Can't believe I never wrote a review for this till now. Split into played original/new sections.

If you played the original Sins of a Solar Empire, this feels like another addon. Buffed graphics, addition of Corvettes (rapid raiders who will tear up frigates and long range frigates) and Titans (yes, basically what that suggests - will take on several capital ships no problem). Couple of new techs based off your Loyal/Rebel alignment, making for somewhat different play styles, especially involving diplomacy. Ever wanted 2 TEC starbases in the same gravity well without mods? Play TEC Loyalists. Wanna stripmine planets into dead asteroids like a proper Vasari? Loyalists. Care to set fire to entire worlds with righteous Advent hate? Loyalists again. Good for immersion. Would not recommend DLCs unless you're feeling rich. 5 bucks is a bit much to pay for a couple of new planet types and the ability to specialize a planet in commerce or industry. Same applies to the Stellar Phenomena DLC. It adds to the immersion and would recommend if they were like $1 each, but 5's a bit much for so little content. Definetly not on the scale of Entrechment/Diplomacy.

New to the series? It's a RTS. Not a micro management game though, in fact the game promotes macro managing - the lower the shields on a ship, the higher the damage mitigation. No mass firepower orders here! Well, capital ships excepted, I prefer to blow those up before letting the AI handle the rest. Typical 4x Space RTS - start with a homeworld, colonize more, build ships, blow up enemies, make friends - and backstab them if you feel like it. Each side is balanced properly with no glaring advantage beyond numbers. That's not to say you can just spam nothing but heavy cruisers; proper fleet composition is key in this game series. Planetary infrastructure is basically just upgrading its capabilities - no GalCiv construction here.

Would I recommend it? Sure, it was a good waste of just under 100 hours while I grabbed all the achivements. Be warned that it's basically nothing but skirmish gameplay - no campaign.

Can't believe I never wrote a review for this till now. Split into played original/new sections. If you played the original Sins of a Solar Empire, this feels like another addon. Buffed graphics, addition of Corvettes (rapid raiders who will tear up frigates and long range frigates) and Titans (yes, basically what that suggests - will take on several capital ships no problem). Couple of new techs based off your Loyal/Rebel alignment, making for somewhat different play styles, especially involving diplomacy. Ever wanted 2 TEC starbases in the same gravity well without mods? Play TEC Loyalists. Wanna stripmine planets into dead asteroids like a proper Vasari? Loyalists. Care to set fire to entire worlds with righteous Advent hate? Loyalists again. Good for immersion. Would not recommend DLCs unless you're feeling rich. 5 bucks is a bit much to pay for a couple of new planet types and the ability to specialize a planet in commerce or industry. Same applies to the Stellar Phenomena DLC. It adds to the immersion and would recommend if they were like $1 each, but 5's a bit much for so little content. Definetly not on the scale of Entrechment/Diplomacy. New to the series? It's a RTS. Not a micro management game though, in fact the game promotes macro managing - the lower the shields on a ship, the higher the damage mitigation. No mass firepower orders here! Well, capital ships excepted, I prefer to blow those up before letting the AI handle the rest. Typical 4x Space RTS - start with a homeworld, colonize more, build ships, blow up enemies, make friends - and backstab them if you feel like it. Each side is balanced properly with no glaring advantage beyond numbers. That's not to say you can just spam nothing but heavy cruisers; proper fleet composition is key in this game series. Planetary infrastructure is basically just upgrading its capabilities - no GalCiv construction here. Would I recommend it? Sure, it was a good waste of just under 100 hours while I grabbed all the achivements. Be warned that it's basically nothing but skirmish gameplay - no campaign.