Stardock and Ironclad are pleased to announce the first post-release update to Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity (in the Diplomacy expansion).

The new update tweaks the behavior of pirates, improves diplomatic relations handling and provides dozens of small game balancing changes based on player suggestions.

Below is a change log:

Diplomacy 1.01

-------------------

Gameplay

- Pirates will now prefer planets with 2 or more modules (rather than dead asteroids and the like).

- AI players will offer pacts regardless of their feelings towards the player, as long as the other relationship requirements are met.

- When on a player mission the pirates will no longer stop at the first target owned planet they come across. When on a raid the pirates will try to stop at a sufficiently occupied planet instead of any planet.

- Pirates will always try their best to nuke a planet before leaving. It's the only way to be sure.

- Relationship penalties have been changed to make them more stable.

- Initial pirate raids are less powerful.

- Pirate gauss guns are less powerful.

- Lowered the rate at which AI players gain diplomatic points.

- Lowered the rate at which the AI relationship bonus increases.

- The various AI difficulties will now gain the AI relationship bonus at different rates.

- Lowered the cooldown on Diplomatic Immunity by 30 seconds.

- You should now be able to target any ally in a free-for-all match for pirate/regular missions, and for pirate bounty.

- Locked teams games will no longer have a diplomatic victory option.

- Increased the penalty for breaking a peace treaty.

- Experience for killing pirates has gone down.

- AI players are now more likely to send pirate missions.

- The pirates now have a unique armor type that will allow them to take less damage from all weapon types.

- Military actions now have a negative cap of -20.

Interface

- The quick bounty button will now let you increase the bounty on allies. It will prefer non-allies if any exist;

- Fixed a text placement issue on the game over screen.

- Relationship displays can now be negative.

Misc

- Added a data value to game constants (juicy planet threshold) to set the number of modules pirates look for when stopping to attack.

- Fixed an old bug that resulted in AI players offering alliances more often than they should.

- Fixed an issue with some autocast use times.

- Fixed an issue where certain pacts were not functioning properly (most notably the supply pact).

- Fixed a possible crash within the mission system.

- Fixed a bug that might cause the AI to not offer pirate missions.

- Fixed a sync bug related to Pirates.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity is available at most retail outlets in North America.  It can be purchase digitally for $39.95 via Impulse.  Users who already have the original Sins of a Solar Empire and Entrenchment expansion can upgrade by purchasing the Diplomacy expansion pack.

Links:

• Purchase
• What’s in Diplomacy?

Screenshots:

Neato.

Stardock and Ironclad are pleased to announce the first post-release update to Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity (in the Diplomacy expansion).

The new update tweaks the behavior of pirates, improves diplomatic relations handling and provides dozens of small game balancing changes based on player suggestions.

Below is a change log:

Diplomacy 1.01

-------------------

Gameplay

- Pirates will now prefer planets with 2 or more modules (rather than dead asteroids and the like).

- AI players will offer pacts regardless of their feelings towards the player, as long as the other relationship requirements are met.

- When on a player mission the pirates will no longer stop at the first target owned planet they come across. When on a raid the pirates will try to stop at a sufficiently occupied planet instead of any planet.

- Pirates will always try their best to nuke a planet before leaving. It's the only way to be sure.

- Relationship penalties have been changed to make them more stable.

- Initial pirate raids are less powerful.

- Pirate gauss guns are less powerful.

- Lowered the rate at which AI players gain diplomatic points.

- Lowered the rate at which the AI relationship bonus increases.

- The various AI difficulties will now gain the AI relationship bonus at different rates.

- Lowered the cooldown on Diplomatic Immunity by 30 seconds.

- You should now be able to target any ally in a free-for-all match for pirate/regular missions, and for pirate bounty.

- Locked teams games will no longer have a diplomatic victory option.

- Increased the penalty for breaking a peace treaty.

- Experience for killing pirates has gone down.

- AI players are now more likely to send pirate missions.

- The pirates now have a unique armor type that will allow them to take less damage from all weapon types.

- Military actions now have a negative cap of -20.

Interface

- The quick bounty button will now let you increase the bounty on allies. It will prefer non-allies if any exist;

- Fixed a text placement issue on the game over screen.

- Relationship displays can now be negative.

Misc

- Added a data value to game constants (juicy planet threshold) to set the number of modules pirates look for when stopping to attack.

- Fixed an old bug that resulted in AI players offering alliances more often than they should.

- Fixed an issue with some autocast use times.

- Fixed an issue where certain pacts were not functioning properly (most notably the supply pact).

- Fixed a possible crash within the mission system.

- Fixed a bug that might cause the AI to not offer pirate missions.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity is available at most retail outlets in North America.  It can be purchase digitally for $39.95 via Impulse.  Users who already have the original Sins of a Solar Empire and Entrenchment expansion can upgrade by purchasing the Diplomacy expansion pack.

Links:

• Purchase
• What’s in Diplomacy?

Screenshots:

LORE

Once, legend says, the world of Elemental was filled with magic.

