Endless Space

[Mortmal]

so how is it?? did you try it?? any good?

Endless Space? Made a bunch of posts in this thread. Started out pretty negative but it's grown on me. Current feeling toward it is mostly good for a laid back space 4X. Worth it during a Steam sale. And though some aspects of the game are weak I really, REALLY love the planet/system management.

Its cause you have nothing good to play at the moment, and the competition is as lackluster as this title. Yes they do the planent management right and fucked up everything else. I remember having more fun with freeware games than this, so its not even worth getting it at a steam sale.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

so how is it?? did you try it?? any good?

Endless Space? Made a bunch of posts in this thread. Started out pretty negative but it's grown on me. Current feeling toward it is mostly good for a laid back space 4X. Worth it during a Steam sale. And though some aspects of the game are weak I really, REALLY love the planet/system management.

Its cause you have nothing good to play at the moment, and the competition is as lackluster as this title. Yes they do the planent management right and fucked up everything else. I remember having more fun with freeware games than this, so its not even worth getting it at a steam sale.

Not entirely true, I could play SotS or MOO2 for space 4X but I've still come back to Endless Space occasionally. Maybe it's more like a modern MOO1 to me, a simplified space 4X. I dunno. Definitely not something I play constantly but the few times I've gone back to it has grown on me a little each time.

 

[DakaSha]

this still boring as balls?

 

[Space Satan]

this still boring as balls?

Yeah, MoO2 still better in both gameplay and strategy variety.

 

[DakaSha]

*sigh*

 

[Space Satan]

When are they going to get rid of thea annoying 8-player limit? I want more civs on map!

In fact in ES more civs will mean more annoyance. Becasue:
- To interact with them normally you have to research tech.
- To trade with them you must research tech, and a very expensive one to even start trading.
- You can't destroy\bombard bordering planets so they'll be there permanently.
the list goes on with all this design and game mechanic flaws

 

[MicoSelva]

I've had a reasonably good time with this game, but I wouldn't consider another playthrough. I've played worse space 4X games, but I've also played better ones.
Overall: forgettable mediocrity. Unless new patches changed a lot.

 

[Mortmal]

so how is it?? did you try it?? any good?

Endless Space? Made a bunch of posts in this thread. Started out pretty negative but it's grown on me. Current feeling toward it is mostly good for a laid back space 4X. Worth it during a Steam sale. And though some aspects of the game are weak I really, REALLY love the planet/system management.

Its cause you have nothing good to play at the moment, and the competition is as lackluster as this title. Yes they do the planent management right and fucked up everything else. I remember having more fun with freeware games than this, so its not even worth getting it at a steam sale.

Not entirely true, I could play SotS or MOO2 for space 4X but I've still come back to Endless Space occasionally. Maybe it's more like a modern MOO1 to me, a simplified space 4X. I dunno. Definitely not something I play constantly but the few times I've gone back to it has grown on me a little each time.

When i get so old i cant make the difference and enjoy equally moo and endless space i think it will be time i take a little raw boat and leave for the sea to not be a burden for the family...

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Apparently going to launch next week for $10.



Apparently they're merging admiral and emperor editions of the game too, so everyone gets to play with the few goodies emperor had. What I'm really curious about is if they're going to patch the updated AI into the base game or hold it hostage in the DLC.

 

[Hellraiser]

The game wouldn't be half bad if there would be more to the combat than just the fucking card system. Also the limit on ships that can take part in a battle is just arbitrary bullshit as are the 3 round battles. And not being able to bomb/genocide xeno planets.

At least it is better than galciv, but I don't think that's much of an achievement.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Well supposedly (Supposedly) combat's getting an additional wrinkle via fighters and bombers now. I gather you can dick with them during combat now. Unfortunately that might make me like the game less, since when I play Endless Space now I basically never enter combat animations, I just select my cards beforehand and tell it to give me the results. Not sure if fighters will fuck that up.

