting my efforts into expanding the number of capital ships I controlled, which I payed for by no longer trying to outbid the AI for the pirate's affections. Then I parked my newest caps right around the planet nearest the pirate base, and used the pirate assaults to level them up nicely. At the same time I started a massive propaganda campaign in the hopes of overthrowing one of the enemy worlds in case I could not take it by force.

I would probably have continued this for a while longer, but the AI forced the issue by attacking one of my worlds, specifically the one where I was forming my primary assault fleet around all of my broadcast centers. The AI's main fleet was beaten back, taking heavy losses including their level 7 dreadnaught flagship. I then paused only long enough to complete repairs on my most battered ships before pursuing them back into hostile space, only to find that they had fled still deeper into their territory. Unfortunately then I realized I needed to go to bed so I could get enough sleep to stay awake through the agonizing hours of class the next day.

[MeklorIlavator]

Gahhh! I just went to two of the stores in my area that carry the game and its sold out. Plus, EBX/Gamestop hasn't been restocked in over a week. I really want this game, but I don't want to buy it over the net(I like physical copies/game documents).

[warty goblin]

Gahhh! I just went to two of the stores in my area that carry the game and its sold out. Plus, EBX/Gamestop hasn't been restocked in over a week. I really want this game, but I don't want to buy it over the net(I like physical copies/game documents).

You can do both, they let you buy it online and then if you pay an extra five bucks not counting shipping, they'll send you the collector's edition through the mail. I bought it online and have been playing for a week and a half. Just today my nice shiny collector's edition box arrived after languishing in the campus post office for a few days. It costs a bit extra, depending on the S&H to where you live, but not too bad (my net total was ~$60 for the collector's edition box stuff, counting Shipping and Handling).

So now I have a physical copy even though I downloaded the game! Whoohoo!

[MeklorIlavator]

So now I have a physical copy even though I downloaded the game! Whoohoo!
Oh. Well then. If they are still out tomorrow night, I guess I know where to go.

[Lord Herman]

I really like Stardock's system. I want to have the game I order as quickly as possible, but I also want a boxed version. With Stardock, I get both. And they don't have any copy protection. Stardock is nifty.

[Thexare Blademoon]

What are your specs? I've read that this game runs smoothly even in low-end systems, albeit with reduced graphics.

Well, I'm not the one you asked, but I'm rather concerned about my specs too...

Processor: 2.66 GHz Celeron (doubt it's a problem)
Video: Intel Graphics Controller 96MB
RAM: 512 MB (well, it's listed as 510 for some reason, but...)
Sound: Beats me. Some on-board crap. Probably not good, but unlikely to actually be a real problem.

If anything else is needed, sorry. Feeling rather sick today, so my mind's not entirely functional.

Also, is this game turn-based or real-time? I greatly prefer turn-based, but either way, if I can run the game I'm probably gonna get it.

[Narkis]

Someone in the official forums said he's running fine it on a 1.4GHZ laptop with an ATI Radeon Mobile 9200 32MB card, so I anticipate no problems with your specs. You'll probably have to set your video settings to the lowest though. (Note: The above is my own opinion, and not at all guaranteed.)

The game is RTS, but with a TBS mentality. I'm more of a TBS fan myself, and I've found its pace to be just right for a game of this scale.

[LordVader]

....
I've spent the last 4 hours watching videos of this game on YouTube. :smalleek:

I need this game. Like, now. Yesterday is preferable.

[Krrth]

....
I've spent the last 4 hours watching videos of this game on YouTube. :smalleek:

I need this game. Like, now. Yesterday is preferable.
I picked it up at Best Buy, and I have to say it is worth it. Incidently, has anyone managed to kill off the pirate homeworld yet? Last time I tried, they had 200+ ships.

[LordVader]

The price is roughly $50.00 USD, right?

[Krrth]

About that, yeah. Just be prepared to lose a large amount of time playing. Make sure you download the update first thing, as it invalidated my saved games.

