sins-of-a-solar-empire posts

Ironclad Games' next micro-expansion for their hit space-based RTS game Sins of a Solar Empire, titled Diplomacy, is about to begin its first beta test. A note on the game's official web site has announced that the first beta release of Diplomacy will begin sometime on Monday. While the beta won't be feature complete nor "fun" to actually play (as per publisher Stardock's warning about their beta tests) it will go live for anyone who has pre-ordered the $9.99 expansion.

As we reported during PAX 2009, this will be the final micro-expansion for Sins of a Solar Empire with the final version to be released sometime this spring. Plans for a third micro-expansion have been canceled but it looks like Ironclad and Stardock have major future plans for the game franchise.

Fans of Ironclad Games' 2008 space strategy title Sins of a Solar Empire now have a new update to download. The 1.18 patch for the game is now available via Stardock's Impulse client. There's also a 1.04 patch update for the game's 2009 micro-expansion Sins of a Solar Empire Entrenchment.

You can check out the massive change log for the patches at the game's official message boards. The patch mostly has a number of balance changes for the game's units and many of the changes have come at the request of the game's fans. As we reported earlier this year a second and final micro-expansion, Diplomacy, will be released in 2010.

The wait to get the second micro-expansion for Sins of a Solar Empire got closer this week when Stardock announced that they were taking pre-orders for Diplomacy via Impulse. The $9.99 expansion is expected to be officially released sometime in 2010 but its likely that anyone who pre-orders the expansion will be able to get into the game's beta test beforehand.

As Big Download reported earlier this month, Diplomacy will in fact be the last of the micro-expansion for the game. Stardock and developer Ironclad Games have a lot of ideas on how to continue and expand on Sins of a Solar Empire but those plans won't fit into a third micro-expansion. Details on those new plans have yet to be revealed.

Fans of the space strategy game Sins of a Solar Empire might remember that around this time last year developer Ironclad Games and publisher Stardock announced plans for three micro-expansions for the game to be available via digital download for $9.99 each. The first such micro-expansion, Entrenchment, was released last spring and the second, Diplomacy, is due out in spring 2010. But what about the third micro-expansion?

Today at PAX 2009, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell announced that plans for the third micro-expansion for the game have changed. Why? According to Wardell, Ironclad and Stardock have so many things they want add and improve to the game that putting all of them into a third $9.99 downloadable micro-expansion would simply not work. So what does that mean? Will there be a larger commerical expansion to the original game? Perhaps even a full-fledged sequel? Wardell admitted to nothing today but did say that fans of the original game should know that the future of the series is looking good.

Stardock's Impulse game download service is taking the Labor Day holiday to extremes as it puts a number of its titles on sale beginning today and running through the weekend. Those sales inlcude Stardock's own titles such as Sins of a Solar Empire and Demigod who have had their prices cut to just $20 each for the sale.

Other games on sale include CDV's action-RPG Sacred 2 and Ubisoft's historical strategy-sim game Dawn of Discovery. Both have had their prices cut down 50 percent to just $20 for the duration of the sale. World of Goo has also had its priced reduced; it's just $9.99 for the sale.

Gamespot has a short preview of Sins of a Solar Empire: Diplomacy, giving more info on the second micro-expansion to the space strategy game from Ironclad Games and Stardock. The expansion will add a diplomatic tech tree to the game and will allow players to form treaties with other alien races.

The expansion will go into beta later this year and will be officially released sometime in the winter of 2010. The price for the second mini-expansion will be the same as the first, $9.99. The Gamespot article also has a new preview of Stardock's next major title Elemental, which is due out in 2010 as well.

The Penny Arcade Expo is usually considered to be a "fan" event; it's not supposed to be a place where stuff is officially revealed for the first time like E3. That may be changing, however. In a new update on the Impulse web site, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell has revealed that they will be showing off a new product at the show.

In addition to showing off Demigod, their most recently published game (with Gas Powered Games) and their own upcoming fantasy strategy game Elemental, he stated they will also be showing "Sins of a Solar Empire: Diplomacy" at their PAX 2009 booth. This is likely the second of three planned downloadable mini-expansions for the hit space strategy game from developer Ironclad Games (the first, Entrenchment, which focused on defensive units, was released earlier this year).

Wardell says they will also be showing "lots of other cool stuff" at their PAX booth......hmmmmmmm....

Stardock is a game developer with titles like Galactic Civilizations II and the upcoming Elemental, a publisher of third party titles like Sins of a Solar Empire and Demigod and a digital distributor of games via their Impulse service. Now the company is on a hiring spree and our sister site Joystiq has posted word that in so doing the company is giving hints about their upcoming projects.

Speaking to Stardock CEO Brad Wardell, they found out they are hiring experienced game developers to work on a "turn based fantasy strategy game" along with a "real-time space strategy game" and a "turn-based space strategy game". They are also looking for people to work on a "party-based, single player, role playing game" and a "real-time land-based strategy game". Of course you will need to relocate to Stardock's offices in Michigan but if that appeals to you email jobs@stardock.com for more info.

The July 4 weekend is just a few days away and it looks like some downloadable PC game sites are getting a head-start on offering deals from their library of titles. Impulse has put several of their games on sale for the holiday period including a Sins of the Solar Empire bundle (with the original space strategy game and its mini-expansion Entrenchment) for $29.99. It has also put all of the Unreal franchise games on sale for 25 percent off.


Meanwhile Strategy First has put all of their games on sale for 50 percent off at their online store. This includes their "Take No Prisoners" bundle which has a whopping 20 games. During the sale you can get the bundle for a mere $34.99. The sale lasts until July 12.

Update: GamersGate has annouced they will put one game on sale on their site every day in July for at least 50 percent off. Here is the list of games for the first week:

July 1: Buccaneer: The Pursuit of Infamy - 75 percent
July 2: X-Com Complete - 50 percent
July 3: Atlantis Collection - 50 percent
July 4: Men of War - 60 percent
July 5: Arena Wars Reloaded - 50 percent
July 6: Painkiller Universe - 50 percent
July 7: Civilization IV: Colonization - 50 percent

Ironclad Games hasn't forgotten about their 2008 space-based RTS game Sins of A Solar Empire. Today folks who own the registered versions of that game and the more recent expansion pack Entrenchment can now download and install new patches via the Impulse client from Stardock.

The patch (1.17 for the original Sins and 1.03 for Entrenchment) contain some new unit balance adjustments along with some other bug fixes and changes. Ironclad is reportedly working on the second expansion pack for Sins of a Solar Empire but so far they have declined to give any specific details other than it will deal with the diplomatic features in the game.