Main Differences

SINs of a Solar Empire originally started with three different factions that eventually, as the game progressed, split into two different sub-factions each, Loyalists and Rebels. This makes a total of six major factions in Rebellion unless you include the Pirates, but they aren’t a playable faction.

Main differences between SINs factions:

• Advent Loyalists focus on mind control and culture. Global Unity ability lets them spread culture without a Temple of Communion.
• Advent Rebels have the power of resurrection. They can resurrect their ships and respawn them at their capital world and resurrect enemy ships to help them fight during a battle.
• TEC Loyalists are more suited for “turtling” and a defensive style of play. They can build two starbases per gravity well. Their starbases possess both great armor and hull strength.
• TEC Rebels are the best at trade. Their ships are weak in shield and armor strength, but they have lots of firepower. They can sign peace treaties with Pirates and neutrals.
• Vasari Loyalists can have a strong economy without controlling any planets. They can continue the game without a capital planet, the only faction capable of doing so.
• Vasari rebels gain bonuses depending on how many friendlies are in their gravity wells. They have mobile starbases that can move between gravity wells, making their starbases unique.

Fleet Differences

Fleets are naturally the core of your empire’s survival, without them you would be quickly overrun by your enemies. Some fleets emphasize quantity over quality, while others emphasize a strong offensive capability at the expense of defensive capabilities.

Advent Fleets

Advent frigates have the best shields and overall damage output of the three factions. The cost of constructing and maintaining them is reasonable but their ships have weak hulls plus they are very light on armor.

Advent capital ships have the same weaponry as their frigates, but they are much more expensive to construct and maintain than any of the other factions. They still have weak hulls and armor but have great shielding and decent overall damage output. The real advantage to their ships is the ability to act synergistically, meaning when all ship abilities in the fleet are combined it makes them a very formidable foe to fight.

Read More: Need SINS beginner tips?

TEC Fleets

Capital ships have the same weaponry and defense capabilities as frigates, and still hold the distinction of being the cheapest and fastest ships to build of all the factions, with the exception of the Vasari Rebels. Although weak in shield strength they more than make up for this with their tough hulls and high amount of armor.

Vasari Fleets

Vasari Capital ships fare a little better in the cost and ship supply categories. They are the cheapest to construct when it comes to credits, and metal and crystal costs and are cheaper than the Advent but more expensive than the TEC. The damage output of their capital ships tails off a little bit when compared to the other two factions, but their highly effective phase missiles more than compensates for this disparity.

Other Faction Differences

Although there are six factions the Loyalist and Rebels of each faction still have the same basic weaknesses and strengths as their parent empires. It’s good to know what strengths and weaknesses they have in common.

Advent, Basic Strengths & Weaknesses

They have a long-range cultural weapon to make up for some of this disadvantage. They are well suited for turtle tactics since their technology has a lot of focus on training and for gaining extra XP for ships which takes time to develop. They have strong culture spread, the worst economy of the factions and their ships rely more on shields versus hull and armor strength. They have expensive but strong ships. They are also good to play if you like tactics.

Advent Technology

Like the Vasari Advent technology is vastly superior to the TEC’s. Their strongest aspect is their ability to augment their psionic abilities through research. Their weapons technology spotlights shields over armor and hull strength and their basic offensive weaponry is high energy weapons.

5 Advent Strengths

• Ships are expensive but are very durable when it comes to shield strength
• Psionic powers, like being able to mind control enemy ships
• Best antimatter abilities
• Good strike craft capabilities
• Fleets thrive on diversity. The more different ships in their fleets the better

Advent Loyalist Differences

Advent Loyalists focus on mind control and culture spread. They have these unique abilities:

Mine Control. Allows Aeria Drone Hosts to take control of enemy mines.

Ancient Retribution. Increases ship damage by 10%, firing range increase of 5%, and shield mitigation increase of 2%. Old hatred of the TEC is revived, leading to more aggressive tactics, boosting weapons power and range, and increased shield mitigation.

Global Unity. When fully researched it grants a 100% increase in culture spread rate, and a 10% increase to planet allegiance. Improved harmony within the Loyalists faction improves this culture spread.

