New details have been revealed about the upcoming standalone expansion, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, which will expand the original game in several directions, thanks to a GameSpy interview with Stardock producer Brian Clair.
The biggest change will be the fact that each of the three factions, the TEC, the Advent, and the Vasari, will be divided further into Loyalist and Rebel factions. According to Clair, each subfaction has their own unique strategy and gameplay.
”The Vasari Loyalists… I don’t want to give too much away, but they’re offensive. They’ve gone back to their original roots, if you will, whereas the Vasari Rebels have decided to go down that diplomatic route. I don’t want to say they’re more of a peacenik faction, because that’s not true of any Vasari, but they want to get along as much as they can,” Clair gave as an example.
Each subfaction has a unique Titan ship, a sort of super-capital ship, that will reflect that subfaction’s theme. ”The TEC, of all three races, are probably the least technologically developed overall. Their Titans tend to be utilitarian, they’re very militaristic-looking, they’re not very elegant to look at. But they’re powerful, they get the job done, based on whether you’re a Rebel or a Loyalist,” explained Clair. ”The Advent are very culture-based, so their Titans have nice curves, not sharp angles, and they use their psionic abilities to the utmost. “
How powerful are Titans? Clair warned, ”Well, if it’s a low-level Titan, bring a fleet, or try to get your upgraded starbase. If it’s a Titan that’s already gone up a few levels, you’re probably going to want to bring your own Titan to the party.”
While Titans are expensive and require a lot of research, players will still be able to get them fairly early in the game, because ”we wanted to be able to give players this pretty hardcore ship sooner rather than later. We’re trying to balance it in that way” In other words, Titans require a lot of care to make them truly badass. ”Early on it’s still very, very good, but the longer you can keep it around, level it up and improve it, the nastier it gets,” Clair stated.
Not to be overlooked, Clair also described the new Corvette class. ”They’re meant to be harassment ships,” he described, ”They’re quick, they’re meant to be used flexibly against a wide variety of targets. They’re there to harass the enemy, not to specifically counter any one type of craft.”
The game will also have a few new game modes, including two multiplayer modes intended to speed up the game. Last Homeworld Standing basically sets it up that if you lose your home planet, you lose. Last Flagship Standing is the same type of game, only with the player’s capital ship instead of homeworld. A new victory condition for the single player mode is the Science victory, in which the player wins if they research 50 techs then engage in a long, arduous tech research to win the game.
Clair also almost stated that Sins of a Solar Empire 2 was in the works, when he described Rebellion as a midway point between the original game and a full-blown sequel. Stardock clarified that Clair was only referring to a hypothetical sequel - but one can dream.