I dident know a game like this existed o0 , so if i missed the Original is it ok if i just buy rebelion then ? its a stand alone after all and i am interested in skirmishes only
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion Review
Rebellion is the best way yet to experience the strategic joys of the Sins of a Solar Empire franchise.
Despite all of their abilities, Titans are not overpowered. You need to research a lot of tech to enhance their weaponry and damage capability, and move them up in level before they hit their full potential. Even then, Titans need allies, or enemy fleets can whittle them down to nothing. New corvettes, again unique to each faction, are another solution to smash-'em-up battles. Instead of being head-on attack craft, corvettes have the ability to cause damage to foes in more subtle ways, such as by slowing enemy ships, causing them to sustain more damage, or bogging down their repairs. Deploy them smartly, and you can turn the tables in battles even when you're outmanned and outgunned.
Artificial intelligence remains impressive. Enemies tend to be aggressive when they need to be and hold back when necessary. The AI isn't perfect, however; you can sometimes draw enemies into attacking before they might be ready by sending a smaller force out to stage a hit-and-run before falling back to a heavily fortified planet with the bad guys in pursuit. This usually results in a full-on assault, which can be played in your favor if you're sitting back with a Titan, some carriers, a few other capital battleships, and a load of cruisers and corvettes just waiting for the enemy to warp in. Otherwise, expect to be challenged early and often.
New victory options also add variety to matches. Where before you had to win through domination (basically obliterating all rivals) or through diplomacy, now your empire can soar to success based on numerous objectives. These conditions further break up late-game stalemates and give players with different tactical preferences the ability to win games without leaving their comfort zones. For instance, the less aggressive can go after diplomatic or tech victories. Warriors can now win without destroying everything in sight, courtesy of new victory conditions that give wins to the faction that annihilates enemy capital planets, occupies a hidden world guarded by a neutral AI fleet, or takes out powerhouse enemy flagships.
You can also win by simply being allied with a faction that fulfills one of the victory options. All six options can be turned on before launching matches, or you can pick and choose which ones you want. A lot of new flavor has been added with the victory options, so much so that you can't imagine going back to plain old regular Sins after messing around with them.
Visuals have been updated as well, although the general look of the game is the same as it has always been. Everything looks good, but a little dated, as you might expect from an engine that's going on four years old now. The enhancements do result in some epic space battles when zoomed in close, though. Watching colossal engagements is a thrill, especially when you turn off the UI and just watch the spectacle unfold. The engine overall runs smoothly and allows for battles with hundreds of ships onscreen simultaneously without any noticeable slowdown. The exception: occasional frame rate hiccups when zoomed in very tight on capital ships taking and giving heavy beam-weapon fire. Audio effects and music remain the same as before, meaning that you barely notice either, aside from occasionally being annoyed at the limited number of order acknowledgements.
Rebellion puts a nice capper on the Sins of a Solar Empire franchise. While this is an excellent game, with loads of new options and an incredible amount of tactical depth, it does show the age of the series. It's hard to imagine the Sins games progressing without a more serious overhaul to move the next release into full-blown sequel territory. Until that game launches, however, you can get your space-empire fix from this outstanding stand-alone expansion, which contains enough ways to conquer a galaxy to tide you over for a very long time.
115 comments
missed this coming out forever ago. My biggest issue with sins was the pirates, it felt like the entire game was spent messing around with what should be a relatively minor facet, rather than a more expansive or tactical approach to your actual enemy in the game. Is this fixed in this expansion? or should i expect to do nothing but alternate spending all my money bribing pirates or building ships to combat enormous number of weak and unimportant enemies?
im having much fun in this game :) same as like in the 2008 original one still the titans and slightly changes are a benefit :o so not sure why its rated 0.5 points down
1 Like Each expansion is basically the base game plus the previous expansions thrown in, that might explain some of the complaints. I don't know if you got a discount if you owned the previous versions but yeah, I can see some people moaning about basically having to buy what they already (partially) owned. Still, it doesn't detract from the fact that overall it's a pretty compelling package and remains so with Rebellion.
There are plenty of mods for Diplomacy 1.34. I just downloaded Mealstorm that adds 3 new races and lots of new planets. It also adds a Titan that spawns for free in game. One truly great mod and it is free. I will soon download the Rebellion version. So try them out, there are many mods available for the Trilogy version and lots on their way for Rebellion. Can?t wait for the Mass Effect 3 mod.
1 Like My PC can not run this after a certain amount of units are made. Everything starts to slow down real bad no matter where im zoomed in or out. Guess it's time for a new PC.
hope the AI is good enough since where im living in the multiplayer matches ping is always so darned high!
The only retarded thing about this game is that space is limited to a 2D plane around planets. It might as well be a naval battle game. So much fail
@NoRb4k yeah, being able to position fleets three dimensionaly would add alot more strategy, AI would probably be totally unable to deal with the constant changing flank attacks...computers are stupid..lol
2 Like the only candle HW can hold to SOASE is its deep storyline, plot, and atmosphere surrounding the games SP campaign...which is the only lacking feature in SOASE. otherwise....SOASE absolutely obliterates HW in every way imaginable.
SOASE is great fun yes, but it is too restricted. Your enemies can only attack you from pre selected points. This makes defending easy and can lead to an unending clash between fleets even with the Titans that were suppose to put an end to this. Homeworld?s game play is a lot more fun as you can literally attack your enemy from a 360 degree angle. From the sides, below or above. Fun. Especially when your buddy is screaming over his mike when Battlecruisers start to cut thru his poorly defended mothership from above. And most important, no freaking fleet tax. I had a simple mod for the Trinity edition that removes fleet tax which increased its awesomeness. Now to get one for Rebellion.
