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Sins Community Update

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Sins Community Update

from Sins Forums

I want to extend our thanks to everyone who's been providing feedback so far on the Sins beta test. We've gained a lot of great information from our beta testers and from the Sins community as a whole.  This post is to give everyone an update on the progress of the game and where we're going from here. At the end of this post you'll also find two exclusive new shots from our internal builds to speculate over.

The first thing to expect in the next couple of months is a completely redesigned Sins website. The new site will contain up-to-date information on the game, new screenshots, and more. We'll also be releasing a fan-site kit in the future for those of you who may want to put up your own pages about Sins. In mid-June, everyone can look forward to the Beta 2 release of Sins. Beta 2 will remain TEC only and the focus will be on single-player gameplay dynamics.

At this point, some of you are probably thinking, "Isn't June a bit late for Beta 2 if the game's going to ship in August?" After reading everyone's ideas and feedback so far on Beta 1, Ironclad and Stardock have decided to push Sins' release back to February 2008. We realize this will be a disappointment to some of you, but the simple fact is that we all want to release the best game possible. The extra time will allow us to add more depth and features to Sins, including some stuff we had only wished we had time for previously.  This extended release schedule means there will be two additional betas after Beta 2 that will focus on multiplayer content.

Thank you all for your continued support!

Sins Shot      Sins Shot

135,060 views 132 replies
Reply #101 from Sins Forums Top
sorry i thought it was a ring toss game
Reply #102 from Sins Forums Top
damn... I'm actually going to have to work for a chance at this.
fine... I'll get started.
Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #103 from Sins Forums Top


way to suck up to the "man" Schem.
Reply #104 from Sins Forums Top
hey, I was the first to whine about how the beta is too limited. I wont be kept from this, supposedly more fully-fledged beta.
Reply #105 from Sins Forums Top
I know I am out.

I blame the socio-economic standing I currently am intrailed in.
Reply #106 from Sins Forums Top
I just was wondering, does this game allow for more defensive strategies? I missed beta 1 and plan to preorder before the June beta when I find out what my address will be (I am moving sometime next month, so I can't have it shipped to this address). The reason I ask is because a number of recent games have made a defensive play all but impossible, with Supreme Commander being the only exception I can think of at the moment. I know that the best defense is a good offense, but it is occasionally fun when your losing to wage that final desparate defense of your last planet that makes your enemy pay dearly, somewhat like in the Halo novel "The Fall of Reach" where the successful defense of planet Reach hinged on wether or not the orbital guns remained operational.  
Reply #107 from Sins Forums Top
yeah. defense is easy. some would argue (including myself, an addicted turtler) that defense is too easy.
Reply #108 from Sins Forums Top
While I'm still thinking about it, does anyone have some good screenshots of the TEC (Marza class?) dreadnought, or was that in the Beta?
Reply #109 from Sins Forums Top
Marza Class is in the beta. Here a Picture:
Reply #110 from Sins Forums Top
Thanks for your quick reply, Emperor Xavior. How well does it do in battle, and I'm also curious to hear from anyone on their suggestions on when and how to use it in battle (strengths and weaknesses). Also, as a possibility, perhaps we should start a post on the different ships featured so far in the game? At least until they bring back the ships section on the site.  
Reply #111 from Sins Forums Top
It focus mainly vs planet, and has ability that does damage over time to other ships. I will come back with photo of ship ability in another post.
Reply #112 from Sins Forums Top
@Zim - I have found it lacking in battle as a capital ship. It should really be a support ship given its current configuration. To me a dreadnought should be the ultimate battleship platform. This puppy is merely a focused planet killer. That is not something I consider a front line war-fighter. In more conventional terms, it is akin to artillery and not a tank.
Reply #113 from Sins Forums Top
It can kinda kill platform if not fast but somewhat better, with the damage over time ability.
Reply #114 from Sins Forums Top
Once you get it to level 6 and get the "missile barrage" ability it can be pretty nasty. That basically sends a barrage of missiles at every hostile target in range simultaneously.
Reply #115 from Sins Forums Top
Thanks for the info. I definitely agree with 1Spartan. It should be the ultimate battleship. What about its armor and ability to withstand damage? That alone may even it out a bit.  

"Stop exploding you cowards!"-Capt. Brannigan to fleet in Futurama.  
Reply #116 from Sins Forums Top
its good that they want to develop hte game further

I just hope they work on the graphics engine as well, it looks ok at the moment about as good as homeworld 2 a few yers back.. the planets and backdrops are really nice.. but i really dont think the ships are upto todays standards let alone 2008s..

