Welcome to the achievement guide for Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion!

The purpose of this guide is to give a clear and concise overview of the requirements for earning all 68 achievements in the game and reaching that perfect 100% completion. Here are some important points to cover before discussing the individual achievements:

• All achievements can be obtained in single player, but some of them can easily be boosted in multiplayer with a friend.
  
• There are 6 achievements that require the Forbidden Worlds DLC (the Stellar Phenomena DLC is not needed).
  
• There is no campaign in Sins of a Solar Empire. Achievements can be earned on any map in the game, including maps you’ve made yourself. This can make potentially difficult achievements almost trivial to obtain.
  
• You can make custom maps in the Galaxy Forge map editor (included in the game folder) to give yourself huge advantages in terms of positioning, resources etc. The editor is fairly easy to use and there’s a decent tutorial found HERE[sinsofasolarempire.wikia.com]
  
• In order to have the custom maps show up in the map menu, save the completed maps to My Documents\My Games\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion\GalaxyForge.
  
• Achievement progress doesn’t carry over across multiple games, which means you need to get the cumulative achievements (like "destroy 1000 enemy frigates" etc.) over the course of a single game before defeating all opponents.
  
• Many achievements (especially the research ones) can be quite time-consuming, so it’s advisable to increase the various game speeds (like ship movement, resource income, etc.) in the options menu. You can also speed up the actual game all the way up to 8x (Default key: ´).
  
• It should take about 30-50 hours to earn all the achievements, depending on how many custom maps you end up using.

With all that out of the way, let's begin!

Ensign
Win the game as a TEC player.


Acolyte
Win the game as an Advent player.


Initiate
Win the game as a Vasari player.


Master of Any Domain
Win the game as a random player.


Earned by winning at least one game as each of the three races, either against the AI or in the multiplayer. Winning a game as a random race also grants the related achievement for that race.


Plug Puller
Win the game by yourself against at least one Hard AI player.


Toaster Roaster
Win the game by yourself against at least two Hard AI players.


Comp Stomper
Win the game by yourself against at least three Hard AI players.


Actually HAL, I CAN Do That
Win the game by yourself against at least four Hard AI players.


There are two ways of earning these achievements. The first method entails picking a map (or creating one yourself) where all enemies are located close to each other and therefore at each other’s throats (lock teams to prevent them from creating alliances), while you quietly build up your army and crush them one by one after they’ve weakened each other. However, there is a far simpler method. Since you can change AI difficulty whenever you load the game, you can play against four AI players on the easiest difficulty and switch the difficulty to Hard when you’re about to crush the last enemy. There are actually three more difficulty levels in addition to Hard (Unfair, Cruel and Vicious), so even if you don’t use cheap tactics, beating Hard AI shouldn’t be too challenging.


Fear of Icebergs
Win the game without building any Capital Ships.


No Exhaust Port Found
Win the game without building any strike craft.


Best Defense is a Good Offense
Win the game without building any Tactical Structures.


Go Big or Go Home
Win the game without building any Frigates, Cruisers or Corvettes.


These four achievements can easily be boosted in multiplayer with a friend by having the opponent concede immediately. To earn them in single-player, play any small 1v1 map on the easiest difficulty and simply rush the enemy with frigates. Point Blank is a good map for these achievements, especially for Go Big or Go Home, since the enemy homeworld will always be right next to you. Just build a capital ship and wreck it. Note that you can’t use Quick Start for that achievement, since it gives you free frigates at the start of the game.

TEC Military Researcher
Research every subject in the Military tree while researching no subjects in the Civilian, Defense or Diplomacy trees.

TEC Civilian Researcher
Research every subject in the Civilian tree while researching no subjects in the Military, Defense or Diplomacy trees.

Advent Hostility Researcher
Research every subject in the Hostility tree while researching no subjects in the Harmony, Security, or Understanding trees.

Advent Harmony Researcher
Research every subject in the Harmony tree while researching no subjects in the Hostility, Security or Understanding trees.

Vasari Empire Researcher
Research every subject in the Empire tree while researching no subjects in the Warfare, Fortification or Manipulation trees.