[warty goblin]

The price is roughly $50.00 USD, right?

Just the download version is $40 IIRC. Its $45 for the boxed version, not counting shipping costs, but you get to download it right after purchase as well.

And even better news yet, there's a Battlefleet Gothic mod in the works...

And yes, I have managed to kill the pirate base off once. By the later part of a game its not actually that hard to kill in terms of force required, but more because sparing the fleet to do it by then is darn near impossible. The important thing to remember about pirates is that for the most part they have really flimsy ships without shielding. This in turn means they don't get any shield mitagation, which means that they die really fast against heavy fire. The game where I did kill the pirates, I dropped a fleet with a dozen heavy cruisers and three reasonably high level battleships, along with some support caps and I think I lost one or two cruisers. The pirates lost around 300. Took ten minutes, and the entire grav well was pretty choked with space junk.

[LordVader]

Wait, so if you pay $45 you get to download it straightaway and they send you a boxed game, with manual, CD and the works? :smalleek:
Screw LOTR Strategy Battle stuff, I'm getting this. Right away.

I plan to play Advent, I like their ship designs.

[Krrth]

Just the download version is $40 IIRC. Its $45 for the boxed version, not counting shipping costs, but you get to download it right after purchase as well.

And even better news yet, there's a Battlefleet Gothic mod in the works...

And yes, I have managed to kill the pirate base off once. By the later part of a game its not actually that hard to kill in terms of force required, but more because sparing the fleet to do it by then is darn near impossible. The important thing to remember about pirates is that for the most part they have really flimsy ships without shielding. This in turn means they don't get any shield mitagation, which means that they die really fast against heavy fire. The game where I did kill the pirates, I dropped a fleet with a dozen heavy cruisers and three reasonably high level battleships, along with some support caps and I think I lost one or two cruisers. The pirates lost around 300. Took ten minutes, and the entire grav well was pretty choked with space junk.

Hmmm...maybe I just paniked then. I jumped in with around 100 ships, including 6 caps. My level 7 battleship lost shields within the first few moments.

[Krrth]

Wait, so if you pay $45 you get to download it straightaway and they send you a boxed game, with manual, CD and the works? :smalleek:
Screw LOTR Strategy Battle stuff, I'm getting this. Right away.

I plan to play Advent, I like their ship designs.

I've only played through with the TEC and the Aliens, but so far I like the TEC gameplay better. 'course, thats just my opinion. I'll play the Advent in a week or so, after I finish projects and final exams next week.

[warty goblin]

Wait, so if you pay $45 you get to download it straightaway and they send you a boxed game, with manual, CD and the works? :smalleek:
Screw LOTR Strategy Battle stuff, I'm getting this. Right away.

I plan to play Advent, I like their ship designs.

$45, not couting shipping is correct. The download is pretty reasonably sized too, ~900 megs IIRC.

I played my first game as TEC, as they are a little easier on the economic front and their tec descriptions are simpler, but Advent should be OK too. I'd definately avoid vaseri the first game as they are a little more difficult to manage correctly

[MeklorIlavator]

I've been playing a few games, and so far its going all right. So far I'm pretty much only advent, with my single run as the Vasari ending in a horrible failure. I was playing on on of the medium pregenerated maps, with 5 stars arranged like on a dice, with the outer ones containing one home world each. I was playing 2v2 locked teams, and when I ended the game I was losing control of my home sectors. It think I 'm having a pretty consistent problem in that I don't build up enough of a fleet, so that I can't maintain a large empire( the same thing has happened a couple of times as the advent). Of course, It doesn't help that the ship styles of each are vastly different.

[warty goblin]

I've been playing a few games, and so far its going all right. So far I'm pretty much only advent, with my single run as the Vasari ending in a horrible failure. I was playing on on of the medium pregenerated maps, with 5 stars arranged like on a dice, with the outer ones containing one home world each. I was playing 2v2 locked teams, and when I ended the game I was losing control of my home sectors. It think I 'm having a pretty consistent problem in that I don't build up enough of a fleet, so that I can't maintain a large empire( the same thing has happened a couple of times as the advent). Of course, It doesn't help that the ship styles of each are vastly different.