All peoples made use of this sorcery; with it, they built great kingdoms – Malaya in the south, Hallas in the west, fabled Al-Ashteroth in the East – raised splendid palaces, magnificent civilizations.

Then came the Titans, immortal beings who sought control of Elemental, and the magic contained within it. They waged war amongst themselves, and in the process turned men into their vassals - and worse. Seeking control of the world’s enchantment, in the end, they all but destroyed it. At the last of the great battles they waged, the land itself was broken. Civilization perished, and the Titans vanished from the world entirely.

There were survivors. This is their story.

Excerpts from The Hiergamenon

The Titans & The Cataclysm For thousands of years, immortal beings of great power dominated the mortal races of Elemental. Their wars with one another led to the cataclysm which brought their reign to an end. Read More…

The Kingdoms of Elemental The five kingdoms of men maintain an uneasy alliances as they attempt to resist the growing power of the Empires of the East.  Read more…

The Empires of Elemental The Empires see themselves as the natural inheritors of the Titans. Dominated by races of the Fallen, they believe their time has come. Read more…

Of Magic The 4 schools of magic are based on ones understanding of the shards – earth, air, fire, water. Magic is accessed via mastery of spell books. While much of the great lore has been lost, more and more of it is being recovered with the return of civilization. (more coming soon)

Of Dragons Before the mortal men and their fallen adversaries spread across the world, the lands were the domain of the dragons. These sentient beings are rare but incredibly powerful; even the titans feared them. (more coming soon)

The Beasts of Elemental The beasts of Elemental come in all shapes and sizes. Some are sentient, most are not. The mixing of natural and Fallen beasts has to a never ending stream of new creatures. Read more…

Tales of The Hiergamenon Passed down and added to over generations, The Hiergamenon is the source of all that we know of the world. (more coming soon).

I don’t know about you but before I even think about buying a game or other piece of software I want know as much as I can about it.

I’ll start with screenshots and if possibly, watch a video on YouTube or Game Trailers and if the program or game is expensive (i.e. >$20) I’ll likely want a demo if I’m still not sure.

The problem I run into is that it’s hit or miss. Sometimes I can’t find a video at all. Othertimes it’s a “trailer” which doesn’t really show me what the game is really like. Sometimes a video is made by a player but it’s 15 minutes long and I just don’t have that kind of attention span.

So what the Impulse team decided to do is have two seasoned industry veterans (Jason Ocampo and Brian Clair) sit down and show off some of the games and apps that are on Impulse in short (i.e. 3 minutes or so) segments so people could see what they’re like. Nothing fancy.

Their focus is on games and programs that they particularly like even if the game is barely known. For example, while Star Trek Online is on there, so is Kitten Sanctuary.

If you don’t have Impulse, you can download it at http://www.impulsedriven.com.

Seven thousand years ago was the noontide of the mortals of Elemental. It was the age of the Magicians.

The world was filled with magic and wonder. Its power shines as a beacon across the universe and gains the attention of immortal beings that would become known as the Titans.

The immortals found a world lush with life and rich in magic. They soon set out to dominate this world and in doing so soon found themselves in conflict with the mortal Magicians and with each other.

The immortals were dominated by two leaders of terrible might. One was named Curgen; the other, Kir-Tion. Their great struggle had two terrible consequences…

Curgen used his great power to create new races of creatures that collectively became known as “The Fallen”.

Curgen’s rival, Kir-Tion, captured the gifted Tar-Thela and corrupted her, transforming her into the Emerald Sorceress. Using her unique power, she takes the magic of the world and locks it within the crystal shards that have been spread across the world. Unexpectedly, the shards become rooted in place.

With their source of power gone, the mortal Magicians were quickly swept away.

Then came the Channelers. Mortal beings who could channel the magic from the shards.  Some allied themselves with the Titans, others fled to bide their time in the far west.

In a final battle between Curgen and Kir-Tion, a league of mortal men led by Amarian III and supported by Tandis and his apprentice Talax are able to tip the balance preventing Curgen from opening a portal to the Titan home world. They succeed in destroying the Titans but at a great cost; the Cataclysm.

The world was broken.

Now…

Civilization is gone. Life hangs by a thread.

The only hope for Elemental is you.

Overview

Elemental: War of Magic is a turn-based strategy game set in a world of magic, warfare and intrigue. In it, players take on the role of a powerful sorcerer known as a “Channeler”.

Players found new cities, research new technologies, study spells, build a family dynasty, engage in diplomacy, fight wars, go on quests and much more as they strive to overcome all enemies and dominate the world.

Key Features

• Randomly generated maps.
• 10 Unique Factions (or create your own)
• Design your own Sovereign.
• Powerful Magic System.
• Tactical Battles.
• World Class computer AI.
• A rich, story-driven campaign.
• Strong single player sandbox mode.
• State of the art, client/server multiplayer.
• Low Hardware Requirements.
• Extensive Modding Support.