Also supposedly (Supposedly) you'll be able to bomb/genocide planets now.

And the arbitrary limit on fleets isn't handled as nicely in ES as it is in SotS, but eh.

 

[Renegen]

I find the biggest problem with the game is that its gameplay is very similar to MOO2 and thus outdated. For example the early expansion during the first 30 turns of the game usually decides the victor, the whole galaxy is completely colonized very early. it's kind of ridiculous when you instead consider a game like Civilizations where you will have empty tracts of land for several ages and expansion is a strategic decision to be weighted like everything else.

 

[Space Satan]

I find the biggest problem with the game is that its gameplay is very similar to MOO2 and thus outdated. For example the early expansion during the first 30 turns of the game usually decides the victor, the whole galaxy is completely colonized very early. it's kind of ridiculous when you instead consider a game like Civilizations where you will have empty tracts of land for several ages and expansion is a strategic decision to be weighted like everything else.

For me it is opposite - the gameplay is way too different from MoO2. Completely different and retarded combat system and herp derp diplomacy is what kills the mid and late game. Plus, player is forced to capture border planets, with no ability to blast them away

 

[KoolNoodles]

Stardrive is the game with the most potential, but it was made by one dude(now two, he has help), so it is a slow ass process. Granted, it's "real time", but that's not really a problem, it still feels more like MoO than Endless Space. The ship design and combat is really great too. Design is actually some of the best I've seen for a space game, with firing arcs, individual hardpoints(so armor placement is key), shield coverage etc. There's a big content update coming out in July, so we'll see what it's looking like then. At least while I wait for more depth I can fiddle with ships and watch pretty space battles.

 

[Baron]

I pen a lengthy letter to The Creative Assembly on the first Friday of every month begging them to do a Total War: Space. Ground invasions feature prominently in this game, for those seeking production advances, but planet buster weapons should also be included for the space tyrant who is displeased. The ship system could work the same as Rome, more of a transport mechanism for troops and blockading ports.

I love the Total War mix of battles, NPCs, diplomacy and assassinatin' and want to see it in my beloved Space Opera genre. Excuse me, I need a moment...

 

[KoolNoodles]

I pen a lengthy letter to The Creative Assembly on the first Friday of every month begging them to do a Total War: Space. Ground invasions feature prominently in this game, for those seeking production advances, but planet buster weapons should also be included for the space tyrant who is displeased. The ship system could work the same as Rome, more of a transport mechanism for troops and blockading ports.

I love the Total War mix of battles, NPCs, diplomacy and assassinatin' and want to see it in my beloved Space Opera genre. Excuse me, I need a moment...

That would indeed be cool if just that seeing massive space battles in the TW style(completely different mechanics of course) would be tons of fun to watch, but then you'd get all the other problems that the TW series has. Stardrive, Sins, and Sword of the Stars scratch my space battle itch pretty well though.

 

[Baron]

It would be worth it just to be free of the restrictions of historical accuracy (and annoying military history buffs on forums) and have the freedom to design units specifically to suit diverse battle-map strategies.

But I don't know, I like endless trade more than endless war. I'm hanging out for X Rebirth to build up a trading empire, corner the quadrant in meatsteaks and occasionally genocide some irritating space races.

 

[Brinko]

All I need to know for this game to earn my sheckles during the steam sale coming up is whether or not this game has retarded, game breaking events happen like GC2. One of my biggest complaints were some of the awful game changing events like having movement restrictions be locked at 5 parsecs. That shit slowed the game to a crawl but made combat so piss easy I stopped playing after it happened. So does shit like that pop up in the game or did the devs include some good events or just have a few but don't change shit to insane degrees and shatter everything.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

It kind of does. They added random events in one of the patches, and a few of them can be a real kick in the nuts. I believe there's a setting that lets you disable random events (Or maybe it was just the really big events? I don't remember) though. After I finish Xeening I'll take a quick peek and edit this post with the answer.

