Well, time flies by, and this project has been on the background, but not forgotten.
Now with some breathing time (to vary), here's a new article.
This one's about Sins of a Solar Empire, a 4X game (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate).
Right now, Rebellion - an expansion that works as a standalone, containing the 3 previous Sins games and a lot of extras - is on it's last Beta days. I'll likelly do a full review later, since a beta is just that - not finished - but it does cover quite a lot already.
What is Sins?
One thing can be said right of the bat it's not for the faint of heart. A battle on the really big maps can take LONG, LONG, LONG times - in the 2 digit hours range - and even though the AI is questionable in skill (unless in some trully hardcore situations you can create, such as the highest difficulty setting on a really small map), you can't just jump the game, play a match on Easy and come victorious with a couple of random luck shots. There is a hell of a lot of things to keep track of.
But first things first. You start a game with a planet to call home, a couple of light frigates, and - depending on settings - a Capital ship factory ready to deploy a free-of-cost Capital ship. You have a star system -or more, if so you choose on the vast amount of maps available (and you can create your own) filled with colonizable planets. It's your job to conquer the universe... by decimating the other factions looking for the same goals. Colonizing planets will earn you extra income (Credits, Metal and Crystal, with Crystal and Metal coming from Extractors, which have to be built on the appropriate asteroids, usually close to a colonizable planet). Planets come with Gravity Wells, or the planet's "area", where you can control everything - where your fleet moves, where you place stationary defenses. Between Gravity Wells, the areas are unacessible. Your ships travel through them by phase jumping, but you cannot control them while they phase jump.
The various types of ships you can build range from powerhouses (Capital Ships) to small frigates. Each has quite specific purposes; some scout areas and decloak explosive mines, some have planetary bombardment weapons, some speciallize in Strike Craft nullification or deployment, the list goes on. Learning how to use them is crucial. Rebellion introduced Titans as well - this ships are beyond Capital Ships in powerhouse level, and can eradicate entire fleets - some can do so in practically one ability use!
Capital Ships and Titans level up to get better skills and stats.
Most important of all, though, is Research. You don't start the game with access to anywhere near all your arsenal; you start with one capital, scout units, light units and colonizing units. Through research, you gain access to a brutal set of extra options - from diplomacy related Pacts you can form with your allies to improved economy or ship damage.
This tools aren't even standardized, because there are three factions - the TEC, Vasari and Advent, each with their unique traits. Sure, many researches have equivalents between them, but knowing the differences is crucial to success.
This overwhelming number of details is nowhere near how complex the game really is. The way ships complement and counter each other, Artifacts, Pirates, Culture... there's a lot to go through.
Gameplay
The gameplay is smooth. The UI is pretty detailed and simple - though I seriously miss a (in my opinion) key option to do a required research directly from the item I'm selecting if I haven't researched it yet. The hassle of having to look through the extensive research lists - especially if i'm trying a new race - is just unnecesary. But everything is in their place. The camera is pretty well done, and allows you to admire the graphics at will, while not being annoying to control. It's easy to quickly switch from ship to ship, planet to planet. Sometimes, the way the UI keeps trying to switch my focus to another ship in combat is annoying though - I'm about to click my capital, and by accident I click whatever just got changed there. I would prefer if my current target got instantly at the top and the targets needing focus just got right below.
The fleet fights are fantastic. It's easy to control with some getting used to the key shortcuts, and abilities are easy to aim. Some stuttering can happen if fleets are massivelly big with huge maps, though.
For now, I'll keep on playing to provide a few screenshots - because the graphics to this game are quite beautiful to watch, but it does take a fairilly long game to access all the shiny goodness.
