Sins of a Solar Empire Download PC

Sins of a Solar Empire has three main resources to gather: Credits, Metal, and Crystal. Credits are the general currency used by the three races in the game, and are gained by completing missions, collecting bounties, creating a trade network, and taxing planets. Metal is the most common resource in the game, and is gathered by building extractors on metallic asteroids; it is used to construct basic ships and structures. Crystal is the rarest resource, which can be mined from asteroids like Metal; it is used for developing new technologies and building certain advanced ships. A Black Market feature allows players to convert unneeded Metal and Crystal into Credits or vice versa. Selling or buying too much of either resource can cause market prices to rise and fall dramatically.

Certain more intangible resources include Supply Points and Capital Ship Crews. Supply Points are used up when ships are purchased, and cannot be accumulated, acting as a population cap for the player's fleet. Capital Ship Crews and Supply Points are both required for the construction of powerful capital ships; regular capital ships require one crew, while the giant titans in the Rebellion expansion require two. A player's maximum Supply Points and Capital Ship Crews can be upgraded, but increased Supply Points require more logistical support, imposing a permanent reduction on the player's income.

Players can construct planet-based infrastructure upgrades and orbital structures on and around habitable planets that they control. Planetary upgrades grant bonuses such as higher tax incomes, better planetary bombardment resistance and access to more orbital structures. Orbital structures are divided into civilian logistical and military tactical structures. Logistical structures include asteroid mines, ship factories, trade ports, research laboratories and cultural broadcast stations. Tactical structures include orbital weapons platforms, repair centers, strike craft hangars, and superweapons unique to each playable race; for example, the TEC can build the Novalith Cannon, a giant railgun capable of bombarding distant planets.

Entrenchment and starbases

The Entrenchment micro-expansion adds new defensive options. Defensive weapon platforms and strike craft hangars gain researchable special abilities, and all factions gain the ability to deploy proximity-detonated space mines. The expansion's most notable aspect is the addition of starbases – immense defensive structures with significant firepower and various special abilities.

Celestial objects and anomalies

There are multiple types of colony-supporting planets and asteroids, with the expansions and later downloadable content increasing the available planet types over the years. Habitable worlds range from Earth-like Terran planets to frozen Ice planets and water-covered Oceanic planets, with some planets possessing random bonuses such as enhanced factories or better defenses. The player can interact directly with planets in several ways, such as creating trade routes, raining destruction from orbit or spreading "culture" via propaganda platforms, which may cause enemy planets to revolt in the player's favor. In addition, there are pirate bases, which are abnormally durable and well-defended asteroids that have no resources but provide a boost to tax income.

Furthermore, there are several different spatial anomalies (more commonly known as uncolonizable objects) found in the game which serve as obstacles and hazards to all players. These include ice and asteroid fields, which reduce weapon accuracy; gas giants, which can cause dangerous explosions if a ship is destroyed nearby; stars, which allow for interstellar jumps but have large gravity wells that are slow to traverse; and various forms of space junk, which do not affect ships directly. Wormholes link some systems, and once the necessary technology has been researched, they can be utilized for instant travel. In addition, DLCs have added traveling hazards such as plasma storms, random rebellions, economic downturns and coronal mass ejections.

Neutral forces, known as militias, guard and may own colonizable planets not occupied at the start by any of the players. Their forces are an assortment of TEC frigates, cruisers and defensive structures. They do not venture outside the gravity well, but will attack anything owned by non-militia forces that enter their gravity well. Pairs of pirate ships sometimes similarly "guard" uncolonizable gravity wells.