Sins2 i fear will largely repeat the sins of sins1, sequels have been rather disappointing lately (Monkey Island, anybody?) but what would be arguably worse is a completely new game... a Sins of a solar Empire/supcom2 hybrid. (Yes, i know supcom 2 is not out yet, it is still a different game)

They should focus on fixing the combat, adding a race is not a priority with the three we have being so horribly balanced. They should add ships one at a time, making sure that every ship performs like it is supposed to. And then add abilities and counter abilities in pairs, making sure those counters work, and any ability with the power to affect a counter must be balanced as well...

overall they need to play the game like a player would, exploiting EVERY chance to win, even if it is spamming one unit all day long...

I'm not surprised at the exemption of the third expansion pack since Entrenchment had problems balancing both SP and MP respectably.  What works in the easy going SP game doesn't work well in the harsh and difficult world of MP.

Personally I think this is great news, every indication suggests both IC and SD are happy with the franchise so it stands to reason post diplomacy updates and improvements to SoaSE will be significant if its unsuitable for a micro expansion.

I think that the micro expansions were taking longer than expected. A year after entrenchment before diplomacy will be released (at least), in another year sins will be kind of dated, people will have moved on. The original intent with micro expansions was to get them out fast

This is dissapointing, but hopefully it means that IC is working on something even better.

I think the reason for this is that ICs ideas couldn't be inplemented in the current game. I remember ideas about different game-modes, a unique campaign, cap ships that could get every upgrade and even a way that cap ships could pick up map items. I think IC is saving these ideas for Sins 2.

I think they should get Star Trek or Babylon 5 license and create new game like Sins, only based on one of these fictional universes.  They will earn sh*tloads of money and everyone will be happy.

I think that it is more a technical decision... last expension was planned to be related to weapons between other thing... Stardock/Ironclad are pushing the actual engine to the limit... A new sins ( can call it sins 2 ), with a new game engine in 64 bits and using multicore can lead to more easy planned change in the game mechanic due to more ressource... a few year ago, when sins dev have start, multicore and 64 bits was not common... now, my food warehouse sell between bread and carrot cheap multi-core 64 bit computer...

Upgrade old thing is good but there is some limit when it is more efficient to build a new thing...

                  Another thought is that a different publisher hung a ton of money in front of IC's face and this is their way of ending their deal with Stardock.

This is a great idea, actually.  The only problem, of course, would be working out a licensing agreement.  The owners of the Star Trek IP would of course want a large percentage of the profits.  I'm sure there must definitely be a ton of money to be made by producing an awesome Star Trek RTS based on Sins, but would the parties be able to work out a satisfactory agreement?

What is the official story here? With the link calling Diplomacy the last micro-expansion, does that mean that there will be no further development of the Sins Of A Solar Empire game? I hope it will continue to improve and hopefully stay around a few more years, it is a really good game. Weird name, but awesome game.

that was my initial fear when i read the blurb. this does worry me quite a bit

edit: @numerarius - this is what we are discussing. we are hoping that sins2 is coming next (at the current pace, i would guess summer 2011) but we dont really know

Its unlikely to be summer 2011, think of the development costs they would have to recover no publisher is gonna front up that kind of cash in this econominc climate.

i'm reasonably sure that sins was pretty low cost, since was developed by a pretty small company, and i would think that any sequel would follow in the same pattern.

besides, the economy is turning! OECB announced that they believe that the recession is over, and that the expect sustained growth, in the range of 2-4% for the next two quarters in america

It's for the best really.  If Diplomacy isn't going to be out until early 2010, then by the time expansion three came out the core engine would be quite dated.

This is good news all in all, since it means a) They will start working on something new after Diplomacy...like Sins 2.  And B, since this is last expansion, they will likely try and throw more into it than they planned.  Simply including 'more diplomacy options' isn't very exciting, so they probably have some aces up their sleaves to pump people up for it.

