Um, if you have Rebellion, you must already have an account on steam.

so in order for me to get the beta i have to buy the full game?

This is a beta for an update, after all, not for the game itself. Rebellion came out last year in June. This is the beta for the 1.79 update.

Ah, no it is just a beta for those who have the game and want to try out the update early. "Open" for existing players in other words.

What version of Sins do you have? As Ryat mentioned many of the big mods have Rebellion versions now, you may want to check if the ones you play fall into that category or if there is a similar mod.

Also, depending on which galaxy forge version you have, I believe a guy named Harpo here made a map updater that will convert your Galaxy Forge maps to Rebellion.

At the least, if you like Sins enough to have made a lot of maps for it, I would say its worth checking out Rebellion sometime when it goes on sale. If you use steam you can add it to your wishlist so they'll email you when it is on sale.

QFT

so, beta players, what do you have to say about this?

I think that minor issue (not really an issue as much as a practical joke being played on those with OCD) has been there for awhile. But I may be mistaken.

Nice to see ongoing support for the game, and the changes look good.  The nerfs on the pirates hopefully means fewer instances of pirates just roflstomping interstellar empires for 250 credits at a time. 

On the other hand, as a wishlist sort of thing, I'd like to see a toggle in the win conditions for turning off AI surrender in a future patch.  Sometimes it's nice to have the AI throw in the towel, but I've had nearly all my Rebellion games end with the AI giving up after one major (or not so major) battle, even Hard AIs.  Sometimes it gives up if I expand too fast and outpace it.  Heck, once it gave up after I built my Titan and I'd never even seen their ships (It was a huge map)!  The "Continue Playing" function seems to also lock out achievements like Archeologist, so no dice there.  I tend to play single player, so it's not like I'm under a time crunch.  Maybe I'm in the minority, but I have fond memories of the long, knock-down drag-out wars of vanilla SoSE with one or more determined AI resisting to the very end.  Having it as a selectable victory condition would allow people who prefer the AI to surrender after it's hopeless to still have it, while allowing for folks like me to engage in a little comp-stomping every now and then.

Trying the subtle approach now are you?

Its just Seleuceia trolling his desires. Pay it no mind.