Unfortunately many games do require a program to patch now (Civ included), some (Ubisoft) even force you to be connected to the internet at all times just to play it. I do agree that the game should do more to make clear the most efficient way to patch your game, but since impulse became the way to update the game after it was released there was no way to include it on the original Sins (besides some people don't like included software like that).

I don't know how you did it, but I just went to www.impulsedriven.com, hit get impulse and I was allowed to download the program from the front page. Besides Sins directly taking you there or installing it on your computer directly, I don't know how it can get any easier. Once you've updated you can uninstall impulse if you like without any problem, something no other digital distribution system will let you do.

The old update now button is archaic and only of use to pirates who can't register the game because they don't have it. Its no different than other games where the original site hosting the patch has been taken down and you have to hunt down the patch manually. In fact I think I much prefer this system over what it took for some of my other games.

Also if it took you 20 minutes for 5.6MB, that sounds like your internet's problem. I get my fastest download speeds on impulse, usually between 300-600 kbps,

Admitingly I was browsing the forums here for a while before I updated my game so I had a good idea of what to do. I agree they should redirect the update now button to a page on impulsedriven and explain what you have to do (with the download link directly on the page). Unfortunately when the game launched it didn't use Impulse, but after Sins 1.05 it did, so what you encountered was probably a remnant from when they were switching services.

Once you have impulse its quite easy (I as a skeptic at first, but its now a lot easier to use it than manually hunting patches off rapid share and the like), I think its just figuring that out that is the problem. Also the reason Sins has had so many patches is that only registered customers can get them with impulse, which makes it more worthwhile for the developer to continue supporting their games.