I grabbed a pirate copy of the original off a friend and lost it.

This release has spurred me to finally buy the game (which I meant to do after getting the pirate copy, but after loosing that when my system crashed I forgot about it). Time to get myself re-aquainted and dive into the multiplayer I think.

You can preorder the Gold edition on Gogamer for $28. Free shipping too.

Best price I found for retail box set.

Are you saying that this is a bogus product?  Maybe you guys need to look into this:

Trinity Gold at GoGamer.com

Note that the box art appears to be different than the normal Trinity box art.  It does have Stardock and Ironclad trademarks on it.  If you guys never approved of or licensed this...  Note that the box does not say "Gold" on it; that's just what GoGamer is calling it.

Hahah well I'm pretty confident that Gogamer will not rip me off. I think EBgames list it as 03/07 to ship.

It's 03/06 on Gogamer now.

I hate DLC and "micro expansions" and whatever other fancy names the various game companies want to call vaporware. I would have bought these if they were in a store with a CD/DVD (and all related patches up to date on that CD/DVD) that I didn't have to download and can re-install without having an internet connection.

My main problem is if/when I re-install the game years from now... will the company still host the patches and the expansion downloads? Will they still be around? The answer will eventually be "No" to both. So it is basically just burning money.

On top of that I absolutely REFUSE to get a credit card due to predatory practices by those companies and the threat of identity theft.

Ironclad/Stardock are good companies IMO and I would love to support them, so I ask:

Pretty please with a cherry on top just release the two "micro expansions" as one bundled in store expansion for roughly $20. Add the cost of making DVD's and shipping you say? OK... $24.99 is a price I would still pay for that but NOT any higher and certainly not paying for a game I already own.

Keep up the good work guys and gals at IC/SD!

(and thanks for the lack of intrusive DRM which shows you care about your consumers. You guys rock.)

*shrug*  It happens.

You do have options, though.  You can archive a current installation through Impulse, though you can only reinstall to the same OS that it was originally installed to.  If the game is not installed yet, you can use the "Download and Archive" feature, which can be used on any OS.  Then, of course, there is Impulse Anywhere.  All you'll need to do is save the files you downloaded (and for the first 2, an Impulse installer, http://www.impulsedriven.com/impulse_setup_full.exe) to where ever you keep your backups, or burn them to a disc.  That's all you'll need to reinstall your game if Stardock HQ gets sucked into some alternate dimension that isn't reachable by means of the Internet.

It's all about the Kitten Sanctuary. 

yes, in fact you need to have Entrenchment in order to play Diplomacy

If you're new to the game, there may be an advantage to going Sins, then Entrenchment, then Diplomacy.  There's a lot of content, and starting off with Diplomacy may be a lot to dive into.  Certainly not impossible, but I tried it, and had a much easier time starting off with just the base game.

Go for it and I hope you enjoy the game as much as we do (by the way Diplomacy is built on Entrenchment so yes Entrenchment is automatically included).

If you need any help with anything (mods, modding, gameplay, etc) feel free to post up.

You can update your account info, including your nickname, here:

https://www.stardock.com/accounts/manage

With a name like "Tactical Synergy" you are almost obligated to play Advent.

I bought Sins of a Solar Empire Trinity just the other day, and I installed it and played it, and the next day it worked fine until yesterday, where it started popping up on screen with only one option, and that was to uninstall. WHY is it doing this?

Someone please help, i love this game and I want to play it but if this keeps up I'm taking it back to Best Buy