Sins of a Solar Empire II achievement guide & roadmap

You've just gotta grind it out on the way to Admiral - but this will come naturally as you play multiple matches for all the other achievements

Your colonies on planets are upgradable in the same way as capital/titan ships - with the build icons in the bottom-left of the screen when the planet is selected. You won't need many planets to have 12 item slots available (in total) so this will be easily unlockable during normal play in most matches.

This essentially just means 'build' a Titan. You'll need a Titan foundry for this, and the requisite research in the combat tree - but its not hard in any medium or larger game.

Note your fleet will be limited to one Titan, but it can be heavily upgraded through use.

Keep it with you in battle to grind it up to level 10 for And Who's Stopping Us?

Ship items are on-ship upgrades in the same fashion as planet upgrades; shown in the icon boxes on the bottom-left of the screen when a ship is selected. Capital ships and Titans can be upgraded with ship items. This will likely come naturally during any medium-large game - especially if you're focusing on developing capital ships to keep them alive and level them up to 10 for Elite Status.

Squadrons are sets of autonomously controlled fighters that are hosted by and launched from a base of yours - either a fixed base in orbit on a colony, or from a Carrier capital ship, or as an upgrade to a capital ship or titan.

You can reach 100 by expanding your empire and adding squadron-hosting defences to the colonies in each gravity well (which unit provides this will differ by which faction you're playing as), as well as building out your fleet of capital ships and upgrading accordingly.

This is best done on a larger map so you've got the time and space to build it all up.

This should end up happening naturally as your empire expands - you'll typically have cultural dominance over the planets that you have colonies on so as your empire grows you'll end up with the 15 needed for this.

You can check cultural status in the planet info window (hold Alt to expand), and it'll show the % dominance. If you find this gets eroded on your planets that are close to other empires then build more media/civilian structures to help increase culture and influence.

You must be playing on a map with wormholes for this achievement, which appear as large glowing circular anomalies. Tell a ship to passthrough it with a regular ship action and the achievement will pop.

This will happen naturally in any multi-star system without you having to do anything (besides researching the requisite "Interstellar Travel" research item in the civilian tree); as your scouts will explore automatically and will pop this achievement for you.

This is the default win condition; colonising the enemy's home planet. This is easiest on a 2-player map with easy AI (e.g. one of the first few in the game list when you create a new game). Build up your forces, go to the enemy's homeworld, destroy their colony and use a colony ship of your own to create yours. As soon as this happens you'll win the match and the achievement will pop.

Planets that are occupied by an enemy force must be bombed to clear the enemy colony before you can colonise yourself. This will come naturally in any medium or larger game where you expand your empire and take over at least 10 planets that are occupied by enemy factions.

You've just gotta grind it out on the way to Admiral - but this will come naturally as you play multiple matches for all the other achievements

Trade Ports are an unlockable orbital item you can build around your colonised planets. Just build 15 of them in a match to unlock this.

Each gravity well can only have one starbase, so you'll need to colonise at least 10 places to be able to build 10 starbases. They are very heavily upgradable with offensive, defensive and civilian capabilities - to the point they almost act as a whole 2nd colony in the well.

Any medium or larger game should be pretty easy to build 10 starbases.

See Peacemaker - this is one of five achievements (one for each of the five minor factions).

Influence points automatically accrue over time, and you can spend them on levelling relations with minor factions and on resource auctions that appear periodically (see High Bidder).

Spending 10 in one purchase will be necessary to max level with the Pirates, which you'll need to do anyway for Talk Like A Pirate.

See Peacemaker - this is one of five achievements (one for each of the five minor factions).

Fleet Supply is essentially a number of points that limits how much ship power you can field at once. Depending on the size of your empire there will be a limit (e.g. max 2000), and each ship that is alive at the time will cost some points (e.g. 50 for a capital ship).

For this achievement, you must use all the way up to the limit. In one sense this is easy (2000/50 = 40 capitals) - but if you end up with some ships with an odd number of points then you can get stuck at 1999/2000 or similar and end up needing to scuttle/suicide some ships before then strategically choosing what to build to end up using 2000 exactly.

Easy enough to do - but in many matches it will need a little deliberate effort to get it unlocked.