This is just a thought, ok, but maybe we are all reading too much into this, i mean, "last micro-expansion of the series" may simply mean it is the last "micro-expansion"

Which "May" mean, a full expansion at something like normal expansion costs, say $39-$49. Which is fine with me, perhaps it is the "micro-expansion" model that didn't pan out, not the Sins model that didnt.

But of course, all i am doing is guessing.

It would be nice for an "Official" word though, i mean, if Stardock posted it, then they know, at least if its going to continue or not. Problem is, if it is the end will the community hold together long enough to purchase it? Or will they give up? 

Oh, sad thoughts, well... i suppose there is nothing to do but actually wait and see.

And hope for good things.

-Teal

My hunch is that it might be a miscommunication. If not, then there still hasn't been an official announcement regarding the third one getting canned.

Besides, I'm pretty sure I read a few days ago that Diplomacy would go into beta this year, and not be out of beta until mid-to-late next years.

In any case, even though LikeTheWhirlwind & Kryo's comments could mean it's been canned, there still isn't "official" confirmation. Which could well mean, "We're still thinking about doing a third one but don't know for sure, and may choose not to."

Then they should get B5, not  Star Trek. I´m not sure, but i think the rights for it holds J.M. Straczynski himself. Maybe he would be willing to provide the rights, because until today there was no official B5 game i am aware of.  I am sure the game could help to restore the fame of the B5 trademark, which is i believe recently with no new episodes, movies and other stuff slowly fading away. And if i was the right holder, i would try every possible way, to prevent this from happening.

I believe Sierra owns the software gaming license for B5 and have sat on it doing nothing for the past 9 yrs.   

Well, lets hope in Sin2 that they get it right this time....solar systems instead of planets. The game looks pretty damn stupid with 40 planets around a sun, and with several planets in line with eachother..sheeesh.

So you have to take over systems instead of planets? I'm in...

the IDEAL Sins 2 environment-

Keep the gravity well system TO A POINT. What I mean is keep gravity wells, where they in essence are the control area of a planet; from planet menus is where you can build structures, and only in a planets (or MOONS!) GW can a structure be built.

However, Starbases, Mining Stations (I'll get to that), and some other things could be built by special deep-space constructors. Mining Stations would be used in orbit of stars or gas giants; mining helium for fuel, and nuclear smelting of metal/crystal. Also, mining plasma from a star's atmosphere could provide bonuses to energy capacities.

Stars project a HUGE gravity well around themselves. This gravity well is the area that allows anything that can be built in deep space to be built. At certain points on the OUTSKIRTS of a star system, would be a 'starlane' entry. Starlanes would be used as A method of system-system travel. An alternate method would be the construction of Jump Gates. These would be only usable if a ship has a 'Jump Drive' ability, and only for a faction's ships. It has the benefit of faster, but only two-way traffic. Starlanes, however, could have giant 'hubs', where several lanes overlap.

Now is where the DEEP deep space construction comes in. Whenever two or more starlanes overlap, they create a gravitational anamoly. Similar to a mini-star's gravity well, except there's nothing there, except for maybe some space junk or asteroids (nothing inhabitable anyway). Controlling one of these hubs would be very important.

However, there would also be research for super-powered jump drives, that don't require the use of a starlane (Starlanes would simply be the safest&fastest mapped routes); while a jump w/out a Starlane has a small chance to inflict damage to the ship jumping, it can be faster, and can easily be more direct.

From Joystiq today:

This sounds like GOOD news!

http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/09/05/pax-2009-no-more-plans-for-third-sins-of-a-solar-empire-micro-e/

I like Entrenchment, but in all honesty, it probably wasn't worth $10. And I don't think Diplomacy will be either, but I'll buy it too, because I want to support the franchise.

But a REAL expansion, with more than a few new features? Dang, that sounds great.

It is official. This is from the official website (forgot the link right now).

EDIT: ha, just kidding, its at the top.

And with that news from PAX, I can finally be put at ease.  Back to wiping out civilizations for the time being, whil I'm looking forward to some diplomacy with them in the future ... before backstabbing and wiping them out all over again

Sins 2?

Seriously you people should do a youtube vid of you people with previews of diplomacy or live cast