Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

Well, I think the Vasari are supposed to be better in a one on one setup. So, the fact that the other guys use We Have Reserves is hardly a point against them. (And spinal mount weapons go on Fixed Forward-Facing Weapon.)

I think the fact that a TEC and Vasari fleet, both of relatively similar size, can stand toe-to-toe if set up properly is less to do with the story and more to do with game balance.

And, meh, the Kodiak with gauss guns makes no sense. It probably should have more guns, though. I was surprised that the Advent structure-killer uses plasma, though, rather than beam cannons.

I typically play Advent, honestly. There's something to be said about coming up to a predominantly frigate-based enemy fleet and wiping the floor with it in a single shot via a Malice-Cleansing Brilliance OHKO combo.

Since the Kodiak was originally an asteroid smasher, a large, spinal main weapon, possibly bolstered by high power autocannons makes perfect sense for the role, rather than the 3 autocannons it already has. Likewise, the other heavy cruisers just don't seem suitably "heavy" for the title.

Still odd that an armed and armoured passenger liner (the Akkan) can stand up to an actual battleship as well as it can. Also, I've more than once wished I could fire a Marza's main guns at spaceborne enemies. Or the Novalith Cannon at a starbase. I mean, it's not like the starbase is going anywhere.

Is there any real use for the Advent superweapon? I've never seen it accomplish terribly much that an overwhelming number of broadcast centres won't already do.

Sync it with their culture bonus...planet got hit by it counted as being in your influence area...and yes, that does mean shield damage reduction bonus even deep inside enemy territory...

edited 2nd Jan '12 2:38:10 AM by onyhow

But the planets I invade already usually count as such anyway, since after a while, most of my logistics structures are broadcast centres, even moreso now that there are starbases that can build frigates for me. Have a few of those in otherwise useless systems combined with an industrial planet with, say for frigate factories, and you' never be hurting for ships again, and you can place production facilities near the front line if you have to.

The Advent superweapon is all kinds of bullshit. I often end up building one just to use the "your culture lets you see shit" bonus. That's sad.

In any case, I got Diplomacy, and I noticed that strangely the AI seems more aggressive. Usually they don't level my planets until about 20 minutes in while I'm still trying to expand. I didn't even get to 12 minutes this time before the bastards had emptied one of my asteroid bases. Then again, I did save the planet itself, and I was playing Advent after a string of TEC games.

I also saw the concept art for Rebellion, and I must say, I think a shit a brick.

The TEC stuff, which has been fully rendered, is awesome.

This (couldn't get the link to work):

Is the first titan. I was unimpressed at it until I realized that little thing next to it is a Kol Battleship.

I'm betting it's some kind of ubercarrier, because it has lots of smallish turrets and there's a picture of it next to strike craft.

And then there's... this.

I didn't get it at first, really...

...then I saw the opening at the end and realized to my utter delight that it's a goddamn space cannon.

Everything the Marza should've been, baby.

Edit: the other factions' new stuff doesn't really seem like it matches their old designs, though. I mean, it's like playing Diplomacy: the Advent envoy (I haven't seen the Vasari one yet) doesn't even look like it belongs to the Advent...

edited 2nd Jan '12 7:21:32 AM by Flyboy

The latest video they posted on Steam shows the Advent's new titan class warships, and they certainly aren't the most practical looking. I'm guessing the religious elements in the Advent government are gaining enough control to influence even military designs. Haven't seen much of the Vasari's stuff yet though, only a what looks like a giant B-2 stealth bomber.

Video Link Here

edited 7th Apr '12 9:43:16 AM by SgtRicko

I can't wait till this comes out. I loved the first game.

Something in that Steam trailer sounds very ominous, though...What warning are they talking about?

I'm guessing that the threat that destroyed the Vasari empire will finally appear...

...In the NEXT expansion pack.

"I can't wait till this comes out. I loved the first game."

If you preorder it now, you can immediately join the current beta automatically.

Bump:

IT'S OUT! 8D

Heh. You guys thought TEC starbases were hard to kill before? TEC Loyalists can research a tech that lets them place a second starbase in a gravity well (for stars, that's a fifth starbase). Ouchie, right?

