I just wanted to say how surprised I am that I never hear anything bad about this game.I have had many of the strategy games that we have all had and found out that they were still in the prototype stage and still sold to the public and then they come out with a couple of half-assed patches to appease everyone, but the technically saavy always calls them on it and it turns out that the patch still didn't address major issues .....and the dance continues. You can search all over the internet for reviews on all the other games and they just get decimated. I won't even play many of the games I have anymore because I was just crushed by the review and didn't want to waste my time on the games. Not so with SINS. I wish the people that work on the "Sins of a Solar Empire" games would also work on games like "Geo-Political Simulator/Commander in Chief" and "Empire Total War" (the list goes on) Promising games with a lack of 'that certain something'. I would just like to say kudos to the SINS CREW for, not only creating the seemingly (most) perfect game on the block...................but supporting it by recognizing that we are their returning customers and not like many of the rest of the game designers out there who appear to be weekend warriors and avoid us like we are lepers. I say Thank You to the SINS CREW for having and supporting THE BEST STRATEGY GAME TO DATE. (2009)