Sins of a Solar Empire add-on delayed

By Robert Purchese Published 12 November, 2008

Entrenchment digs into 2009.

Stardock and IronClad Games have delayed the first micro-expansion for brilliant PC space-strategy game Sins of a Solar Empire.

The add-on, Entrenchment, had been due to pop up next Tuesday 18th November for just under USD 10 (GBP 6.50). But both parties agreed that running a public beta test for pre-order customers would be the best way forward for the game.

"This will allow us to finely hone Entrenchment ahead of its final public debut, the date of which has not yet been set (it will largely depend on beta feedback)," said "Yarlen" (Stardock bigwig) on the game's forums.

"While we know this will disappoint some in the Sins community, we feel this will help make Entrenchment a far stronger product overall."

Entrenchment, as the name suggests, introduces improvements to the defensive side of the game, in an effort to stop attackers bypassing choke points so easily.

On the TEC side, turrets will have longer range and armour debuffs, hangars will have anti-aircraft guns built-in, and there will be new weapons like space mines to avoid.

Oh, and there are starbases; gigantic floating fortresses that can be built anywhere, upgraded in various ways, create spaceships and flourish beefy arsenals that can target multiple enemies at once. They'll take a while to destroy, too - the trade-off being incredibly slow and expensive construction.

To counter defences, TEC will be given an Ogrov torpedo cruiser; a floating missile silo capable of enormous damage but with weak defenses.

Plus there will be planetary bonuses to uncover, more ancient artefacts to find, and a host of graphical improvements and other unit tweaks.

Sins of a Solar Empire was a sleeper-hit of 2008. Head over to our review to find out why.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (6) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • hiddenranbir #1 3 years ago

    Oh I will be giving Yarlen grief that you called him a bigwig. :D

  • hulahoops #2 3 years ago

    Do you work on Sins then sir?

    If so I'm insanely jealous.
    Edited by 1 at 12/11/08 @ 12:32

  • WrongShui #3 3 years ago

    If you did, what the hell happened man?

  • Inigo #4 3 years ago

    I hope people remember this game when the top 50 comes out at the end of the year.

  • hiddenranbir #5 3 years ago

    No, I don't work there.

    I'm in the Stardock IRC rooms, where developers and such hang out a lot. You get a chance to really engage Stardock staff at a casual, lighthearted level. It is also a great platform for dialogue with all their open betas they give us.

    Even Brad Wardell, the CEO, will be there on occasion. - As Frogboy
    Edited by 1 at 12/11/08 @ 12:42

  • Scimarad #6 3 years ago

    For that price I'll definitely get it. Sins is probably my favourite space strategy game though I think it could have had a bit more variety in planets/locations. That said, it's easy to make your own planet types.
    Edited by 1 at 12/11/08 @ 14:43