Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

[Northern Lawn]

Any thoughts on this release? Just released today on steam for $40.

I was always sorry I didn't play SOSE the original game, but I might try and get in on the ground floor with this one, online I mean. Apparently it's getting some good reviews at Meta http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/sins-of-a-solar-empire-rebellion.

I guess there's aliens in this one.. so I guess I'm asking if SOSE was a good/great strategy game or was it an acquired taste?

 

[titan131]

I played the demo of SOSE and thought it was great. Really great. It wasn't really an acquired taste for me, or if it was, I acquired it very quickly. I am a big RTS fan though.

 

[KaOTiK]

I take it this one takes advantage of multiple cores so we don't have endlessly crap going on late game since it was all being processed on one core?

 

[Annisman*]

I take it this one takes advantage of multiple cores so we don't have endlessly crap going on late game since it was all being processed on one core?

From what I understand, (and this was extremely dissapointing to me) is that because Rebellion is essentially running on the same engine as the orginal, albeit spruced up a bit, it will not have multicore support.

Apparently this was in issue with the game engine, that cannot be 'patched' in like some other engines, I read this about a year ago so it's possible things have changed but I doubt it.

We can however hope for some optimizations, including the ability to utilize more than 2gb of RAM which the first game also could not do without user tweaks.

Regardless, I actually preordered this game about two years ago because it is hands down one of the best RTS games out there, and it will still be a blast to play.

Oh, looks amazing in a triple monitor setup too btw, which also makes the CPU less of a bottleneck...

 

[WhipperSnapper]

I purchased the original SOSE on a whim back in March 2008, never having played an RTS before. Since then I've been playing it in online multiplayer PvP and become a hardcore fanatic.

 

[Maximilian]

I take it this one takes advantage of multiple cores so we don't have endlessly crap going on late game since it was all being processed on one core?

Nope unfortunately not

 

[DigDog]

i on the other hand really didn't like SOSE so i will be staying away from this one.

 

[QuantumPion]

I played the original, thought it was pretty cool. It's sort of like warcraft 3 with hero capital ships and fodder ships using a simple rock-paper-scisors balance, with some nice simple flowing strategic gameplay. I don't know what Rebellion adds to the table, I probably won't buy it unless it goes on sale cheap.

 

[vshah]

it was a bit too slow for me, only really fun with a large number of players on a large map, but those games were long and almost impossible to organize.

 

[Kalmah]

I haven't even looked into this game yet. I played the original and loved it. Maybe after work tonight I'll check it out and see what's new.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

it was a bit too slow for me, only really fun with a large number of players on a large map, but those games were long and almost impossible to organize.

For reference, your average 5v5 game only takes about 1.5 hours to play in online multiplayer.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Wow. This game was released on Tuesday and there is almost no buzz about it here at Anandtech. Perhaps it needs better marketing.

 

[Red Hawk]

From what I understand, (and this was extremely dissapointing to me) is that because Rebellion is essentially running on the same engine as the orginal, albeit spruced up a bit, it will not have multicore support.

Apparently this was in issue with the game engine, that cannot be 'patched' in like some other engines, I read this about a year ago so it's possible things have changed but I doubt it.

We can however hope for some optimizations, including the ability to utilize more than 2gb of RAM which the first game also could not do without user tweaks.

Regardless, I actually preordered this game about two years ago because it is hands down one of the best RTS games out there, and it will still be a blast to play.

Oh, looks amazing in a triple monitor setup too btw, which also makes the CPU less of a bottleneck...

Well, looks like I'll finally have a reason to seriously overclock my CPU, as this will probably CPU bottleneck before GPU bottlenecking on my system (I hope...).

Wow. This game was released on Tuesday and there is almost no buzz about it here at Anandtech. Perhaps it needs better marketing.

Yeah, I actually didn't know it had released until just now. I really enjoyed the main Sins of a Solar Empire game and its expansions, and knew that Rebellion was coming and that it had an open beta (which I didn't join). But I wasn't paying close attention, and the launch day slipped right past me. :hmm:

 

[Nintendesert]

I love it and it plays well on my laptop. The Titan ships are wicked!!

 

[Kalmah]

I'm probably going to pick this up after the weekend. I worry that there aren't going to be enough additions to the game from the original though. I played it so much that I have an auto-win strategy programmed into my brain. (when playing AI)

For some reason multiplayer doesn't interest me with this type of game. I'll multiplayer the hell out of Company Of Heroes, but with Sins I just like to sit back with a cold coke, relax and have fun.

 

[jjj807]

I know I don't need the original SOSE to play this but what are the advantages to having he original and the other expansion packs with this? Say I had SOSE Trinity and bought this? Whats the difference?

