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Sins of a Solar Empire 'Forbidden Worlds' DLC sets out June 5
The first DLC pack for Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, a standalone expansion in Stardock's 4X strategy series revolving around space colonization, will launch on June 5. "Forbidden Worlds" adds four new planet types to colonize, a new planet specialization system where you classify your worlds as either beacons of industry or society, 15 new research subjects, 40 new planetary bonuses and a handful of new achievements, all for $5. Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion's "Forbidden Worlds" DLC will be available either directly through Stardock, or through other popular digital distribution channels such as Steam, GameStop, GamersGate and GameFly. CEO Brad Wardell confirmed last month, during the announcement of an investment fund to aid budding game developers, that Rebellion has been "immensely successful" for Stardock and that we should expect to see more Sins of a Solar Empire in the future.
Sins of a Dark Age plans to evolve the MOBA genre
Over the past few years, the Defense of the Ancients-inspired MOBA genre has spawned some of the biggest games on the planet. League of Legends has become one of the most played PC games in the world, and both it and Dota 2 now pump millions of dollars per year into competitive tournaments. It looks like MOBAs are here to stay, but the genre is still relatively young and there's plenty of room to experiment with new gameplay. Upcoming MOBA Sins of a Dark Age plans to evolve the genre with the addition of a new Realm Quest feature. At random points throughout a match, quests may spawn that change the rules of the game and provide new opportunities for conflict. Developer Ironclad Games, known for its Sins of a Solar Empire franchise, hopes this will add a new strategic level to the game that favours players who can adapt to changing circumstances and take advantage of the opportunities that quests present. Sins of a Dark Age will be free-to-play on release but you can join the closed beta now by purchasing a Founder Edition package. Read on for our interview with Ironclad co-founder and producer Blair Fraser on the Realm Quest system and plans to support competitive gaming in Sins of a Dark Age.%Gallery-175225%
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion transmits intro cinematic
Standalone expansion Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion is quite the odd space duck. As this clip reveals, there is a backstory explaining why the factions in the universe are dealing with insurrection, but none of this actually plays out in the game (which has no campaign). It does deliver a hefty amount of space battles, though!
Sins of a Dark Age announced, new team-based RTS from Sins of a Solar Empire dev
Ironclad announced Sins of a Dark Age today, its follow-up to the epic space armada strategy game, Sins of a Solar Empire. The new game will be a free-to-play project, blending classic real-time strategy with the MOBA genre (League of Legends, DOTA 2).Players work in teams, which consist of one commander and up to four heroes, who can face off against other players or AI. The commander is responsible for building the base, directing units and positioning defenses. The commander can also call upon "Realm Powers" to turn the tide of battle. Heroes have their own set of powers, but are tasked with assisting the commander's units and capturing resources.More details should shake out at the Game Developers Conference in two weeks. The game will begin its beta this summer.%Gallery-148131%
Sins of a Solar Empire added to Steam, more Stardock titles coming soon
Stardock and Ironclad Games' Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity, the bundled collection of the epic space armada RTS and its mini-expansions, is available now on Steam. After selling over 2 million units, mostly through Stardock's Impulse digital distribution system, the game is finally warping over to Valve's service. "With the sale of our former PC digital download technology to GameStop earlier this year, we no longer have any conflicts of interest in offering our titles to other digital distribution channels," said Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock. "We are starting with Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity with other titles being made available over the coming weeks." Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, a "full-fledged expansion" of the series and not a sequel, is expected to launch next spring. Stardock plans to add more of its catalog in "the coming weeks." [Thanks, Daniel] %Gallery-15134%
Sins of a Solar Empire Trinity is $21 this weekend
The full Sins of a Solar Empire experience, known as Trinity, is on sale this weekend through Impulse. The game is 33% off, bringing the total asking price to around $21 in United States, Earth credits. Trinity includes the original Sins of a Solar Empire, along with micro-expansion packs Entrenchment and Diplomacy. It should be noted that Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, which is described as a "full-fledged expansion" to the series, will be available later this year. Brian Clair, director of publishing for Stardock, told us in early March that Rebellion will build upon the gameplay introduced in the original Sins and its micro-expansions. You'll have to make the strategic decision whether to grab Trinity now or save the credits to go toward a fuller cargo bay (at, likely, a higher cost) later. %Gallery-15134%
Sins of a Solar Empire 'Trinity' set coming
Stardock has announced that an all-inclusive collection featuring its fab Windows-based 4X strategy title Sins of a Solar Empire, its first expansion, Entrenchment and the upcoming Diplomacy expansion will release on February 9 for $39.99. In addition to availability on Stardock's own Impulse digital distribution service, the set will make its way onto shelves across the US in something called a "box." Anyone who pre-orders Sins of a Solar Empire - Trinity via Impulse will get instant access to the beta version of the Diplomacy expansion, which seems like a good strategy to us.
