Sins of a Solar Empire Collectors Edition

by Stardock

Product Features

• Take control of one of three space-faring races as you work to establish your dominance of the galaxy in Sins of a Solar Empire. Through a combination of diplomacy, economic savvy, the spread of culture and of course sheer brute force and victory on the battlefield you will establish order over your corner of the galaxy.
• Explore the Epic Scale of a Dynamic Galaxy - Explore and conquer neighboring planets and distant solar systems in a massively scaled, fully 3D galaxy featuring planets, clusters of asteroids, rare comets and radiant stars
• Customize and Improve Powerful Units - As battle-hardened capital ships advance in level, their core offensive and defensive systems are improved and their unique abilities are unlocked. Try out the devastating Raze Planet, the tactical Clairvoyance and the hull ravaging Phase Missile Swarm.
• Take on Multiple Roles - Transition between the roles of emperor and fleet commander as you zoom-in seamlessly to direct a crucial battle while managing the rest of your empire effortlessly on the same screen
• Extensive Diplomatic and Economic Strategies - Diplomatic and economic strategies can exercise a variety of options including forging and breaking alliances, trading resources, placing bounties on backstabbing ex-allies and over-powered tyrants, blockading enemy planets, establishing trade routes and manipulating the commodities market

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00139WXCU
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: February 4, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,252 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com

Ten millennia have passed since you and the few survivors of the once mighty Vasari Empire fled from an unknown threat that all but exterminated your kind. You now find yourself at the fringe of the galaxy in a sector occupied by a pathetically primitive species - one obsessed with trade and lacking any central organization or military technology. Calling themselves the Trader Emergency Coalition, they would have been ideal slaves in the glorious days of the past, but time is of the essence. Use your mastery of phase-space manipulation, gravity and nanotechnology to quickly eliminate any local resistance and acquire the necessary resources to fuel the next segment of your continuing exodus.

Features:

• The Collector's Edition includes the following bonus items: a foldout tech-tree poster, artwork posters, a hotkey card, and a music CD.
• Take command of 1 of 3 space-faring races as you work to establish domination of the galaxy.
• Use diplomacy, economic skill, cultural influence, and sheer military might to establish order.
• Explore and conquer neighboring planets and distant solar systems in a massively scaled, fully 3D galaxy.
• Transition between the roles of emperor and fleet commander; customize and improve powerful units.
• Extensive diplomatic and economic strategies can exercise a variety of options.

Product Description

Sins of a Solar Empire is an innovative real-time strategy game featuring seamless transition between epic strategy and tactical combat modes, initiating what is already becoming known as the RT4X sub-genre. A galaxy of intriguing aliens, powerful starships, and colossal planets comes to life with stunning 3D graphics, unparalleled sense of scale, and a cinematic musical score. Explore and conquer nearby planets and distant solar systems by applying brute force, cunning strategy, elegant diplomacy, economic mastery, and researched technology.
In the future, the survival of humanity stands on the edge of utter ruin as three powerful factions vie for control of the galaxy. Take command of one of three space-faring races as you work to establish your domination of the galaxy in Sins of a Solar Empire.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IN SPACE NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU END YOUR TURN..., February 9, 2008

By 

NeuroSplicer (Freeside, in geosynchronous orbit) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Sins of a Solar Empire Collectors Edition (Video Game)

This is an EXCELLENT game that takes the galaxy civilization games a clear step further. Open-ended like a new science-fiction world and played as a seat-of-your-pants RTS game, this is a very intelligent hybrid that I greatly enjoyed.

In effect, SINS is a successful blend of the wonderful GALACTIC CIVILIZATIONS and HOMEWORLD series, with a sprinkling of TOTAL WAR for good measure. This is NOT a turn-based civilization game, so expect a much faster pace. What this means is that while it maintains the characteristics of classic turn-based civilization games (exploration, expansion, exploitation and extermination), by relieving from the micromanagement tedium, it allows for an intense RealTime Strategy experience. Now, this probably may not appeal to turn-based purists, but I would advise an open mind: this is a good game.

This concept-blending is new, so expect a slow learning curve - it took me a number of ...false-starts to get the hang of it: after all, it plays like an RTS and (although simplified) it still has enough of turn-based features that need to be taken care of. The interface is simplified and informative at the same time, with info trees sliding out only when needed.

There are three different factions to choose from (financiers, technologists and psitecs) - yet, their differences focus mainly on research tree-branching and ship designs. What I did not like was that the ships of all three factions are effectively the same and their differences are only skin-deep. What I would have liked to find (and was disappointed to the point of withholding the 5th star for fun) was ship design and building! Remember how much fun was to design our own spaceships (from freighters to battleships) in GALACTIC CIVILIZATIONS II? Well, no such luck here. Let's hope they keep it in mind when the patch gets prepared.

Quick and constant exploration is not only encouraged by a necessity if one wants to survive - let alone win. Spaceships built within a solar system cannot travel beyond it, unless using "wormhole"-like singularities. This adds to realism but can stretch your finances to their breaking point - since only locally built ships can be used. Moreover, it makes really hard to locate the strategic points to either built defenses or focus an attack. The AI will constantly be bypassing your planning like the Maginot line - and leave you with such a French feeling...

