Firstly, I don't like having two colons in my title, it is weird.
Secondly - I apologise for the lack of content of late, studies and the establishment of my new YouTube channel have taken up a rather large amount of time. In the near future Sagrannus Gaming will transition to a new home, allowing The Narrative Within to return to its writing and literature focus.
Thirdly, Watch_Dogs is currently on sale on Steam for the low low price of AU$13.18 (or your regional equivalent. Finally, an acceptable price for that game.
Now, the main event...
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| Image sourced from wikipedia.org |
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Developer: Ironclad Games
Publisher: Stardock
Genre: Real Time Strategy (with 4X elements)
Released: Original - February 2008, Rebellion - March 2011
Publisher: Stardock
Genre: Real Time Strategy (with 4X elements)
Released: Original - February 2008, Rebellion - March 2011
I would like to point the spotlight, this week, at a game in my library that I find myself coming back to again and again. It is a game that, for me, stands alone a little - doing things in a way that other space based, sci fi light 4X strategy games just do not. There are manifold reasons for this, chief amongst them being that the game is real time, rather than turn-based. There are other real time 4X strategy games out there, that I do not deny. However, this is the only one that I find charming enough to come back to.
I first encountered the original Sins of Solar Empire in 2009, when a friend loaned it to me. Whilst immediately gripping, it lacked longevity. After maybe 15 hours I felt I had seen most of what there was to see in the game, and those few things I had yet to see were not compelling enough for me to press on and devote more time. I returned with the emergence of new DLCs (good, hefty DLCs that really added to the game), but each time seemed to play out the enjoyment relatively swiftly.
Then, at last, came Rebellion - the first stand-alone expansion for the game (which itself got two DLCs). This, with its diversification of factions (each faction splitting into two: Loyalists and Rebels), in conjunction with all the previous content editions (Entrenchment and Diplomacy respectively), brought Sins of a Solar Empire to live. To this day, I cannot quite nail down why this final edition uplifted the entire package, but it did. Perhaps it simply offered a level of polish and completion that Sins of a Solar Empire had simply not enjoyed previously. It is because of this I am going to discuss the game as one entity, and will not distinguish between different content patches.
Gameplay
On the surface, the gameplay of Sins (from now on, I am abbreviating) is relatively straight forward. You must colonise planets, mine resources from nearby asteroids, research new technologies, build a fleet (replete with gloriously destructive Capital Ships, and thanks to Rebellion, Titans), and ultimately stomp on everyone else in the Solar System(s).
However, I am happy to say, while that seems straight forward, there is a little bit more micromanagement required to play well. Planets must be improved so that they do not become economic burdens on the Empire, you must ensure your Empire's influence is maintained and not overrun by alien influences (which, yes, can result in rebellions). The player must ensure they have enough supplies for their fleet, and crews for their Capital Ships. Pirates will launch raids against whichever Empire has the highest bounty on its self-important head, so players must keep an eye on the bounty bar (hehe). Each faction (TEC, Advent, or Vasari) has a unique super-weapon that can be used to some effect against rival factions. I will whinge, however, that these superweapons by and large are far too underpowered, and therefore little threat to anyone.
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| Blowin' up planets! |
Ships (which come in three classes - Frigate, Cruiser, and Capital) are relatively diverse, with each faction having a distinct play style. However, ultimately combat boils down to sending in your fleet and watching the pretty explosions and lasers. The battle AI does the work, there is little to no serious strategic element involved, beyond triggering Capital Ship abilities, and deciding whether you should run away or not. All ships are bound to travel along star lanes (using Phase Drive), thus controlling movement around the map. That is, unless you are the Vasari - who can build Phase Stabilisers which allow them to create their own private lanes of travel (and warp in their Dark Fleet).
One element of gameplay I really don't bother with is the Diplomacy. Even with improvements of the life of the game, I never found it to have any impact. Sure, you could sign treaties with others (once performing tedious missions which often resulted in expensive conflicts) to trade or not shoot each other, but it never seemed to have much impact on the game.
Titans, however, are the opposite. Only a considerable fleet can threaten one, while a Titan (sorry, one at a time per Empire) can scare the living **** out of anything. Rebel factions get more offensively focussed Titans, whilst the Loyalists have more heavily armoured Vessels of Mass Destruction.
Another interesting (and destructive) joy in the game was the introduction of starbases. Massive constructions that can hold entire fleets at bay, and prevent enemies from claiming systems. These behemoths (all stationary except for the Vasari starbase, which will slowly chase enemies around its system), alter the gameplay, often encouraging players to find detours, rather than suffer the losses that starbases can inflict.
Even the Suns have a gameplay impact, with some firing electromagnetic bursts through the solar system, shutting down weapons systems and generally shaking things up. Once out of the early game stages, this isn't too much of a game changer, but the added immersion is certainly not to be sniffed at.
The user interface is relatively user friendly, and packed with information that will help players. There is even a cinematic mode so you can drool over your pretty ships...
Graphics
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| TEC Loyalist Titan and Capital fleet opening fire. |
With clean lines, stylish post-processing, and quality designs, Sins is a handsome game, even now. Plenty of time was spent giving each faction a unique appearance. The TEC (Trader Emergency Coalition) have a rugged industrial look, with their lumbering grey vessels often turning to broadside their enemies in a hail of laser, autocannon, and missile fire. The Advent, an apparently matriarchal, evangelical human sect, have shining white vessel that feature sleek lines, and even have slick sounding gunfire. The vicious Vasari, fleeing into human space as their enormous empire is destroyed by some dark unknown power, have a suitably alien design, with distinctly insectoid looking ships that seem to be creeping across space to destroy all in their path.
The planets change as they are improved upon, developing larger cities, and having a noticeable increase in traffic.
Different coloured suns can result in the stellar backdrop being different in colour, which is a nice change from the stock standard black with random dots that other space based games have expected us to accept.
Overall, in the looks department, Sins does not disappoint.
Soundtrack
While not outstanding, the soundtrack is well written. It fits into the fairly stock standard sci fi soundtrack, but does its job well. The music shifts to more urgent motifs during battles, and keeps the player engaged.
Ship and building sound effects are, for the most part, good. A few things here and there are a bit cheap sounding, but don't ruin the game.
The outstanding thing, for me at least, are the voice-overs. All ship captains have dialogue, all of which are good. However, the prize winners for me are the Capital Ship and Titan captains. The TEC captains range from brash meat-heads to slick, calm admirals. The Advent all have suitably ethereal sounding voices, and spout evangelical nonsense with great regularity. The Vasari, however, nail it with spine chilling voices that rasp and bubble. At times, you even wonder whether it was really humans who recorded those sounds...
(Re)Playability
This game, as you probably guessed, doesn't offer hundreds of hours of gameplay, except to hardcore RTS and 4X fans. Even so, as this game is primarily an RTS with a whiff of 4X, 4X lovers my find themselves stymied by the limited victory conditions. If you play with friends, this game is a tonne of fun - by contrast the AI is only fun and challenging initially, and you soon learn its little tricks, and it becomes almost a tedious chore to grind it into dust repeatedly.
The diversity of the factions is probably what offers the most replayability, especially since the changes made by Rebellion.
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| Yes, that starbase will chase people around the system. That isn't at all creepy. |
Overall, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, is a solid RTS with some interesting 4X elements added in. If you like space based games this is probably for you. If you like navies this is probably for you. If you like space navies, space pirates, and angry aliens then stop, you have reached your destination.
Sagrannus Rating – 7.5/10
(Safe Buy)
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