The Pirates are one of the minor factions. Rep can be increased by spending influence points with them using the minor factions menu at the top of the screen. The max rep costs 10 points so you'll need 19 points total to reach max level.

It doesn't really matter whether you're friendly or fighting with them whilst you do this - you can still increase rep to max and pop the achievement even when battling them.

And, after reaching max rep, there's Pirate Hunter to kill them all off afterwards - but aim for Peacemaker (max rep with all 5 minor factions) first.

This achievement is soft-missable because if you obliterate them first (or another faction does!), then its no longer possible to reach max reputation level with them in the same match.

Both both research trees you'll need 25 research stations - i.e. 25 civilian and 25 defense - in order to unlock the highest tier research. You can use on-planet upgrades as well to help get there. Once you can research tier 5 items then its just a matter of grinding out all the different research topics.

Note this can't be done in the same match as Military Intelligence

The Viturak Cabal are one of the minor factions. Rep can be increased by spending influence points with them using the minor factions menu at the top of the screen. The max rep costs 6 points so you'll need 13 points total to reach max level.

It doesn't really matter whether you're friendly or fighting with them whilst you do this - you can still increase rep to max and pop the achievement even when battling them.

And, after reaching max rep, there's Get Off My Lawn to kill them all off afterwards - but aim for Peacemaker (max rep with all 5 minor factions) first.

This achievement is soft-missable because if you obliterate them first (or another faction does!), then its no longer possible to reach max reputation level with them in the same match.

In a map with minor factions enabled, you'll see pirate ships in the gravity wells around the pirate homeworld and you should keep killing them until you reach 100 killed. Pirates don't venture further than this, so if you haven't seen any yet then keep exploring/expanding first.

Killing them doesn't affect your ability to reach max reputation for Peacemaker.

This is soft-missable because if you or another faction destroy the pirates first then there won't be enough ships left over in the match to get this to 100.

You've just gotta grind it out on the way to Admiral - but this will come naturally as you play multiple matches for all the other achievements

Ships gain XP as they perform in battle and kill enemy ships. Capitals, and especially Titans, are super expensive so you'll want to be keeping them alive to fight for longer anyway - but they can also be heavily upgraded to make them more powerful and resilient.

One way to help the grind for a ship is to place it near an ally's planet, where that planet is a popular route for a nearby enemy faction. Your capital ship will benefit from the ally's defenses, and will still pick off kills from the continuous stream of enemy ships. A capital can be pretty much left to its own devices in this way.

Or, the more normal method would be to have a roaming fleet of your own, dominated by a Titan and/or some capital ships, and use this single fleet to roam the star systems battling enemies. Just be careful in this method to keep the same ship(s) alive long enough that they can reach level 10 - e.g. if you've got one chosen ship (perhaps the one you start the game with), then pull it to the back of the fleet when it gets damaged so it has time to recover.

If you haven't unlocked it already, you'll get it automatically for And Who's Stopping Us? so pick the Titan to level if you can. Otherwise you will also get it on the way to Experienced Crewmen.

This does not require multiplayer - but does require that you are in a team with another empire (AI or otherwise) or have allied with them via the diplomacy options.

In the latter, neither a Home Planet Victory nor an Eradication Victory is not possible (as you would need to destroy your ally to win) - but a Colonization Victory (occupy >51% of the map) is winnable! Just make sure your ally doesn't get there first... Colonization Victories must be enabled in the match settings when you start the game - so be sure to check this.

For this you need to destroy 10 enemy starbases, in a single match. This is easier on larger maps where the enemy empires are larger so there will be way more than 10 available to destroy.

The Aluxian Resurgence are one of the minor factions. Rep can be increased by spending influence points with them using the minor factions menu at the top of the screen. The max rep costs 6 points so you'll need 13 points total to reach max level.

It doesn't really matter whether you're friendly or fighting with them whilst you do this - you can still increase rep to max and pop the achievement even when battling them.

And, after reaching max rep, there's A Doomed Dynasty to kill them all off afterwards - but aim for Peacemaker (max rep with all 5 minor factions) first..

This achievement is soft-missable because if you obliterate them first (or another faction does!), then its no longer possible to reach max reputation level with them in the same match.