The thing I found about the Vaseri is that they are a little more difficult to get going economically, since trade is higher up on their tech tree, and their military is very expensive. On the other hand they have all in all the most powerful ships in the game after teching up, and are by far the best at a strategic level since they are significantly more mobile and have better intellegence gathering capabilities (see every phase jumping ship in the game ftw!) Phase missiles are, when fully teched up, also pretty brutal- I've half-killed capital ships before their shields even drop, but in general on a tactical level I found them a little more difficult to win with than the TEC or Advent.

[MeklorIlavator]

Hey, anyone here know how to add mods to the game, or how to activate one once its added?

[Lord Herman]

I haven't tried any mods yet, but isn't there a mod selection thingie in the options screen?

[Cristo Meyers]

Just picked this up over the weekend and I'm a few hours into a small 1v1 game. So far, my initial reactions:

1. This game is slllloowww-paced. This could be due, in part, to how I play these games. But thus far, I've only established 3 colonies and captured 1 asteroid field. Also, the pacing isn't a bad thing, when things start to get hectic (like, say, when pirate raiders appear behind your lines...:smallmad: ), you've got plenty of time to scramble a force to intercept before they do real damage.

2. The zoom control is a bit wonky, one axis is inverted while the other isn't. I've accidently reversed the map a few times. However, the ability to zoom in on specific points in a battle is great, the detail really shines.

3. Fleet tactics seem a bit limited. There are only 3 formations and they seem to just line up and pound on each other anyway. I'd like to see a bit more of a dynamic battle. Admittedly, this is probably more realistic, but it makes small skirmishes a bit boring to watch.

4. There's no ground combat. This is a major sticking point for me. Just bombing the heck out of an enemy colony just doesn't make sense when you could capture and conceivably use their existing infastructure (though I understand their reasoning based on what kind of war this is). They'd have to do it better then SW: Empire at War, but I've no doubt that they could.

All in all, I'm a bit let down because of all the excellent things I've heard, but not much. I still have yet to get into any major engagement with the enemy empire (I believe they're Advent, all I've encountered are scouts), so there's some I've yet to experience.

Can't wait until I get to rain firey death upon those stinking pirates...

[Timberwolf]

Is this out in the UK yet ? Amazon hasn't heard of it and I want to play.

[factotum]

Is this out in the UK yet ? Amazon hasn't heard of it and I want to play.

They haven't found a UK publisher for it, but you can get a paid download from the Stardock website just fine.

[Cristo Meyers]

They haven't found a UK publisher for it, but you can get a paid download from the Stardock website just fine.

That's what I was going to say. I've you've got the internet connection for it, you should get the download from Stardock itself. From everything I've heard it's pretty reliable and a bit cheaper.

[warty goblin]

Just picked this up over the weekend and I'm a few hours into a small 1v1 game. So far, my initial reactions:

1. This game is slllloowww-paced. This could be due, in part, to how I play these games. But thus far, I've only established 3 colonies and captured 1 asteroid field. Also, the pacing isn't a bad thing, when things start to get hectic (like, say, when pirate raiders appear behind your lines...:smallmad: ), you've got plenty of time to scramble a force to intercept before they do real damage.

2. The zoom control is a bit wonky, one axis is inverted while the other isn't. I've accidently reversed the map a few times. However, the ability to zoom in on specific points in a battle is great, the detail really shines.

3. Fleet tactics seem a bit limited. There are only 3 formations and they seem to just line up and pound on each other anyway. I'd like to see a bit more of a dynamic battle. Admittedly, this is probably more realistic, but it makes small skirmishes a bit boring to watch.

4. There's no ground combat. This is a major sticking point for me. Just bombing the heck out of an enemy colony just doesn't make sense when you could capture and conceivably use their existing infastructure (though I understand their reasoning based on what kind of war this is). They'd have to do it better then SW: Empire at War, but I've no doubt that they could.

