Why SoaSE doesn't have a campaign

Some of the best story endings are not "You win and live happily ever after"

I agree with annatar11

but honestly I hate RTS storylines they are for w/e reason boreing to me cept for homeworld.

not to say that SoaSE wouldnt have a great campaign I'm just saying I ussually just skip Campaign's all together and just skirmish

That's because the original Homeworld story (best game story evah!) read like a book.  I still have the game manual/novel.  The bar for RTS storylines was set pretty high by that story...imo....which makes other stories look like "feeble attempts", so I'd almost rather not have a "story" for SINS...

ah yes the HW manual it really did make the game that much better. Just reading the page long descriptions of the ships haha those were fun.

The story did read like a book which is how I think most RTS and RPGs should be, plus HW had fantastic gameplay. HW is one of my all time favorite games so I may be a little biased lol.

I don't care if some people skip the campaign button for RTS stories, I just want the option of being able to play a campaign.

I'd like to see a campaign to.

Don't care so much about the happy ending as much as a well written one.

Version 3:

After fighting for years the impending doom following the Vassari finaly makes itself known to all. A forced alliance between the remaining superpowers is the only hope at preventing the new mystery foe from destroying all.

SUPREME COMMANDER VERSION!

No, no, no, no, no.

I do NOT want a SupCom FA-esque ending.  NO.

I would much rather see some crazy apocalyptic cliffhanger in which the Vasari, who have inadvertantly been leaving a trail for their persuers in the forum of phase jump disruptors (which were developed by the race chasing the vasari), are consumed and assimilated by the unknown race while the TEC is on the verge of collapse, following which both the Advent and TEC millitary leaders are killed, leaving the remaining empires in chaos.  Perfect setup for SINS 2, as it could go multiple ways (the TEC and the Advent could both die, they could have a temporary alliance, they could continue fighting resulting in a three-way conflict, etc.)

LOL supreme commander version!

It's about 4 a.m. where I live right now and I'm up writing an essay, so excuse any crazyness as it seems all my mental functions are on the fritz.

campaign is the best way to learn RTS games, so it'd be a good feature for newcomers, and pro's who just wanna know the story alike (like me)

at first, b4 thinking about sequal of the sins story.. not everyone reads the story (i do btw) so those people will mis a large portion... and forcing people to read the story wont work either it's always possible to add new capmaigns .... in later stages....

so for example:

story start... in campaign... story end (with perhaps cliffhangers 4 a 2e story wich can be added later)

just like the verison-mode already given by topicstarter Howdidudothat 

i didnt really like the homeworld story tough...., never did.. tough others did give me a nice impression

Nexus: the Jupiter Incident, kinda liked that one, tough it ended to fast with missions... reading marcus cromwell's diary in between missions did add alot

now that i think more aobut it.. dont know alot of good campaigns.... did like some from other genres tough.... Quake... (tough to bad they went from sp to mp) Halo... (fine gameplay, superb story... tough still missed something :/

supcom story was fine.. but i dislike what they did with FA  (it'd all be much greater if the game was actualy playable without lag vs 7 cpu's)

Version 3 rewritten:  The Advents convince everyone that females rule; the raspy, battle scarred Vasari agree and have sex-change operations and the TEC generals commit suicide.  After hugging trees and singing songs, their collective forces are still crushed by this mysterious enemy.

.. which turn out to be cute furry creatures, bearing much resemblance to the universally loved Ewoks. Only much more evil.

Good ending Annatar, I edited the post to incorporate.

Here's my version of the ending for a single-player campaign:

As the last of the opposing capital ships exploded in a brilliant display of space pyrotechnics, signaling the end of a long and grueling, hard-fought campaign, a fog clouds your senses.  You emerge from the fog, awakening from a deep slumber and realize that it was all just a dream and that you were only fighting silly computer algorithms in training simulations.  Just as you are coming to your senses and before you can collect yourself, your great uncle, the Emperor strolls in unannounced:

"You have done well in the training excercises and because you were born into an influential royal family, you are going to have the opportunity to command one of our fledgling micro-empires."

His adviser turns to you and says, "You can command your micro-empire from this very computer terminal, the same one that you trained on, but first we need to set up an account for you with our command headquarters for security reasons before you can get online.  Now, don't let your victories over mindless AI in the simulator deceive you into feeling cocky and overconfident; you're really still a noob.  Welcome to the Ironclad Online multiplayer system.  The real challenge begins now."

