Fixed the 'wall of text' problem I had after posting this from my iPod...sorry to anyone who had to witness that

 What I mean by this is that the devs need to start listening to us players more, and opening their eyes to some of the great ideas we all have.

 Let's face it guys. Sins is getting boring.     

     Since the game has been out for a few years now,(as with all games) it gets stale. Don't get me wrong, the Entrenchment and Diplomacy expansions and the mods have extended the awesome traits Sins brings to the table, but the game needs something new, something fresh.      

     Rebellion could change everything. With the new ships that Ironclad has confirmed, many new options could be added. The Titan class vessels could easily change the course of any battle, and the Corvettes have a ton of potential, as someone in another post had said. But there's some things I have read recently (and new ideas of my own) that I would like to see implemented in Rebellion or the inevitable sequel to the epic RTS experience that is Sins of a Solar Empire.       First off, I have read about the idea of supply lines for ships. I didn't agree with the idea entirely, but to some degree I do. There shouldn't be supply ships that constantly have to refuel and replenish ammo, but maybe antimatter ships that could refill antimatter. The big place this could fit in would be repairs. When a ship is being repaired at the repair bay, the bay itself is using up it's antimatter to rebuild the battered ship's hull. But if there were antimatter ships roaming the galaxy from dedicated facilities, they could replenish the bay's supply and repair the ship faster.     

     This brings me to another thing: dry docking ships to a repair station. We all know that after a long engagement with the enemy, it takes forever to get a ship back to full health. But what if you manage to get the ship out to one of your planets, only to have an enemy fleet jump in after it? It's doomed. But--if you had a dedicated repair station to house the vessel for a minute or two, it would be back in ship shape (no pun intended) for the next fight. Of course, while docked, the ship would lose all combat capabilities and be immobile. But the bay it is in would be heavily armored, assuring its safety.     

     The weakness here would be that the repair bays must be supplied by a third party delivery of antimatter to function, not like the bay I mentioned above. They would be a different structor altogether from the repair bays we have now, being able to house a capital ship or a few frigates or cruisers. Titans wouldn't be able to fit, but they're probably so large and heavily armed and defended that if one is so badly damaged it has to retreat, you probably have lost anyway.      

     Another viable method to destroy these facilities would be an ability bombers could have. They would fly into the front of the bay, releasing their payloads as they go, then scream out the other end with a glorious jet of flames and shrapnel following them. A way to balance this out would be that the squadron flying through the repair bay would have to fly a certain distance perfectly straight without being hit too much in order to accurately fly into the opening. So you would want to defend these structures with fighters and flak. This would be so epic to watch, even for the owner of the repair bay. The antimatter ships could also go to other structures as well, providing it where needed. Eventually, through research, an antimatter ship could dock with a cap ship and drop off a cache of reserve antimatter to be used later. The possibilities are extraordinary.

     There's also another thing that kind of bothers me: that lack of any weapons on carrier cruisers. I'm not saying that they need a ton of guns bristling off the sides of the hangers, but come on. What modern day aircraft carrier is unarmed? None. They're actually far from it, most having a ton of missile defense systems and anti-aircraft guns. But I'm not asking for much. I mean colony frigates have a laser battery! Ships that aren't even designed for combat have weapons! Don't give it too powerful of weapons, but at least a ship-to-ship cannon or two and a few AA guns.      

      Another new idea I read was the concept of ship carrying vessels. I love that idea! Imagine an immense ship capable of carrying 30 or so frigates or 5-10 cap ships. They would be completely unarmed but heavily armored. That would be such an epic sight. Of course it would be kind of impractical, but it could serve a role. Maybe they can't phase jump. But maybe they can, and are really, really, REALLY slow and must come to a complete stop to unload the ships one at a time. I don't honestly know what the devs could do with this, but they could make it work at some point if they liked the idea. It is sort of impractical, but what the hell.

       Anyway, moving on to the Titan ships. Hopefully they will do something like this: For each race there will be two types of Titans, War and Economic. War Titans will be combat dedicated vessels, teeming with weapons of every shape and size, from flak cannons to rail guns, and housing squadrons of strikecraft. Eco Titans will be almost like a mobile civilization, acting as a trade and population center, with a few basic defended and a ton of armor. They will provide culture and income bonuses (or hindrances if enemy) to the planet it is currently at.      

     This would fit into each race's canon quite nicely:  For one, each faction needs more firepower, so that covers the War Titans. How they each do it however, is unique.

 -TEC War Titans are loaded to the max with weapons. They have a massive gun mounted on the prow of the ship, with dozens of flak, laser, missile, and auto-cannon batteries on the sides. They also have front mounted beam weapons similar to the Kol's. 

-The Advent are known for their strikecraft, and their War Titan is capable of housing over two dozen squadrons of them.   They have Illiuminator stye beams on the sides, and plasma, anti-air, and laser batteries on the sides, and a whole host of special Advent-style abilities to boot.

 -Vasari have mastered the art of phase manipulation, and with a vessel this size they now can jump the ship virtually anywhere. They also have the ability to produce ships out of the Titan, and to repair nearby vessels.

As for the Eco Titans:

-The TEC are always looking for a way to profit, and these would do just that, granting special resource and credit bonuses for them.

-The Advent try and spread their culture in any way possible, and these would give them bonuses in that, as well as a decrease in build time for structures and ships in the grav well.

-The Vasari have been running for so long that they are bound to have mobile "planets" so to speak. They get a tax income bonus and damage increase for nearby ships and static defenses.      

      The catch of all these special abilities is that they require a lot of antimatter to function. In order for the abilities to be used effectively, an antimatter ship could resupply it, or you could simply wait for the antimatter to refill itself, which takes a ton of time that you probably don't have. On the other hand, the Titans would have a huge pool of antimatter to use, maybe 500 to 1000 at max. But each resupply craft would only carry 50 at first, up to 200 with research, so it would take time to fill back up.     

     There's also a lot of ideas that the community wants, such as new planet types, new ships, more customization, planet weapons, invasions, ground combat, and so much more. I just listed some of the things that appeal to me the most, but there's a ton more. I posted this in hope that the developers would consider these ideas, along with all the other great ones here on the Sins forums, because there's some great stuff here. If they put even half of it in a game or expansion, it would be a hell of a game, and something we all would probably love and play for years to come.

/rant