Earlier this week, Stardock officially released the new Beta 2 update of the Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion 4X RTS game. Most popular for SOASE and Impulse (which has since been sold off — they are now offering their games on Steam), Stardock has been working on the Sins standalone sequel for more than a year now. Over the past year or so, the company has push out enough teasers to drive me crazy with lust, so when the beta was finally public I jumped in with the credit card faster than The Flash.

The TEC Rebels’ Titan Class Ship

Unfortunately, the first few beta updates only allowed gamers to play the TEC (Trader Emergency Coalition) and not the other two alien races. The newly released Beta 2 is now being pushed out via a Steam update and will allow gamers to play the Advent and TEC (and both sub-classes of each, Rebels and Loyalists). The game also features several bug fixes and performance improvements. Other notable changes include balance improvements, (unfortunately) the slight Titan ship nerfing, and the addition of an introduction movie sequence at the start of the game.

The Advent Eradica Titan Class Ship

I have not gotten a chance to play very much of the new beta 2 yet, but the first thing I noticed was an additional capital ship for the TEC Loyalists (and possibly the other classes) that is positioned as a support craft and is capable of sending out boarding parties. Pretty neat, the game overall also seems to be a bit snappier, especially when moving between menus and such. I’m more of a TEC guy than an Advent player, but I do love crushing them in battle so I’m glad to see the Advent added to the game. The only big race left is the Vasari at this point, which suggests that the game is that much closer to final release. I am cautiously optimistic that Sins: Rebellion is going to be a game worthy of my $30 bucks. Below is a video of the new introduction movie, and the full change log for the Beta 2 release can be found over at Stardock’s Forums.

Have you played the beta yet, and if so what do you make of it?