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A brief look at the features of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

A brief look at the features of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

With the beta of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion approaching, it’s time to start talking a bit about its features.  That is, what’s new in it?

This is, by  no means, a complete list:

Six new factions

In Sins of a Solar Empire, there were 3 races – TEC, Advent, Vasari.  Hopefully by now you know something about the grand histories of each of these mighty races.

In Rebellion, as the name implies, things have kind of gone to hell. 

The start of the game is very much like Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity. You are picking one of the three races.  But during the course of the game, the player has to make some tough choices. As the civil war escalates, players can choose to become a Loyalist or a Rebel. In doing so, a whole range of new technologies open up.

I can say that these aren’t cosmetic things either. The Vasari Rebels, for example, go a very different direction than the Vasari Loyalists.

The Tech Trees

As briefly discussed above, these new factions come with their own tech trees which let players take on some very new strategies that should be quite interesting to see play out.

The Titans

The civil war can become pretty brutal as each loyalist and rebel faction now has access to its own Titan class ship. Titans are big, powerful, and rare.

The new ships

In addition, there are some new battleships with some interesting abilities coming into play. Similarly, there are new corvette class ships coming into the game.

New music

Yes, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion has a new sound track (along with new effects).

New Multiplayer system

While Sins of a Solar Empire will continue to have a spectacular single player experience (the AI has gotten a lot of attention), the multiplayer experience has gotten a lot of attention. We’ll be talking a lot more about this in the comin gweeks.

New Graphics system

Sins of a Solar Empire’s graphics have always been on of its strengths. But Rebellion takes it to a new level. One of the things that really brings a sense of scale to the new ships is the new shadowing system.  There’s nothing quite so humbling than to see a Dreadnought become shadowed by a passing Titan.

New Modding System

A new Galaxy Forge has been developed along with a new Particle Forge. These have been heavily used to update the in game maps and really spice up the existing effects.

Optimization

While not as “sexy” as the other things on this list,  a lot of time has gone into optimizing the memory and CPU use of the Iron Engine.  Some of this was done so that the AI could be enhanced further without slowing down the game.

So this is just a glimpse of what’s going on with Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion. 

268,606 views 76 replies
Reply #26 Top

New Graphics system

Sins of a Solar Empire’s graphics have always been on of its strengths. But Rebellion takes it to a new level. One of the things that really brings a sense of scale to the new ships is the new shadowing system.  There’s nothing quite so humbling than to see a Dreadnought become shadowed by a passing Titan.

 

hmm... very nice! I am looking forward on purchasing this new game (stand alone/expansion pack). I don't know how many in here ever notice how the laser beams or bullets always hit their targets no matter how much off they seem to be. I wanted to know if maybe the new "Iron Engine" can compress the gap between laser hits towards an object so it wouldn't look like the laser is hitting something 1k' away. What i meant to say is that, it seems the lasers usually hit a moving target even when it looks like it misses the object lol. Anyways, It would be nice to have a few lasers, missiles, bullets missing a target and going off towards space. I know that every projectiles will hit their target but it wouldn't hurt to actually see at least a few of those randomly miss an object to give it more depth to  technologies with errors and achievements on both humans/aliens and bring a bit realism to rts combat in space.

 

sorry if this was off topic but i'm sure the new engine are capable of these.

 

Thank you ICO/Stardock for introducing a well made RTS game! :beer:

Reply #27 Top

Trick or Treat.  I'd prefer a treat.

Reply #28 Top

I am thoroughly looking forward to this expansion.  Though I would prefer it to be released on a disc, I can understand reasons for it being digital-only.  I just dislike Impulse and would prefer not to go through it.

Reply #29 Top

Quoting OfaFallenSun, reply 28
I am thoroughly looking forward to this expansion.  Though I would prefer it to be released on a disc, I can understand reasons for it being digital-only.  I just dislike Impulse and would prefer not to go through it.

You can buy it directly from Stardock.

What is it you don't like from Impulse?

 

 

Reply #30 Top

Quoting Anguille, reply 29
What is it you don't like from Impulse?

Its owned by Gamestop now.

Reply #31 Top

Quoting Ryat, reply 30



Quoting Anguille,
reply 29
What is it you don't like from Impulse?


Its owned by Gamestop now.

I know but frankly, i don't see the problem as long as they don't change too much to the Impulse system. I would also have prefered to see Stardock keep control over Impulse but i haven't seen much change since then yet. It is still much better than Steam or the EA crap.

 

Reply #32 Top

You'll be able to purchase Rebellion from retail if you like.

Reply #33 Top

Quoting Yarlen, reply 32
You'll be able to purchase Rebellion from retail if you like.

 

Woot! :-)

Reply #34 Top

Need to upgrade my preorder from DD to +S&H.  :grin:

Reply #35 Top

Quoting Yarlen, reply 32
You'll be able to purchase Rebellion from retail if you like.


