So I never played the original Sins due to being not into RTS at the time it came out. I decided to spring for this one and had a pretty enjoyable time of it with a game on easy, albeit with a huge map with multiple systems that ended up being a little longer of a game than I think it should have been.

However, just as I was coming to dominate my own starting system, I was suddenly struck by rebel assaults across my territory, and more confusingly than that, my planets started dying off randomly. They weren't planets that were under attack, they weren't even planets that were bordering enemy territory. Just up and down the length of my empire, planets started randomly disappearing, with the message (if you moused over them to look) that bombardment radiation had rendered them uninhabitable. Fortifying the planets did nothing to prevent this, seemingly. Was this some enemy superweapon and how can it be detected and/or countered?

Novalith Cannon? Did you play against TEC?

Sounds like you got novalith cannon'd. the TEC superweapon is a gun with a galaxy wide range that targets planets. You can defend against this with planetary shields, upgrading your planet's bombardment resistance and health

The rebel assaults are a special ability of a specific faction, that cause random incursions in your enemies gravity wells.

incidently if you have issue holding on to your planets even after upgrading them (single mass target novalith cannons) You can upgrade a starbase in your planet's gravity well to have a secondary government which will prevent loss of that planet due to bombardment.

@Jadeskye: Thanks man. That's a really annoying ability. It brings to mind the question - is there any reason that I shouldn't have a starbase in every system?

@Veektarius said:

@Jadeskye: Thanks man. That's a really annoying ability. It brings to mind the question - is there any reason that I shouldn't have a starbase in every system?

not really no, theres always good cause for a starbase, be it defence, culture expansion, economic or warfare. The only real concern is that would be enormously expensive.