 

[thespyder]

I know I don't need the original SOSE to play this but what are the advantages to having he original and the other expansion packs with this? Say I had SOSE Trinity and bought this? Whats the difference?

I am not "SURE" about this, but I think there should be no advantage. My understanding is that Rebellion comes with all of the previous content. Stardock doesn't normally play shenanigans like that with their consumers.

 

[Craig234]

I know I don't need the original SOSE to play this but what are the advantages to having he original and the other expansion packs with this? Say I had SOSE Trinity and bought this? Whats the difference?

What I read is that Rebellion has all the content of the previous games, but that multiplayer is limited so you Rebellion can only play MP with other Rebellion buyers.

 

[thespyder]

What I read is that Rebellion has all the content of the previous games, but that multiplayer is limited so you Rebellion can only play MP with other Rebellion buyers.

If that is the case, for what it is worth, Rebellion is a pretty substantial update. I am not really sure that you will want to play against Vanilla or any of the other two expansions.

 

[Kalmah]

Watching some play videos there are a few things that irk me. I noticed it's the same battle music as before. I like it, but come on, this is suppose to be a new game, right?

UI appears identical and the maps are the same. (same algorithm for generating them, same planet graphics etc...) I feel that a new dimension for the maps could have been included somehow. At least a new look would have been nice.

I'm kind of on the ropes with this one. $10 discount for owning previous game is nice. It has a good price. I know it's going to be a good game with a good amount of new factions and ships. I'm afraid that it's just going to be more of the same.

Hmmm... Can't decide. I got some money burning a hole in my pocket right now. I might have a look around Steam first and see what else is available.

 

[Rifter]

Just bought it on a impulse buy, never played the original. Installing it now and will post back after i get some time into it.

 

[Visaoni]

Watching some play videos there are a few things that irk me. I noticed it's the same battle music as before. I like it, but come on, this is suppose to be a new game, right?

UI appears identical and the maps are the same. (same algorithm for generating them, same planet graphics etc...) I feel that a new dimension for the maps could have been included somehow. At least a new look would have been nice.

I'm kind of on the ropes with this one. $10 discount for owning previous game is nice. It has a good price. I know it's going to be a good game with a good amount of new factions and ships. I'm afraid that it's just going to be more of the same.

Hmmm... Can't decide. I got some money burning a hole in my pocket right now. I might have a look around Steam first and see what else is available.

Not a new game. Standalone expansion. Remember those? Expansions are rare enough these days, not to mention standalones. But that is why Stardock is so awesome.

 

[Red Hawk]

There is a lot of new music, from my perspective.

Anyone noticing that the AI is somewhat smarter? They actually build shipyards away from their home planet now, and enemy capital ships will automatically break off from their fleet and retreat if they get too damaged.

 

[Kalmah]

I finished a 5-star massive 10 player game with AI last night. Playing as TEC Loyalists.

First thing that I noticed is that the AI has improved. Holy shite. They've gotten much better at harassing me.

I ended up allying with 1 other faction which was on the opposite side of my home planet's star system. (this I did rather early actually) Then the two of us mopped up our star system and gathered defenses at the star itself to keep others out. Then I just turtled my star system and won a diplomatic victory with the other factions.

Had a big battle that consisted of 2 titans vs 1 titan. (plus fully loaded fleets). Myself and my ally both had a titan against a Vasari Titan. We couldn't take it down! That battle lasted nearly an hour. I end up setting rally points to the planet and just pumped out units. The vasari Titan kept healing.

One thing that I didn't like is that there is no unit-search to find your own titan. (you can search for every other unit type) I lost my titan for a couple of hours. lol. I don't know what happened, after moving my fleets around for a while I just lost track of it and couldn't find it. Turns out that the AI was borked and it was flying back and forth at one of the stars endlessly.

I also had an issue with shift-clicking to give progressive commands. That's how my titan got stuck to begin with. The AI would kind of 'give up' and make the ships stuck. I'm guessing that I may have accidentally clicked on a moving ship such as a trade vessel while giving the commands, then maybe that vessel was destroyed? No idea but it made my midgame a bit of a mess when my units were getting stuck at random planets. They ended up scattered all over the place while I was trying organizing a huge strike against an enemy. Entire fleets where flying back and forth in a gravity well unable to get out and I couldn't get them to leave.

Overall, I'm satisified with this purchase. Tons of fun, great improvements.

I'm ready to start a game as the vasari loyalists myself since they can destroy planets and move their population onto capital and titan ships. Sounds like it will be interesting.

 

[power_hour]

Decided to pull the trigger as I have an itch to play a decent 4X RTS game. The $10 discount for existing owners was a decent incentive too.