I've playing this whenever possible (and like all games of its genre it was able to steal way too much extra time) and I'm still scraping the contents offered by this space-based 4x game.
The first Sins of a Solar Empire came out years ago, some time after Galactic Civilizations II and not till now that the latests installment came out, I decided to buy it...I should have done it way sooner or maybe it's better this way as I would have poured way too much time in it.
The objective of Rebellion is quite simple: conquest the galaxy with any mean possible: military might, diplomatic, cultural or via one of the custom conditions available at the start of each game.
There are only three races available, each with its own units, tech trees and special abilities; every race then has two factions, with different titans (battleships almost the size of planets...and the game keeps scale right!) and six of that race's abilities.
Humans excel in defensive positions and are the most balanced race of the three, with a good variety of units and relatively quick access to economy and cultural boosts.
Vasari are almost the other end of the spectrum, using mobile space stations, increbile population growth rates and thus economy boosts are relatively late.
Advent is a balanced race with high cultural boosts but somewhat weak military based on harassment and special abilities.
Rebellion doesn't have any sort of story mode and the single player experience is limited to VS AI skirmishes on predetermined scenarios or random maps of various sizes. The lack of a story mode isn't particularly crippling as I doubt someone ever bought Galactic Civilizations II for its story mode...with pre-built small galaxies (7 planets) and the possibility to create complex scenarios, Rebellion is geared toward multiplayer, be it PvP or PvE.
Of course it's also possible to undertake larger maps with more than two factions and this were diplomacy and pacts are brought into play.
Starting off with the military, each race has corvettes, frigates, cruisers, capital ships and titans; strike crafts (fighters and bombers) are linked to a carrier unit (planetary hangar, space station, cruiser or larger ships). All units except for scout, basic and colony frigates must be researched before being able to build them and can be upgraded in a number of stats (armour, shields, various types of weapons). All races tend to have similar corvettes and frigates, with one battle-oriented cruiser; the rest changes from faction to faction.
Fleet size is limited by the allocated logistics and to build capital ships and titans (resources aside) a capital crew is needed; capital ships are the core of the fleet and can dish and take enormous amounts of punishment and their role are varied: all races share the same archetypes (heavy battleship, carrier, long-range, support) but each ship has incredibly different abilities that greatly complement smaller ships; heavy battleships and support vessels tend to be more useful than most, but carriers make great harrassers as not many ships have dedicated anti-strike craft guns, often requiring escort by specialized vessels.
If it sounds like HomeWorld, well, the vibe is very similar. There isn't much micromanagement required during battles as abilities are set to auto-casting by default and the computer does a decent job in choosing targets for attacks and defensive abilities, and this is a good thing because Sins of a Solar Empire is completely in real-time; it's possible to increase or decrease game speed, but upgrades, movements, attacks and construction aren't handled in turns, making most battles played on the strategic plane, synchronizing or delaying movements between fleets, upgrades and reinforcements.
The game does an excellent job in giving a quick yet detailed view of the galaxy, with both visual and aural feedbacks on all important events.
Movement between planets is possible via phase jumping, possible only along pre-determined routes and outside a planet's gravity well; mastering fleet maneuvers is paramount and when pincer attacks are successful is always a joy, like is forcing an enemy fleet toward a pirate planet or one of your fleets laying in ambush in a nebula.
Structures are built in a planet's gravity well and the type (logistical or military) and number is derived from the planet's size and its improvements; planet management is limited to chosing when and how many improvements are built, streamlining the process and letting players qucikly change focus between planets or fleets.
As all planets only have a finite number of spaceborne slots available, it's impossible to cram all research facilities on a planet with just one phase route, as it is impossible to fill a gravity well with turrets and planetary hangars. As turrets, repair bays and space stations have a limited range, their placement is a very important aspect of securing a planet.
Research is divided in several branches and topics from different branches are handled in parallel and it's possible to queue research topics. Research availability is dictated by number of civic and/or military labs built throughout your empire, prerequisites and resources. Two of the basic researches are colonization of fire and ice planets, which must be researched essentially from the get-go as, especially on small maps, there's an high chance of encountering them just outside your homeworld.
There are three resource types: credits (generated by taxes), metal and crystals (mined from asteroids). It's possible to buy and sell metal and crystals at the black market to even out total resources available, but excessive sales can lead to a market crisis or costs spikes after multiple purchases.
Credits can also be used to place bounties on a player's head or on specific objectives; bounties will be collected by other factions or by pirates when fulfilled. General bounties can be freely placed, specific missions require technological advacens in the political branch.
It's also possible to offer anonimous bounties on allies if there aren't special pacts in play: peace pacts, resource pacts, military aid pacts...the game offer a large complement of diplomatic possibilities and very clear readout on the current situation, just like during battles.
The main problem with the game is that first hours can be very confusing: the real-time nature of the title almost negates the help text that comes with each element and the computer can be relentless, even at the lower difficulty settings; bounties can be particularly crippling as pirates are no pushovers and the planet(s) they hold crawl with ships and stating defenses, making them a challenge for all but the largest fleets.
As each race has different tech trees with often exotic names and completely different icons, it's hard to understand where's the tech you want. As many ships employs more than one weapon type, focusing research on these can be frustrating as all capital ships go with their class name and even when playing humans (which uses the most classical names) can lead to multiple checks between deployed ships and the tech tree.
