Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Aha! I knew I had downloaded something interesting and then forgotten about it. That something, I now realise, was Diplomacy, the latest expansion for Sins Of A Solar Empire. It came out last week, and I had a nagging feeling there was something I was meant to be playing… just couldn’t put my finger on it. Anyway, it looks a lot like this expansion finishes off the SOASE experience, with a range of political options for this real-time space strategy – envoys, pacts, missions in multiplayer. Rather than wait for another week for me to get around to playing a full game, I thought I’d open it up to you lot. Who’s playing it? Any thoughts on worthiness of the new features?

As much as I dislike the beta-access for pre-order trend, this is one case in which I’m sorely tempted to just slap down the cash. Sins Of A Solar Empire’s second expandy update thing, Diplomacy, will open its beta (currently in progress) to anyone who pre-orders via Impulse. It requires the original game and Entrenchment to play, but I have been playing the crap out of Entrenchment over the past few weeks. Diplomacy pretty much adds everything I’ve been lusting for in the 4xRTS, which means diplomatic tech tree, diplomatic ships, and a host of other non-violence options for your Solar Empire. The problem of course, is that I haven’t really got time to be playing another reinvigorated RTS. Anyone else’s finger hovering over the button?