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Ironclad Games and Stardock Entertainment Present...

Sins of a Solar Empire: Entrenchment

	http://www.sinsofasolarempire.com

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Thank you for purchasing Sins of a Solar Empire: Entrenchment! 

Most of the original Sins readme.txt and manual is still valid. All the basics of Entrenchment are covered in the following linked sections. 
A copy of "Unit Basics and Tips" and the "Feature List" are included as well for your convenience but be sure to visit the links for the most up to date information.

What's New in Entrenchment Start Page: http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/342092

Entrenchment Gameplay Example: http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/341801

Entrenchment Feature List: http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/342094

Entrenchment Unit Basics and Tips: http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/342096

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Sins of a Solar Empire: Entrenchment Unit Basics and Tips:
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This certainly isnt all encompassing but itll give you a feel for the categories of the new toys, what their function is and I give a few tips on how I like to use them. See the above link for more information.

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Defensive Upgrades:
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	The first time you start up an Entrenchment game pause it and open up the research window. You will notice there is a new research tree with a "defense" sounding name (unique name and tree to each faction). Selecting this tree will unveil a bunch of new research subjects and some familiar ones. In the general case, all the old defensive type research subjects have been moved to this tree along with all the new subjects. There are some exceptions particularly with some of the new non-defensive research subjects like the TECs new beam weapon upgrades.  Lets take a look at a few examples.
	
	The original Sins defensive structures essentially became obsolete towards the mid-game and they were very limited in their ability to deal with certain situations. Each faction can now unlock new functionality for their defenses such as Burst Rockets for the TECs Gauss turret which enable it to deal with groups of small targets and Synergy for the Advents Beam Cannons which allow them to grant damage and shield bonuses to nearby structures. 
	
	One of the most common complaints we had was that each factions hangar had to no reason to be placed in one location or another  you basically didnt have think when placing them. Now, each hangar has a unique way of defending against bombers and fighters within some radius so careful placement of these will help defend your other structures or defending ships.
	
	There are a number of other upgrades including Disrupter Nanites, Meson Bolt Cannons, Shield Bestowal, and Phasic Trap. Hover over the relevant research topic or ability and it will bring you up to speed on its function.

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Mines:
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	The most requested defensive feature was minefields and Entrenchment delivers. Each faction now has a unique way of deploying mines once they are unlocked from the defensive tree  All mines cost credits and resources but you are buying them in clusters (instead of individually) and you must choose a location to place each cluster of mines. Each faction has a limit on how many mines they can place per gravity well (currently 150) and you can see your current mine status by simply hovering your mouse cursor over the adjacent planetoid. Finally, each faction has a unique mine type or multiple unique mine types.  
	
	The TEC has basic Proximity Mines that are built from the usual defensive structures build menu on the planet. Once active, they explode whenever an enemy ship gets close causing area of effect damage that could effect a number of units (but never your own). The Vasari can unlock the Ruiner mine layer ship that allows him to lay either Explosive or Gravity mines at any almost any location in any gravity well including in enemy territory! Explosive mines are similar to the TECs proximity mines but the Gravity mines hold ships in place which is particularly nasty to an enemy trying to retreat. The Advent have always been the strike craft masters so they get a new strike craft type that can deploy as Homing Mines which detect nearby enemies and swarm to destroy them.  
	
	When mines are deployed there is a period of time before they are active so the opposing players have a chance to reorganize your forces and deal with the new threat (this is a result of the exploitable offensive capabilities of mines in the early betas). However, once they are active they are phased out so nothing can attack them until they are detected. In the original Sins, scouts became virtually obsolete, if not, at least limited in usefulness later in the game. In Entrenchment scouts are your means to unveil mines and thus always useful as long as the enemy is using mines. We also re-did the design and AI for flak frigates so that they serve a secondary role as great mine clearers with their multiple, fast firing banks. I typically make small fleets of scouts + flak frigates as autonomous mine clearing groups to make the process fairly seamless. If you take this route, make sure a scout is the fleet leader so that mines are prioritized. 
	