Once the hurdle is past, however, Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion becomes an incredible game.
The first Sins of a Solar Empire came out years ago, some time after Galactic Civilizations II and not till now that the latests installment came out, I decided to buy it...I should have done it way sooner or maybe it's better this way as I would have poured way too much time in it.
The objective of Rebellion is quite simple: conquest the galaxy with any mean possible: military might, diplomatic, cultural or via one of the custom conditions available at the start of each game.
There are only three races available, each with its own units, tech trees and special abilities; every race then has two factions, with different titans (battleships almost the size of planets...and the game keeps scale right!) and six of that race's abilities.
Humans excel in defensive positions and are the most balanced race of the three, with a good variety of units and relatively quick access to economy and cultural boosts.
Vasari are almost the other end of the spectrum, using mobile space stations, increbile population growth rates and thus economy boosts are relatively late.
Advent is a balanced race with high cultural boosts but somewhat weak military based on harassment and special abilities.
Rebellion doesn't have any sort of story mode and the single player experience is limited to VS AI skirmishes on predetermined scenarios or random maps of various sizes. The lack of a story mode isn't particularly crippling as I doubt someone ever bought Galactic Civilizations II for its story mode...with pre-built small galaxies (7 planets) and the possibility to create complex scenarios, Rebellion is geared toward multiplayer, be it PvP or PvE.
Of course it's also possible to undertake larger maps with more than two factions and this were diplomacy and pacts are brought into play.
Starting off with the military, each race has corvettes, frigates, cruisers, capital ships and titans; strike crafts (fighters and bombers) are linked to a carrier unit (planetary hangar, space station, cruiser or larger ships). All units except for scout, basic and colony frigates must be researched before being able to build them and can be upgraded in a number of stats (armour, shields, various types of weapons). All races tend to have similar corvettes and frigates, with one battle-oriented cruiser; the rest changes from faction to faction.
Fleet size is limited by the allocated logistics and to build capital ships and titans (resources aside) a capital crew is needed; capital ships are the core of the fleet and can dish and take enormous amounts of punishment and their role are varied: all races share the same archetypes (heavy battleship, carrier, long-range, support) but each ship has incredibly different abilities that greatly complement smaller ships; heavy battleships and support vessels tend to be more useful than most, but carriers make great harrassers as not many ships have dedicated anti-strike craft guns, often requiring escort by specialized vessels.
If it sounds like HomeWorld, well, the vibe is very similar. There isn't much micromanagement required during battles as abilities are set to auto-casting by default and the computer does a decent job in choosing targets for attacks and defensive abilities, and this is a good thing because Sins of a Solar Empire is completely in real-time; it's possible to increase or decrease game speed, but upgrades, movements, attacks and construction aren't handled in turns, making most battles played on the strategic plane, synchronizing or delaying movements between fleets, upgrades and reinforcements.
The game does an excellent job in giving a quick yet detailed view of the galaxy, with both visual and aural feedbacks on all important events.
Movement between planets is possible via phase jumping, possible only along pre-determined routes and outside a planet's gravity well; mastering fleet maneuvers is paramount and when pincer attacks are successful is always a joy, like is forcing an enemy fleet toward a pirate planet or one of your fleets laying in ambush in a nebula.
Structures are built in a planet's gravity well and the type (logistical or military) and number is derived from the planet's size and its improvements; planet management is limited to chosing when and how many improvements are built, streamlining the process and letting players qucikly change focus between planets or fleets.
As all planets only have a finite number of spaceborne slots available, it's impossible to cram all research facilities on a planet with just one phase route, as it is impossible to fill a gravity well with turrets and planetary hangars. As turrets, repair bays and space stations have a limited range, their placement is a very important aspect of securing a planet.
Research is divided in several branches and topics from different branches are handled in parallel and it's possible to queue research topics. Research availability is dictated by number of civic and/or military labs built throughout your empire, prerequisites and resources. Two of the basic researches are colonization of fire and ice planets, which must be researched essentially from the get-go as, especially on small maps, there's an high chance of encountering them just outside your homeworld.
There are three resource types: credits (generated by taxes), metal and crystals (mined from asteroids). It's possible to buy and sell metal and crystals at the black market to even out total resources available, but excessive sales can lead to a market crisis or costs spikes after multiple purchases.
Credits can also be used to place bounties on a player's head or on specific objectives; bounties will be collected by other factions or by pirates when fulfilled. General bounties can be freely placed, specific missions require technological advacens in the political branch.
It's also possible to offer anonimous bounties on allies if there aren't special pacts in play: peace pacts, resource pacts, military aid pacts...the game offer a large complement of diplomatic possibilities and very clear readout on the current situation, just like during battles.
The main problem with the game is that first hours can be very confusing: the real-time nature of the title almost negates the help text that comes with each element and the computer can be relentless, even at the lower difficulty settings; bounties can be particularly crippling as pirates are no pushovers and the planet(s) they hold crawl with ships and stating defenses, making them a challenge for all but the largest fleets.
As each race has different tech trees with often exotic names and completely different icons, it's hard to understand where's the tech you want. As many ships employs more than one weapon type, focusing research on these can be frustrating as all capital ships go with their class name and even when playing humans (which uses the most classical names) can lead to multiple checks between deployed ships and the tech tree.
Once the hurdle is past, however, Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion becomes an incredible game.
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