2 More Expansions Still Planned?

read through the SINS forums chief.  its all there.  diplo is the next mini-expansion.  the 3rd is still being planned by IC and rumored by the fans

I have read through them but haven't seen anything in awhile from the developers regarding any sort of a timeline so I wanted to know if they were still planned.

Blair confirmed that the second is still in development but they don't have any news about it. Frogboy in May or end of April posted a short news bit that it was "delayed" till the end of summer, and I put the delayed in quotes because we never got an estimated release to begin with.

yeah, IC dont really like to keep the community updated...

sorry if that sounds whiney, it isnt entirely justified. being a small company they probably cant afford the lost manpower, but there are ways to get around it...

but it could/would make pre-development heaps easier, because there could be discussion about the planned aspects of the game, rather than wild speculation and complaints about what is 'so broken omgz fix that OP'.

on the other hand, idn, if IC want to make the game their way and have to make changes to it after the fact, rather then building it 'right' the first time, then its their right, but they'll have more work on their hands than is necessary...

hey, people can complain all they want, but if IC wants to put something in the game, in it goes, so whats the harm in posting about it to get a response or keep people interested?

anyway, im just a bit irritated about that, i wont go into it.

so, yeah, you are going to have to read alot of threads, there is one by frogboy on this forum about a wishlist for Diplomacy, but i dont have time to go through the dozens of pages there to see if someone in power replied saying they liked this idea....

basically, all we know is there are 2 more expansions, the one in development now is called Diplomacy (or at least thats its working title) and is, obviously, about the diplomacy aspects of the game. the last expansion is still a mystery, and all we have is conjecture

aside from that, you'll probably find more info on the Queen's underwear drawer than about the expansions, so, if you hear anything, good luck, and spread the love

Not sure you're aware, but IC does open beta for all their releases, which is not building it then fixing it later. It's building it right from the start.

Also, they used to announce release dates but when they had to delay a few things an all mighty shit storm was released from the gates of hell known as the forums. Since then they've had the policy of not having released dates.

Only ourselves to blame.

yes, i know about the betas, they still have to build the beta though.

and really, i dont mind about the release dates, i mean, frogboy made a post here some time ago saying that Diplomacy will come out later, some time in summer, and i was truly surprised because i didnt expect anything about release dates for at least a few more months.

its not the release dates that worry me, i was one of the people telling the people whingeing to can it and be glad thay have such high standards, it'll come when it comes and it'll be good.

but id like something to discuss on these forums that isnt wild speculation and unbalance complaints. im not certain i wasnt on the forums at the time, but if IC had told the community before entrenchment that they intended to put starbases in the x-pack, wouldnt you have liked to know so some serious brain-storming could have gone on? i remember when the beta was running i would come online and give my opinion and talk about things that are good or not... it was really fun! but atm, we have people talking about the 0.5 DPS variance making a balance issue, flak frigates shooting down novalith blasts, and how mitigation is useless and should be fixed and how.

i mean, to a point, its not IC's fault, in other games, you can also talk and debate and theorise about the story, whats next, what could be added etc. With Sins, no story, sure, thats their choice, but in the meantime, something real to talk about would be nice.

but meh, form your own opinions. i like SD and IC very very much, despite this opinion, so its nothing personal, just something i would like.

I'll agree to that. I'd definitely like to see some dev blogs and even open discussion with the devs. As you pointed out though, they are a small team with few resources, and I don't think it's something to get too upset about.

If you want somethign to discuss, figure out why my mod makes the unit AI stop attacking each other! HAH!

I do have a little theory, it probably amounts to nothing, but I just thought 'hey, maybe'. I think I heard someone of SD or IC post that they weren't entirely happy by how the concept of mini expansions was accepted. I have no clue about sales figures, I'd still say that entr. sold fairly well, and it did get generally good reviews, but the issue of 'content' did come up as a con sometimes. so, maybe, they hold off a bit and bundle #2 and 3 together somehow. might help get more attention and avoid split of communities or sth.

as I said, I don't it's very likely, but who knows?

more on topic: you know, what I find a bit disappointing is not so much the release date, but that there is practicually no info whatsoever about it. you can draw your conclusions from what has been said and also a few replies from the suggestion thread, but anything definite or concrete is rare. ofc, if they haven't decided yet or aren't ready to show it, it's totally their right to wait, but I don't have to like it. but I'll stop whining now, got other stuff to occupy myself with. though an 'information release date' would be nice aka when we can expect to get more info.

