Ah, I love the smell of exploding spacecraft in the morning...
For those of you that don't know, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion is the first stand-alone expansion to the original Sins (rather than the small "micro" expansions that the game has had before). A stand-alone expansion means all sorts of new things, from a fresh coat of paint in terms of particle effects and graphics to several new ships and other tweaks.
... and you can buy it now.
Rebellion can currently be pre-purchased either from Steam or from the Stardock store for $40 and anyone who buys it gets instant access to the game's beta. If you happen to own either the Diplomacy expansion or the Trinity compilation that price is kicked down to $30. Definitely worth it if you're a fan of RTS games, especially ones on such a large scale.
"But Van," I can hear you say, "why should I even give a damn? What's changed?" I'm glad you asked, non-existant voice...
- Factions - Each faction (The Vasari, TEC and Advent) have now been split down the middle into "Loyalist" and "Rebel" sub-factions. While both sub-factions are virtually identical to their parent (and therefore each other), each sub-faction has their own unique research and buffs to set them apart. The TEC Loyalists, for example, are heavily focused on digging in their defenses, so their starbases are cheaper, they can place two starbases inside their gravity wells, and so on. The Rebel TEC, meanwhile, are far more aggressive and can ally with the ambient rebel ships and even the pirate raiders, among other things. It's just a bunch of tiny little touches that helps tailor your chosen race a little bit more to your play style.
- Titans - Here's the literal big thing that's been added; each player can now build a Titan-class spaceship that's essentially a massive flying death machine that can easily dwarf any capital ship in the game. After it's constructed it will easily be the single most powerful thing in your fleet, hands down. Each sub-faction has it's own unique Titan which has to be built in stages for a frak-ton of resources. Each one has their own strengths and weaknesses in like with what sub-faction they belong to, so they can either provide buffs to other ships, can rain death on just about everything, or anything in between.
The Titans look amazing, too. Both of the Advent Titans look like they'd be right at home in a giant robot anime. Or maybe in a Zone of the Enders game.
... I think I just said the same thing twice... - Corvettes - Along with the giant, powerful and sometimes garrish Titans the game also adds a new corvette-class ship to each faction. The corvettes are essentially a middle-ground between frigates and fighter squadrons. Very fast and agile, but still large enough that they use up fleet supply. Still, they're cheaper than the "base" frigate all of the factions have, meaning that for the same price you can have twice as many ships that are capable of moving at breakneck speeds. I love these things.
- Gameplay Changes - The only real gameplay difference I've seen thus far is that they've added in a few new victory conditions. The option for a diplomatic victory added in Diplomacy is still there, as are conditions for destroying a player's homeworld or their "flagship". One interesting change is a sort of "take and hold" condition where there's a very heavily fortified neutral NPC world that can be claimed by the players. Whoever controls that planet the longest wins.
So yes, Sins. Massive fleet battles. Space politics. Blatant dickery and backstabbing. What's not to like? At the moment the beta is live and be downloaded via Steam. Right now only the TEC and Advent are in the beta, so sorry Vasari players. Still, both SP and MP are active, so if you're a fan, it's worth a try.
~V