This can be done from the trade menu, openable from the top-right quadrant of your screen.

You'll need to have discovered a faction to trade them with to be able to do this - so if its still showing unavailable for you then explore more to discover the other minor factions.

This is soft-missable because if the factions you can trade with are destroyed then you'll no longer be able to sell any in the match.

You'll need to win a match as each faction as there's a separate achievement for each. For this one it's the TEC Enclave.

In the bottom-right quadrant of the screen when you have a planet colony selected, there are the icons for upgrading Defence, Logistics, Research & Mining to whatever levels the planet can support (some can support more than others - and this depends on your Civilian research).

For this achievement, upgrade 20 separate planets so they are at the maximum level they can support for all four categories.

The tutorials are in a separate section off the main menu. Do them all. It'll take a while, but at least this is progress toward Admiral. And it'll help familiarize you with the game mechanics.

Pirates don't spread too far (1 jump) from their homeworld, so you'll know you're close when you start seeing pirate ships. Bomb the homeworld to destroy their colony and this will unlock.

See There Can Be Only One - and be sure to max the relationship with the Pirates first for Talk Like A Pirate before destroying them.

If, after maxxing reputation, you're unable to attack then select their homeworld and in advanced planet options (bottom-right corner) there's an action to break the truce with them (permanently!). Do this and after a 30-seconds-ish wait you'll be at war immediately.

Also, it has to be you that destroys them; if another faction does so you don't get the achievement. Hence this is soft-missable.

It is also soft-missable as if you play as TEC Primacy and research "Truce Amongst Rogues" then you become unable to return to being at war with them and hence cannot kill them off.

You've just gotta grind it out on the way to Admiral.

You'll need to win a match as each faction as there's a separate achievement for each. For this one it's the TEC Primacy.

Whilst playing TEC Primacy, use their unique planet item to build Pirate ship supply for Privateer.

The Aluxian Resurgence are one of the minor factions, and they have a home planet like any other faction. Bomb the home planet to eradicate their colony and they are effectively killed off (even if there are some straggler ships around the systems afterwards).

If you haven't already, max out reputation with them first for Friend of the Aluxi before destroying their world (doing this has no bearing on your ability to destroy them).

If, after maxxing reputation, you're unable to attack then select their homeworld and in advanced planet options (bottom-right corner) there's an action to break the truce with them (permanently!). Do this and after a 30-seconds-ish wait you'll be at war immediately.

Also, it has to be you that destroys them; if another faction does so you don't get the achievement. Hence this is soft-missable.

The Vasari's unique faction mechanic is Phase Resonance (as Unity is to the Advent). Spend at least 10 points in a single match whilst playing as one of the Vasari factions to unlock this.

See Never Fall for building a titan, and Elite Status about getting it to level 10.

Titans are fearsome ships with huge upgrades as well, a lot of fun in battle!

A lot of the hours will come naturally as you play through multiple matches for the other achievements - but otherwise it can be cheesed somewhat by leaving a match running (perhaps with easy AI and good defences) to grind up those hours.

When playing as either of the Vasari factions, make sure to use raider corvettes whenever possible and this will unlock naturally on any medium or larger match.

Auctions appear periodically in the notifications in the top-left of your screen. You can choose to spend Influence points to bid on whatever the prize is for each auction; resources or exotics.

For this, you must win 10 auctions in a single game - so a longer match will help you have the time for enough auctions for you to pop up and to actually win them.

Note that to win, sometimes the winning bid is large - e.g. 14 influence points for 5 exotics - so it may be difficult in early-mid game to balance resource points needs for this vs what you also need for levelling up minor faction rep.

You will lose whatever influence points you bid whether you win or lose the auction.

I.e. leave it to late game on any larger game, once you're finished dealing with the minor factions then just wait until your influence points are full and max out your bid on every auction that appears.

The set of capital ships is different for each of the six factions, but all types are listed in the ship building menu. For this achievement, at least one of each type must be levelled up to 10.

You'll get Elite Status on the way to this, for the first one to reach 10.

This has to be done in the same game, so resets in each new game. Its not clear yet whether all the ships have to be alive at the same time for this to count - so try to make sure they don't get killed after reaching 10.

