Sins of a Solar Empire

Sins of a Solar Empire is a Galactic Empire Real Time Strategy game for the PC developed by Ironclad Games. The game involves 3 factions, each with a shadowed past. The best way to describe Sins is Supreme Commander in space with some hints of Galactic Civilization 2 mixed in. The game is a hybrid of a massive RTS and 4X gameplay (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate). Games in the past have tried to combine these two genres but have failed.

Does Sins suffer the same fate as those that came before it? Or does it find the perfect balance that the others failed to achieve? Read on to find out!

Sins of a Solar Empire sports only one gametype and lacks any sort of campaign. The gametype is best described as Galactic Conquest. Each player starts out with a mostly developed Homeworld and must explore and colonize the surrounding planets to establish a strong economy and military position.

Its not as easy as it sounds though as rapid expansion is not possible due to a few factors. The dominant factor is that each planet has a fleet of defenders that must be defeated before the colony can be claimed. Another obstacle is that you can only travel to a planet if the planet is connected to the planet your ships are in by a “phaselane.” Think of phaselanes as space highways connecting planets just like highways connect cities. These obstacles ensure that the players cannot go out and capture every planet in the first five minutes or attack an enemy’s homeworld at anytime. It also creates a slower pace and promotes careful planning as to which planets you capture and develop early on in the game.

Since there is no campaign in Sins of a Solar Empire there is really no story. In fact the only explanation for why the 3 factions are fighting each other is told during the opening cinematic and in the game’s manual. While I can understand that the game was made in a way that the players create the story, I am still left with the feeling that there should have been some sort of a storyline even if it was just incorporated into the tutorials.

There are plenty of pre-made levels included in the game as well as a custom map designer.. Some of the maps are just generic levels that give each faction an equal amount of planets in their immediate area. There are others however that have some spots of interest that some players may choose to take control of before they fortify their home systems. One such map had a key planet that had the sole phase-lane to a resource rich area. If you cannot find a map suited for you, you can make a custom map. While not a full level editor it does let you control such things and map size, number of planets and stars, and resources. After plugging in all these numbers the game will create a random map tailored to your specifications.

The game can be played solo against bots, local via LAN, or online through Ironclad online. All that is needed to play online is to make a free Ironclad online account. The bigger games can get very long (hours even). Thankfully you can save the game at anytime and continue your quest for galactic domination at a later date.

The pace of Sins is definitely slower than many RTS fans are used to. This is due to the fact that not only is the credit flow relatively slow and the cost of things high, but there are also a few factors added to the game to promote a slower pace. As mentioned before, expansion is slowed by a few factors and it may take hours before you even make contact with another player on the larger maps. Even the battles can take a few minutes to complete due to the sheer number of units fighting it out. While it does take a long time to play a single game of Sins I think the pace of the game is perfect. Personally the game just seemed to move along at just the right pace. After all you are colonizing and developing planets, researching new techs, and managing massive fleets all at the same time. If this game moved at the same pace as, say, a Command and Conquer, there is no way one would be able to manage it all without surgically adding another set of arms to your torso. The slower pace ensures that the game stays manageable in all stages of gameplay, from beginning to end.

Battles in Sins are huge. This screen is of only half a battle containing over 250 ships spread between 3 factions.

There are three classes of units in Sins: Frigates, Cruisers, and Capital Ships. Frigates will form the bulk of your fleets because they are cheap and quick to build. In large numbers they prove to be a formidable force even against the mightiest of ships. The different classes of frigates also serve every basic combat need from grunt duties and planetary bombardment to colonization and anti-fighter support. The frigates are extremely useful in every stage of the game and are essential to victory.

Cruisers, while bigger and tougher than frigates, serve more of a supporting role in the fleet. For instance, the carrier class cruisers have no weapons of their own but supply a steady flow of fighters and bombers. The support class is the one class that is truly diverse depending on the faction. Some boost attributes of surrounding ships while others serve to weaken the enemy’s fleet. The heavy cruisers are a more powerful version of the basic combat frigate and boost better armor and weapon power. In large numbers they can even put a sizeable dent in a capital ship.

Lastly are the bad boys of the fleet: Capital Ships. Nothing says “your screwed” quite like the sight of a giant, mobile hunk of metal covered in every type of weapon imaginable. These multipurpose units can single-handedly defeat a small fleet and the planet they defend. All types sport impressive firepower but each also have a specialty. Two of the classes are focused on ship combat while the others focus on fleet support, fighter combat, and planetary bombardment. They also have an array of special powers that supplement their respective specialties. When assaulting a planet these ships will be the key to victory. The only problem I have with them is that they seem just a bit overpowered as it is almost impossible to defeat one without a capital ship of your own. I understand that they are supposed to be ultra-powerful weapons but they seem just a bit too overpowered.

