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The time of Diplomacy is over. The length of the war and differing opinions on what should be done to bring the war to an end has led to a splintering of the groups involved. The controlling powers-that-be have depleted arsenals and seemed to have exhausted all efforts of diplomacy. Trapped in a stalemate, sub-factions have rebelled and broken off the main alignments. Rebellion is upon us.The exciting next chapter in the awesome Sins of a Solar Empire universe has arrived. A full-fledged expansion to the original, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion draws you even deeper into the galactic struggle for supremacy with appealing new factions, terrifyingly cool new ships of all sizes, enhanced lighting and particle effects for increased visual pleasure and all-new victory conditions."Rebellion is the first stand-alone expansion to the Sins of a Solar Empire universe," said Brian Clair, director of publishing for Stardock. "Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion will add many new ships, refresh the visuals and integrate Impulse::Reactor features to support achievements, multiplayer leagues and much more."In the original award-winning Sins of a Solar Empire, developed by Ironclad Games, you are the leader of one of three civilizations embroiled in a galactic war, fighting for survival of your entire race against relentless foes. Your success will depend on your ability to manage your empire and command your vast fleets of starships to victory. Players will colonize new worlds, develop extensive trade networks, conduct research, fortify their empires with powerful starbases and fleets of ships, plus control the galaxy using the unique diplomacy system that reacts dynamically to the players' actions. * New features of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion include: * New Factions: Players decide whether to become Loyalists or Rebels, which unlocks a unique new tech tree granting them new technologies and ship variants. * New Titan-class ships: Massive warships for each race that dwarf capital ships, these deadly new monsters are capable of wiping out entire enemy fleets single-handedly. * New Capital Ships: A new capital ship class arrives, giving players new strategic options. * New Corvette-class ships: Small, highly maneuverable light ships that are adept at a variety of tasks. * Loyalist and Rebel versions of some of the existing Sins' frigates and cruisers, each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses. * Updated lighting and particle effects for enhanced visuals. * New Victory Conditions to allow for more variety, differing strategies and shorter game sessions. * Additional capital ship ability levels, for greater strategic choice. * Impulse::Reactor support for chat, friends, achievements and more.For the complete Sins of a Solar Empire experience, please visit www.sinsofasolarempire.com.
Update Oh hey, I should probably mention a couple of other cool things about Rebellion: First, the $40 package will include a full copy of Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity. If you already own that, you get $10 off. Second, Rebellion will have full Steamworks integration for multiplayer and achievements -- a huge improvement over vanilla Sins' system. Because of Sins' rich modding community, Fraser says Ironclad is definitely interested in getting Steam Workshop set up, though there are certain technical hurdles that might prevent it from happening, so he wasn't able to make any promises during this demo.
Another preview. Steamworks. Fuck you, Stardock.
The Steam client will be required for Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion for initial install, updates and Internet multiplayer, regardless of purchase location. You can choose to play in offline mode via the Steam client after initial install, though ICO features and achievements will no longer be available.
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion Sets Sales RecordReleasing PC games at retail may no longer be necessary for independent developersSins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion has crushed the existing records at Stardock to become the fastest-selling title in the company's history. Since the release of Sins: Rebellion in mid June 2012, Stardock has sold over 100,000 units. The game is the first major Stardock game not released at retail, and instead, it was released initially via Steam, GameStop, and direct from Stardock. Additionally, Steam sell-through of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion in the first 30 days beat the combined sell-through of all physical retailers during the same period for the original Sins of a Solar Empire."When we combine our direct sales of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion with the sales from GameStop, we see unit sales similar to what we've seen previously when at retail. This contradicts our projection that sales via Steam would share the overall digital pie we'd previously seen," said Brad Wardell, president & CEO of Stardock. "Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion on Steam didn't cannibalize its GameStop or direct sales."Wardell continued, "Normally, when you get sales figures, the publisher is talking about overall sell-in, not sell-through. But that figure is largely irrelevant, other than sounding awesome because anything that doesn't sell at retail later gets marked down or returned."Stardock is in the process of re-evaluating its global retail strategy with future games. As a result of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion's success, The Political Machine 2012 and Elemental: Fallen Enchantress will be released digitally through Steam, GameStop and other digital distributors, skipping retail."I remember it was somewhat dramatic in the community when we announced that Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion wasn't going to be at retail," said Wardell. "The reason was because we have moved away from having set release dates, which are largely announced for to kickoff presales, or for shareholders and retail distributors. Now we don't plan a release date until the game has reached a quality level where we feel comfortable doing so."He continued, "Retailers require a six-month lead-in to reserve shelf space for indies, and that's if you can get in. By contrast, with Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, we didn't set a release date until after the public BETA feedback was universally positive."Reviews for Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion have been positive with the game averaging an overall 85 out of 100 and the title garnering several Editor's Choice awards.Stardock has two more titles scheduled for release in 2012 - The Political Machine 2012 on July 31st and Elemental: Fallen Enchantress with a release in the fall.