The easiest way to keep track of this will be to have a roaming fleet with one or two of each kind, keep them together as a group and use them as the fleet for expanding your empire. You'll then easily be able to keep track of the level of each ship and see which ones to give more action to so they can all reach 10. This can be done with one ship of each kind - but we recommend two, despite the available XP per battle having to be shared, to reduce risk of having to start again if one gets destroyed.

You'll need to win a match as each faction as there's a separate achievement for each. For this one it's the Vasari Exodus.

Whilst going for this, aim to tick off Raider and Resonant at the same time so you're not tied to the Vasari for subsequent matches.

And also be sure to strip mine 30 planets for Dust and Echoes

For this you need a match that actually has all five minor factions present - but you can check this immediately after starting by opening the minor factions window.

You'll get the achievements for maxing faction rep for each of the minor factions as you do this:

1. Aluxian Resurgence - Friend of the Aluxi
2. Pirates - Talk Like A Pirate
3. Viturak Cabal - We Are Here To Stay
4. Pranas United - Our Survival Is Assured
5. Jiskun Force - Ally of the Jiskun

This achievement is soft-missable as if the homeworld of any of the minor factions is destroyed then you will no longer be able to max reputation with them (whether you destroy them or another faction does).

And, once you've unlocked this, see There Can Be Only One for then destroying them all.

You'll need to win a match as each faction as there's a separate achievement for each. For this one it's the Advent Reborn.

Whilst playing as Advent, tick off Unity Be My Guide at the same time.

You'll need to win a match as each faction as there's a separate achievement for each. For this one it's the Advent Wraith.

Whilst playing as Advent, tick off Unity Be My Guide and Resistance is Futil... Yes, Maam. at the same time.

You'll need to win a match as each faction as there's a separate achievement for each. For this one it's the Vasari Alliance.

Whilst going for this, aim to tick off Raider and Resonant at the same time so you're not tied to the Vasari for subsequent matches.

See Enough... Is Never Enough and Never Gamble With a Telepath. and just do the same for metal.

This is soft-missable as in late-game if the factions you can trade with have been destroyed then you're no longer able to trade and get this.

The markets panel can be opened from the options in the top-right. You'll see options for buying/selling metal, crystal, and exotics - but only once your empire is advanced enough to be connected to other factions that want to trade the materials.

Sell lots of crystal to pop this.

NB it is not yet clear whether this has to be in a single match - but mid-late game in any medium or larger match you'll likely have more than enough crystal left to grind this out in a single match.

Then see Never Gamble With a Telepath. to buy it all back...

This is soft-missable as in late-game if the factions you can trade with have been destroyed then you're no longer able to trade and get this.

See There Can Be Only One, and be sure to max reputation first for Ally of the Jiskun

If, after maxxing reputation, you're unable to attack then select their homeworld and in advanced planet options (bottom-right corner) there's an action to break the truce with them (permanently!). Do this and after a 30-seconds-ish wait you'll be at war immediately.

Also, it has to be you that destroys them; if another faction does so you don't get the achievement. Hence this is soft-missable.

See There Can Be Only One, and be sure to max reputation first for Our Survival Is Assured

If, after maxxing reputation, you're unable to attack then select their homeworld and in advanced planet options (bottom-right corner) there's an action to break the truce with them (permanently!). Do this and after a 30-seconds-ish wait you'll be at war immediately.

Also, it has to be you that destroys them; if another faction does so you don't get the achievement. Hence this is soft-missable.

See Enough... Is Never Enough first for selling crystal.

Here you need to buy 100k - if you're just grinding out the achievement this is easiest done after selling it. You'll lose cash (as obviously you'll sell for less than you have to buy for), but that's no great loss.

NB it is not yet clear whether this has to be in a single match - but mid-late game in any medium or larger match you'll likely have more than enough cash left to grind this out in a single match.

This is soft-missable as in late-game if the factions you can trade with have been destroyed then you're no longer able to trade and get this.

The Viturak Cabal are one of the minor factions, and they have a home planet like any other faction. Bomb the home planet to eradicate their colony and they are effectively killed off (even if there are some straggler ships around the systems afterwards).

If you haven't already, max out reputation with them first for We Are Here To Stay before destroying their world (doing this has no bearing on your ability to destroy them).