Sin of a Solar Empire is a very pretty game. Fans of the Science Fiction genre will be pleased with the ship designs that look like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. The battles, even on an epic scale, are very smooth and just as chaotic as a Star Wars space battle. All the weapons, explosions, and effects are clean and enjoyable to behold. My videocard is at least 2 generations under the minimum requirement but I was still able to render all ships and buildings at the second highest setting. The only time my framerate suffered was during the final battles where there were upwards of 200 ships in a given gravity well fighting each other. Even then the framerate was not unbearable, just slow. I’ve seen screenshots and videos of this game running on better machines and the gameplay is fluid and crisp even in those gigantic engagements. When you turn this puppy up to max settings the visuals are gorgeous.

The game as it really looks.

By now you are thinking “Wow this game sounds so complex you’d have to be Ender Wiggin to play this game.” After all who could possibly be able to manage hundreds of ships spread across star systems? Well guess what? You actually can. Sins of a Solar Empire is surprisingly accessible and easy to use once you learn the basics. RTS fans should have no trouble learning the ins and outs of Sins thanks to four tutorial missions that introduce you to all the various interface commands and function while giving you some situations to apply what you are learning. The only problem with the tutorials is they try to teach too much too fast, oftentimes jumping back and forth between subjects. The last 2 RTS’s I have played were command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 and Star Wars: Empire at War. As you can see I have been out of touch with the RTS genre for a while but after only 2 games I had all but mastered the Sins interface and gameplay.

One of my favorite features in the game is the ability to cue up ships, structures, and research before all the criteria for construction of the item in question are met. Say you need to research a new frigate-type but an attack seems imminent. You can start researching the weapons technology needed to research the new frigate and while that is researching you can then cue up the “prototype” research to allow your factories to construct the new unit. But it doesn’t stop there. You can then select a factory and cue up the frigate you have not yet researched to start building once the research is done. Now you can go focus on fortifying the planet in danger while the research continues. All of those actions can be completed with just a few mouse clicks.

Managing the large fleets of Sins can seem daunting at first. I will admit even I had apprehensions about my ability to do so. This is where another feature makes being a galactic emperor so much easier: Fleet Creation. By selecting a group of ships you are given the option on the interface to group all the ships into a fleet. One ship in the group is designated as the flagship and is given a few new command options on the interface for fleet formation and behavior. A fleet insignia appears over the flagship which, when clicked, selects all the ships in the fleet even if they are spread out across multiple planets. By utilizing this feature managing your fleets becomes very easy and a fleet can easily be found during an emergency.

The best and my personal favorite feature in this game is simply called the Empire Tree. The Empire Tree is a drop down, almost Windows Explorer-like, list of the planets in your empire. Under the icon for each planet is shown all the ships and structures (both friendly and hostile) inside that planet’s gravity well (area around the planet). While it seems obsolete on small maps it is an essential tool in the larger engagements as it allows you to manage your colonies while keeping watch over a battle. Such actions as building ships and structures and improving your colony can be done through the Tree.

Believe it or not this map containing 5 stars and over 45 planets is considered a "medium" sized map.

For any of you out there worrying that your computer will not be able to handle this game fear not! As for myself my videocard was a few years under the minimal requirement and my RAM (768 MB) was just over the minimum (512 MB). I thought that I would have a hard time playing this game even on the low settings. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that I was able to play smoothly on the medium settings and the game still looked fantastic. The only time I encountered any sort of hiccup was in the last hour or so of a game where there were upwards of two hundred ships around any given planet and that was only if I zoomed in too close to them. Even then it wasn’t freezing - the framerate just dropped a bit and it was not really that frustrating at all.

Sins of a Solar Empire is a game that the hardcore audience will find easy to understand after a few games. The less hardcore might have some problems getting past the basics at first but if they invest the time and experiment with the game they should grasp it in its entirety. Sins of a Solar Empire is, in my humble opinion, one of the best strategy titles out on the PC right now. Not only is it a stellar RTS but it also incorperates 4X gameplay in a way that does not feel gimmicky, useless, or hard to manage. In fact the only thing I can say against this game is that there should have been some sort of storymode and that games can take a very long time to play. Not that length is a bad thing (after all you can save) but some gamers may just lack the patience to play a single match for hours on end. But all in all if you are an RTS fan, Sins of a Solar Empire is a must have.

Overall - 9/10