A Guided Tour

Basic Game Play Players start the game with their sovereign placed in a land that has been completely devastated. In that ruined world, they must build a civilization – found cities, research technology, build an economy, train soldiers, learn spells, and much more.  There are other factions trying to do much the same thing who have their own ideas on how the world should be ordered.  Victory can be attained through many different means: conquest, diplomacy, magic, or quests. The player decides which path in a given game has the best hope for success.

Kingdoms & Empires When setting up the game, players choose a nominal allegiance to either the Kingdoms or the Empires. The difference between the two in Elemental is where they draw their magic from – life or death. The Kingdoms use life magic in conjunction with the elemental shards to cast spells. The Empires use death magic. This has a very explicit effect on the world that is quite visible.

Cities of Elemental Only sovereigns can found new cities. When a city is founded, it is an outpost. Over time, as its population grows, it will be promoted to a village, then a town and then eventually to a city. Each promotion brings with it new structures that can be built, greater income and more resources to draw on.

Quests Players are not the only ones who can go on quests in the world. Across the lands, parties of adventurers are exploring dungeons, ruins, and abandoned castles looking for glory, treasure, rare items or all of the above. Some of these adventurers can be recruited. Other times the player, as the sovereign of their lands, must clean up the mess of these adventurers.

Designing your Sovereign Players can choose one of the 10 great Sorcerers of the world or create one of their own. When they do so, they can design how they look, what books of magic they carry, how powerful they are natively and even give them their own back story to share with other players via the Internet.

The Magic System Depending on their allegiance, players build up life or death mana that can be used, in conjunction with the elemental shards that they control (earth, air, fire and water) to cast spells. What spells they know depends on what books of magic they have along with which of the spells in those books they have learned.  Spells require mana as well as control of a certain number of different types of shards.

Researching Technologies After the cataclysm, much of the technological knowledge of the world was lost. While some of it is easy to restore (such as farming), other types of technology will take more effort to restore (advanced metal working for instance).

Dynasties As the sovereign of your Kingdom (or Empire) you will have the opportunity to get married and have children. In time, these children will grow up and potentially become great heroes for you to call on. Alternatively, players can marry their children off to other civilizations in exchange for an ongoing dowry (money per turn), a relationship bonus and a place in the line of succession in that faction.  Moreover, the off-spring of those children may return to you as adults to join your faction.

Diplomacy Conquest isn’t the only way to get what you want in Elemental. Players can also put time and effort to improving their diplomatic skills in order to obtain the technologies, resources and political outcomes they desire.

Unit Design There is no such thing as a “knight” in Elemental. Instead, players create their own classes of units (that they can call knights if they want). Starting with a peasant, the player gives them equipment and assigns them training to turn them into a soldier.

Warfare When two forces meet, players can choose to have those battles instantly resolve or go into a tactical battle mode to either watch the battle take place or control the action turn by turn. In battle, players can cast devastating spells, flank enemy positions, go for the high ground and much more.

Men & The Fallen Elemental comes with 10 factions that are loosely divided between the races of men and the races of the Fallen. The races of men are humanoid beings that naturally evolved on Elemental. The races of the Fallen are beings that were ultimately bred by the Titans long ago are are considered unnatural.

Here's our full list of medallions so far.  In Elemental, we're going to use medallions as part of the UI to help identify things.

A lot of users like using them for their avatars.  Here they are.

New: February 2010

© 2009, 2010 Stardock Entertainment. You may not use these other than for the support and promotion of Elemental: War of Magic(TM).

The Empires of the East are dominated by races of beings collectively known as “The Fallen”. These are beings that bred by the Titans of old to be better than the mortal men and dragons and other “natural” creatures of the world.

There are lots of Fallen creatures in the world. The Empires are led by beings that are both sentient and social (dragons, are sentient but are solitary).

The Empires believe in the justice of raw strength and strive to increase their power.

The Empires of the Fallen

 
The Empire of Umber (Urxen sometimes called “Goblins” in Common).

The Empire of Resoln (“Wraiths” in the common tongue).

 
The Empire of Yithril (“Trogs” in the common tongue)

The Empire of Magnar (“Magnars” in common tongue, sometimes called “Demon Elves”).

 
The Empire of Kraxis (“Krax” in common tongue, sometimes called “Blood Traitors”). They are the race of men who found themselves on the eastern side of the chasm after the cataclysm.

Phil Jones is “the guy”, as in THE go-to guy when it comes to climate change.

In an interview where he complains about skeptics “spinning” statements he ultimately reveals this:

"I'm a scientist trying to measure temperature. If I registered that the climate has been cooling I'd say so. But it hasn't until recently - and then barely at all. The trend is a warming trend."

You can read the whole thing here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8511701.stm

Here’s the deal. IF human produced CO2 was a major factor in affecting global climate then there would be no “recent” cooling at all because CO2 production by humans has continued to steadily climb.

Moreover, it’s worth noting that the “recent” cooling that has been measured coincides with the precise time when people started really paying attention to the methods of data collection and started scrutinizing the data a lot more closely.