Tho dont get me wrong this game is real good.. and i look forward to the final release of the game.
Reply #117 from Sins Forums Top
It would be helpful if comments on the graphics could be a bit more specific. I don't want to offend any Homeworld 2 fans, but the graphics in that game weren't that good.  IMO, Sins graphics are far superior in every way.
Reply #118 from Sins Forums Top
its good that they want to develop hte game further

I just hope they work on the graphics engine as well, it looks ok at the moment about as good as homeworld 2 a few yers back.. the planets and backdrops are really nice.. but i really dont think the ships are upto todays standards let alone 2008s..

Tho dont get me wrong this game is real good.. and i look forward to the final release of the game.


what about our ships looks out of date? I'm looking at other RTS Games (supcom, C&C) and our ships look just as good... Thanks fo rthe Planet and backdrop reply though, we work hard to get those looking great.
Reply #119 from Sins Forums Top
I dont think the ships look "outdated" in any regard. I think people tend to use that term incorrectly with regards to models. As far as I'm concerned, they[the ships] have distinctive asymmetric characteristics for the most part and have a multi color palette and are peppered with lighting effects. All of which are indicative of advanced model design.

I think the intended use is regarding models that are boxy in design and where one can clearly see the texture meeting points and wraps.

Reply #120 from Sins Forums Top
Yeah i never ment it a slant at your guys work.. much better than i could ever dream of doing..

Plus i guess for the scalability the ships cant have super high textures as it might get too much for he system to handle all those ships..

tho I am unsure if the ships on get rendered when you soon right in I would guess they do..

I actually quite like the design of the ships themselves.. im just thinking that in 2008 there are gonig to be much better looking games out there. Im pritty happy with the fact that this game is going to be awesome when its released.. just a lot of people purly buy the games on graphics quality or at least look at the first when buying games.

The fact the the game is very playable this early on is really good and just shows how godo u guys are at your jobs I really ment no offense by my earleir post.


Just for comparison one of your screenshots

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2006/289/935993_20061017_screen004.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~jamesx_news/Screenshots/ss00012.jpg


your ship models are much better but i really dont think the textures are much further on than homeworld... again i really dont care about this myself as im getting the game no matter what hehe as I have already spent my tickets on it

I just think a lot of people will look at this and think it looks old.. well in 2008 anyway




Reply #121 from Sins Forums Top

It would be helpful if comments on the graphics could be a bit more specific. I don't want to offend any Homeworld 2 fans, but the graphics in that game weren't that good.  IMO, Sins graphics are far superior in every way.


I feel offended...

Ok not really...
Reply #122 from Sins Forums Top
Yeah i never ment it a slant at your guys work.. much better than i could ever dream of doing..

Plus i guess for the scalability the ships cant have super high textures as it might get too much for he system to handle all those ships..

tho I am unsure if the ships on get rendered when you soon right in I would guess they do..

I actually quite like the design of the ships themselves.. im just thinking that in 2008 there are gonig to be much better looking games out there. Im pritty happy with the fact that this game is going to be awesome when its released.. just a lot of people purly buy the games on graphics quality or at least look at the first when buying games.

The fact the the game is very playable this early on is really good and just shows how godo u guys are at your jobs I really ment no offense by my earleir post.


Just for comparison one of your screenshots

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2006/289/935993_20061017_screen004.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~jamesx_news/Screenshots/ss00012.jpg


your ship models are much better but i really dont think the textures are much further on than homeworld... again i really dont care about this myself as im getting the game no matter what hehe as I have already spent my tickets on it

I just think a lot of people will look at this and think it looks old.. well in 2008 anyway






well, i wasn't being offended, Artists like feedback, I just wanted to know where you guys felt we were behind...

Either way, Homeworld has some really awesome textures, so thanks for the compliment;) Reason our textures look the same is cause we're using roughly the same size maps... Can't make a pixel any smaller

BTW, that screenshot example you used is old;) Check out the UI
haha
Reply #123 from Sins Forums Top
What I would really like to see added to the ships graphically is a fleet number that we can manually assign after we name it. I think a feature like that will add a level of polish to the game unmatched as far as I know. I figure it could be done the way scaring is done.


BTW: I would have suggested auto numbering based on the ship yard but I figured that would be to much code work.
Reply #124 from Sins Forums Top

I think the intended use is regarding models that are boxy in design and where one can clearly see the texture meeting points and wraps.

There's a definite issue on ATI video cards where you can see seams all over the place, however, on Nvidia cards it's fine. Not sure what's up with that.

Reply #125 from Sins Forums Top
We hope to have the ATI issues all resolved for the next patch, if not the following beta. The most prominent ones being the seam issue and the glowing asteroids.