While I can see how 3D can enhance some games, I don't quite see that working too well for Sins other than just making battles messier. I'd also like to note if you posted that comment on the official forums ("freaking fleet tax") you'd likely be torn apart by the vets lol. Shrug. To each his own, but I gotta agree with them, the tax is only inconvenient if you're absolute crap at managing what little economy exists in the game.
5 Like Great game. The fact that I can now build a fleet to the max without lag is the best ever.
Still, I want Homeworld 3
4 Like @ramilahate I would prefer a great gameplay for a campaign, most RTS games have a terrible campaign.
2 Like Spoof of Homeworld??? (best space RTS ever made btw, sad that the Relic and Sierra Scrapped the franchise after HW2...)
@Frosty3223 go try to play the Complex Simple mod for HW2. it essentially upgrades HW2 into HW3, minus a new engine. trust me, i am a HARDCORE HW fan and i am DYING for HW3....but even so.....SOASE franchise > HW franchise. even if HW3 came out, it would have to compete with SOASE which i dont think it would be able to do, unless they crossed Freelancer with HW. (someone already tried it)
nevermind. answered my own question. this is all hands down thanks to google, one hell of a good seach engine.
hmmm quick question do you need the base game to play this or does stand-alone expansion stand for no need for the base game jump on in?
this game sucks bcoz it has no campaign mode but if you're talking about online i prepare EVE online...IMO EH'
@naysay3rs you sound like the kind of person who can't live without a bit of strucure in your life (or games for that matter) but this just a shot in the dark but im guessing you hate minecraft
Can somebody please help me? This game looks cool, but I need to know: How long are the online matches??
@penpusher I've read the entire article (back when I was super excited about the game...), and also you can't save multiplayer battles...
2 Like @Rocksteady777 erm no, that would just be silly there is a save feature so you can save and continue the match at another point. If you read the review of sins of a solar empire (which this is merely an expansion of) you'll find everything you need to know.
@Rocksteady777 They usually take a couple of hours. The game is not fast paced in the slightest.
3 Like I love this game, titans can be annoying though, simply because I've found if you manage to get one out before anyone else you can steam roller the opposition without and real resistance and vice versa.
And not to mention the serious amount of cash they're asking from those of us who already own every sins expansion. I expected more for £25 than just the games I already own plus rebellions £10 worth of content
1 Like @penpusher ya they kinda screwed all the people that have been supporting the game from the beginning pricewise. Even with the $10 preorder discount its kinda steep for an expac if you already had the other games.
1 Like Agree... Even at $29.99 with the discount, this is overpriced for those that already have the game plus the 2 micro-expansions. I'll wait for a good steam sale before buying it. I'm already playing the game now, and while what's been added is great, it's nothing I'm in a hurry to shell out $30 for. (Stardock is still offering $10 off for previous owners of the game, if you bought it through them.)
2 Like @penpusher titens get owned by corvettes when i say corvettes i mean about 50 of them and there cheap as chips.
@penpusher well it depends on the titans upgrade. Some players prefer armour over firepower. But who fight a titan with same fleet size as the defender. Your would need 3:2 ratio to be effective against titan while possibly losing 1/4 of your fleet. Those Advent bombers are quite effective against titan in a swarms.
@y3ivan Wasnt talking about capital ships, was refering to doing it against titans. They're capable of taking a lot more fire than caps so the fleet can use the time to go around and whittle the enemy down while the titan draws all the fire. I personally prefer not to sacrifice an entire fleet generally.
@penpusher o'really? i find that killing all the capital ships before fleeing while sacrificing my frigate is a good trade off especially if the capital ship is had lots of experience. Capital ships cost alot more than frigate.
@y3ivan You can but the problem with having ALL your ships concentrate fire is that while they are engaging that one target the rest of the opposing fleet is free to do what ever it likes to your fleet
I've played a couple of games where people have done this only to have the rest of my fleet split and surround them thus killing them
@jayjay444 I have seen players onlinet try this. Youre asking for it if you leave you titan by itself which considering how much it costs to build is a fairly stupid thing to do, even if the cost of loosing one is minimal.
@jayjay444 Actually this depends on which titan... seeing as one of the Titans has an AoE leech ability then 50 corvettes wouldnt do much.
One minor disagreement with the review, though. Audio to my mind has been improved to a degree where I do now notice it, with new themes added for events, the contruction of a Titan and various other situations. Weaponry also, while looking a lot better with new particle effects sounds much improved over the original. First thing I turned off after sveral hours in 2008 was turn the music....now I'm happy to listen to the thematic variations as the exploration, contruction and inevitable battles unfold.
Aside from the pricing (10% was good for me as I did not have "Diplomacy" nut 20% would have been better for those with "Trinity") and the lack of a SP Campaign which the game is begging for, this is as complete a "Sins" experience as I can imagine at this stage. From re-designed tutorials, to minor changes in the way fleets now face off (corvettes darting in and out) to the bigger changes mentioned in the review this akes for a hefty package....IF you don't have "Trinity". I'm happy with it as I only bought "Entrenchment" and barely played that as Vanilla "Sins" had become a tad boring, but the AI (particulalrly on higher difficulties) is excellent, the visuals nicely updated and the mid-to-late game has been improved tremendously. All in all, I couldn't be happier baring in mind that this is a hybrid 4X and RTS, and not a true 4X...."Endless Space" should take care of that.
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Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
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- Publisher(s): Stardock
- Developer(s): Ironclad Games
- Genre: Strategy
- Release:
- ESRB: T
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