Second Sins of a Solar Empire micro-expansion might take a while
With one out of the three planned "micro-expansions" for their flagship strategy title Sins of a Solar Empire under its belt, developer Ironclad Games has begun discussing changes included in the second batch of new content. Here's the good news: Ironclad is deep-sixing the current diplomacy system in favor of a deeper, more functional one. There's other minor changes as well, such as the inclusion of new terms of victory -- but peaceable relations seem to be the name of the game in expansion part deux.Here's the inescapable bad news: Due to the radical changes the second expansion will bring about, it'll be a while before its ready to launch. Considering the first expansion missed three of its tentative launch windows, Ironclad co-founder Blair Frasier was gunshy when it came to revealing the release date for the new expansion. In his own words: "It'll be done when it's done." Brilliant.
Trailer of 'Entrenchment' for Sins of a Solar Empire shoots lasers, flies around
We already told you about developer Stardock's upcoming expansion "Entrenchment" when it was announced last August. We told you about the delay that hit the expansion and pushed back its release window and then when it finally got dated (we were so proud!), only to get pushed back to February 25th (what a downer!). Well today, we've got no bad news for you. The brand new trailer you see above and the less than brand new screenshots you see below in the gallery are all we've got for you on the Impulse digital download service-exclusive expansion coming in a few weeks. We apologize for the squished format of the video but we get what we get and we don't get upset. %Gallery-34571%
Sins of a Solar Empire's Entrenchment DLC delayed until Feb. 25
We're "Vasari" to report that Sins of a Solar Empire's first "micro-expansion," Entrenchment, has fallen out of warp and suffered a delay until Feb. 25. Only available through Stardock's Impulse digital distribution service, the $10 add-on was recently given a Feb. 11 release date. Stardock's Brad Wardell stated the extra time will be used to incorporate more feedback from the open beta. The expansion was originally expected to release sometime late last year. Hopefully production of the next micro-expansion, featuring diplomacy upgrades, will go a lot smoother than Entrenchment's development. Gallery: Sins Of A Solar Empire: Entrenchment
Joystiq interview: Ironclad talks 4X strategy with Sins of a Solar Empire
PC strategy games come in a variety of flavors, from casual to hardcore, though it's those dubbed 4X that are the most exhausting, and arguably the most fun of the lot. The term 4X has some interesting roots, having first been coined in a magazine review for Microprose's classic Masters of Orion, the label is now used to call out an entire sub-genre of strategy games that exhibit four underlying goals: eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate. Traditionally, though not always, these games are played in turns rather than in real-time, though it's extremely rare to see a title subscribe to both schools of gameplay, something that Ironclad Games' upcoming 4X release Sins of a Solar Empire takes to heart. With the game set to be released on February 4 by GalCiv publisher Stardock, we decided to sit down and speak with Ironclad's producer and lead designer Blair Fraser to get some added insight into what appears to offer an unique take on this particular class of PC strategy.%Gallery-15134%
