First of all, let me first say that I love Sins, and I am not exaggerating when I say that it is the most engrossing RTS I have ever played.  The Single Player is decent, but Sins really shines in multiplayer, and that is what makes the multiplayer lag issues all the more annoying.  I am on a college network, and I have no control over which ports are open.  I am perfectly willing to concede that I probably will never be able to host a game (until I get a new ISP).  What really Irks me is that even games I join, my lag is fine, but I will suddenly lag out.  THe game will simply "pause" for a really long time, and I will eventually be forced to quit.  I have played many RTS games in the past (on this network), and in some of them I had hosting problems, but I could ALWAYS reliably connect to a game as long as someone else hosted.  If I was the only one experiencing these issues, I would blame in on my network, but i'm not;  I have played plenty of games where other people have lagged out, and they have had the exact same problem.  And I have seen stardock/Ironclad responses in the forums that these are problems only a small group experiencing these problems, or even outright denying that the problems are occurring.  For 2 companies who are (deservedly) known for having excellent customer service, these are simply unnacceptable respones.  Please get to the bottom of these lag issues, and fix them, or this is will become a game that fails to reach its amazing potential. 
Thanks,
           Matrix