Hi there,
Who has entrenchment? Who loves Entrenchment? Who thinks that Starbases are fantastic to have yet less fantastic when the opposition has them also?
I have to answer "me" to the above three questions. I'm thoroughly enjoying the Sins expansion though I only play offline. And I can't figure the Black Market out - other than buying and selling. I'm guessing the AI doesn't really use it and I'd need to Multiplayer a bit to understand it... Oh well. Still loving it.
Karl

I got the original game but it didn't outdo Galactic Civilizations 2 for me, so just kept at GalCiv2 instead.

I love Entrenchment. Starbases are very convenient.

This is the new micro-expansion, yes?

The first of three, so they say

Would you recommend this game for someone who is not all that into RTS games but would like to try them out? I just downloaded the demo and it seems interesting, but I'm not sure its really for me (yet).

To say Sins is a RTS doesn't do it justice. It's more of a 4X game, really.

Semantics. 4X games are still RTS games (or at least strategy games), but not all RTS games are 4X games. Still doesn't answer my question, though.

Either way, it's a very slow game. Unless you plan to do something else while playing, don't play it. 4 hour games are not uncommon.

4 hour game sessions are not all that uncommon no matter what I'm playing. I've been known to play a new game for at least 8 hours straight on the day I get it, only stopping for bathroom breaks, cigarettes and the occasional snack. The length of time spent playing isn't really an issue for me, I'm more concerned whether this would be a good game to try to "cut my teeth" on.

It is much more representative of a 4x game than an RTS. RTS's usually have a lot of control you can exert over either a small group of units or anything up to hundreds of units, with battles unfolding very quickly in real time, sometimes on multiple fronts. The pace of Sins is glacial in comparison and the feeling of combat is from a more distant perspective. This doesn't make it a bad game whatsoever -- I like even slower ones -- but just not one that's very representative of RTS's at all. It's got its own schtick, and it's different.
You can get through the battles of many RTS's(DOW, COH, TA, AOE, C&C, etc.) in 15 to 30 minutes for a time comparison, and every minute may well feel like you're running a very hectic race and you're intimately involved in every least skrimish second by second.

It's not a traditional RTS or 4X but combined as previously mentioned. It's not the easiest game in the world though not particularly complicated. If you enjoyed the demo - this is much more of the same. As for "cutting your teeth on" it's hard to say. It's not tradition either genre but is a very fun game and I'd imagine online can be quite a kick (I'm offline only by choice) - imagine 50 stars, 250 (ish) planets and 48 players (or more/less)....Would take an EXTREMEMLY long time... maybe GoG and Steam could battle it out in Sins. 20 team members each or something :p
Karl

SoaSE is a good game, but I will not support StarDock since the went completely to Impulse. So, I have no idea what the last patch for Sins was like nor will I ever see the add-on.

There are starbases, mines, a new research tree (defense) which can upgrade your turrets, add flak towers to the Hanger Defense, allow the starbase to act as a trade port, hold 14 fighter squadrons, act as Auxilary Government (the planet can not to taken until the starbas is destroyed). It can also do the job of a repair station and a frigate factory. The explosion also seem to be nicer (at least the ships don't seem to disappear a split second before the explosion anymore).
Oh and a new type of cruiser - Torpedo Cruiser. I tested 10 of them again a Advent (I think - The bastard thing can bloody move. The TEC base is stationary) Starbase and they tore it apart. Partly because the Starbase was ripping the rest of my fleet to shreds. For $10.00 this seems to add much needed defense to systems. You don't need to leave a fleet for defense - A station can basically look after itself.
Obviously I'm loving it :)
Karl
PS: I know the grammer is bad. Spelling probably bad. But I don't care. It's late.