All in all, I'm a bit let down because of all the excellent things I've heard, but not much. I still have yet to get into any major engagement with the enemy empire (I believe they're Advent, all I've encountered are scouts), so there's some I've yet to experience.

Can't wait until I get to rain firey death upon those stinking pirates...

As an avowed fan, here's my reactions to your impressions:

1) Is slow paced, but l love it for that. I like games I can dig in and enjoy for a week at a time.

2) Yeah, the zoom can be a bit weird occasionally. My only real complaint with the camera system is its tendancy to occasionally track a unit I don't want it to.

3) I think the fleet tactics is something that's rather tucked away in things like fleet composition and targeting. Personally, I'm incrediably thankful that only the fighters and bombers actually fly around. I can't imagine trying to manage a 60+ ship fleet against a similarly sized enemy battle group in 3-space all while running an empire on the side.

4) I think the thing to keep in mind about all of the planetary bombardment and lack of ground invasions is simply that once you control high orbitals, ground wars become meaningless. That and all of the actual infastructure you put in place is orbital, meaning that all happens when a planet is attacked is the orbital command centers and so on are nuked into oblivion. Once that happens all you need to do is drop a new bunch of orbital governance buildings there, and then the people on the ground just go back to their normal life of serving their orbital overlords. Culture of course represents just what happens when they become too fed up with their orbital overlords and throw them off anyways.

[Cristo Meyers]

As an avowed fan, here's my reactions to your impressions:

1) Is slow paced, but l love it for that. I like games I can dig in and enjoy for a week at a time.

Like I said, it's more of a good thing than a bad. You're talking to someone who can spend an entire day on a normal Civ 3 map. Also keeps the twitch factor down when, even though you know a fleet is inbound, you have time to react.



2) Yeah, the zoom can be a bit weird occasionally. My only real complaint with the camera system is its tendancy to occasionally track a unit I don't want it to.

Yeah, that got me for a while too. But I love being able to zoom in from light years away to a few meters in.



3) I think the fleet tactics is something that's rather tucked away in things like fleet composition and targeting. Personally, I'm incrediably thankful that only the fighters and bombers actually fly around. I can't imagine trying to manage a 60+ ship fleet against a similarly sized enemy battle group in 3-space all while running an empire on the side.

That's the trade off. The small scale early battles are kinda dull, what with only a few ships pounding on each other. But once you get into the huge battles I've heard stories about (300+ pirate cruisers anyone?), I'd imagine it looks incredible.



4) I think the thing to keep in mind about all of the planetary bombardment and lack of ground invasions is simply that once you control high orbitals, ground wars become meaningless. That and all of the actual infastructure you put in place is orbital, meaning that all happens when a planet is attacked is the orbital command centers and so on are nuked into oblivion. Once that happens all you need to do is drop a new bunch of orbital governance buildings there, and then the people on the ground just go back to their normal life of serving their orbital overlords. Culture of course represents just what happens when they become too fed up with their orbital overlords and throw them off anyways.

Except there aren't any people left on the ground by the time you're done. But since we're essentially fighting a 3-way Jihad, I can see why Scorched Earth is the game plan.

Really, the amount of let-down I've experienced so far is the difference between a 9/10 and an 8.5/10. It's pulled off everything I'd expected it too beautifully, it just takes a bit longer to really get into than I'd like.

[warty goblin]

I always just assumed that the population on the ground was relatively uneffected by the bombardment, which after all only blows up the structures in close orbit, and that the upgrades to population just upgrade the ability of the orbital fascilities to exploit the planet's inhabitants. So when I bring in a dozen siege frigs and start dropping nukes, I'm just blowing up all of the orbital governance building, before replacing it with my own. Given that you can't actually colonize a planet in enemy culture, I've always found this to be the most sensible interpretation. After all, it doesn't make much sense to have a completely baren planet be uncolonizable simply because the enemy culture has more advertising space. If the people are still down there however, it, at least to me, makes a good deal more sense.