Vasari Warfare Researcher
Research every subject in the Warfare tree while researching no subjects in the Empire, Fortification or Manipulation trees.


Each race has two main tech trees – military and civilian. The first includes combat-related upgrades and new ship blueprints, while the other provides improvements to economy and expansion. These achievements are very time-consuming and attempting to earn them will severely cripple your empire, as avoiding the civilian tree means you will have serious trouble with colonizing planets and maintaining your fleet, while ignoring the military tree means that you’re stuck with the Light Frigate as your only combat unit (aside from capital ships). However, you can still research the Fleet Logistics tree (increased supply cap) when attempting any of these achievements.

These achievements are obviously easiest to obtain on custom maps where you’ve isolated the enemy so you’re completely untouchable and can research tech to your heart’s content. Alternatively, you can pick a large 4v4 or 5v5 map and have your AI teammates keep the enemies busy while you research. Note that the enemy might surrender if you’re too powerful, so try to keep your fleet strength relatively low. You don’t need to actually win the game for the achievements to pop.

IMPORTANT: The Forbidden Worlds DLC adds five new research options to each race’s civilian tree, which means that it’s impossible to get the related achievements (Civilian/Harmony/Empire Researcher) without the DLC.


TEC Fleet Diversification
Have at least one of every TEC Capital Ship built at the same time.


Vasari Fleet Diversification
Have at least one of every Vasari Capital Ship built at the same time.


Advent Fleet Diversification
Have at least one of every Advent Capital Ship built at the same time.


Self-explanatory. You can build capital ships from the Capital Ship Factory. Each race has six different capital ships, although you can build multiple ships of the same class.


Capital Ship Captain
Get a Capital Ship to maximum experience level.


Capital ships gain experience whenever an enemy is killed nearby. All capital ships start at level 1 and can level up to 10, improving their stats and acquiring new abilities (a choice between three active/passive abilities and an "ultimate" ability, much like heroes in a MOBA). Whenever an enemy is destroyed, its experience value is shared equally between all capital ships currently in orbit in the planet’s gravity well. It’s therefore obviously quicker to level up only a single capital ship, as it will always gain the full share of experience.


Squadron Leader
Own at least 100 Squadrons at once.


All strike craft (fighters and bombers) must be housed in hangars of larger ships or planetary defense stations. Since they are free to build, this achievement essentially requires you to simply obtain enough hangar space. Most capital ships have hangars for strike craft (higher-level ships will have more, Carriers especially) and each race also has a dedicated squadron support cruiser that can house strike craft. There are also Starbases and the Hangar Defense tactical structures that you can construct in orbit and build strike craft there.


Capital Ship Armada
Own the maximum number of Capital Ships possible.


You can only build 1 capital ship at first. Extra ships become available as you research the various tiers in the Fleet Logistics tree. For the achievement, you must construct 16 capital ships as any race – the highest possible number after the research tree is fully upgraded.


Ship Swarm
Own the maximum number of ships your fleet points can support.


Each ship takes up a different amount of supply (fleet points), starting from 2-5 for the cheapest Frigates and ending with 50 per Capital Ship and 150 for a Titan. Extra supply becomes available as you research the various tiers in the Fleet Logistics tree. For the achievement, you must construct 2000 supply worth of ships – the highest possible number after the research tree is fully upgraded. Note that you can alter the max supply cap by selecting Small Fleets (1500) or Large Fleets (2500) in the options menu before starting the game.

Road to Peace
Form a Cease Fire with another player.


Pacifist
Form a Peace Treaty with another player.


Mutual Trader
Form a Trade Alliance with another player.


Planet Visionary
Form a Planet Vision alliance with another player.


Ship Visionary
Form a Ship Vision alliance with another player.


You will instantly get all five of these achievements as soon as you start a game with at least one other player (human or AI) in your team, as all alliances are formed automatically between teammates.


Outstanding Resume
Complete at least 30 missions in a single game.


Missions can be offered to other players (either by humans or AI) through the Diplomacy Screen (F1). These missions can include sending an envoy to an ally, destroying a certain amount of enemy ships or structures, etc. It’s best to attempt this achievement on a large map with multiple players. Try not to defeat any of them, because enemies can also offer you missions. Even so, it’s often virtually impossible to get 30 mission offers in a single game. For an easy way of earning this achievement, make a custom map with two star systems – yourself in one, the entire enemy team in the other but with several pirate bases between them and the star. This will cause them to start bombarding you with Credit request missions non-stop, making the achievement easy to get.