Brilliant!  Any word on if it is hitting Australian shores?  I guess I can just import it, otherwise.  Regardless, thanks for letting us know that physical copies will indeed be available.

Reply #36 Top

Quoting Yarlen, reply 32
You'll be able to purchase Rebellion from retail if you like.

Awesome!  That I might do.  Does this mean we'll see it on the shelves at Target, Wallymart, and Best Buy?

Reply #37 Top

OfaFallenSun - I don't know that yet.

DirtySanchezz - Most likely, but we won't know until retail buy-in decisions are made.

Reply #38 Top

Quoting Yarlen, reply 37
OfaFallenSun - I don't know that yet.

No problem, I'm just glad it is available in physical form, regardless of where I need to obtain it.

Reply #39 Top

I guess you're going to have a deal with Kalypso again for Europe (doesn't really matter for me as i have already preordered)

Reply #40 Top
I hope the effects get some love after seeing what's possible as far as explosions and missle hits in some of the mods, the simple torpedo effects don't cut it for me anymore.
Reply #41 Top

If there are going to be graphics "improvements" I hope they'll either have a negligible effect on performance or have an option to turn them off. I already play with all effects off and it still isn't enough when I play in larger games :(

Reply #42 Top

    I'm no programmer but Sins needs to off load alot of the stuff going on to the idle uber videocards we have while playing this game. This game is cpu intensive, I get that, but can't some of the millions of calculations that the cpu is being flooded with be shared by our idle cards? My videocard doesnt feel the need to even increase it's fan speed! |-)

Reply #43 Top

Quoting Anguille, reply 39
I guess you're going to have a deal with Kalypso again for Europe

 

Kalypso REALLY needs to release the patches that we get here in the states for Sins. Thousands of European Sins gamers who buy through Kalypso don't have access to the latest patches. This likely can SEVERELY hurt the online multiplayer community.

Reply #44 Top

Quoting boshimi336, reply 43



Quoting Anguille,
reply 39
I guess you're going to have a deal with Kalypso again for Europe


 

Kalypso REALLY needs to release the patches that we get here in the states for Sins. Thousands of European Sins gamers who buy through Kalypso don't have access to the latest patches. This likely can SEVERELY hurt the online multiplayer community.

I am not sure cos i might have bought some extra copies when they were cheaper but i believe i have registered the games i bought from Kalypso in Impulse (and got therefore the patches)...i am probably wrong, or not?

Reply #45 Top

Anguille, you are probably correct, it was my understanding that in the past, patches through Kalypso took a while to get released when compared getting released here.

 

I could be horribly wrong though. -_-

 

These are just some things I've seen through the forum from time to time when people talk about Kalypso.

Reply #46 Top

Quoting boshimi336, reply 45
Anguille, you are probably correct, it was my understanding that in the past, patches through Kalypso took a while to get released when compared getting released here.



I could be horribly wrong though.



These are just some things I've seen through the forum from time to time when people talk about Kalypso.

I think the patches are still released, its just that any string changes don't get translated, thus leaving non English speakers with either incorrect text or the ever helpful "String not found" error.

Reply #47 Top

Quoting GoaFan77, reply 46

Quoting boshimi336, reply 45Anguille, you are probably correct, it was my understanding that in the past, patches through Kalypso took a while to get released when compared getting released here.



I could be horribly wrong though.



These are just some things I've seen through the forum from time to time when people talk about Kalypso.

I think the patches are still released, its just that any string changes don't get translated, thus leaving non English speakers with either incorrect text or the ever helpful "String not found" error.

 

Well then I stand corrected!

Reply #48 Top

What about the pirates? Here are a few questions/ideas that I been thinking about them:

 

1. Will Pirates have their own titan class ships?

2. Will the AI for Pirates be improved?

3. It would be nice for the Pirates to have at least one planet of their own, something like an Outlaw Star (No pun intended), to serve as a safe haven and hub for nearby pirate bases. It would be a opportune place to have a pirate titan class stationed at though.

4. I've only seen it once in a skirmish and even that was a mod but will the pirates be able to colonize planets just like regular players?

Reply #49 Top

Quoting DGrayStarwind, reply 48
What about the pirates? Here are a few questions/ideas that I been thinking about them:
 
1. Will Pirates have their own titan class ships?

2. Will the AI for Pirates be improved?

3. It would be nice for the Pirates to have at least one planet of their own, something like an Outlaw Star (No pun intended), to serve as a safe haven and hub for nearby pirate bases. It would be a opportune place to have a pirate titan class stationed at though.

4. I've only seen it once in a skirmish and even that was a mod but will the pirates be able to colonize planets just like regular players?

Considering how much people hated it when the pirate could take out a lone starbase by themselves, I would highly doubt it, but all but 2 can be addressed with mods.

Reply #50 Top

I don't really like pirates at all... they're annoying/unpredictable/slight roadblock, in addition to being AI controlled (obviously)...

Their aesthetics are great but their gameplay-value is minimal IMO.