If, after maxxing reputation, you're unable to attack then select their homeworld and in advanced planet options (bottom-right corner) there's an action to break the truce with them (permanently!). Do this and after a 30-seconds-ish wait you'll be at war immediately.

Also, it has to be you that destroys them; if another faction does so you don't get the achievement. Hence this is soft-missable.

See Enough... Is Never Enough and Never Gamble With a Telepath. and just do the same for metal. And also Greed Is Good for selling the metal afterwards.

This is soft-missable as in late-game if the factions you can trade with have been destroyed then you're no longer able to trade and get this.

It isn't specified in the achievement description, but is in the game's v1.31 update release notes, that this must be done when playing as the Vasari Exodus to have access to the strip mining capability.

When you have a colonised planet selected, in the actions below is a round icon that will rotate all the orbitals around the planet a bit. Hit this, and then drag to arrange your orbitals to a new orientation around the planet. Do the same again on 9 more planets and the achievement is yours.

Make sure to go for Peacemaker to max out reputation with the factions, before turning your hand to destroying them all. As with Peacemaker this requires a map that has all five minor factions present - which you can check in the minor factions menu immediately after starting the game.

Also, it doesn't necessarily have to be you that destroys all the minor factions (contrary to the requirements for killing each individual one) - but you likely need to be the one that kills the last minor faction to be eliminated in the match (i.e. consistent with the individual-faction achievements). Hence this is soft-missable.

The factions are listed below, and there is an achievement for eradicating each one too:

1. Aluxian Resurgence - A Doomed Dynasty
2. Pirates - Pirate Hunter
3. Viturak Cabal - Get Off My Lawn
4. Pranas United - Breaching The Unbreachable
5. Jiskun Force - All Expeditions Must End

Win a match using only capital ships.

The non-capitals that you start the match with don't count and are fine - you can use those. Regular trading vessels are ok too.

But any other ships acquired through the match may/will invalidate this achievement, so...

1. don't research the items in the civilian tree that grant trade escorts
2. as TEC Primacy, don't build the Pirate Mercenary Base (so you can't get Privateer in the same match)
3. don't use any garrisons
4. don't use the Advent's Rapture ship to capture other ships
5. don't use any raiders

It can help to sell off your Light Factory early on to avoid accidentally building something smaller and invalidating this achievement for the match (which is why it is soft-missable).

This is the opposite of Fear of Icebergs and both cannot be unlocked in the same match.

To win a match without building any capital ships is easiest on a small (2 player) map with easy AI. Clearly a larger fleet is needed. Once you've built up a fleet, head for the enemy homeworld, destroy the defences and shipyards.

In parallel, research and build the frigate for your faction that can bomb planets, and send it to meet your fleet at the enemy's homeworld so you can destroy their home colony - that should give you the win.

This is soft-missable, because if you build a capital ship then this can no longer be achieved in that match.

This is the opposite of Go Big or Go Home (but this one is much easier) and both cannot be unlocked in the same match.

The capital ship you get given at the start of the match for free doesn't count and can be used in the game.

This requires the TEC Primacy's unique planet item for building pirate ships; the "Pirate Mercenary Base".

Once you have this, build enough ships to use up 500 supply. The supply cost for each ship is displayed below the icon image for each ship type. The Pirate Corsair has the highest supply cost at 16 points, so you'd need to build 32 of these ships.

See also Armada for more about fleet supply.

Artifacts are unique upgrade items discoverable only through looting derelicts (which may randomly exist on the map) or survey excavation.

Once installed, they can't be removed - so for this achievement keep them handy until you've got four, then place them all on one capital ship or or Titan.

Note: it is currently unclear whether unique items obtained by spending Influence with minor factions count as artifacts for this achievement. This guide will be updated once clarified.

Artifacts are unique upgrade items discoverable only through looting derelicts (which may randomly exist on the map) or survey excavation.

Once installed, they can't be removed - so for this achievement keep them handy until you've got four, then place them all on one planet's colony using the regular upgrade options in the bottom-left of the screen.

Note: it is currently unclear whether unique items obtained by spending Influence with minor factions count as artifacts for this achievement. This guide will be updated once clarified.