I was doing some brainstorming myself, and I came up with a pretty solid idea for another expansion/mod that the community/Stardock might find some inspiration in making.

I'll be honest, I myself was very much inspired by the Mass Effect plot line while thinking this up, but I think it would fit perfectly in revealing the secret enemy chasing the Vasari that Stardock has in store for us all.

What I'm suggesting though: is essentially super pirates. Massive or overpowering fleets of advanced enemy ships that would appear very, very late in the game and give it their all to destroy every player in the game.

When I said earlier that: "I myself was very much inspired by the Mass Effect plot line while thinking this up," I was alluding to the Reaper threat that shows itself in the third game in the series.

Now, for those of you who haven't played Mass Effect, the game that I'm using as an analogous, then you're probably wondering what I'm talking about.

(There will be NO SPOILERS present in the below text, feel free to read ahead safetly.)

In the Mass Effect series, there is a super powered alien threat that everyone calls 'The Reapers.' Throughout the first and the second game, you're job as the main character is to warn all the super powers of the galaxy that these aliens, 'The Reapers' are going to come and destroy everything.

It's very predictable that The Reapers eventually do come, and in the third game they reveal themselves as the onslaught of raw destruction that could, and will, bring certain destruction to the galaxy if they are not stopped.

So how does The Reaper concept tie into Sins of a Solar Empire? Easy! In fact, I would say that all of the previous Sins expansions, including Rebellion itself, are tied into this.

Let's start with Entrenchment. In Entrenchment you're given a plentiful array of tools to help defend yourself from other players  and nations that wish to destroy you. Late game, you'll probably have a starbase on every key planet, and maybe more! It's a great defensive game, but it's not fun when everyone in the game is turtling. 

That's where Diplomacy comes in. In Diplomacy you can choose to ally with other players and nations, teaming up to take down a common foe that's proving too strong for either for you alone. You can benefit each other in resources too, giving each other tons and tons of metal and crystal to help bolster your fleets to gargantuan sizes. But what happens when you're all friends? All those neat little gadgets you used to defend your empire are now useless! Your swarms of repair cruisers can no longer spam their abilities on Starbases that aren't taking any damage. Your fleet becomes an intimidating peace keeper, with nothing to do but slay hordes of pirates. So what now? One of you will win the game, and all that fleet building will appear to have been wasted on a victory that game so fast.

Rebellion tried to fix that, adding several new factions to play as that hated each other, but it didn't really fix that ever annoying diplomatic victory.

So what will fix all of those problems? A common enemy that one single nation or player cannot even try to kill alone. A common enemy that will ensure there is no winning player. A common enemy that doesn't just threat you, it threats your enemies as well as your colonies.

A common enemy that will make Diplomatic victories seem plausible and constructive rather than annoying and useless.

A common enemy that will challenge your diamond encrusted turtle shell of starbases and turrets. One that will destroy the largest of fleets, and draw out the hunkiest of turtles.

A common enemy that could make everlasting games end very quickly. 

A common enemy that halts the monotonous win-some-lose-some circle jerk of late game combat. 

A common enemy that discourages early game rushing and lone wolfing, and instead promotes cooperation and multiplayer strategy.

The same kind of common enemy that is found in the Mass Effect series, without becoming an obvious duplicate.

I believe that common enemy could be the mysterious race chasing the Vasari. Let's face it, the Sins series doesn't look like it has a decent future ahead of it, and they've already given us hints about the upcoming of a mysterious race of galactic conquerors. An expansion like this could change the game drastically without having to resort to adding an overkill of fresh content, and instead improving upon two that are already present: pirates and lore.

So what do you think? 

Do you think that a new expansion with an extensive common enemy would be fun and game changing? I do, and I don't see too much effort being required to have it done. 

Thanks for reading! Hope you were inspired or intrigued by the idea!

GLHF,

CheeseMK2