I don’t post to this site much any more (something I’m hoping to do better with from here on out) but I had to break my long silence to share this with you all. Ashes of the Singularity is a new twist on the large-scale RTS formula, a beast quite different from other large-scale RTS such as Supreme Commander or Planetary Annihilation. Its focus is almost more tactical than economical, and it uses a Company of Heroes-style territory capture system that I found to be quite interesting. In my overview of the game, I mentioned that I find its quanta system, which is used for upgrades, increasing the player’s supply cap, and for launching superweapons. It’s a tactical, constrained, interesting resource in a game that’s all about massive scale and epic battles, and its use creates opportunity costs and hard choices, which are some of the most interesting decisions players can make in games of any genre.

Stardock has just announced the game’s first expansion, an expandalone title called Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation. Upon receiving an email from Stardock’s media department, I immediately contacted them for some clarification. Here are some of the salient points:

They’ve got a new intro site up here.

Current owners will be able to get it for $15USD, while new owners can get in on the action for $40USD

They’re increasing the player cap and map size up to 8v8.

They’ve unveiled a strategic view, seemingly similar to what’s used in Deserts of Kharak and Act of Aggression, and possibly replacing the “super minimap” (I’m sure that wasn’t the official term) that the game launched with. Look at it, below. I’m already a fan – Even as someone who’s only played a few dozen hours of the game, I feel that this provides a lot of information about the larger-scale state of a battle.

Escalation will come with 2 new campaigns and a slew of challenge missions.

Both of the game’s factions will get new units and structures, including new air units for both factions (which will be very welcome for me, as someone who is a big fan of air superiority). Sadly there’s not a ton of specifics on this yet, though the Substrate are apparently getting an economic booster unit, which will just further cement them as my favorite of the game’s 2 current factions.

Full press release below: