Hi,

I've been playing a fellow Stardock strategy game, Galactic Civilizations 2: Dark Avatar, for some months now. I'd heard of Sins quite a while back(soon after I began playing GC2), but considering it as a cliche RTS clickfest, I generally ignored, merely keeping a half-an-eye on the progress of the betas on these forums. Slowly, the clickfest expectation wore down but I wasn't quite convinced.

Meanwhile, I played GC2:DA and developed techno-turtler strategies for my rare-planet games, and this eventually got monotonous(on Masochistic difficulty) so I tried out the 2 campaigns and beat them. For variety, I even tried a gigantic galaxy game with a decent colony rush, but eventually found an exploit that let me buy off planets from the AI for cheap prices and effectively stunt their progress for an easy win.

Recently, a Sins marketing barrage swept onto the GC2 forums and attracted my attention away from the general Twilight beta progression that I was watching from afar(I hadn't bought Twilight). A game example by Frogboy(a damn good marketer), general Sins discussions and the recent rave reviews that Sins has got have all had a convincing anti-clickfest effect.

So I decided to eventually try and get this game. 'Try' because it will:

1. Not happen before March. (
2. Require some convincing.

In the meantime(the agonizing meantime watching y'all thrash away at the galaxy), I've decided to find out more about this game. I found out about the cash/metal/crystal economy, the infrastructure system, and the research system that's very different from GC2s.

I've also learnt a bit about the intriguing Sins combat system with gravity wells, special abilities, firing arcs, strikecraft, who-kills-what, etc. It makes GalCiv's combat system look pathetic, primitive, and downright stupid, but then, Sins appears to be more centered around the war aspect(the fun part ) when GalCiv is not centered around anything in particular.

The really appealing parts of the combat system are the way that fighters/bombers can harass bigger ships while being invulnerable to everything but flak or other fighters, and how you can take down a fear-inspiring dreadnought like the Marza or Vulkoras(whatever it's called) simply by getting a heavy-hitter behind them and opening a blast into their rear.

And, it's amazing how everyone has a different opinion of what the best capital ship is. At least until no one has done enough research to put a 'stupid' badge on any of them(several features in GC2 have obtained 'stupid' badges from expert players).

I'll ask a few questions now:

1. How do strikecraft work? Do they have to be stored in a carrier or hangar, or can they operate independently within a gravity well(i.e, requiring carriers only for phase-jumping between planets). And can they continue operations within a gravity well if their carrier is destroyed or jumps to another planet? If not, what happens if the carrier does get destroyed?

2. Are gravity wells 3d? That is, can you place stuff above a planet and below it, or just in a 2d disc? Or in combat, could you take control of a bomber squadron yourself and fly it around to shoot enemy flaksters from underneath? Basically, can you exploit the z-axis to a useful extent?

3. Are there any disadvantages/advantages of different kinds of weapons like beams, cannons and missiles, or are things based on the individual weapons/ships?

4. What's the name of that Advent capital ship in all the screenshots? Y'know, the quintessential space battleship with the imposing bridge and the blue lasers blazing from the front end? I just had to ask this question.

5. Why is the term 'frigate' used for nearly every spaceship in the game? Constructor frigate, colony frigate, trade frigate, siege frigate, LRM frigate, support frigate, blah, blah, blah. In GC2, 'frigate' means general purpose medium-sized warship which slaughters fighters but becomes useless the moment it faces anything larger. Here, it means anything that is not a cruiser or capital ship, but can move around and phase jump under it's own power.