	Another key new strategy is to scout ahead before jumping into a system so you know where the mine locations are. Remember, you can control where you arrive in the enemy gravity well by choosing where you jump from. Jump from the left, you arrive on the left, jump from the far past the gravity wells edge, you arrive far past the gravity wells edge. This is critical to avoiding mine traps.
	
	One final comment on minefields: there is nothing more satisfying in my books than watching a massive pirate force take a few mines in the face.

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Star Bases:
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	One of the primary design goals for Entrenchment was to help players secure a flank so that they could make a big push with their primary fleet and to secure the frontline so the enemy wasnt rampaging around in behind. In order for this to happen we knew we needed something really powerful. Star Bases are the result and they are basically massive fortifications that can engage and handle large numbers of targets on their own, among many other special capabilities. 
	
	On each factions defensive tree there is the ability to unlock either the Star Base construction vehicle (TEC, Advent) or to unlock the ability for their colony ship to construct a Star Base (Vasari). These ships can then fly to any gravity well in the galaxy and construct a Star Base. This may seem trivial, but it has dramatic effects on the overall gameplay. Because you can build Star Bases anywhere you can now establish control over neutral nodes such as stars and gas giants and even gain a foothold in enemy territory. For example, with the TECs Argonevs Star Base you could upgrade it to be able to produce new frigates and cruisers in the enemys gravity well while at the same time providing a local retreat zone where your ships can return to repair while sieging that enemy world without having to jump away. Or imagine the Vasaris Orkulus Star Base firing up his Phase Gate and drawing in an entire new fleet of reinforcements while it roams about massacring the enemys structures with its anti-structure weaponry (yes, the Orkulus can move!) and healing itself from their scrabs with its Debris Vortex.  Personally, I prefer the Advent Transcencia Star Base's ability to call down a devastating storm of telekinetically guided meteoroids on the planet while mass disorienting the defending fleet (they spin around uselessly).
	
	In each of the previous examples, the Star Bases are being used offensively and were upgraded to perform that task. They could have also been upgraded to perform more of a defensive role (their typical usage), an economic role or any hybrid. More importantly, Star Bases upgrade in a much different manner than capital ships and planets in that you cant have everything. You have to make a choice as to which upgrades are best suited to the role you have in mind for that particular Star Base.  As you are limited to building one Star Base per gravity well (except around stars which can handle four), there is often quite a dilemma. Typically, I upgrade my rear line Star Bases for economics and/or culture, the front line Star Bases for defense and the enemy territory ones for offense. The other dilemma is that Star Base upgrades are extremely expensive. An early level Star Base may seem cheap but its also proportionally weak. However when they are fully upgraded they are a force to be reckoned with and should be considering you may have sunk up to 20,000 credits into them never mind the metal and crystal costs.
	
	While there is a lot to discover about Star Bases, particularly with regard to all their unique abilities, there are a couple abilities that all Star Bases share and are particularly important for holding the front line that go above and beyond their weapon systems.  Because the TEC and Advent Star Bases cant move and the Vasari Star Base moves relatively slow there is always the possibility that the enemy will just skirt the Star Bases death zone rendering them useless as defensive units. However, Star Bases can unlock the ability to exert control over their local planet which prevents loss of the planet as long as the Star Base exists. This means if the enemy wants your planet, they have to take it the Star Base. Even more importantly, Star Bases can destabilize the local phase lanes so that enemy ships that attempt to retreat or run pass the Star Base will suffer massive damage and antimatter loss, again providing a strong incentive to deal with the Star Base before moving on. If you see your phase jump charging effect or travel effect turn red you know your ships are using a destabilized phase lane and when they complete their transit they won't be in good shape. Combined with mines, new defences, phase jump inhibitors, and full upgrades, Star Bases are absolutely devastating.