[LordVader]

Just got this, can't wait until I can play it on Friday.
*salivates over picture of Radiance battleship*

[Cristo Meyers]

Ok, got a bit further in, and the game is really starting to pick up. I've found the pirate world (right in the middle of my expansion route...) and it's...let's just say well fortified :smalleek:. Finally engaged the enemy empire, though all I'm seeing currently is siege frigates that run as soon as they hit the gravity well. I pushed them from two planets thus far, but as soon as I took the second one, they counter-attacked.

Can you say Advent Mothership? I knew you could. It comes screaming out of the unknown regions at the head of a fleet twice as large as mine. I beat feet back to the, now heavily fortified, planet of Agamemnon. They haven't pressed the attack...yet...but by God I'll be ready when they do: around 11 dual gauss cannons, 4 hanger defenses (6 bombers, 2 fighters), 2 repair platforms, and my fleet that has been growing in size ever since it's defeat...

HaHaHa! Mine is an evil laugh!

[Krrth]

Just got this, can't wait until I can play it on Friday.
*salivates over picture of Radiance battleship*
Just a quick word of advice about something I didn't realise until later....the first capitol ship you build is free.
You have to build the capitolshipyard to get it though.

[ufo]

So, I downloaded Stardock Central yesterday, because I was offered to do so when signing up for an account with the forum. I went to the website to check out the buying procedure. I will finish it later today, and start downloading. However, I noticed that the website wanted a shipping address. Will I have to fill this out when I'm just buying the downloadable version?

[LordVader]

Any strategies for an opening build with Advent? I plan on making the Mothership (so I don't have to waste as much money/fleet support on colony ships) but I have no idea otherwise.

[warty goblin]

Any strategies for an opening build with Advent? I plan on making the Mothership (so I don't have to waste as much money/fleet support on colony ships) but I have no idea otherwise.

I played my first game on a small random against an easy AI, and got totally torn to shreds- don't be surprised or disappointed if the same thing happens to you. That said, the Mothership is an insanely good ship, particularly later on when you can use it to support others.

I've played more TEC and Vaseri than Advent, but in general I play my openings something like this:

1) Build extractors on my homeworld. Without these you won't get any resources.

2) Que up the capship factory (your first cap is free), then cue ship of choice.

3) Go to frigate factory and commission two scout ships. I usually start off with the battleship rather than the colonizer cap, so I also add a colony frigate. Since you plan to open with the Mothership though, you don't need to worry about this.

4) Build a civilian lab or two. The goal is to tech up to trade ports fast, since they provide some of the best income in the game. You also need research to grab volcano/ice worlds, which provide the best metal/crystal income.

5) By now the scouts should be done, so send 'em off in opposite directions to scout nearby planets. You'll probably find an asteroid with a very smal garrison and a terran/desert/ice/volcanic world with a much larger local military. Keep the scouts moving. By now you've probably run out of some resource, almost certainly crystal. Buy a few units on the black market (I tend to do this on an 'as needed' basis, since the price goes up the more you buy in a hurry), while you're there, check the pirate tab, it's important to keep an eye on the pirate countdown and make sure you have money for bounty early game in particular.

6) First real decision: The level on the capship. You have two general options, depending on what your scouting has revealed.

A) Go for a better defended planet. In this case you probably don't want to take colonize right away. The Mothership is a decent cap ship, but its not got overwhelming firepower, particularly at low level and unteched up. I tend to take the shield restore ability, since it keeps your ship alive much longer. Then you can build a small force of supporting Desciple Vessels and go for one of the better defended nearby planets, if its a volcanic/ice planet make sure to que the appropriate research before setting out. Once you have mopped up most of the enemy, you can buy level 2 on your cap for reasonably cheap, assuming it doesn't level up just from killing stuff, then get colonize (remember, cap ships get XP for things killed in the same grav well as them, they don't have to actually do the killing). "Better defended" in this case means anything with more than about four ships. If you see something with a Kodiak heavy cruiser in the grav well, avoid it for now. The mothership will probably be able to beat it, particularly with support, but it'll get the stuffing knocked out of it in the process, and most of your frigates will be killed off as well.