Confluence of the Unity. Once fully researched culture spread rate is increased by 60%. Accomplished by spreading the range of their transmissions.

Fury of the Unity. Damage bonus of 10% if within range of their culture. Provides ships with additional weapons damage while in their sphere of influence for culture.

Assimilated Populace. Newly conquered planets embrace the Unity’s message, providing increased weapon damage and population growth for a limited time within the gravity well.

Acclimation of Will. Enemy allegiance change rate of 50%. Prophets of the Unity go on pilgrimages to the planets under their culture’s influence to spread their message, increasing the change in allegiance.

Coronata Titan. Similar to other ships in their fleets, the Loyalist Titan is low on hull strength and has the lowest of all armor when compared to the other titans. Its overall output damage is low and is best used for fleet support and not as a direct attack ship.

Advent Rebel Differences

Advent Rebels have the power of resurrection. They can resurrect their ships and respawn them at their capital planet and resurrect enemy ships to help them fight during a battle. They have much better shield regeneration and shield restoration than the ships of other factions. Special abilities are:

Cleanse and Renew. The Unity’s true believers gain the ability to harness antimatter from the gravity wells of newly conquered planets.

Protection of the Unity. This has 3 levels of research. The purified forces of the Unity focuses some of its power on shield regeneration of ships and structures, resulting in a 150% shield regeneration increase while within their culture if fully researched.

Return of the Fallen. This technology has 2 levels of research. Gives a 20% chance that destroyed frigates, cruisers and corvettes will be revived at the capital planet.

Reanimation. Allows the Unity to create a temporary clone of destroyed enemy frigates, cruisers, or corvettes where they are defeated. The chance to clone a ship is 20%. If successful, the clone duration lasts 600 seconds.

Wail of the Sacrificed. This ability is granted to the Temple of Communion, allowing the local planet to sacrifice its population. This unleashes a psionic wave that does heavy damage to all ships and structures in nearby gravity wells.

Eradica Titan. The Advent Rebel Titan, like it’s sister titan the Coronata, is weak in hull strength and low on armor. Overall output damage is good for this titan but not outstanding. It is better suited for combat than the Loyalist Titan and can target multiple ships at a time, more than most titans, making it a worthy opponent on the battlefield.

TEC Basic Strengths & Weaknesses

The TEC faction is the least complicated of three main factions to play and is known for its economic strength. They generally have low quality ships, but because of their extraordinary economic and production capabilities they more than offset this disadvantage with sheer numbers. They are a good faction to use if you like rushing as a tactic since most of their ships are cheaper and faster to produce than the other factions. They rely on quantity instead of quality. Taking advantage during the early game is important since later in the game they are not as advanced as the other races. Establish your foothold early.

TEC Technology

TEC technology is far behind the other two factions. Some of their best fighting ships are merely old commercial ships formerly used for trading in gentler times. Their technological research primarily focuses on mixed alloys and other materials to strengthen the hulls of their ships. A powerful economic base and the ability to mass produce ships speedily helps compensate for their archaic technology. Lasers, supported by autocannons and nuclear weapons, make up the bulk of their weaponry.

5 TEC Strengths

• Have the best economy in the game.
• They have cheap ships with low supply requirements.
• They have excellent repair capabilities with upgradable repair bays and Hoshiko Robotics Cruisers.
• They are an easy faction to play and are well suited for rush tactics.
• They have an early game advantage over the other two factions.

TEC Loyalist Differences

TEC Loyalists are more suited for defense while their Rebel counterparts are all about conquest. They have immense defensive bonuses, like the ability to build two starbases in a single gravity well. They can have the best economy in the game due to starbase trade modules that can effectively be doubled with two starbases in a gravity well. They have the following special talents:

Battlefield Promotions. Capital ships and titan commanders can gain valuable battle experience more quickly in friendly gravity wells. Increases the experience gain by 10%.

Compartmentalization. Reduces the cost of upgrading starbases by 20% through improved construction techniques.

Counter Deployment. Speeds up ship construction by 50% when an enemy is in one of their gravity wells.

Hardened Defenses. Tactical structures and hull points are increased by 2.0 and 30% respectively in gravity wells owned by the Loyalists.

Militia Armor. Ship armor is increased by 4.0 when fighting an enemy fleet in a friendly gravity well.

