Still much of a community?

Oh there's been a good community here ever since the game's been released. The mods are pretty popular and there's quite a few people who will write paragraphs explaining things to new player or debate strategy etc.

The online community was a bit less well off but now that Sins was rereleased on Steam a while ago it seems there are a lot of newer players now. If you have diplomacy this is a really good time to learn the game competitively, probably the best you'll get until the Rebellion stand alone expansion is released.

Right now im just playing the vanilla version of the game until i can figure it all out, then i might buy both expansions and go from there. Just seems like the type of game you have more fun playing against a bunch of friends then solo against the PC is all lol.

i suggust you still with your vanilla version for now, (you wont prolly ever get any online games though), and then pick up rebellion when it comes out, that way you dont end up buying entrench and diplo twice.

Yup, though I find I do enjoy both. In addition to the main online scene on ICO, there are lots of small groups of friends who play more relaxed and longer games with each other, both with and without mods. If you know a group of people who like strategy games you should definitely try to get them into this as well.

Welcome to the community!

I remember talking to someone about Sins of a Solar Empire in Chicago when I was last up there, at a boardgame store called Games Plus.  Might you be him?

Nope, i live up in the great white north of Canada lol. Unfortunately i come from a long history of professional gaming in Counter Strike and Team Fortress. RTS games have always kind of been my way of unwinding however they seem to be entering a very good place in the competitive circles although rather slowly. I would love to try and do the same for Sins as it would definitely be a very entertaining game to watch pros battle in. Thus i have decided to try and learn the game for all that it is and go from there. That having been said i dont know anyone really who plays RTS games especially not ones like this as it does require a certain degree of attention and thought.

If anyone has some time id love to try and learn what i can from a seasoned player.

You can't play Diplomacy or Entrenchment through Rebellion though.

Team Fortress 2 or Team Fortress Classic? Or both? I was (still am) an avid TFC player.

I played TFC in STA Gold when that was the top shelf of TFC gaming. I played a few live LANs and CEVO-p for TF2. Sadly it seems the Half Life mods have all but died and with the release of Global Offensive that should mark the end of it all together. RTS games i think is where the community is heading as far as competition goes.

John

You won't find much action for vanilla Sins.  Almost all of the online multiplayer activity, especially the PvP activity, is on the Diplomacy expansion.  If you keep your eyes open you might be able to get the Trinity pack when it comes on sale.  If you're interested in Rebellion, now is a good time to start learning the game because you'll be up to speed once it comes out.  You probably want to be able to manhandle the Hard level AI before trying to play other people online.

I'd say shoot for dealing with unfairs in a FFA...hard AIs is probably not enough of a trainer for ICO....

FFA is a bit uncertain, especially with AI players... I remember back in the days when I was playing the AI in FFA locked teams, I found it extremely easy to turtle/trade up in my little corner of the map, without being aggressive, and the other AIs would rarely attack me -  until I had acquired a ton of funds and was able to build a massive offensive fleet to destroy anything in my way.

The biggest trick is be able to fight one of the harder AIs without using static defenses in a map where you'll definitely be the prime target of one of the enemy players. Starbases make things too easy; to be competitive and to learn to play, you need to be able to fleet well.

If you want to play very long games of vanilla sins or any sins for that matter, i use Hamachi, I don't know why, i feel more secure than IC.  This is the first time i read a forum and ive had the game since release.

I actually came to the forums to find out if anyone plays FFA with NPC and Players, using diplomacy, I didnt buy that upgrade on release, because it didn't seem that interesting to me.  Now i bought it and had a 19 hour game, and i dont think i used the "mod" at all.

But i do believe, This game is well worth taking the time to learn.

Especially once you get to the point of playing against other humans online.

Don't use locked teams...it's a different game when you have a two or front war from the start and multifront from the beginning...doesn't always happen but it happens enough, and out of principle you can choose to avoid SBs or teaming up with AIs...

The community is there im just joining again as well.

Welcome back to the Unity.

John, replied to your other thread. PM me if you like, have played a small amount too but am total newcomer to online...