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Defense-Busting Capabilities:
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	There is no doubt that all the new defensive toys make attacking a planet a much more difficult affair. Luckily, each faction has a new means to counter these defenses that can be unlocked from the defense research tree. The TEC get the very powerful Ogrov Torpedo Cruiser (aka the Lobber) which is basically a mobile ICBM missile launcher that does incredible damage to a single target. The Advent get the starfish shaped Adjudicator (aka the LobberFish) that specializes in clearing out large groups of tightly clustered structures (a typical defense pattern in the original Sins) by being able to target multiple units at once.  The Vasari get a mobile Star Base with some very special anti-structure upgrades and research topics, most importantly is the ability to accelerate its build rate in enemy gravity wells so you can build it quickly while your fleet distracts the enemy. The Orkulus also differs from the other two Anti-Structure ships in that it can attack ships while the other two cannot.
	
	Its important to remember that the new ships eat up a lot of fleet supply, credits and resources so having too many of them isnt a good ideas  especially when they dont stand up well against enemy forces. If you are used to medieval style real-time strategy games, think of them sort of like space-catapults. In this same regard, its also useful to know that they attack enemy targets from outside any structures range so if they are being shot by static defense, you should pull them back out of range. Finally, a typical strategy I employ is to have a secondary structure-busting fleet tag along behind my attack fleet so I dont waste time and DPS clearing out the gravity well. This allows me to keep my momentum up before the enemy can entrench at the next planet and makes far more efficient use of my resources. 

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Sins of a Solar Empire: Entrenchment Feature List:
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"After nearly 15 years, the war which raged across dozens of star systems is nearing a stand-still. The great fleets of the Trader Emergency Coalition, the Vasari Empire and The Advent are near stalemate. With the fronts temporarily stabilized, there is time to regroup, and entrench. Great defensive battlestations are being deployed and critical choke points fortified. Will this buy the TEC, Vasari or Advent enough time to organize an all-out offensive?"

Entrenchment is the first micro-expansion for Sins of a Solar Empire, adding new structures, new technologies, and numerous other improvements to one of the most popular and award winning PC titles of 2008.
Explore entirely new strategies with new units like star base, mine layers, and defense busters and brand new research technologies to customize and improve them. Each race relies more on their unique strengths than ever before, resulting in new defensive options and the necessary evolution of new offensive strategies.

-Build & Customize Massive Star Bases
	-Fortify your Empire with new Defenses and Mine Fields
	-Take on the Challenging New AI
	-Rain destruction with New Defense-Busting Capabilities
	-Lose Yourself in Striking new Visuals
	-Make it your Own with Extensive New Modding Capabilities
	-Get Right to It with Faster Play Options
	-Reap the Rewards of Extensive Player Feedback

-Build & Customize Massive Star Bases
	-Easily the most powerful, expensive, faction unique and customizable units in the game.
	-Make wise decisions on what you choose to upgrade - you can't have everything!
	-Guard your flanks with star bases that can be optionally upgraded to take on entire fleets while your fleets punch through the enemy weak points.        
	-Use star bases offensively to setup strongholds in hostile territory and control neutral gravity wells.
	-Move your ship production and repair facilities to the enemy frontline with the TEC Argonev's upgrades.
	-Jump your fleet right to an enemy position and lead your fleet through a gauntlet of enemy defenses with the mobile and defense busting Vasari Orkulus.
	-Disorient an enemy fleet and bring down a storm of telekinetically propelled meteoroids on them with the awe-inspiring Advent Transcencia.
	-Punish rear line rushers by destabilizing outgoing phase lanes to cause massive damage and antimatter loss.
	-Upgrade rear line star bases to boost your economy, culture and other non-military areas.
   
