Sins of a Solar Empire is a 4X-strategy game like the Civilization Series but instead of being turn-based, everything happens in real-time.

Set in space, three factions compete over the control of the star clusters. The first one is the Trader Emergency Coalition (TEC) is a more industrial and somewhat traditional faction. The Advents are instead one collective of believers also known as the Unity. They prefer to use PsiTech over everything else. The last group is the Vasari Empire. The Empire was nearly destroyed 10.000 years ago and now prepares his comeback with brutal force and highly developed military vessels.

But also all the faction are all very different in look and feel, the basic gameplay is always the same. You start with a lonely planet and start to expand your control. To do so you you need to gather the resources Metal and Crystal from nearby asteroids. Build up logistic and tactical structures like a Trade Port which allows you to establish lucrative trade routes between worlds and a Frigate Factory where you can construct frigates and cruisers. Also needed are Labs which then allow you to research advanced technologies from your technology trees.

You also get access to capital ships which are the heart of your fleet. They are not only strong and powerful but also advance in rank and harbor small fighters and/or bombers which help you in battle. At each rank the ship gains a talent point which can be invested in new abilities. One of the Advent capital ships for example can learn to distribute any special abilities an enemy vessel has.

If you need money or any other resource very fast, you can also go and trade directly at the black market. Which is also the home of the fourth faction in this fight: the pirates. They not only have a well defended base of operations in every star cluster but they also launch raids on the players regularly. But since they are pirates, you can bribe them to attack your enemies.

Also the game features a rather detailed background story, there's no single player campaign. The single player only consists of skirmish matches against the CPU. The real heart of the game is instead the multiplayer mode which runs over the central server called Ironclad Online. There you can play against up to 10 other players and even save the matches in-between which is necessary because even a small round can take several hours to complete.

[edit description]

Alternate Titles

"Закат Солнечной Империи" -- Russian title

[add alternate title]

Part of the Following Group

4X games

Merchant	Title
	Sins of a Solar Empire
	Sins of a Solar Empire
Please select your country: Not an American user?

User Reviews

Sins is a unique and innovative RTS/4x hybrid that combines the best elements of both genres into a great game.

Droog (467)

[review game]

The Press Says

Worth Playing	Mar 28, 2008	9.2 out of 10	92
Games Radar	Feb 08, 2008	9 out of 10	90
Vgames	Apr 03, 2008	90 out of 100	90
Game Informer Magazine	Apr, 2008	9 out of 10	90
Gamer.nl	Jul 14, 2008	9 out of 10	90
DarkZero	Jun 27, 2008	9 out of 10	90
GameCell UK	Jul, 2008	9 out of 10	90
IGN	Feb 15, 2008	8.9 out of 10	89
1UP	Feb 11, 2008	8.5 out of 10	85
Gamezoom	Aug 03, 2008	83 out of 100	83