Militia Weaponry. Local militia forces join your fleets during battles in friendly gravity wells. This increases ship damage by 30%.

Novalith Deregulation. The TEC decided to focus on the use of these powerful super-weapons in an effort to end the war quickly. This research decreases the slot requirement of the weapon by 3 and reduces the cost by 25%.

Novalith Prototype. TEC Loyalists can begin research on this super-weapon at tech level 6 rather than at level 8, like their Rebel counterparts.

Public Forgiveness. Reduces the racial penalty you usually suffer when dealing with other races.

Twin Fortresses. The size of your defense forces is increased through the addition of more personnel, enabling you to support two starbases in a gravity well instead of one.

War Measures Act. Increases your tax income rate by 25% by using war bonds when an enemy ship is present in that planet’s gravity well.

Ankylon Prototype 1. Once research is completed TEC Loyalists can build a Titan Foundry and construct the Ankylon titan, an immense warship that adds a lot of defensive capabilities to their fleets when present.

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TEC Rebel Differences

TEC Rebels also have a good economy and are the best at trade. They are weak in shield and armor strength but have lots of firepower to make up for that. They can sign peace treaties with Pirates and Pirates will conduct raids for them if bribed. They can also get free ships through their liberation capabilities.

Extreme Xenophobia. This is a level 5 tech in the Diplomacy branch, and it increases culture resistance by 20%. Since the Rebels hate all aliens it’s naturally hard for them to influence the Rebels with their culture.

High order explosives. This is available in the Military research branch under Ballistics and Rocketry and requires six Military Labs to be built before you can research it. Once researched damage inflicted by autocannons increases by 40%. This is achieved by adding internal explosives to autocannon shells.

Liberated resistance. Level 8 technology in the Diplomacy research tree. As you liberate enemy worlds insurrectionist forces will use your capital world as a gathering place, giving them free ships.

Pillaged War Chest. Raiders work in coordination with planetary bombardment ships to automatically pillage credits as the planet takes damage. Once research is complete pirate raiders will steal credits for them as a planet is bombarded.

Pirate Mercenaries. The Pirates like Rebels so they decide to become very best friends (if you can trust a pirate, that is). This is level 6 technology research in the diplomacy tree. Pirates can be bribed, and Rebels can get military assistance from them by using their broadcast centers.

Refined emitters. Also available in the Ballistics and Rocketry branch of Military research. It is tech level 5 and increases laser damage by 10% when fully researched.

Savage Thrill. Fury overtakes the fleet as it bombs enemy planets, granting ships a faster rate of fire and an increase to weapon damage. This must be researched in the Civilian branch, Policy section and is a level 4 technology, meaning you need 4 civic research stations built before you can research it. This gives ships a gain of 15% in their rate of fire plus a damage increase when bombing enemy planets.

Truce Amongst Rogues. Petty bickering between your empire and the Pirates is ended. Once this treaty is formed Pirates will no longer attack you, peace is now the rule and your ships will be treated as friendlies by the pirates

Warhead splintering. This is a tech level 5 in the Experimental Design branch of the Military. It increases missile damage by 10% by adding multiple sub-warheads to missiles.

Ragnarov Prototype 1. Once research is completed TEC Rebels can build a Titan Foundry and begin construction on the Ragnarov Titan, a massive warship tremendous firepower.

Vasari, Basic Strengths & Weaknesses

They have a decent economy but it is second to the TEC. Their ships are very expensive and phase missiles are their most effective weapon once they become available. This faction is best for someone who likes research and lots of mobility.

5 Vasari Strengths

• Best starbases in the game, both powerful and mobile.
• Good economy, second to the TEC.
• Phase missiles are virtually unstoppable late game.
• Are the best at capturing metal extractors
• Best mobility options of the three factions.

Vasari Technology

The Vasari are experts in nanotechnology and phasing technology. Nanotechnology is used to increase ship’s armor with the resulting armor having less mass than typical TEC armor. They also use nanites to jam enemy transmissions and these nanites can even be used to bring down enemy orbital structures.