-Fortify your Empire with new Defenses and Mine Fields
	-Establish local control and rock pirates with fields of TEC Proximity Mines.
	-Mobility is key to the Vasari strategy; deploy both gravity and explosive mines anywhere in the galaxy.
	-Ever the master of strike craft, the Advent adds to the swarm new fighter mines that convert to agile Homing Mines.
	-Upgrade the TEC Gauss Defense to deal with both long range targets and swarms of close range targets using the optional Meson Bolt Cannon and Burst Rockets.
	-Improve the Advent Beam Defenses with Synergy allowing them to amplify the damage and shields of other nearby platforms.
	-The Vasari Missile platforms can now enable Disruptor Nanites allowing them to halt hull, shield, and antimatter restoration on affected enemies.
	-Activate unique anti-fighter technologies to each faction's hangars in order to counter mass bombers and fighters and protect nearby structures and units.
	-Even more and important research decisions to be made with new research subjects and an entirely new defense research tree.

-Take on the Challenging new AI
	-Take even more pleasure in wiping out toasters with the new AI built on hundreds of lines of new code and over a year's worth of feedback.
	-Much reduced occurrences of impossible cat and mouse games (aka AI constantly retreating). Completely new retreat logic that makes sure if you've got him trapped he'll face up to paying the piper or force a pyrrhic victory.
	-Smarter auto cast, smarter target selection, smarter building, smarter strategic AI, smarter tactical AI.
	-Hordes of new unique routines to manage all the new toys from star bases and mines to new abilities and research subjects.
	-The machine knows when to bow to its master - when the situation is hopeless he knows when to quit, but you can always continue to mop him up if you aren't feeling merciful.
	-Much much more.

-Rain Destruction with New Defense-Busting Capabilities
	-The Vasari's Orkulus mobile star base can be upgraded specifically to annihilate enemy defenses and maintain control when the cleaning is done.
	-The Advent's Adjudicator assault cruiser can engage multiple targets and devastate clusters of enemy turrets and resistance.
	-The TEC's Ogrov Torpedo Cruiser is a ruthless mobile missile launcher that hits structures with the highest damage single target damage in the game.
	-New anti-mine technologies are critical to secure safe passage both in and out of enemy territory and ensure the scout's value throughout the entire game.

-Lose Yourself in Striking New Visuals
	-Star base and defensive unit meshes and effects change as they upgrade. 
	-Improved rendering engine with both better visual quality and more efficient execution.
	-Dozens of stunning new effects.
	-Gorgeous new skybox and more.

-Make it your Own with Extensive New Modding Capabilities
	-New manifest system allows for multiple mod stacking.
	-Experience more dynamic battles with the option to change ship attack behavior.
	-Mods that only modify visuals can be played against players without the same mod.
	-Many highly requested features added including multiple targets per bank.
	-Lots of new exposed values to data drive.
	-Options to show visual upgrading of almost every mesh in the game.

-Get Right to It with Faster Play Options
	-Home planets are now much more important and are tuned to prevent stalls in the acquisition of resources during the early game.
	-Optional "Quick Start" bypasses much of the initial tedium so you can get to the action and critical decisions sooner.
	-New Anti-Structure capabilities make clearing out enemy gravity wells much faster.
	-New HUD buttons make it easier to accelerate/ decelerate the single player game on the fly.

-Reap the Rewards of Extensive Player Feedback
	-A year's worth of player feedback went directly into improving everything in the core game from user interface and balance to sound and optimization.
	-An extended Entrenchment beta period involving both experienced and novice players helped refine the balance and shape the overall design into the best possible experience.
	-Constant developer involvement with the community continues to hone both Sins and Entrenchment and will do so for a long time.

Obligatory Bits
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Published by:
Stardock Entertainment
15090 N Beck Road Ste. 300
Plymouth, MI 48170 USA
http://www.stardock.com

Developed by:
Ironclad Games Corporation
5172 Kingsway, Suite 340
Burnaby, BC
V5H 2E8 Canada
http://www.ironcladgames.com

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Systems, Inc. Sins of a Solar Empire is a trademark
of Ironclad Games Corporation.

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Ironclad Games Corporation.

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