B) Just take the Mothership solo hunting to grab a less well defended planet. If you go for the latter, taking colonize as your first ability isn't a bad bet. If you do, turn autocast off, the AI will tend to drive the Mothership right up to the planet to colonize it, even if there are still siege frigates in orbit. Having your new colony nuked doesn't exactly help you much, now does it? Wait until the defenders (or at least the siege frigs) are dead, then colonize the planet.

7) Rinse and repeat step 6) with more worlds. Your scouts should have been moving, and by now covered a good bit of the galaxy (tip: if you come across an uncolonizable grav well, such as a plasma storm or wormhole, its often worthwhile to park a scout ship there, particularly if its on an exposed flank. The early warning can be invaluable) . Look for chokepoints to capture, particularly that are reasonably close to the pirate base if you've found it, so that you can know exactly where they will hit you. Remember, as soon as you grab a new planet, you want to get some infastructure upgrades done, as otherwise they are fiendish expensive to maintain. Get a few trade ports up as you can afford them, and begin:

8) Military Expansion. Generally after I've nabbed three or four planets, I begin to expand my military in a serious way. At this stage you can't support a large fleet, but its worthwhile to build a few basic frigates, then research the long range frigate (Illuminators for Advent IIRC) and probably the anti-fighter one as well. For defenses hanger bays are your best bet, back them up by repair bays and turrets (use the turrets to protect the hangers, going for all-out grav well coverage is inefficient and incrediably expensive).

9) By now unfortunately the number of variables gets far to high to actually provide anything like detailed advice, so here's some general tips:
- Pirates: If you've got a well defended planet right up against the pirate base, it can be worthwhile to actually let them attack you, then you can rotate new capital ships in and out of the system for free experience points. Alternatively you can get the pirates to attack your enemy, then launch a concordant strike against the enemy on a different vector to devide their forces. Having a small fleet to come in behind the pirates and grab any razed planets doesn't hurt either.
- Scouting: Always scout! Intelligence is a neccessity in this game. Before you attack, launch a scouting mission. It doesn't even have to be a scout, just something cheap and expendable. Nothing sucks more than droping your armada right into an unwinnable fight. Also pay attention to where the enemy is scouting.
- Upgrading fleet capacity: Do this carefully. Every upgrade takes some percentage of your economy to maintain, and once you up it, it cannot be lowered. Sometimes, particularly against the AI, its best to slow your advance a bit if it means that you can upgrade your economy enough to support the bigger fleet, rather than just rushing it and crashing your production.
- Assaulting enemy planets: The trick to this is to have two fleets and do a creeping advance. When your economy of doom is producing lots of resources and you've got a sizable fleet, park two fleets in orbit around a planet that's next to one of the enemy's. Call them Fleet A and Fleet B. Fleet A is your larger fleet, and has a nice mix of heavy cruisers, long range frigates, carriers and other support ships. A few siege frigates isn't bad either. Once scouting has varified that you're not throwing them into an unwinnable fight, send Fleet A to attack. Leave Fleet B behind The AI loves to counterattack, and quite often your fleets will literally pass each other in phase space as they launch an assault against the planet Fleet A just left. Fleet B is there to deal with the enemy fleet, while Fleet A goes all Base Delta Zero on their planet. Fortunately the AI also often retreats after encountering Fleet B, allowing you to pound 'em silly as they leave your grav well, and prep Fleet A to give them a nice welcome on the other end. Even if the AI doesn't run again, your planet's defenses (you are building those on all border planets, right?) plus Fleet B should be able to deal with them. If not, recall Fleet A.

Once you've beaten the enemy orbitals and any vestigal defenders, colonize the planet, then advance Fleet B. Fleet A is now free to attack the next planet in line.