Money Lender
Give 25,000 Credits to other players in a single game.


Metal Lender
Give 20,000 Metal to other players in a single game.


Crystal Lender
Give 20,000 Crystal to other players in a single game.


You can give resources to other players (both enemies and allies) through the Diplomacy screen after researching the relevant tech in the Diplomacy tree. You will likely have a huge surplus of resources by the late game, so these achievements shouldn’t pose any problems.


Export Maven
Collect 20,000 Credits from trade ships in a single game.


Tax Collector
Collect 200,000 Credits from taxes in a single game.


Credits are one of the three main resources in the game. They are part of the cost of all units, structures and research. Your empire earns credits from the tax income of the population of planets under your control. You can increase the tax income by raising the maximum sustainable population of your planets (upgrading civilian infrastructure).

Trade ships will automatically start traveling between your planets as soon as you build Trade Ports (after researching the relevant tech). Each planet with a Trade Port will generate bonus income in addition to taxes. The longer your chain of connected Trade Ports, the greater the income from each individual Port.


Metal Miner
Collect 35,000 Metal from resource extractors in a single game.


Crystal Miner
Collect 35,000 Crystal from resource extractors in a single game.


Refining Magnate
Collect 20,000 Metal or Crystal from refinery ships in a single game.


Metal and crystal are secondary resources, primarily used in the construction of ships and structures. Crystal is used for more advanced units and tech. They are acquired from asteroids via the extractor structures that will generate the resources automatically, providing a steady income throughout the game.

Refinery ships will automatically start traveling between your planets as soon as you build Orbital Refineries (after researching the relevant tech). Each planet with an Orbital Refinery will generate bonus income for all extractors located on adjacent planets. Each extractor can be boosted by at most three refineries.


Metal Merchant
Sell 10,000 Metal directly to the Black Market.


Crystal Merchant
Sell 10,000 Crystal from the Black Market.


Metal Speculator
Buy 10,000 Metal from the Black Market.


Crystal Speculator
Buy 10,000 Crystal from the Black Market.


The Black Market allows for simple trading of resources, although the exchange rate is in constant flux. For these achievements, it’s best to wait until late game when you have a surplus of credits, then simply buy the required amount of resources and immediately sell them again.


Resource Opportunist
Gain 15,000 Credits from other players buying up your resources.


In addition to trading resources, you can also place crystal and metal on the Black Market for other players to buy. You can get a better price this way and the AI will usually buy the resources fairly quickly. It’s still fairly random and luck-based, although I had no problem with this achievement.


He's No Good to Me Dead!
Spend 66,000 Credits increasing the bounty on other players in a single game.


You can place bounty on other players to direct pirate raids against specific enemies. Pirates will attack the player with the highest bounty every 15 minutes. For the achievement, just spend the total required amount of Credits on bounties in a single game. This achievement is also easier in late game when you have tons of Credits.

Expert Bombadier
Do 15,750 damage to planets.


Destroyer of Worlds
Destroy 20 planets in a single game.


Each colonized planet has a set amount of health that represents the planetary infrastructure and population. You need to destroy the infrastructure by way of planetary bombardment before you can colonize the planet yourself. Note that only Siege Frigates, Capital Ships and Titans and are able to directly attack planets. Completely obliterating the enemy infrastructure counts as "destroying" the planet.

Pilot's Bane
Destroy 2,500 enemy strike craft in a single game.


Frigate Killer
Destroy 1,000 enemy frigates in a single game.


Capital Ship Assassin
Destroy 30 enemy capital ships in a single game.


Wrecking Crew
Destroy 200 enemy planet structures in a single game.


Pirate Exterminator
Destroy 1,000 Pirate ships in a single game.


Anti-Globalization
Destroy 100 trade ships in a single game.


Union Buster
Destroy 50 construction ships in a single game.


Dead Canaries
Destroy 50 refinery ships in a single game.


