No, it did not.

Why you need a new HUD?, the HUD is OK i like the NEW SKIN, i see other games UI and are very ugly!, Sins UI are simply  and pretty, is no necessary make  NEW UI, only simply modification (skin)

A nearly-identical set of tech trees does not a new faction make

this is a EXPANSION, you need new faction remaked?, wait to Sins 2, rebellion have more graphics than diplomacy more effect, with same performance. New units, new titan, new capships, if you want ruin a excelent game is your problem, devs prefer and i prefer more optimization, more units, new reserchs, same game structure.

Why try with other HUDs, Factions, UNITS??, if you can download a lot of MODDING. "sins of dark age" "requiem" "dawn and victory"...

Hype vs product... for me is really ok

The price is no OK.

I think that is why the devs gave those of us that already have the game plus mini expansion (read Trinity for those that bought that as well) a discount. For the $30 I paid I like what I got. $40 no unless you have never bought the game or only bought the Original.

flannicus90, I completely agree with you. I have the same disappointed feeling. It's partially my fault for reading the Steam sales blurb and expecting this to be a sequel since there was no mention of it being a stand-alone expansion. I still just cannot get over how little has changed from Trinity despite the inclusion of supposed new factions and ships. Would it kill someone to add more planet types and redo the textures and models of the older ships? Is there no successor for a ship like the Cobalt? Can we get map previews or at least new maps not recycled from Trinity? I just want to echo the sentiment that more was expected from Rebellion. With the release date only a month away the beta gives us a good idea of what the final game will be like.

I don't really feel like modding the game to add more variety or replace outdated assets. I know it could be done, and I expect we'll see some good mods for this game at some point. That's its saving grace. Mods are the reason I still play games like Star Wars Empire at War. Mods are the reason I put so much time into the original SOASE. I'm sure it'll be the same case with Rebellion. I suppose Rebellion and some other games will give me something to do until an unannounced indie competitor shows up later this year.

I have a partial agreement with some of your point. I do think that more needs to be done to differentiate the factions from each other. Some very small changes could accomplish this, such as automatic passive bonus/nerf applied to you without research, based on your faction. That way, right out the door they feel different and need a different stratagy. I doubt this will happen, but i think one more ship, unique to that faction would also help. Ideally for balance sake it should be the new capital ship. I like the ones we have for the most part, but i think there should be 6 new ones, not just 3. Discord for adv loyalists, something else for adv rebels. Corsev for the Tec loyals, a different new capital for the tec rebs, You get the idea. I think just those two changes, would fulfill a lot of people ideas about what this $30 expansion was supposed to be, and quash the kind of complaints in the OP

Everyone is entitled to their opinions and no criticism intended but I see it differently.

Sins was "done".  They successfully released the original game and two expansions, added some balance changes and fixes throughout, maintained a gamesever, support and forums but were moving on to other things with maybe one day...in the future...just a hope for a Sins II.  They repeatedly said no 64 bit, this is it.

Then Impulse gets sold and Brad comes out and says he didn't like the direction of his company overall and wanted to steer Stardock back to it's first love, games.

Players who kept working on things like TSOP, the normal rabid fanboy posters who loved the game and some of the pro-players who remained ardent were sitting there and I think Stardock noticed that Sins might not really be "done".

They took a shot and pulled on the fanboy base and decided to give the wheel a spin...but they also were angling to get back into the new game business.

So they made a hybrid.  Half for the loyal fans that made them a success and the other half a "new game" for players who had never played or heard of Sins.

They could just as easily started on a shooter game or anything else and started fresh.  

This is all "IMO" but I think Rebellion was a thank you to old players as much as it was a chance to see if they could offer a reworked Sins to a new player base.

I think the Steam numbers and sales have shown that wasn't a bad idea at all.  

If you had never played or heard of Sins, picked up Rebellion--and were the sort of player that loves this sort of game--you wouldn't think, "What a rip off!"...you'd think, "Wow!  Not bad!".

Sure, the caveat is the 32 bit limitation in today's dual graphics environment--but that isn't and never has been what Sins was directed at.   It was made for thinking players who wanted substance over style.

Rebellion flips old strategies over and introduces new ones, took and aging engine and made itr shine again and fixed a slew of old bugs and limits that had never quite been taken care off.

It's a fair deal in my view.  Old players are paying only $30 for the "new game" and that's moved towards "bargain bin" pricing. For a new player who's never run into it before, Rebellion is an absolute gem and a good deal for $40.

Course if they make a lot of money off this whole series maybe someone will make sins II. With 64bit multithreaded DirectX11 client server configuration goodness.

Maybe.

Its possible.

Its a good game and ive always liked SoSE, however without any significant new content, Id rather have kept my money and just keep playing awesome mods like SoA and SoaGE and spend the 30-40 bucks on the next Starcraft in the works. 

The Vasari taking forever to be released has not been helpful to people expecting something more than a new big ship and a bit larger fighter aka corvette.  The 5-10 new techs are cool, but in all honesty, as a stand alone expansion, this really should have been priced at 10-15 bucks for those that have Trinity already.  $40 and even $30 bucks....what in this is worth 40 bucks. 

And there aren't 3 new races.  There are 6 new titans.  Loyalist vs Rebel is like comparing West Coast residents to East Coast residents.  Yeah they are different, but they are still all Americans.

If your a new comer to SoSE, buy it because it has all of the previous versions in it + a couple of new items.  Great game.  Personally.....I have yet to be impressed more than I was with Diplomacy.

There was more added to Diplomacy than there was in Rebellion that affected the playability.

And by that logic then people have paid $50-60 bucks to buy Diplomacy (with as you say, not much added) & Rebellion which has even less added. 

And assuming that your join date is the time you downloaded the game, a few of us including myself have had a few years longer to expect more of a true "add-on" than you have.  Give it time, and you will come to expect more for your money too.

lol 50-60$ for diplomacy? well not on the west coast it was about 10 to 15, dont remember, but no way near 60! 60 is like buying a whole new game!... and rebellion ads allot of things too! if u really want a ton of new things wait untill soase2 which might not come anytime soon so i dont recommend it just buy rebellion!

The fact is, very few (almost no) game makers today are creating strategic games that require skill and intelligence to win--especially in the science fiction arena.

I'll take it.  Diplomacy was $30 on release as is Rebellion for previous buyers.  I would not have felt ripped off if I had never seen the game and bought Rebellion--I'd have been thrilled with the game.

The changes are more than cosmetic or mere "mod rip-offs".

I am looking forward to Rebellion launching, I feel that the upgraded graphics, bug fixes (which would have never happend otherwise), and the increased variety in gameplay is worth the twenty-seven bucks and yes it was $27 not $40, $10 discount plus 10% coupon. However that said I hope that they do not waste any time getting started on Sins 2.

Replacing existing ships with their successors and adding new planet types would be worthless changes that don't change game play or strategy much at all.

All the changes in Rebellion have far reaching effects that fundamentally change the game play. This is what counts, not unit skins or planet types.