And what's worse than the Vasari's mobile starbases? The Vasari Rebel's phase jump capable starbases. Yeah, that's right, they're not content to only chase you around a gravity well anymore.

Let's see... All 3 factions get a new capital ship each, every sub-faction gets access to a corvette with a special ability (what the ability is depends on the sub-faction), 6 new techs for each sub-faction... Oh yeah, and the aforementioned titans.

That a good summery of what's new?

More or less.

The TEC titans have me most excited to be honest. I think I'll go Rebel at first and kill enemies with my giant flying phallic symbol.

Yeah, the TEC Rebel Titan is powerful, but the vast majority of it's weapons are oriented in a forward direction and it's defenses are somewhat weak. It's still capable of killing a weaker starbase on it's own and still being in good enough shape to kill a cap ship or two.

The TEC Loyalist Titan, on the other hand, is better able to withstand damage and has better firing arcs for it's guns; on the other hand, it's main guns are the same beam lasers that Kol battleships and TEC starbases get and it's overall firepower is less.

(Incidentally, this also shows off the differing philosophies of the TEC sub-factions: The Rebels are "ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK" and the Loyalists are "let them come to us".)

Does the TEC finally gain a tech that lets them boost the effectiveness of their beam weapons?

The big appeal of the Loyalists to me is that I do like the idea of extra starbases (part of one of my favourite plans for backstabbing a computer ally, incidentally). And their Titan makes me want to order ramming speed.

I wish the wiki had the Vasari titan pictures up and images of the Rebel and Loyalist versions of the ships that get different versions. The Advent titans don't really do anything for me, though.

edited 15th Jun '12 7:15:28 PM by Balmung

I like the look of the Advent Titans, actually. Really elegant and cool looking.

Unless it was a new addition for Rebellion, I'm pretty sure the TEC's had a tech to increase the damage of their beams for a while now... Yeah, it's "Dynamic Frequencies" and then "Amplified Beam Output"; research both levels in both techs for a 20% damage boost to beams.

Now, if you're asking if there's something new other than a damage boost... No. One of the Loyalist techs does give a further damage increase to all your weapons when fighting in friendly gravity wells, however.

edited 15th Jun '12 9:54:16 PM by Hunter1

So. Anyone care to comment on how's the game for him/her so far? I liked the original Sins, and may put some money on that one.

It's still Sins, just with more stuff. The new sub-factions just allow you to further match playstyles, and force you to make some hard choices in what you want. The new capital ships fill a niche in the existing capital lineups, and the corvettes provide some nice small-scale coverage (they can be ordered to attack strike craft) and their abilities nicely complement a fleet.

And the titans... Those are the ships you build a fleet around, but losing one is a MAJOR blow to you, and a significant victory for your foes (conversely, killing a titan is a big win for you and a big loss for whoever's titan you killed). But then again, we're talking about a ship that costs 2 capital crew, 150 supplies, 9500 credits, 1200 metal, 750 crystal and takes around 400 seconds to build... and all that is just what it takes to hit the "build titan" button! The Titan Foundry takes about 1 minute to build, with resource costs of 2000 credits, 500 metal, 200 crystal, and 12 tactical slots, and I'm still ignoring the 4 techs it takes to build a titan.

I could have sworn that the TEC only had techs for lasers, missiles, autocannons, and gauss weapons, but not the beams (which are only on the Kol in vanilla).

...I'd launch Trinity in vanilla mode to check your claim, but Steam's giving me an error, and Windows is estimating it will be another 8 minutes until all the files in the steam folder (and subfolders) have their Read-Only status removed, and after that I'll verify Trinity. So, I should be able to check if the Beam techs were in the base game soon...

EDIT: And Windows' time estimates are as sterling as ever, now it's telling me there's 17 minutes to go...

edited 16th Jun '12 12:50:22 AM by Hunter1

So there's still no campaign mode?

Also damn...I got Trinity on Impulse...wish the license can be transfered...

And Rebellion is fully standalone right? You don't need anything from Trinity? Still, if you have Trinity will there be any bonus or something?

If you have Trinity, you get a discount.

edited 16th Jun '12 12:51:07 AM by Balmung

But Trinity is only on Steam right? Damn, got box copy, which is only on Impulse...