well i can imagine Entrenchment changed a fair few things in the base code of Sins, as well as requiring heaps of general programming and reprogramming. Starbases and mines alone could have meant 100's of hours re-writing code, and they've already released 3 updates for Entrenchment. Considering how small they (IC) are they could be thinking of doing exactly what you said; building 2 and 3 and releasing them together, so as to reduce costs etc and make more money in the long term.  the Economic Crisis cant be helping things either. i know alot of people wont say 'oh, but its not about the money... yeah, bullshit, theres nothing wrong with it, its just a fact. at least they arent as bad as Microsoft or EA etc etc

this is almost exactly what i was saying, i agree completely. you spoke before about a split of communities. if you meant it how i think you did, i think this will be the greatest threat to the future of Sins. without any info to throw to the wolves, i can imagine alot of players interested enough to go on the forums will get bored and leave. i mean, okay, entrenchment, new ships, new weapons, starbases, mines, etc etc. everyone likes a good explosion, so they didnt need to market it as much, but diplomacy? yay, you get to send spy ships around and make really good trade treaties, oh, and the pirates are harder to kill/survive. hmm, yes, that sounds like waiting around for... caustic sarcasm aside, its a valid point. personally im going to stick around cause i really like this game, but they are my feelings nonetheless =(

They actually went quite considerably over budget for Entrenchment, but since they promised it for $10 they decided not to raise the price.

I believe it was Blair(?) who said feature creep had set in during development of Entrenchment.

yeah, makes sense. it would explain a reluctance (if any, remember ShadowHal said he thinks he heard of someone from SD or IC saying something like, nothing against you ShadowHal i just dont want to start treating this as fact just yet =P) to continue with micro-expansions, and releasing the last 2 X-packs together for a bigger cash inflow

Either Blair or Craig

You know, ive read all the active posts on the forum that interest me. So i went looking around. I had a look in Demigod (dont ask what posessed me) and there is a Sub-Forum there called Demigod journals.

You know what that is? a Forum dedicated to all the goings on of Demigod. Ideas threads, Change Log threads, whats-being-done-this-week threads, all you would/could ever want to know about a game you love (if you go on the forums you must like it).

I realise Sins is made by a different company and all, but couldn't someone from Stardock maybe pick up the slack with information and propaganda release etc?

I mean, 99% of the threads i saw there were all by Frogboy, so why not?

Sins has a Journals section also, though most of the posts there were during beta. Blair left a few for some sync issues and Entrenchment later on.

I asked Yarlen yesterday and he said he hasn't heard much new on the second expansion, so we'll just have to keep waiting until IC has some news

I hope that Ironclad don't feel committed to the release of two further micro-expansions, if the first one caused problems.  One beta-test process has to be an improvement on two or three short ones, of versions that were never ready for release. 

I'll wait for the expansion on disc anyway, which might also be the first time the online community will be united once more.  Wasn't the first projection for all three micro-expansions to be released by the end of this summer?  If the final expansion is delayed, can we have a Sins+Entrenchment version on disc, no manual needed and basic packaging?  I'd buy again...

Thanks to those that replied with some info.  It sounds like little has changed (in what we know) since the last time I checked in about two months ago.

I appreciate the feedback and agree that getting a little more news from time to time would certainly help.

Thanks again.

Still planned. No news other than we are making progress

and the 2009 award for the 'most informative developer post' goes to ... seriously though, awards sound like a nice idea, let's do that. the soese yearly awards for outstanding achievements in the field of specialness.

seriously though, thanks for a lifesign. and now back to work! the number of posts by devs is reversely proportional to the amount of progress made in the game. there. something that sounded smart.

To be honest, if it complete overhauls the game in terms of better AI, and more modding capablities, I don't mind paying more than $10 for the expansion

I thought that the original intent was to release each mini-expansion separately then, once all had been released, sell a box/bundle thingy in stores with all expansions for around $30.  This is pretty much the only reason why I don't have Entrenchment yet; I'm waiting for the fabled box (I like being able to hold my games, I'm weird that way).  I'm curious as to whether or not boxing all 3 mini-expansions into one full expansion is still the plan.

Speaking about sounding smart, I believe you meant "inversely proportional" not "reversely proportional". =P

This may be true (unless they just hire a guy whose job is just say "Yep, the devs are gettin' stuff done!"), but such update ease the collective mind of the community.  We want it all, and we want it now.

I personally don't mind not having release dates set in stone.  Just look at Blizzard.  They never give release dates.  All they have to do is say "Hey, we might be coming out with this game sometime" and people flock to worship the ground they walk on.  And sometimes, they don't even come out with the game.  Just look at StarCraft: Ghost.

thought so. it's a somewhat technical term and since english is not my native l. just didn't bother to look it up this time.