Back on topic, I would say that building shields would be effective even if you had the upgrade for your starbase, because it protects your population. A planet with 0 health has 0 population, even if it remains under your control, which means no income.
AQuantumEvent
I'm definitely waiting for the Windows 7 compatibility for MyColors. I've never had a chance to use it, but I have the Sins theme.
I've noticed that if I have flak frigates in just a numbered group, and tell the group to attack, say another capital ship, the flak frigates will move up to fire at the capital ship instead of at strike craft, and support vessels like robotics cruisers, guardians, etc. won't stay with the rest of the group, which essentially renders them useless. With the ships set as a fleet, the flak ships only assault strike craft, guardians stay with the fleet, protecting it, and light carriers s
I'm curious what the actual victory conditions are for Sins. I've had it declare victory over human opponents that had a very real chance of making a comeback, against AI that still had several planets, and had it NOT declare victory for an irritatingly long time against a player that I'd pushed off of every colonizable planet. I would love to have the option to set different victory conditions - a la supreme commander - so that I had more control over my matches.
I'd be willing to buy the soundtrack and the artwork, for say $5 USD. I ended up grabbing the game at retail after missing the impulse sale a couple weeks ago ($20 at retail).
Considering that each game is a "campaign" in and of itself, I'm thinking something along the lines of the way supreme commander had it set up. Start with a small solar system, expand it with more phase lanes to outer planets upon completing objectives, and then to multiple star systems. You could have all types of scripted events with interactions between races, possible treachery, rebels, and what have you. It would just be one game, but probably lasting 10 to 20 hours.</p