Pick a sufficiently large map and settle in for a long game. All of these achievements can be done with little effort, although it will take a decent amount of time. Just build up a large fleet, keep harassing the enemies and performing hit-and-run attacks on their planets to pick up the needed kills. For the Pirate Exterminator achievement, it might be best to make a custom map with tons of pirate bases that you can wipe out at your leisure, rather than having to wait for the regular pirate raids on standard maps.

World Builder
Create your own custom galaxy and preview the results.


In the single player menu, click Map Designer, then click Preview. That’s it. You don’t even have to actually create anything.


Star Explorer
Travel to another star system.


This achievement is only obtainable on maps with more than one star system. After researching the needed tech (Long Range Jumps etc), your ships will be able to travel between different star systems to reach the enemies there.


Escape From Max
Travel through a wormhole to discover where it leads to.


This achievement is only obtainable on maps with wormholes. After researching the needed tech (Worm Hole Navigation etc), your ships will be able to travel between wormholes to quickly reach distant parts of the star system.


Colonizer
Have 30 planets colonized at the same time.


Family Planning
Your empire must support at least 6,000 population at once.


These achievements obviously need a large enough map. Acquring a sufficiently large population is easier with the Forbidden Worlds DLC, which introduces the Social Specialization option that can further increase the population on any planet, as well as the Oceanic Planet type, which can support the highest population out of all planets.


Pirate Baron
Colonize a Pirate base.


Pirate bases are staging areas for pirate raids, essentially just colonized asteroids. These bases are found on virtually all maps. You need to assault and destroy one such base, which is always heavily protected by a large fleet, multiple orbital weapon platforms, minefields and various other defenses. After destroying the base you can colonize it like any other planet or asteroid.


Intrepid Explorer
Control 20 different planet bonuses in a single game.


Planet bonuses are unique modifiers that can either improve or decrease certain aspects of the planet’s infrastructure, such as tax income, population growth, culture spread, etc. The base game has barely over 20 different bonuses, while the Forbidden Worlds DLC adds 40 more, making the achievement much easier to earn.


Space Ponies!
Um... What?


Space Ponies is a rare random planet bonus with no in-game effect. Finding it is down to pure luck, as you can’t manually force the bonus to appear on a specific planet in the map editor and it’s exceedingly rare to encounter the bonus on its own. The easiest method I can think of is making a custom map, setting planetary bonus density to 100% and having yourself start the map with a few dozen planets already under your control and fully explored. Then just keep restarting the map until you randomly get the Space Ponies bonus to appear on one of your planets.


Pop Idol
Spread your Culture to 75% of the galaxy.


You can spread culture buy building the relevant orbital structures (Broadcast Center, etc.) after researching the necessary tech. There are also many research options for each race that can significantly speed up the spread of your cultural influence to neighboring planets. This achievement is easier to earn on smaller maps where you only need to spread your culture to a handful of worlds.


Archaeologist
Find and own every artifact at the same time.


There are 12 different artifacts that can be found by colonizing and exploring planets. Each grants a substantial global bonus to your empire (such as +30% ship and structure build speed, +25% trade goods value, etc.). The odds of finding an artifact on any given planet are fairly low and finding all 12 on a single map is very rare. If you want to earn this achievement the hard way, play the largest map you can find and pray you’ll locate them all. However, you can always create a custom map and have each artifact appear on a specific planet, which makes this achievement infinitely easier to earn.


Vacation Getaway
Fully specialize a Oceanic planet in social upgrades.


Drill Baby Drill
Fully specialize a Ferrous planet in industry.


These achievements require the Forbidden Worlds DLC. The Social and Industrial specializations were added as new planet development options in the DLC. For the achievements, just purchase all the relevant specialization upgrades once you colonize the planets.


Equal Opportunity
Occupy the 10 planet types simultaneously.


This achievement requires the Forbidden Worlds DLC. The ten planet types are Terran, Desert, Ice, Volcanic, Dwarf Planet, Asteroid, Oceanic, Ferrous, Barren, Greenhouse (the last four were added with the DLC). For the achievement, just colonize at least one planet of each type.

That's it. I hope this guide has been useful.

Thanks for reading.

Good luck and have fun playing!