So that's really the point.  Years later and what's announced for the (distant-ish) future is a polish to a 32 bit system described as "a big expansion" and costing $40.  Someone made a decision to allocate resources to that polish, rather than to a "SOSE II", the brand spanking new 64 bit version.  For $60 or whatever.  The latter choice is something I would have purchased, what is being offered for pre-order is something that I'm not interested in.

If stardock doesn't offer a 64 bit/multithreaded "SOSE II",  in time I'm sure some publisher will offer something with similar compelling gameplay that will be able to scale to the hardware I have and thereby provide a smooth experience for even late-stage "epic" games.   Or I'll just work on angry birds some more.

One compelling reason for wanting to purchase Rebellion is simply to be able to play the game in online multiplayer against human opponents.  Presumably, Rebellion will bring hundreds of new people to Ironclad Online, and if you love the game you would want to be a part of a Sins rennaisance.  At some point in your Sins gaming career you might tire of playing against the AI (which is incapable of real strategy and has one hand tied behind its back) and wish to remove the training wheels from your Sins gaming experience.\

I'm actually perfectly happy with Sins the way it is now and don't particularly feel a need to experience what they will add in Rebellion.  My only real interest in Rebellion at this point is to be able to continue to play against human opponents (aka "the real Sins game").  I do welcome Rebellion for that reason.  The new players who join will get to experience a more polished and refined online multiplayer experience free of the problems the game suffered after its initial February 2008 release.

If there is no boxed version, I may not be able to purchase this. I have the money and I definitely want it, but my bandwidth per month is limited because I have satellite internet. I may well not have the bandwidth for a full-fledged expansion.

I hope the Stardock people can figure out a way that I (and others in my position) can continue to give them money.

Well, can you download  it somewhere else? Library or a friend? Then you can do that and save it on a usb stick and just install at home.

If I understand the way Stardock works correctly, you have to download it onto the system that your game is installed to. I don't think it allows for just downloading the file as one nice chunk saveable to disc with a self-extractor or something.

That's not quite correct. For example, using http://anywhere.impulsedriven.com you can download the full archives, save them on a disk, and then install them elsewhere. Otherwise, you can only use "Download and archive" within Impulse.. that way you will have to install Impulse on the computer you're downloading from, log in with your account, download it into the archive, and then move it over. This would be more difficult on computers where you can't install anything. The other major difference between the two, is that Anywhere was designed for offline installations - the archive you download from there is self-installing and does not require an internet connection. The archive you download from within Impulse requires you to be logged into your Impulse account to install from it.

It's tentative, but we are planning to have a boxed version of Rebellion when it's released.

yarlen a quick question,

if you do make a retail box version, will it be possible for a pre-order to be upgraded to include the retail box?

harpo

Most likely, yes; this is something we typically do once we get closer to release and know what the plan is for retail.

Ok, I understand you are not at the stage yet...

Can you tell us what you are specifically working on? 

I'm betting... they're working on figuring out how to start the ideas of how to implement the Titans.

I want youtube video's of the meetings Would love to see how some of their design meetings go...

It involves a lot of alcohol, a dartboard, and 911 calls. A duck and a goat may or may not be involved, as well.

I think I left out a few dozen steps...

I've got into some nasty fights in my design meetings. Granted I work for a telecom company designing and developing applications and can attest that alcohol and a dartboard would have definitely helped. I'm not sure where the duck and goat would come in though, but I'm sure it would result in the 911 call...

Thanks for the info, even if its tentative.  Also, I know its been awhile since I originally posted, a big thank you Ryat and Annatar11 for the information about Impulse archives.  I didn't know about that.  Thanks!

I can't wait for Rebellion.  I remember when I first found out about Soase.  I preordered my copy, loaded up the Beta (I started when Beta 2 was out), and started to figure the game out fairly quickly.  An hour or two into it, I told my sister's boyfriend who was visiting at the time to take a look at it, and began trying to convince him to preorder it.  He said he didn't have enough money to pay for his bills and the game, so I gave him the money to put into his account the following day.  He preordered, and, when he loaded up the Beta the following day, called and said it was the best gift I ever gave him (however, if memory serves me correctly, it may have been the only gift I ever gave him).  We both ordered the collector's box set.

I was hooked on the game in the first hour.  Prior to Soase, my favorite space RTS game was Conquest: Frontier Wars and had been for the nearly 10 years it had been out.  I had played Homeworld 2 and Nexus: The Jupiter Incident (not sure I would call that an RTS, maybe a tactical game), but Soase was the first game to come out since that I enjoyed more.  Not only was the game itself great, but the included manual was full of enough information and backstory about the factions, ships, etc. to almost be its own strategy guide.  At least it was way more than I've come to expect with a game nowadays.

During the Beta, I was astonished how much the developers listened to the players and their suggestions.  This was my first game from Stardock/Ironclad, having dismissed GalCiv1 and 2 for being turn-based.  As I was playing the Beta and later the full game, I began to look into Stardock's games and bought GalCiv2, learning how mistaken I was to ignore it.  Now, my top favorite games are all made by Stardock/Ironclad (the only exception being World in Conflict).  So not only was Soase a great game, it also introduced me to other great games.

I'll still be on the lookout for more info on the retail version.  Maybe my earlier suggestions will be useful as to make it more cost effective.  Its also nice to know that I can make my own physical copy later on as well.  Thanks again to all who took the time to answer my questions.

I still say Homeworld is better than Homeworld 2, the Homeworld story (both backstory and campaign storyline) and gameplay are excellent, and I played the Homworld 2 demo but didn't like some of the changes like no more support or formations. It probably didn't help that I only got Homeworld about when Homeworld 2 came out so I barely new about Cataclysm.

GalCivII is alright, I played the demo, and will probably get it at some point.

I won't be pre-ordering Rebellion until I see what I am getting myself into among other things.

Hello Ironclad,

Now that Impulse is bought by Gamestop, is there way  for YOUR game, Sins, to be on different digital download distributors such as  GOG and Gamersgate?  If not, then I will certainly miss your game and Rebellion, and so long.

Considering Stardock is still publishing it and doesn't plan to switch in the near future... I doubt it.

Maybe IronClad can post the updates on their site without going through Impulse.  I can then buy a box version of Rebellion at retailers. 

Also, Impulse is now Gamestop property; Stardock does not have to publish their game exclusively on Impulse, right?  I can see Stardock giving in to Steam because of their larger user community.  Business is business, nothing personal, right?

preety sure part of the deal with gamestop is that stardock still wont put there games on steam. i think.

No, they can't. Stardock is still the publisher, and the publisher gets to decide how patches are, well, published. I don't know how that's preventing you from buying retail.

No, they probably don't have to, but they've already stated many, many times that they have no plans to switch from Impulse for the time being. And Sins has done very well without Steam's larger community.

Of course.  How could I have ever forgotten the original Homeworld?

First off, Paypal has an option for you to use their service as an "Online Credit Card" that they will issue a number that works like a credit card for payment online.  Simply go into your user options and request them to activate it. Usually only takes a few moments. Then you can pre-order with no fuss...