as black holes, pulsars, coronal mass ejections and neutron stars, which have various impacts on combat and exploration. Outlaw Sectors was released on June 22, 2016, and focuses on Pirates, Black Markets, and Planetary Militias - NPC factions that can assist the player in conquering their enemies. Minor Factions was released on December 17, 2018, and included 15 AI-controlled minor factions, each offering assistance and unique services to players, if diplomatic relations are established. Sequel A sequel to the game, Sins of a Solar Empire II was teased by Ironclad Games on September 16, 2022. The game entered early access on the Epic Games Store on October 27. The developers called the initial phase a "technical preview", promoting Ironclad's new Iron Engine. Reception Sins of a Solar Empire was awarded "Best Strategy Game of the Year 2008" by GameTrailers, and best PC Game of the Year by IGN. The game was met with positive reviews, holding an aggregate score of 88% based on 46 reviews at GameRankings, and an aggregate score of 87/100 based on 52 reviews at Metacritic. Much praise for the game has been directed towards the game's clever blend of RTS and 4X gameplay, the seamless zoom function, and the user-friendly Empire Tree and UI. That the game was designed to play efficiently on older as well as newer PCs has garnered considerable praise. Criticism has been focused on the lack of a single-player campaign, sporadic game crashes when played online, and the potentially lengthy game-play times. Following the 1.03 patch, with increased game speeds, this problem has been slightly improved, although games with six or more players can sometimes still take four hours or more. Sales In September 2008, Stardock's CEO, Brad Wardell, stated that Sins of a Solar Empire had sold over 500,000 units, with 100,000 of those being download sales, on a development budget of less than $1,000,000. The game sold 200,000 copies in its first month of release alone. The 2012 Rebellion expansion sold over 100,000 digital copies in its first month of release, setting a Stardock sales record for digital retail. References External links 2008 video games 4X video games Games for Windows certified games Multiplayer and single-player video games Real-time strategy video games Space MOGs Space opera video games Stardock games Video games developed in Canada Video games with expansion packs Windows games Windows-only games