Endless Space - new Moo2 style game

[Flocke]

Today stumbled on a new Moo2 style game named "Endless Space".
Here's their trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw87CXwjpKI
Edit: It was released just a few days ago and is available on steam.

Ofc it differs from BotF in many ways, but looks quite good, so thought I'd let you know.

[Martok]

Actually, the game has already been released (back on July 4).


Been following this one for a while. It looks good, and will probably get it eventually, but am holding off for the time being.

The visuals are uniformly described as excellent, and the UI is by all accounts superb, one of the best ever seen in a 4x game. However, the card-based combat system is frequently described as bland (and/or not interactive enough), and the AI reportedly needs a *lot* of work still.


As I said, sounds like it will be a winner eventually, but it's just as clearly not going to be everyone's tea.

[Flocke]

Actually, the game has already been released (back on July 4).

Ah, cool, well IF I'd had the time to play, I'd go buy it.

The visuals are uniformly described as excellent, and the UI is by all accounts superb, one of the best ever seen in a 4x game.

Yep, thought the same watching some vids and screenshots.

However, the card-based combat system is frequently described as bland (and/or not interactive enough), and the AI reportedly needs a *lot* of work still.

That I noticed in the gamplay vids, too.
But still it looks like a real nice game to me!

[anjel]

looks really good, i´ve thinking the galactic map as the way it was shown in this game, it would be really cool to implement that

[Flocke]

it would be really cool to implement that

I'd love it if you do

[Paul73]

when is this available in the UK?

[Jabu]

Found out about that game at steam. Played the game.... liked it very much... but after some hours of playing I noticed that there is not enough depth in factions or diplomacy to keep you interested much longer than 2 weeks. Even patched up later it was starting to get boring. Thinking of what game endless space reminds me most I finshed now by reinstalling botf looking for nice mods! ^^
But if you put a big bag of botf stuff into that game in form of a mod... that outcome might feel really good in endless space.

[Dr_Breen]

other oppinions? i was quite intrested actually but if you say it's boring i better leave it...

[Martok]

Lots of folks still say the game is pretty bland, even with the many updates and free "expansions" the devs have added. Lots of fixes and new content have been introduced, but the atmosphere/immersion factor appears to still be very "meh".

You do have to credit the devs with a great job of supporting the game, though. It's apparently highly polished now and runs smoothly, and the AI has supposedly been improved a fair bit.


I have no intention of getting Endless Space at this time, but I continue to have hopes for it.

[Jabu]

What seems good is, that there is a fanbase and they try to make this people a part of their team. So it seems, that there is room for improvement. I hope for a good modability and people who will be able to put some time into doing it.
It is not a failed game. They did a good job giving you a stable and interesting game to play. Just... unpolished in ... AI (like many) tactical and in diplomacy you are not getting that "oh my god, this AI is so dam evil and I didn't see it coming."- situations.
What is a fresh new way of doing spacebattles without micro control to many details seem great first 100 battles - but than you notice the tactical imbalances you are able to make use of but the ai fails to get even.
It might be just to complex for an ai to evaluate the right weapons and counter mix to beat you.

Giving an example: I am rushing the missile tech tree up knowing my neighbour will do beams... doing a few low weapon techs to have all basic counter systems to be prepared on what the neighbour target brings into battle. Having the right counters even if not hightech is enough to withstand his weapons.
First waves in a war are usually the most crushing ones. You instantly know in battle if its time to kill or to die. A human with eyes open can pre scout or just check what enemies fleets weapon and counter mix looks like - Than adjusting his fleet before.

If war starts, humans usually wins, especialy if two fleets in service - each with a slightly different mix of weapons and counters. In good turns you will not loosing a single or just a small ship but crushing your opponents. With such big losses the enemy ai will never be able to rebuild to stand against your increasing fleet that starts to invade more core systems each turn lowering his abilities even more. Even if Ai has a much bigger empire or you fight against 2 you can still win. They aren't agressive enough and they cant guess good your weapons and counter mix setup. And if they try to adjust, you see his first ships with anohter refit early because they throw them into the battle to early and ajust your new wave of ships + refoitting your current.

Might be all more intresting in multiplayer but some feeling tells me, it gonna just a hit an run (in best cases) till one makes a mistake and looses to many of his ships so line of defense breaks till extinction.

[KrazeeXXL]

I've played it only for 1 or 2 hours yet. So it's just a n00b review which touches the surface a bit.

I've seen some things, I liked in MoO2 and which I missed in BotF.
F.e. Heroes and designing your own race and ships. The UI looks pretty much cleaned and intuitive but has a couple of downsides.

For once I have to play on the lowest resolution. My eyesight is 100% but I sit 2 metres away from my monitor, so it reminded me a bit of Eve Online @ultra small fonts. So, I play in 1024x768 now

It's ok, as it's well adjusted. You don't have to scroll much anyway as the descriptions are pretty short.

Another thing I don't like: in order to look at a system you have to hit a piece of the size of 2x2 px. That's really annoying (even in 1024) since my mouse is superfast...
The F-keys for research/diplomacy are also sadly missed in this "MoO2 retrofit".

The tech-tree looks interesting so far. It could've some better descriptions @ what kinda benefits I'm gonna get from what exactly (new buildings). So for now, it's a bit of trial and error, what to choose. But I'm ok with that, since I'm new to the game and don't want to have everything explained to me anyway. I like to figure things out on my own.

Sending fleets to a destination could've been made better. It's too static imo. But the auto-explore function is pretty cool.

I can't tell much about diplomacy or space battles yet. But 4x fans may have some fun. But don't expect any sliders like in BotF to allocate your population. So much for "micromanagement".


But so far, so good. I'm interested in how much the game is moddable. It looks like a good base to create some cool - perhaps even a Star Trek mod. But I'd tweak the UI first. It's those small annoyances which I really hate, as they add up the more you play.

[SubZero_Kling1]

Im still playing ES. Best Game! i have one eye on Galactic Civilizations 3, it costs a lot

[cleverwise]

This game looks a lot like Sins Of A Solar Empire.

[HsojVvad]

This game looks a lot like Sins Of A Solar Empire.

It looks nothing like Sins of a Solar Empire. Doesn't even play like SoaSE. Just curious as to why you say that.

I use to play it. 2 weeks later and I stopped. Tech tree looks ugly but does the job a small bit. What ruined the game for me was combat. After seeing how designing ships was a disappointment, combat was even worse. I think BotF combat is way better than ES.

Makes me smile when I saw Moo2 style game. While the thread is necked, it makes me smile because BotF is actually MOO3. So saying a Moo2 style game it's also a BotF type style game.

[Flocke]

I usually don't but to those still interested to have a look like me, till april the 17th there is a promotion on steam to grab the Endless Space Collection including the Disharmony DLC for just 1€
I guess for other regions it's similar, they probably dropped price so drastically to promote it's successor Endless Space 2.
Not sure if the successor is any worth, but not to the price point to me given my limited time...