Sins of a Solar Empire: Diplomacy is also slated to be officially released tomorrow, and we have another thorough gameplay example.  This guided tour also gives a rich overview of the micro-expansion and it’s a definite must-read.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Diplomacy – a guided tour

Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity is nearly upon us, and sometimes the best way to answer any questions about a game is to show it in action, through images and video.  With that, Brad Wardell has created an in-depth walkthrough gameplay example of Sins: Trinity.  Whether you are new to the game, or a seasoned veteran, take a few minutes and check out the gameplay

Gameplay Example: Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity

Big Download had a chat with Stardock’s Brad Wardell about Sins of a Solar Empire: Diplomacy recently.

“The second mini-expansion, Diplomacy, sounds like it will have less of a combat focus this time. Why did you want to improve on the game's non-combat features?

Probably the biggest reason has to do with allowing a lot more flexibility for players. Prior to Diplomacy, players had virtually no control over which players they were at war with. Inevitably, this meant that good players ended up with all the computer players against them which could get frustrating for players. Now, those players can play a deadly diplomatic game of keeping different sides at bay while they pursue their larger agendas.”

Read the full interview over at BigDownload.com.

IGN has posted a preview of Sins of a Solar Empire - Diplomacy, based on their experiences with a late beta of the upcoming micro-expansion.

"Diplomacy is a bit of a game changer and adds a missing element to the game. In the same way that Entrenchment helped to reorient the combat by giving players defensive options that encouraged bigger and better space battles, Diplomacy seems to give players an opportunity to compete with each other much more indirectly. Better still, it can really help you find an outlet for those resource surpluses that come up from time to time. Knowing that you can win goodwill and encourage your rivals to attack each other helps you manipulate the game in more subtle ways."

To read the full preview, just click on over to: http://pc.ign.com/articles/106/1066357p1.html

The beta for Sins of a Solar Empire: Diplomacy pre-order customers is now over.  All pre-order customers will gain access to the final version of Diplomacy this coming Tuesday, February 9th.  Ironclad and Stardock would like to extend our thanks to all of the testers who participated in the Diplomacy beta and provided feedback. It's no exaggeration that Diplomacy was greatly changed based on your feedback!

For Diplomacy testers:  If you update your copies of Sins of a Solar Empire or Entrenchment to v1.19/1.05 respectively, you will no longer be able to play Diplomacy until the final release.

Ironclad Games and Stardock Entertainment are pleased to announce the releases of version 1.19 for Sins of a Solar Empire and version 1.05 for Sins of a Solar Empire: Entrenchment today. Both updates are available for all registered customers exclusively via the Impulse client (http://www.impulsedriven.com).

These updates include a number of bug fixes, balance tweaks, and additional changes for modders. For a complete change log visit - http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/374465

The fine folks at Neoseeker.com recently had a chat with Stardock’s Brian Clair about the upcoming micro-expansion Diplomacy for Sins of a Solar Empire.

“We recently visited the IronClad studio to chat with them about the upcoming Diplomacy micro-expansion for their award-winning Sins of a Solar Empire 4X RTS title. We had a few more questions for the team but they're busy working on the final stages of development as they prep for the Feb 9th launch. So, we got in touch with Brian Clair at Stardock for a few words about Sins: Diplomacy, covering how it's going to affect the single player experience and more.”

Full interview at Neoseeker.com.

Chart-box.com has published a list of their top 10 best Real Time Strategy games of all time.  Coming in a number 4 we have Sins of a Solar Empire!

"From a rather unknown developer, Sins took bold steps and big risks to blend the typical turned based strategy with the RTS genre. Thankfully for us they managed to nail it, bringing to the table a completely new style of RTS. Featuring unparalleled scale and intelligently complex tactical thinking. Sins breaks the mould and stands out from the crowd as one of the most redefining RTS's ever."

 

Ironclad Games and Stardock Entertainment are pleased to announce the release of Beta 3 for the upcoming Sins of a Solar Empire - Diplomacy. Beta 3 is now available for all pre-order customers of the Diplomacy micro-expansion or Sins of a Solar Empire - Trinity via the Impulse client.

For a list of the changes in this new update, see: http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/373286

The decade is...just about over.

Here's my list of the 10 best games of the decade:

>>Brad's top 10 best games of the 2000's