A few hundred kilometers of space biff
Titanic hubris in Sins of a Solar Empire
Rebellion was one of my “oh, go on then” Steam sale picks. In that moment I felt like playing exactly two hours of space war. That’s the thing about Sins of a Solar Empire, and grand strategy games in general: they tend to have much more interesting beginnings than endings.
I started a medium-sized campaign as the human faction. I had a vague notion of pursuing a diplomatic victory through trade, but ditched it when I got a glimpse of Rebellion’s big new feature: moonsized battleships called Titans. In the early game I claimed territory fast with a small vanguard fleet while muscling-in on my closest neighbor, an underequipped Vasari empire. My second fleet patrolled neighboring systems, and in an isolated sector in the corner of the galaxy I began construction of my first Ankylon Titan.
The Ankylon looks like a fortress and takes a hit like one. It shields and buffs its allies and approaches fleet combat like a battering ram. The Vasari built up their own fleet to face me, but there’s no arguing with a few hundred kilo meters of space biff. I nuked their homeworld from orbit. Then, I looked across the stars at the two other factions squabbling at the far end of space. In that moment I knew exactly how the rest of the campaign would play out. I had a material and territorial advantage. I’d grind them into dust eventually. I let the campaign run its course in my head, saved my progress, and closed the game.