Edit: Yep. Random events are where you can get fucked. Exploration events not really (That I've seen)
Brinko

 

[Brinko]

It kind of does. They added random events in one of the patches, and a few of them can be a real kick in the nuts. I believe there's a setting that lets you disable random events (Or maybe it was just the really big events? I don't remember) though. After I finish Xeening I'll take a quick peek and edit this post with the answer.

Edit: Yep. Random events are where you can get fucked. Exploration events not really (That I've seen)
Brinko

Alright so I went on the Endless Space wiki and looked up every last event that could happen in the game and it is not as bad as GC2. So might pick this up for cheap whenever the steam sale comes around.

 

[KoolNoodles]

It kind of does. They added random events in one of the patches, and a few of them can be a real kick in the nuts. I believe there's a setting that lets you disable random events (Or maybe it was just the really big events? I don't remember) though. After I finish Xeening I'll take a quick peek and edit this post with the answer.

Edit: Yep. Random events are where you can get fucked. Exploration events not really (That I've seen)
Brinko

Alright so I went on the Endless Space wiki and looked up every last event that could happen in the game and it is not as bad as GC2. So might pick this up for cheap whenever the steam sale comes around.

I would say you can do much worse for cheap, so that's not a bad idea. It's very pretty to look at, at least. A comforting game at times(in the "man this looks nice I'm controlling a stellar empire and it's not very hard" way). Then it gets boring.

 

[Space Satan]

As expected, Disharmony is a total shit. The game is still boring, unoptimised shit. Main fuck ups:
1. Spammable ships.
Industry is so high,that you can spawn ships non-stop. In MoO, ships were precious and expensive things, here, they are an expendable shit.
2. Lack of automated orders.
Still, after each invention you have to manually change production in all your systems.
3. No weapon templates.
At some point you just stopcaring and click "Auto" when assigning weapons and armor, jjust because ships are so spammable that it almost matters not what weapon or modules they carry - just make sure you Auto from time to time to install latest weapons.
4. Weapons.
Now all weapons could be set to long, med and short, which brings up the question - why the hell we need three weapon types at all? Degenerade Rock-paper-Scissors system changed but never vanished.
5. Abysmal Diplomacy.
You can't do shit. Literally, you have to research tech to even make a peace proposal. There is no MoO or Alpha Centauri trade agreements and overall diplomacy is horrible,
6. Ultra-fast Research
Even without racial bonuses research became so fast that you will discover two or three cheap techs per turn. Most of them are useless and shallow. In MoO, there were extremely few useless techs.

Conclusion - waiting and hoping some good developer will buy Master of Orion franchise from anally raped Atari.

 

[KoolNoodles]

Just an FYI for those who haven't "demoed" the game or gotten the memo about it being boring and still feel like playing the real deal.....there's a Steam sale going on this weekend. 50%-60% off(50 for game+expansion, 60 for just vanilla). It's maybe worth it? Depends on how much $10-$17 means to you.

I wouldn't advise it, but there it is.

 

[Ashery]

How's it compare to, say, SE4?

 

[KoolNoodles]

In so few words, I would not really compare the two. SE4-5, etc. try to play like MoO but end up being unintuitive, a bit clunky, and complex in a bad way(gameplay and AI suffers). ES tries to be like MoO but simplifies many elements in some bizarre attempt to "steamline" gameplay. It looks nice, planet management hearkens back to the good old days, tech tree is passable, but combat falls flat, the AI is really bad, diplomacy is almost non-existent....etc.

Is there a demo? Try that first. If not, try the "demo". You will know if it is a game worth buying within the first few hours.

Edit: After thinking about it a little more, the biggest reason ES dies for me, is that the combat is so shitty, even compared to the rest of the game. What were they thinking? I'm not even a warmonger, but I hate auto-resolving major battles and every time one would come up it felt like a chore. Even with MoO2's massive micromanaging battles later in the game, at least the early/mid-game battles could be quite thrilling and fun to control.