14 DAY TRIAL // When Sins of a Solar Empire was launched, a lot of people doubted the changes that a 4X title featuring a slow pace and incredible fleet on fleet battles had on today's videogame market. But Ironclad and Stardock managed to create a very good game, which sold well despite the fact that, until recently, it was not available in European retail stores.
One of the most impressive elements is the level of support for the game. Currently, Sins of a Solar Empire is up to version 1.05 and a new patch, the biggest until now, 1.10, is in the works. To test some of the changes in the patch, Stardock is offering a beta in the form of 1.09 available sometime in mid July. You need to install Impulse, the digital distribution platform from Stardock, to get the beta patch and then the new 1.10 update.
The changes listed on the game's site are impressive in their scope. Just by reading them, a moderately experienced player can see that a whole new game experience is in the works. In addition to the myriad of fixes and bug squashing, there are changes to the way the AI works. You can look forward to better use of capital ships by the enemy. The target priority has been tweaked to make the AI go after the most vulnerable elements of a player's defense.
On the technical side, the game will become better looking and will run smoothly on less powerful machines. This is thanks to the way some of the textures have been redone to make it easier to zoom in and out from the galactic level to an individual battle. Gone are the days when you gave up watching your battleships against helpless enemies because the frame rate dropped significantly while zooming in.
Considering the level of support Stardock is offering for the title, it would be nice if a significant number of gamers chose to download the new beta patch and provide the feedback necessary to make the game better.