-Strikecraft: Anymore I tend to use more fighters than bombers, usually in a 2 - 1 ratio. Fighters simply brutalize enemy long range frigates and bombers, while bombers are only useful against heavy stuff like cap ships and combat ships- just the things the rest of your fleet likes to rip apart. This is particularly true against any planet that comes under frequent pirate attack, as a few fighter wings rip siege frigates apart with brutal speed.

- Defending Planets: I try to have at least a hanger bay and a turret or two at every planet that's at even remote risk (that asteroid linked only to your homeworld really isn't). If its a frontline planet that has a significant probability of being assaulted, particularly you don't have a fleet on-station, I like to max out the Tactical Upgrades. Four hanger bays and a few well placed repair bays can significantly chastise an overeager enemy. Turrets are best employed near high priority targets, like hanger bays and Trade Ports (the pirates always go for these). Also don't forget to upgrade the planet itself with emergency fascilities- it saves having re-colonize the sucker again. A frigate factory can also be a significant aid, as it allows you to pump out on the scene defenders. It probably won't save the world from a truly overwhelming assault, but it can annoy the snot out the attackers.

Good luck and enjoy!

[Cristo Meyers]

- Pirates: If you've got a well defended planet right up against the pirate base, it can be worthwhile to actually let them attack you, then you can rotate new capital ships in and out of the system for free experience points. Alternatively you can get the pirates to attack your enemy, then launch a concordant strike against the enemy on a different vector to devide their forces. Having a small fleet to come in behind the pirates and grab any razed planets doesn't hurt either.

Addendum: Never underestimate the amount of damage pirate raids can do. They will come at you hard and with numbers on their side. Their ships may have armor like tissue paper, but there's usually enough of them to keep a sustained rate of fire going.

[warty goblin]

Addendum: Never underestimate the amount of damage pirate raids can do. They will come at you hard and with numbers on their side. Their ships may have armor like tissue paper, but there's usually enough of them to keep a sustained rate of fire going.

Oh I quite agree. Early game they can be a serious difficulty, particularly because I often lack the intel to pin down just where they'll hit. If you know that, they become far more managable. Midgame is the best time to enact the "pirate training grounds' tactic IMHO, because the players have massive economies and so the bounties become insanely high, but the actual damage the pirates can unleash is still under control. Hence you can actually save a lot of economic power by letting them attack, both by not killing the economy for bounties, and by saving on capital ship crew training. By the end game however buying them off (or crushing them) become imperative, simply because it becomes incrediably difficult to spare the fleet power to deal with them every fifteen minutes. Also, I've occasionally expanded around them in such a way that even if I win the bounty tug-of-war, they still waltz right through my planets, in which case destroying them becomes priority #1.

[LordVader]

Wow, thanks for the in-depth analysis WG!

I plan to play a 3-way game with one of each faction for my first.

[warty goblin]

Wow, thanks for the in-depth analysis WG!

I plan to play a 3-way game with one of each faction for my first.

An excellent choice. For one thing it allows me to write up some stuff about the diplomacy features, which beats the hell out of actually doing my homework.

-Diplomacy in Sins is a little weird, and rather passive aggressive. Instead of the normal X4 style tech trading diplomacy, Sins uses a rather weird mission system. Thus after you meet up with some AIs, they'll start to tell you to go and do stuff for them. These come in a few types, and all have a time limit, usually about 15-20 minutes (I think it varies by map size):

- Give Resources. Self explanatory. The AIs send you a request for X amount of money/metal/crystal. These are some of the best to take, since they don't hurt your relations with other factions. However it is usually worthwhile to consider your longterm intentions towards the AI in question. It does not, after all, make sense to give lots of stuff to somebody you are about to exterminate, or only want to have neutral for a while. For factions you want to cozy up to for a while, its well worth the expense however.

- Destroy X number of ships belonging to Y: Can be nice, particularly if you are engaging the enemy in question already. The time limits can sometimes force a slight increase in your planned attack schedule, but if attacking the faction in question isn't out of your longterm goals, it can be worthwhile.

