Okay, the SINs bug bit me again. I played as Human Trader State (HTS) and usually try to limit my time for a First Impression to about an hour but ended up playing this for almost three, I just didn’t want to quit. Not only does SINs hold my interest, no matter how many times I’ve played it, this mod makes the game all the more addictive. I liked all the new features listed for this mod, the ones below are my favorites.

• Liked the idea of adding more to the other “3X’s”, it sounded like it rounded the game out a little more.
• New racial and subfaction bonuses makes more strategic decisions available.
• Hero units. Who doesn’t like heroes?
• Embassies and espionage. This seemed to offer an improvement over the diplomacy aspect of the game. Most games seem to neglect this particular part.
• Ship customization. Same as the heroes, who doesn’t like customizing their ships?

What do I like about it?

This mod added an immense amount of interest to an already addicting game. I especially liked the hero units. It took a minute or two for me to figure out how to actually summon a hero but if I would have paid attention to the tool tip it would have been easy. All I had to do was click on the actual planet I was summoning the hero to and not just anywhere in the gravity well. After a few failed attempts I finally figured it out. I tried two heroes, Admiral Kol and Commander Dyrnov.

Admiral Kol is an “effective commander best used for support” and he uses a modified Cielo Command Cruiser versus the capital ships his counterparts prefer to use. He gives the following benefits:

• Targeting Network-Ships near Admiral Kol’s flagship are patched into its targeting system, increasing range and damage output.
• Expert Instructor-Admiral Kol can bring fleet commanders quickly up to speed by providing them with his unique style of guidance, which increases their experience level.
• Resolve-Admiral Kol targets a friendly ship and inspires it fight at a heightened level of proficiency.

Commander Dyrenov is a Marzda captain who gives the following bonuses to a fleet.

• Solid Nitrovium Payloads-The missile tubes of his Marzda Battleship have been modified, which deals additional damage to enemy ships, even through shields.
• Maraud-Commander Dyrenov can bombard enemy planets really well, better than any other ship in the fleet. This is a result of his extensive past experience at battering enemy planets into submission.
• Shrapnel Warhead-This special warhead explodes, releasing shrapnel, that damages ships and fighters, and slows down shield regeneration. Strikecraft are much more easily damaged after taking a hit from the shrapnel of this missile.

The faction bonuses were another factor that made this a very worthwhile experience. I played the HTS and got the following bonuses.

• Metal extraction increased by 15%
• Max fleet supply increased by > 5%
• Sale to credit conversion increased by 1%
• Max hull points bonus per armor increased by 15
• Max hull points bonus cap increased by 150
• Development cost decreased by 15%
• Development build rate increased by 15%

You can read about the SINs factions on our Factions page.

Conclusion

A wonderful addition to SINs. Get it! Play it!!

You can download the mod from Mod DB using the link below.