Stardock Entertainment has announced that it has reached an agreement with Ironclad Games to publish "Sins of a Solar Empire," a RTS space combat game that is scheduled to be released in August of 2007.

"Sins of a Solar Empire represents the birth of the RT4X genre, seamlessly blending spectacular tactical combat with grand-scale space strategy. Players must conquer worlds, engage in diplomacy and trade with other civilizations, and use the resources at their disposal to enhance their economy, develop new technology and increase military power. They must then test their mettle on a 3D tactical battlefield, where their ships will fight it out in stunning visual glory."

“Sins of a Solar Empire is exactly the sort of game we’ve been looking for,” said Brian Clair, Director of Games Publishing for Stardock Entertainment. “Ironclad is developing a beautiful and ambitious game that merges the best elements of 3D space-based real-time strategy and ‘4X’ games like Galactic Civilizations II.”

“Stardock is an exceptionally natural fit for Sins and Ironclad. They have a genuine passion for strategy games and an uncompromising commitment to quality,” said Blair Fraser, Producer at Ironclad Games. Craig Fraser, Creative Director of Ironclad Games commented further, “We are very fortunate to work with the best — they know the genre, have a model that works and support our vision more than we could ask for. We are looking forward to a solid relationship that will push the bounds of strategy games as we know them.”

Along with this announcement five screenshots have been released: