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Sins of a Solar Empire v1.03 preview

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Sins of a Solar Empire v1.03 preview

A sneak peek!

from Sins Forums

Sins of a Solar Empire is the highest rated new PC game of 2008 as well as the best selling new PC game of 2008 but we're not resting on our laurels. 

Even now, version 1.03 of Sins of a Solar Empire is in internal beta. Stardock and Ironclad are working through the features and testing the new updates based on player feedback.  Once that's done we'll get a demo version out and then move on to 1.04.

Here are some of the new features going into v1.03:

1) Significantly updated computer AI.  The AI is substantially better than in the current game. We're also evaluating whether to put in a difficulty level that gives the AI added bonuses since, in any RTS, a top human player will always be able to out think a computer AI. 

2) LOTS of new game setup options including:

+ Pirates or no pirates in a given game
+ Fleet size
+ Income rate speed
+ Build Speed
+ Ship speed
+ Research Speed
+ Culture Speed

3) The open market for buying and selling of resources has been altered so that there are random fluctuations in pricing and can crash or boom based on player behavior.

4) Imrpoved group phase jumping for large fleets of ships.

5) AI will surrender if situation is hopeless rather than drag the game out.

6) AI players will replace humans in multiplayer if a player drops.

7) Defeated players who are observing can no longer give resources or place bounties (bit of an exploit there).

8) Lots of tweaks to Ironclad Online for messaging users.

9) Improvements to network coding for multiplayer play.

This is by no means a complete list. There's dozens of small changes based on player feedback (we'll give a complete list when we release the update).

Our ETA for this release is late next week or the week after depending on testing.  We want to make sure the AI updates work pretty well (and that means, ahem, lots of play testing!) and lots of network testing.

We also have a pretty large list of things to do for a future 1.04 so if your own personal wishlist isn't fulfilled here, there's always 1.04 to look forward to. :)

156,384 views 187 replies
Reply #27 from Sins Forums Top
Any news on fixing the crashes with NVIDIA cards? Currently the game is unplayable for many people who bought the game.I'd say its some other thing or the specific card. I'm currently playing with an 8600GT Nvidia and have had no problems what so ever. I'm also running the 169 drivers but it could just be my card I guess.


What driver specifically are you using? I am using 169.09, but am looking for a better driver. Sins only crashes occasionally for me after playing for a while on my 8600M GS.
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #28 from Sins Forums Top
Can't wait. You guys rock!

Guess I'll go crank up the AI to Hard now so I can have my butt handed to me this week, get better, and then get it handed to me all over again after the patch.
Reply #29 from Sins Forums Top
This is so great to have a game company that actually talks to US, and responds to our questions (and complaints). I can't wait for the patch, because I gave up SP for now (love MP, but you really got'a find a large chunk of free time to play a game there), but in SP, the AI just runs away the majority of the time; my last game it ran away when it could have clearly won  :NOTSURE: . So playing SP at this time is kind'a like an entire game of "mop-up" from the start to finish.



Reply #30 from Sins Forums Top
The text bug has been fixed and it really does make a remarkable difference!  I didn't even realize it was happening until the fix went in, then it was wow.



WOOHOoEeoooHOOOOOO! :D

Reply #31 from Sins Forums Top
Thanks again for the wonderful community communication and continuously improving upon the game. I really hope this will become a game for the ages like warcraft 3 or Master of Orion :):)

Cuirious. When the AI surrenders. Will the victor get his planets AND ships?
Reply #32 from Sins Forums Top
I have noticed in 1.02 that the whole game process doesn't leave my computer memory when the program quits. The game exe still shows in task manager at about 50% CPU (and about 20MB). I use XP SP2, AMD64-X2 3800+, and Radeon X1800. Has this been addressed in 1.03 or is my comp just freaky. Also, occasionally the program won't start and I'll find impulse.exe just sitting there too.
Reply #34 from Sins Forums Top
Any plans on either releasing the full tools or fixing the hard-coded limits of ship, strike craft, and page slots?
Reply #35 from Sins Forums Top
I hope the patch also includes research cost options - not only time. But if not, maybe in 1.04 then. :)
Reply #36 from Sins Forums Top
Thank god the AI finally give up! It was getting rather annoying when I'd take their homeworld and 3 other planets and they'd still keep going.
Reply #37 from Sins Forums Top
I was hoping that we'd see the frigates and bigger ships have some combat movement at some point. Make those big battles look a little more interesting and less like the civil war. I know people think this will make the big battles hard to discern. All we're doing is selecting a fleet and giving them a target. Well, I'll just keep on dreaming. This would be especially good for the Star Trek mod. Which would have combat looking pretty lame otherwise.
Reply #38 from Sins Forums Top
You guys frickin rock! Why cant EA be more like you. It took them 9 patches with CnC3 to finally listen to the community and balance the game somewhat properly. You guys listened to us right off the bat and the adjustments are premium! Thank you for a great game! You definitely have a life long customer here.

One comment I have on the "auto surrender". While it is a welcome addition, perhaps it could be toggleable. I like to role play my games and I enjoy the clean up phase. Thats why I would like to be able to disable that feature when I play.

Thanks again for a great game!
Reply #39 from Sins Forums Top
Thank you Ironclad!!!!!

We feel your love for both the game and your loyal community of players!!!

I actually feel guilty paying you only once for this fine game and great updates.

If you set up a Paypal account, I'd like to make a donation, and perhaps others will follow-suit; to show you how much we appreciate the extra effort you put into Sins.


Reply #40 from Sins Forums Top
Are there any plans for a multiplayer skirmish mode(fleet vs fleet battles)? This would resolve many of the issues some people have with finding enough time to play a full multiplayer game online.
Reply #43 from Sins Forums Top
... but we're not resting on our laurels.


I certainly hope not. I have still not heard any news of any fix to the minidump/network desynch bugs that are plaguing me and everyone i know who owns this game. I have sent my dumps and game logs and much more to support, and I have not heard anything back, so i hope the problem has been found and is being addressed.

thanks, sins is a great game, i just want to play it :D
Reply #44 from Sins Forums Top
Looking forward to improved AI. I haven't played much recently because I was rolling over the AI pretty easily, and I'm not the best RTS player in the world. Hopefully now it'll put up a good fight.
Reply #45 from Sins Forums Top
One comment I have on the "auto surrender". While it is a welcome addition, perhaps it could be toggleable. I like to role play my games and I enjoy the clean up phase. Thats why I would like to be able to disable that feature when I play.Thanks again for a great game!



I second this opinion - having an A.I. player automatically and *always* surrender rather than sticking it out can rob a human player of the satisfaction of victory. Much of the destruction occurs in games like this after the contest has been decided, post pivotal battle. Removing this will deny players who appreciate it their proper fun.

Make it a toggle please.
Reply #46 from Sins Forums Top
Wouldn't it be just as feasible to click "Continue Game" or whatever it is after they surrender? It seems like a "toggle" is already implemented, the patch will just help them surrender when they should.
Reply #47 from Sins Forums Top
*gives cookie to frogboy*

There is more where that came from ;)
Reply #48 from Sins Forums Top
Did you fix all those random client crashes that occured to players not using nvidia, vista or mods (i mean none of those. really no vista, no nvidia, no mods) ? The unstability of the client is currently preventing me (and also a few friends with completely different hardware/software setups) from playing, since every long match ends in a random client crash. I have sent a few minidumps, was wondering if you put them to good use since i don't see a patch note stating that.
Reply #49 from Sins Forums Top
Awesome news for the most part. I look forward to the new diplomacy fixes (no more locked teams? awesome).

Here is to hoping 1.04 has some new content added (news ships or something).
Reply #50 from Sins Forums Top
"6) AI players will replace humans in multiplayer if a player drops."

Please tell me this also means a Human Player can rejoin without having to save, exit and restart the game. Also, we really need to allow players to join and take over an AI in a game already in progress. Because it's very annoying to have to save and stop one game then start a new one just to allow a friend to join who was late for the LAN party.