I’ve always resisted the description of Sins as a real-time 4X, mainly because it leans so heavily on the conventions of real-time strategy. The victory conditions add some needed sculpting to the endgame massiveness. Sins is a massive game that necessarily gets more massive as you play. Try as Ironclad might, they haven’t been able to keep matches from turning into colossal slugfests of fleets smashing mightily into each other and into heavily defended planets. The victory conditions overhaul Sins’ endgame, which has previously been a problem. It’s one thing to add new toys, but it’s something else entirely to give those new toys a new direction. Rebellion’s new victory conditions are arguably the most meaningful addition. Rebellion is nearly as revolutionary with its new subfactions, and it’s easily as revolutionary with its new victory conditions. Native Americans, Eastern cultures, trade monopolies, and revolutions made Age of Empires III almost unrecognizable from its original form. Ensemble and Big Huge Games eventually brought to that RTS new ways to play by adding strange new factions and victory conditions that drove the game in new directions.

Rebellion also reminds me of the expansions for Age of Empires III.

It takes an already nuanced strategic RTS that glories in asymmetry and gives it more nuance and more asymmetry.Īfter the jump, the titans aren’t even the best part Similarly, Rebellion splits Sins of a Solar Empire’s factions into subfactions. It took an already over-the-top action RTS that gloried in asymmetry and gave it more over-the-top and more asymmetry. Then the Zero Hour add-on split each faction into distinct sub-factions. Command and Conquer: Generals was a grand action RTS.

Homeworld or sins of a solar empire