Note: This procedure involves editing a game file; create a backup copy of the file before proceeding. Use a text editor to edit the various files in the '/Stardock Games/Sins of a Solar Empire/Galaxy' directory. A Sins of a Solar Empire 2 could feature enhanced mechanics that are more competitive with other games in the genre while still maintaining it’s more intimate control over your empire. Rebellion is still an excellent game, but it shows its age more each day. The best place to get cheats, codes, cheat codes, walkthrough, guide, FAQ, unlockables, tricks, and secrets for Sins Of A Solar Empire: Rebellion for PC.
Every few months I jump back into Sins of a Solar Empire for a dozen or so hours with a few buddies. Sometimes we are trying out a new mod, other times we just want to mess around with something engaging but mindless. The important fact here is that nearly 8 years after the release of Rebellion and a full 12 since its initial launch, Sins is still a fantastic game that draws thousands of players a month. The modding community is strong and the game is regularly on sale and drawing in new players. My question is, after all this time, where the hell is some kind of sequel?
Ironclad and Stardock should be commended for continuing to support the game all this time after release. It has received new DLC as recently as December of 2018 and has also been given an important engine overhaul to make the game easier to mod. Few games receive that level of long-term support, let alone a game that doesn’t have a long tail of microtransactions and the like. So why hasn’t Stardock or Ironclad talked about a sequel? While I can’t speak to total sales as I wasn’t able to gather those numbers, Rebellion sold better than the original Sins over its first 30 days, pushing over 100,000 units (digital). The long-term support would indicate to me that those impressive numbers continued and likely still do in some capacity to this day.
Given that the game was a critical success and, by all known accounts, financially successful, it would make sense to want to cash in on the game’s popularity with a fresh installment. Sins has been hinting at a great threat since its inception, the very threat that forced the Visari into TEC territory. They’re on the run from some cataclysmic force that they are increasingly allowing to catch up as they fight a battle for resources against the other two factions. It is a story that, despite dripping with campaign potential, has been relegated to game manuals, websites, and intro cinematics. Sins doesn’t have a single-player story mode, but I could see a full-blown sequel having a campaign as a major selling point in addition to its current 4X formula. Perhaps that is, in part, the issue. Building something l that feels fitting of a sequel is important and perhaps there just isn’t enough there to justify a new entry.
If it isn’t for the story, then the game engine should be more than enough reason to consider a fresh start. It goes without saying that computers have come a long way in the last eight to twelve years. Sins is optimized to run on Intel Pentium CPUs, the old dual-core style. Games haven’t been optimized for dual-core performance in years and with the multi-threaded CPUs of today, Sins is hardly the best running game of its kind. Even with the engine optimization it can only use up to 4GB of RAM and suffers from a few too many crashes when games get intense or, God forbid, you start ALT+Tabbing. These issues have never stopped me from enjoying the game as a whole, but the awkward crashes combined with a save dsync that can occur in multiplayer has left me with something of a bitter taste. A new engine optimized for modern specs would surely make a world of difference for players and modders to run wild.
There is also the fact that since the original release of Sins and it’s subsequent expansions, other games have come to market with more complete and compelling mechanics. Paradox’s Stellaris comes to mind as a very similar game, but one that features much deeper mechanics. It’s still a real-time 4X strategy game but with better diplomacy features, custom ship and fleet mechanics, more research options, and a better means of communicating info to the player. Sins has a level of simplicity that makes it a great jumping in point for players who are new to the genre, but those looking for more will eventually graduate to something more modern. A Sins of a Solar Empire 2 could feature enhanced mechanics that are more competitive with other games in the genre while still maintaining it’s more intimate control over your empire.
Rebellion is still an excellent game, but it shows its age more each day. I dream of the day where we get a sequel that fixes all of my issues and where I can spend hundreds of more hours. In a perfect world Sins 2 comes out with excellent optimization, runs like a dream, has better mod support, and more in-depth mechanics that reward players long-term. We could also see another Rebellion esque follow-up, which would be fine so long as it addresses some of those same quality of life changes. The fact of the matter is we need something new from Sins, something that breathes new life into what was once the premier real-time 4X franchise.