Their phase technology is the best of the three factions. When fully researched, they can detect enemy fleets anywhere in the known galaxy, plus they can hide ships and structures from enemy empires. Their phase missiles can bypass enemy shields and shield mitigation, making them one of the deadliest weapons of the three factions.

The Vasari are the only faction with mobile starbases, and unlike the Loyalists, Rebel starbases can also move between systems. Only two weapons labs are needed to research starbase technology versus the TECs and Advent’s three, so they gain access to starbases earlier than the other two factions. Their starbase upgradeability is better than the other two factions as well. For example, the Vasari can upgrade their starbase hull strength to 25,575 versus 20,250 for the TEC and 17,550 for the Advent.

Vasari Loyalist Differences

Regenerative Hulls. Hull repair rate is increased by 100%. Advances in the nanostructures of hulls gives them improved passive regeneration.

Energetic Pulse charging. Increases the damage of Pulse weapons by 40%.

Accelerated Wave Cannons. This level 8 technology increases damage by 70% for Wave Cannon Weapons.

Jump Stabilization. Makes Vasari ships more resistant to jump destabilizers.

Civilian Evacuations. Vasari civilians are re-settled onto the empire’s capital ships, generating tax income and increases the tax rate by 2.0.

Civilian Evacuations leads to Mobile Rulership. Vasari leaders relocate to the Titan, preventing the Vasari from being defeated until the Capital planet and Titan are both destroyed.

Mobile Rulership leads to Shipboard Labs, which grants one lab per capital ship. Military research is moved onto the empire’s fleet, making each ship act as if it were a weapons lab.

Empire Integration. Each Vasari capital ship can serve as an Imperial Lab.

Stripped to the Core. The Vasari can consume a planet once they abandon it. They strip all the natural resources from it which gives them a large amount of credits, metal, and crystal. Once stripped the planet then becomes a dead asteroid.

Enslaved Labor. The population of occupied worlds are forced into production, reducing the cost of all ships and structures by 8%.

Solitary Path. They are granted a bonus to fleet supply when allied with other Vasari Loyalist factions. Supply increased by 75.

Vasari Rebel Differences

Bidirectional Jamming. Greatly slows enemy ships phase jumping toward their planets for a short amount of time.

Phasis Strike. After phase jumping their ships and starbases receive a damage bonus for a short time.

Pinpoint Bombardment. Bombing range is increased by 200%. Increases the range ships can bombard planets from.

Advanced NME Warheads. Damage increase of 30%. Increases damage of phase missiles through revisions of Nano-Molecularly Engineered technology.

Shared Shield Technology. Sharing this technology gives ships and starbases increased shield strength (35%), increased shield mitigation (2%) and better antimatter regeneration (35%).

Armor Restoration. Increases armor by 8.0 and hull points by a max of 15%. TEC supply chain negotiations resolve a materials shortage, allowing Vasari war ships to be built to better standards.

Starbase Mobilization. Starbase phase jump engines are enabled, allowing the Orkulus starbase to phase jump between planets if equipped with phase stabilizers. Limit of one starbase per gravity well.

All for One. Damage increase of 10%. Forces gain a combat advantage proportional to the number of allied empires present in the gravity well.

Shared network. Allows allies to utilize your phase gate networks.

Friendly Jump Telemetry. Phase jump antimatter cost -100%. Phase jumps to friendly gravity wells no longer use antimatter.

Advent Differences in History

All was well with the Advent. After escaping annihilation from the conflict of the “Great Wars of Antiquity” spiritual peace was achieved by their civilization. They became known as The Unity, which places high importance on spiritual, psychic, and cybernetic technologies. Above all else psionic abilities are their most prized ability.

Then the Trade Order arrived. They sought to impose their perverted ways, at least in the eyes of the Advent, upon them. No longer would their children be allowed to use neurochemicals to enhance their psionic abilities, nor would any types of artificial, bionic implants be allowed. The Advent chose exile from their homeworld rather than submit to the perverted demands of the Trade Order.

The resentment and hatred of the Trade Order worlds ran deep in every Advent mind. That hatred ran even deeper since every mind was psionically linked to the others. With hatred fueling their drive, and with the advantages of psionically linked minds, their research took on new meaning, far surpassing anything the Trade Order worlds could fathom. Finally, with resources rapidly dwindling, the day for vengeance was at hand. Through fortuitous timing the Vasari had already arrived, leaving many worlds on the new front undefended and vulnerable, which quickly fell to the Advent onslaught.