The graphics (of all of backgrounds, planets and units) are very nicely done. I really liked the multiple afterburners tracing through space as a spaceship squadron was dopplering past my screen...And less-than-cutting-edge PC owners rejoice: even 4-5 years old systems can handle this game like a breeze!
What I truly appreciated was the realistic scale of things. Galaxies are much larger than star systems, which in turn are much larger than planets, which in turn are much larger than space stations...than spaceships and so on. How is this achieved? Excellent zooming!
SUPREME COMMANDER was the first game to introduce strategic zoom; however, SINS implements it much better and shows how it should had been done: from a galaxy to a single planet and to a single spaceship, zooming in or out firmly maintains the effectiveness of battle controls by grouping and simplifying the info-tiles as one zooms out. In SupCom, we had to chose between either discerning the units or moving ...info-tiles around the battlefield - not a bad first attempt, mind you. In SINS, one almost never looses perspective: ongoing battles, critical hotspots, or colony revolts are all easily identifiable in real-time.

On another note, SINS OF A SOLAR EMPIRE is a STARDOCK release which, yes, means their specialized installation utility. Nevertheless, this game hides no DRM or other intrusive security idiocy. Since trust and respect between a game publisher and its customers is a two-way street (and STARDOCK was willing to prove its friendship first), SINS deserves our support.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sins of a Solar Empire rocks my block off, March 25, 2008

By 

InfaredMantis "Maniacal Mechanical Otaku" (Pierce County, WA, USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Sins of a Solar Empire Collectors Edition (Video Game)

I was originnaly turned on to this genre by the space RTS games Homeworld, Homeworld 2 and Homeworld: Cataclysm. Playing Homeworld over and over again got progressively less challenging, because every time I played the campaign mode, I knew where the enemies were and how many of them to expect.

Sins does not feature a campaign mode, which I only missed at first, but was completely blown away by the gaming experience sans story. Battles and development happen in real time but not too quickly. The battle arena can either be an itsy-bitsy one or two star system or a just massive galaxy of ten or twenty stars. I have been looking, waiting, pining for a this game, having followed development on the games' forums for a year or so before release. I was more than pleased with this evolution of the genre. In my wunderlust for a space rts, I had purchased and played the game Sword of the Stars, but was dissapointed in the turn based method of play.

The end-of-the-day reason why I play these games is for the capitol ships. I enjoy sending a small group of frigates into an enemy base where I am grossly outnumbered, attack, retreat to the jump line with the enemy units in hot pursuit, and then have, oh say, six or so Capitol ships jump in and mop up. It makes me giggle.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good 4X space RTS game..., April 5, 2008

By 

Grieger (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sins of a Solar Empire Collectors Edition (Video Game)

This game is pretty fun. I'm a micromanagement type of player so I couldn't say I enjoyed every aspect of this game. But, for someone looking for a good looking, 4X space RTS, who doesn't care for too much detail/micromanagement, this is the game for you.

There are a wide variety of scenarios and maps to let you play just about any type of game you want. When I say wide, I mean it. Loads of maps.

Ship building is simpler than other games in that you get a couple of starting ship types and then research to gain the others (there are 5-6 frigate class ships, then corsairs). You start with a capital ship and need to research the ability to expand your fleet and the number of capital ships you can have. Other research upgrades your fleet's abilities while your capital ships level up with experience giving you a sort of mini-RPG game as your capital ships gain new abilities.

Resource management is simplified down to two resources (not including money). Crystal and Metal are mined from asteroids in the various systems you control. You can also trade them on the black market in case you have a surplus. Each planet produces taxes and you have to...wait for it...research the ability to colonize harsher worlds like arctic and volcanic worlds (not sure how you colonize a volcanic world but hey, it's science FICTION).

The visuals in the game are pretty nice (the trailers are part of the reason I was drawn to this game). You can scroll down to the individual ships and watch them as they fight your opponents ships. They aren't crazy detailed at the highest zoom, which is unfortunate, but then again, you can smoothly go from close up to galactic view with a quick scroll so, I guess there's some give and take.

The AI, even on easy, has a tendency to do a better job of building out crazy fleets...I guess they know how to play the game better than I could so I must be missing something. :)

Diplomacy is very simplistic. It has an interesting twist but it's one sided in a way. You can propose treaties and such but that's about it. They can offer you bounties if you accomplish something or if you do something for them (like give them resources). I'd have liked to been able to offer the same sort of bounties they offered and/or have the ability to bundle an offer with a request (sort of like Civ 4).

All in all, it's a good game to grab if you're into this genre. I've played a number of games like this over the years and each one has had good things and bad things (no one ever really gets it "right" for me anyways).

The good here include the graphics/visuals, variety of maps, general simplicity of gameplay (in that it allows you to oversee your empire without having to spend too much time worrying about system 22939 in the middle of nowhere), ship RPG gaming, and simple resource management.

The bad here are the simplicity of features that I'd think some people would like complex like diplomacy, ship designs/abilities and the like and some confusion in the research tree (I needed to research some ability to allow myself to expand my fleet or something for one of the non-human races and I could not find the ability ANYWHERE in the research tree!).