Thoughts on the Sins Rebellion Beta

aka "The Thread of 1,000 Tears"

from Sins Forums

Well folks, it's been almost four years to the day since I posted about my "Minor Annoyances" with Sins. In that time there have been two expansions, tons of updates and one brand new Beta - that's a lot of water under the bridge.

I was so excited to get my hands on the Rebellion Beta. Four years, I thought, surely would be enough time to address some of those issues and I was really looking forward to the new Titans. After spending a few days playing the game I'm pretty disappointed with what I've seen so far.

Yes, fanboys, I realize this is a Beta. I know it's not final. Let's just get that out of the way right now. The game is due out in two months so I seriously doubt we're going to see anything massive change. However, there is still plenty of time to tweak and generally improve the game, and those are the kinds of suggestions I'm going to outline.

First, let's take a look back at my post from 2008. I listed seven issues I had with the game, and sadly only one of those issues has been addressed since then. That's pitiful. Four years and we're still being told we're under attack if a scout ship enters the galaxy well. Ships still chase single vessels rather than prioritizing logically, and dozens of units will simply ignore enemy building for no apparent reason as cap ships bombard a planet.

Add to that list the following items:

  1. Scout and colony ships should not be selected as part of your attack ships when you click on a planet/galaxy. Rarely, if ever, would this be a desirable action. Just as fighters/bombers aren't selected with the first click, neither should scout or colony ships.
  2. When building a Titan and after you've selected the planet it doesn't show a "1" over the Titans button, as it does when you build other ships and view their queue buttons.
  3. Game doesn't always show the same perspective when you load a saved game. This means spending time each time you load adjusting to your previous view, or just re-learning where everything is.
  4. Your fleet will break off attacks on more valuable items such as factories, refineries and other structures to chase down and attack trade and/or refinery ships.
  5. If units are in a fleet they won't attack buildings if the capital ships are bombarding. They just stay in formation, even if set to attack anything in the gravity well.
  6. Even though the enemy mines are visible, your units will fly right through them to attack enemies. This is similar to my previous gripe about ships flying into the fire range of other defensive weapons, but more serious because of how deadly mines can be to a group of units. It seems only halfway useful to be required to discover mines but still have to micro-manage flight paths around them.
  7. Hearing "Reporting for duty" and other new unit creation sound clips for EVERY ship created is extremely annoying.
  8. Only purpose star bases serve is to keep you from taking a planet or increase your trade routes. Otherwise you can completely ignore them. They should have a more significant impact on the game given their cost and sheer coolness.

Here's hoping some of these issues can be addressed in future patches or the full version of Rebellion. I know some of you will simply disagree with my list, and that's fine, but I'm sure we can all agree that some of those items are legitimately silly and should be addressed.

14,628 views 2 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

So, like you I am coming back to the game after an absence hoping rebellion will revitalize the game.

 

I thought I'd respond to your qualms in order to keep the discussion going:

1.

I've never actually experienced this issue, if I'm using my scouts to spot mines I will order them to follow my carrier cruisers so that they spot effectively but stay out of the fight.

 

2.

Sounds like a UI bug, haven't witnessed it myself, hopefully it will be sorted out.

3.

This has been a minor annoyance for me aswell with all the Sins iteration. Other RTS games will usually have a hot-key devoted to resetting the camera to the default point of view, it's often delete. With Sins maps, this poses and interesting conundrum as there is no "default" camera perspective. I like to situate my camera so my homeworld is "south" of the rest of the map, or at least so that my main route of expansion runs "north" or up my display. However, there are many exceptions to this personal tenancy, and I imagine the dev's didn't include a default camera position citing the diversity of of Sins map layouts.

4.-5.

This is a weakness of the fleet system. Orders given to fleets are actually functionally only given to the flagship of said fleet, thus causing some ships to lay idle in certain circumstances. I tend to not actually group my strike forces into one large fleet, but three or four smaller ones. This way, I can assign the correct groups of units to the correct tasks. For instance, on an attack I group my mainline units (LRM's, Heavy Cruisers) with my toughest cap ship as the leader. My carriers form another "fleet" so that they can be kept out of trouble away from the main fight. Other vessels who fill particular roles (siege frigates, anti-structure cruisers) form their own units so that they can be kept our of trouble and strike their targets when the time is right. This method ensures that the correct units are handling the correct tasks, and that fragile units are screed by my cannon fodder and tanks. Also be sure to assign specific tasks.

6.

This is a particular challenge, however, if your opponent is managing his defenses properly, you should have to confront them in order to continue your assault. If you feel like bypassing them, giving shift-click queued move orders outside the defenses range can alleviate this issue. I agree though, watching a group of frigates get obliterated by a minefield you've already spotted is pretty god damned annoying.

7.

Agreed, I tend to turn VO cues off.

8.

Yea, star base utility is pretty hampered when playing against a competent human opponent. The Vasari have the advantage of mobile star-bases which give them more practical anti-fleet capabilities, but I wouldn't discount the other two factions bases so quickly. (I'm using the TEC base mostly as a reference) Static Star bases have two combat major utilities IMO. One: as a massive fighter bay, since they take up no tactical slots, bases allow for a fleet of fighters and bombers which can atrit an assault even if it stays out of range of the bases guns. Two: as speed bumps, either utilizing orbital government upgrades to force your opponent to destroy the base prior to colonization (which gives you time for proper fleet dispatch). The destabilization effect also helps greatly in fleet battles as it pulls down a ton of hp.

So, food for thought I suppose. Hope it's helpful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

I've had many people point out that you can shift-click to have ships avoid mines and other defenses, but I just disagree that this should be required. Like you, I get furious when I see ships get wiped out by mines. Especially because one ship can fly past a mine and nothing happens and then another comes along just as closely or even further away and BOOM. This is just shoddy programming.

As for the default view issue, I simply think the game should remember your viewing angle each time you save your game and restore that angle when you load it. Simple. Why hasn't this been done in 4+ years??? Why would anyone want the game to forget their view?

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