Sins of a Solar Empire is often described as a 4XRTS game, or a game that tried to merge the action and tactics packed gameplay of a Real time strategy game with the deep, complex, empire wide strategy of a 4X turn based game. It's up to debate whether Sins succeeded in this goal, but I think all can agree that of the 4Xs of "explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate", Sins is much more focused on the exterminate than on the others. This mod seeks to give more depth to the other 3Xs of the game by adding additional game elements or refining the existing ones to reward players who give more strategic thought to the non-combat side of the game. Combat will still be the center point of the game, but players will find that the non-combat options available will be much more rewarding. Spying, exploring, sabotage, diplomacy, culture, and economic development have all been added or changed in innovative new ways. Regardless of what you think Sins is, this is the 4XRTS it should have been.
One of the criticisms of the titan upgrades was that it was hard to use the Ankylon's draining beams upgrade, as the beams only fire forward yet the ship prefers to broadside. So I decided to fix this by letting the Ankylon's beams fire in all directions, and I'm very pleased how this little detail turned out. While the damage per beam is now a bit weaker, it can now fire on many more targets, giving it higher total DPS. It also looks really awesome, and makes the Ankylon much more like the moving Starbase it is supposed to be.
That looks awesome!