Sins of a Solar Empire beta by “end of March,” final version by “end of summer”

Strategy continues to be a fertile ground for new ideas and new products. At least in this case, it’s not another Command & Conquer or a Supreme Commander. Sins of a Solar Empire may sound like an entire star system facing mass judgment at the hands of a rather unkind deity, but it’s a space RTS that follows the heritage of Galactic Civilizations and, earlier than that, Homeworld.

A well-trod path for Stardock and Ironclad Games; Stardock’s responsible for publishing Galactic Civilization, while some people from Ironclad have worked on Homeworld: Cataclysm.

And, as it promises both real-time tactical and strategic gameplay, nearly like Supreme Commander, it’s tempting to call Sins as an “all of the games we just mentioned” title. So says Frogboy of the Sins official forums, but instead of playing “game + game” games, why not take his guided tour of the Sins of the Solar Empire beta, due end of March?

A rather longish post details almost everything one would need to know to play the game, but it gives an impressive overview of the power Sins packs into the game box. Starting, of course, with:

• Zooming from a galactic-wide view to the intimacy of ship-to-ship battle, all in real time, all in 3-D (Supreme Commander in space).
• Strong AI that manages to take care of as much micromanagement as possible, although player who would want to micro can micro to their heart’s content. But beware the lessons of Homeworld: those who micro in space, have hell to pay. And what a hell micro can be.
• And despite all this and more, the developers promise the game will be playable on low-end PCs, too. They never did say how low-end a PC can get to respectably play the game, though.

A final build of Sins is expected by the end of summer, in time for its expected release date of August of this year. The Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, and Archer in us can’t wait. “To boldly go where no one has gone before” ultimately turns into a too-leisurely pleasure cruise, and it would be said for all the RTS action to be locked planet-side.

Strategy continues to be a fertile ground for new ideas and new products. At least in this case, it’s not another Command & Conquer or a Supreme Commander. Sins of a Solar Empire may sound like an entire star system facing mass judgment at the hands of a rather unkind deity, but it’s a space RTS that follows the heritage of Galactic Civilizations and, earlier than that, Homeworld.

A well-trod path for Stardock and Ironclad Games; Stardock’s responsible for publishing Galactic Civilization, while some people from Ironclad have worked on Homeworld: Cataclysm.

And, as it promises both real-time tactical and strategic gameplay, nearly like Supreme Commander, it’s tempting to call Sins as an “all of the games we just mentioned” title. So says Frogboy of the Sins official forums, but instead of playing “game + game” games, why not take his guided tour of the Sins of the Solar Empire beta, due end of March?

A rather longish post details almost everything one would need to know to play the game, but it gives an impressive overview of the power Sins packs into the game box. Starting, of course, with:

• Zooming from a galactic-wide view to the intimacy of ship-to-ship battle, all in real time, all in 3-D (Supreme Commander in space).
• Strong AI that manages to take care of as much micromanagement as possible, although player who would want to micro can micro to their heart’s content. But beware the lessons of Homeworld: those who micro in space, have hell to pay. And what a hell micro can be.
• And despite all this and more, the developers promise the game will be playable on low-end PCs, too. They never did say how low-end a PC can get to respectably play the game, though.

A final build of Sins is expected by the end of summer, in time for its expected release date of August of this year. The Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, and Archer in us can’t wait. “To boldly go where no one has gone before” ultimately turns into a too-leisurely pleasure cruise, and it would be said for all the RTS action to be locked planet-side.