......And thousands of newly commissioned commanders played the game in online multiplayer with great enthusiasm and realized that the real challenge comes from playing against human opponents and that the real Sins game is in online multiplayer for those who aren't scared of coming online.

.....And the players made a serious hobby out of the Sins game

...and they formed clans and over 100 clans competed on  a competitive 3v3 ladder

...and they learned how to use Internet Relay Chat and voice comm programs like Teamspeak2 and Ventrilo

...and they used a computer program to help them spontaneously organize 5-on-5 pickup game matches (PUGs) where team captains drafted the players for their teams resulting in balanced teams and intense, competitive, Epic games

...and a strong and cohesive, tight-knit online community developed and many online friendships were formed

...and they learned to overcome the game's lack of auto-downloading for custom maps and hundreds of custom maps and game mods were made and they played the best ones online

...and the game and the community and the sense of camraderie held their attention for years

...and they were all very happy that they had discovered the real Sins game and that they hadn't been too chicken to come onine.

The End.

(Events like this actually happened to varying degrees with the original Unreal Tournament, Quake III, and Counterstrike and people still play UT99 capture-the-flag 5-on-5 PUG matches to this day.)

Man I play Counter Strike, Battlefield 2142, and Call of Duty 4 online all the time. Some people just get unneeded stress when they play RTS's online (raises hand). Playing FPS games online you only have to worry about what you are doing and how that fits in with what your team is doing. In RTS's you have to micro lots of guys and in Sins manage your empire all the while making sure you are helping your team and defending your borders from attack. FPS's are so much simpler to play online and so especially for me are more inviting than RTS's. I just don't want to deal with the stress that comes with playing Sins online and so do others who do not enjoy playing online.

Man, whatever happened to the good old fashioned Humans-Conquer-All-And-Win-The-Galaxy-For-Humanity endings?

I think you need to get UT 2004 so that you can play Onslaught and Invasion Monster Hunt-RPG.

Playing Sins online doesn't stress me out in the least and I'm often drinking beer and taking swigs of whiskey while listening to SomaFM.com (I like the Space Station and Secret Agent channels).

Heh, yeah.

You probably posted this in jest, but I agree with some of the things the other people are saying.

There would actually be a certain amount of interest in an ending where you realise that all along, all 3 sides have been fighting the wrong enemy anyway, and now it's too late to do anything about it.

Alternatively, and more likely, this mysterious enemy thing screams 'sequel'.

lol maybe that's what I need to start doing when I start playing online, maybe that would help lower stress.

I think that SINS should have a dark ending.  I'm tired of happy endings where everyone wins and gets along.  The game is called Sins of a Solar Empire.  Hell, remember the trailer?  Foreshadowing galore:  "I'm more a merchant than I am a soldier...but the choice is not always mine to make."  "We survive, for now.  But I fear the sins of our past have damned us to extinction."

I think a cliffhanger in which the future does not look bright for either faction is the way to go.  The Phase Jump Disruptors are obviously technology belonging to the race chasing the Vasari.  The campaign could do a lot with detailing the struggles of the TEC, and then suddenly throwing you into a seemingly unwinnable conflict with a brand new foe, ending in a good cliffhanger.

Oh, and I'd like good cinematics.  Not overly long, none should be long enough to obscure gameplay, but pre-rendered space battles can be epic, and I'd love to see what Ironclad can do in terms of cinematic sequences.

ooooooooooo! That is a very very interesting idea! Me likey! 

Cinematics would be kick face!

Well not quite so obvious, the game is littered with artifacts belonging to potentialy several diffrent "old" empires.

Perhaps, on this note, the 'victory' screens could use a little bit of the bittersweet.  A bit of the "you, the Vasari, have taken crushed the opposition and locked down their planets.  Things are going well.  It should be a time of celebration ... but there is one thing that still unsettles you.  Why have the <system1> and <system2> colonies fallen silent.  Surely there are no more rebels here to pacify.

A splash screen for this victory text could only be Vin Diesel with a pacifier and a baby. Might need some make-up to look Vasari-ish, though.

And yes, I know you were making a more serious suggestion