- Destroy X number of civilian structures belonging to Y: Pretty much the best excuse to attack a planet in the game. Not only do you get a shiny new planet, but you also get rewarded for your troubles! Technically of course you don't actually have to move in and conquer a planet, killing all of the logistical structures is sufficient, but at that point, why not?

- Destroy X number of tactical structures belonging to Y: See above. This mission can be somewhat more difficult in single-player, simply because in my experience at least, the AIs don't tend to actually build that many tactical structures.

Each mission has, as said, a time limit, and rewards for completion/penalties for failure. Generally completion gives some resources (I think the give resource missions don't actually reward you with resources though) and a boost to the faction's liking for you(usually around 25%). Failure usually drops your prestige with that faction by around 15%. This of course means that it is quite possible to not complete every mission but still remain quite popular with the faction in question. In addition there are researches available which reduce the amount of prestige lost when you fail a mission, which can be well worth investing in.

Treaties: Every single faction in the game starts out at war with you by default, although this can be changed during game setup by setting teams. This means it is highly adventagious to quickly groom at least one of the factions for longterm friendship, since it reduces the odds you'll be facing substantially. There are a few different treaties available, most of which are self-explanatory. One thing of note however is that if you get trade rights with another player, make sure to get at least Cease Fire as well, because otherwises your ships will attack the AI's trade ships, which will piss them off.

The most annoying thing about diplomacy is that it is, at least as far as I can tell, pretty much entirely passive. That is you can't request that Faction A sign a Ceasefire with Faction B. This makes double alliances tricky, as the your two allies will continiously ask you to go attack the other. Being allied with more than one player is in other words a rather unstable state of being, and does not tend to last long. What this essentially means is that you can have alliances with every other player in the game, but as long as they are still at war with each other, the game will continue until you eventually slide back into war with somebody or another, and there's precisely nothing you can do to prevent this.

This is not to say that you can in a FFA game choose to ignore diplomacy (there isn't any in locked teams). The AIs do seem to form alliances and treaties with each other, so unless you feel like braving the wrath of the entire map, it is very useful to have friends. For one thing you can share ship and planet sight, which is tremendiously valuable- the one thing you can never have to much of is information.

My advice for a 3-way FFA game played as the Advent would be to cozy up to the Vaseri as soon as possible, as opposed to the TEC. The TEC have a horrendiously powerful economy when fully upgraded, and its well worth your effort to squash them early. The Vaseri also tend to be weak on smaller maps since their massive mobility advantage doesn't come into play quite as much. This of course means that if you want to stab your ally in the back, it is far easier to do, and you have their assistance for dealing with the tough dude. As a note of caution, the Vaseri also get rather brutally strong late game, Returning Armada basically gives them free ships, and they actually end up with a larger fleet cap, but if you can keep them somewhat boxed in through colony placement early in the game, you should be able to cripple their weak-ass economy early on, keeping them from becoming rediculously strong.

[Cristo Meyers]

Anyone know what's going into the 1.3 patch? I've been hearing some things, mostly about AI tweaks, but I can't find anything concrete.

[LordVader]

Smart AI surrendering, and better AI in general, among other things methinks.

[MeklorIlavator]

I believe that they are also going to do something with the phase jump inhibitors, so that they actually serve a purpose. Beyond that, I don't think there has been any firm data given out, but you might want to check the forums(I believe there was a thread on the subject started by one of the creators).

[Cristo Meyers]

I believe that they are also going to do something with the phase jump inhibitors, so that they actually serve a purpose. Beyond that, I don't think there has been any firm data given out, but you might want to check the forums(I believe there was a thread on the subject started by one of the creators).

Yeah, that was the first place I looked, couldn't find anything.

I've noticed the AI has a habit of spamming siege frigates and doing little else and that does a disservice to the game. For once, fleet composition actually matters and I'd like an AI that takes advantage.