Advent Loyalists Historical Differences

Disregarding the suspicions of their rebel counterparts, the Loyalists have remained true to the cause of their ancestors, the total destruction of the Trade Order and to bring any survivors into the Unity’s sphere of influence. They have focused and utilized advanced technologies centering on PsiTech to win the war.

Advent Rebels Historical Differences

Along with the deep-seated hatred for the Trade Order came an element of deep suspicion that crept into the unified minds of the Advent, and despite being psionically linked, surprisingly some minds succumbed to it and some did not. The Advent rebels represent those minds where that suspicion became a deep-rooted, motivating factor for their everyday lives. Believing that some type of malevolent force is driving their retaliation against the former Trade Order worlds, they decided to purge their society of this evil force by any means necessary so they can once again achieve true unity in their culture.

TEC Differences in History

During the reign of the Trade Order wars and conflicts became a thing of the past. Wars and major conflicts had not taken place for a thousand years and the occasional pirate raiders were handled by local defense forces. That all changed with the arrival of the Vasari.

The Vasari swept through the outer worlds with little opposition and victory over the Trade Order worlds seemed almost certain. As a last resort the core worlds created the Trader Emergency Coalition, known at the TEC.

The TEC brought the industrial and economic might of the member worlds to bear on converting many of the civilian trader ships into military craft. What they lacked for in quality they made up for in quantity. Time will only tell if this strategy and final defense will work.

TEC Loyalists Historical Differences

The prolonged war has fractured the TEC alliance into two main factions, the Loyalists and the Rebels. The TEC Loyalists are tired of war and all the costs incurred from it. They just want to be left alone and have concentrated on building defensive structures and researching defensive technologies. They’ve decided to dig in at first and then expand slowly.

TEC Rebels Historical Differences

The TEC rebels, unlike their Loyalist counterparts, are both aggressive and ruthless. They detest any species other than humans and prefer to crush them rather than negotiate with them. Their hatred has been fueled by decades of war. They can even team up with pirate factions to take out enemy empires.

Vasari Differences in History

Fleeing from their own destruction the Vasari overwhelmed the outlying Trade Order worlds and enslaved their people. Before the Vasari downfall they controlled a myriad of worlds, some peaceably, and some through sheer force. Once assimilated these worlds were given only the most minimal rights and were actually little more than slaves to the Vasari empire. Orbital fortresses were placed around each of the worlds reducing the chances of any rebellion to being short-lived at best.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, some ten thousand years ago, all communications with their core worlds was lost. Suspecting a rebellion of some type they sent a squadron from the Dark Fleet to investigate but immediately lost contact with that squadron as well. More worlds went dark, including the Vasari homeworld. Vasari Intelligence bureaus could shed no light on the astonishing blackouts.

What returned from that effort was a single warship with extensive battle damage. The Vasari sent a damage control team into the ship to investigate and what they found made them shudder, a mere remnant of their battle-scarred crew remained, driven insane with fear. The crew was not coherent enough to provide any clues about the battle or what happened to the rest of the Dark Fleet.

In a final act of desperation, the Vasari fled their region of space, and have continued to be on the run for over 10,000 years, always staying one step ahead of this unseen and unknown enemy. Now they have once again reached the limits of their stored resources and need time to replenish themselves, but the local inhabited worlds pose an obstacle, one which they need to overcome quickly before the silent death behind them overtakes them.

Vasari Loyalists Historical Differences

The long pursuit has taken its toll on the Vasari. Both factions, Loyalists and Rebels, are still desperate to move on, but by different methods. The Loyalists want to remain true to their Empire’s ideals and will take what they want forcibly and as quickly as possible. They plan to use the most powerful weapons they have and win through a war of attrition, if they have the time.

Vasari Rebels Historical Differences

Like the Loyalists the Rebels are frantically trying to move on, but by working with the TEC and Advent when that suits their purposes. They don’t want their flight to be stalled by long years of war as they fight their way through Advent and TEC forces, better to cooperate and live rather than fight and die.