Dominus Galaxia (Master of Orion like game)

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Dewbacca
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Re: Dominus Galaxia (Master of Orion like game)

Post by Dewbacca »

I dropped the coin on IS:G and agree the game has very interesting concepts. I've enjoyed several hours exploring the game and it's functions and will happily endorse it AFTER the next patch comes out.

Right now the AI is absurdly stupid (BotF players know about that) and the game starts any AI empires nearly next door to your system no matter how large the galaxy. No multiplayer options are planned, so until it gets a decent AI, it's just fun to explore.

The Devs do plan to include some modding functionality, so I look forward to that.
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Re: Dominus Galaxia (Master of Orion like game)

Post by Blake00 »

Dewbacca wrote: Sat Sep 19, 2020 1:06 pm I dropped the coin on IS:G and agree the game has very interesting concepts. I've enjoyed several hours exploring the game and it's functions and will happily endorse it AFTER the next patch comes out.

Right now the AI is absurdly stupid (BotF players know about that) and the game starts any AI empires nearly next door to your system no matter how large the galaxy. No multiplayer options are planned, so until it gets a decent AI, it's just fun to explore.

The Devs do plan to include some modding functionality, so I look forward to that.
Yeah I agree. I really enjoyed it but the dumb AI and a few other issues started to kill my enjoyment after a day or so and I didn't finish my game. Wrote them a giant feedback post on steam and am now waiting for future patches and addons which they've spoken about. Bit a bit more work it'll be really good!
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Re: Dominus Galaxia (Master of Orion like game)

Post by Martok »

Huh; interesting comments on the ISG's AI, Dewbacca. I personally haven't found it to be as bad (playing Normal difficulty), but maybe I've just been lucky? It could also depend on play-style; I tend to roleplay more in strategy games, as opposed to min-maxing.

I do agree the starting positions need tweaking. It breaks immersion when the other empires always seem to spawn near you.


Still, Interstellar: Space Genesis is probably the best "old school"-style space 4x game out there right now, even with its flaws. I'm really looking forward to the major 1.2 update the devs have incoming, along with their pending announcement regarding the expansion they're working on. I'm trying to not get too excited! :)
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Re: Dominus Galaxia (Master of Orion like game)

Post by Dewbacca »

I got some challenge out of the Game's AI on impossible in a medium galaxy. It put everyone in immediate contest for systems and the ensuing chaos was very entertaining. The larger galaxy settings seemed to cause the AI to founder and wander a bit, not as focused or determined.

But examples of bad AI, one battle was fairly evenly matched, they actually had more battleships but I could have pulled a bloody win, and they ran. Another battle had a frigate on a suicide run against 3 destroyers. He SHOULDA ran.

Another example of "bad" AI behavior is the odd declarations of war. Diplomacy seems to work pretty well all in all... but then out of nowhere you and your trade neighbor are trading fire over a system with little value. No warning or obvious reasoning... just sudden war.

That being said, the AI is pretty good, it explores, it does espionage, it grows it's empire, it chases "wonders"... it just makes some odd calls that are illogical from my perspective. The only REAL option is to nuke them from orbit and sterilize the soil. It's the only way to be sure.

The game is beautiful, planet screens are active with birds or flowing lava... comets streaking across the main galaxy screen and nebular "lightning" illuminating various sectors. Battle scenes are difficult and not much to "watch", until you blow up a ship with one shot and the camera zooms in for the view. That's pretty spectacular.

I'd be more excited about the game if it offered an MP option, but that's not in the plans, and the game is very centered on the single player. It would cause a lot of reworking various functions to make MP work.

Several aspects of the game are very entertaining. Capturing ships and monsters in combat is more fun than blowing them up.
The Leaders are a fun side game and the range of espionage is worthy of exploration.
I enjoy the map exploration in levels, where you have to do remote exploration over time to reveal celestial objects that aren't obvious at first.
I like how the game starts you with a "preferred" class of planets limiting colonization in the beginning, and allows you to expand that range of habitable planets thru research and eventually terraform them into an idyllic planet.

The ships are ugly, the stock races are uninteresting and the game has limited re-playability at the moment... without MP or modding that is.

But, the game is beautiful, it's well thought out, very complex, layers of details and bonuses and the devs are good folks who are diligently responding to the player base and working to improve this beautiful time sink.
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Re: Dominus Galaxia (Master of Orion like game)

Post by Blake00 »

Yeah I had so many battles where AIs suicided ships in battles they should never have started and stayed in with my fleet.

The whole scanning for new systems is very cool though. I like how you can still be finding new worlds in the late game due to the time it takes for everyone to perform deep scans.

Planet screens are gorgeous.. hope they do some more in their up and coming DLCs they've been talking about.

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Re: Dominus Galaxia (Master of Orion like game)

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My tactic on ship warfare is very unconventional.

I only research Ion cannons and beam weapon enhancements and attempt to get all of the H3 I can find. The H3 is found on gas giants and you can set up outposts to "mine" it. Beam enhancements is a tech that boosts beam "damage" by 10% for every H3 source you possess. Current game I have 19 H3 sources and my ion cannons burn thru shields like a hot knife thru butter.

Then I capture everything I meet that I want. Including monsters. The combat screen is wonderful after a bit of getting used to it. But the various weapons available are all distractions. Ion cannons disable ships easily and then you board them. My current game I built ONE battleship and ONE Titan. I currently have 14 battleships and am scrapping almost everything I have built just to keep the larger ships flying.

Monsters require no upkeep, can't have "leaders" or be upgraded, but get fleet bonuses for being in a battle with a leader.

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The Devs have said that offering modding access is one of their plans for future expansions. I'm poking around inside the files now trying to see how we can make this more BotF like. A LOT of game here, layers of detail and control build upon a very flexible and robust platform.
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Re: Dominus Galaxia (Master of Orion like game)

Post by Blake00 »

haha I just realised.. we've been talking about this very thing over on the Alpha Centauri 2 forum lol.

Yup no more capturing alien monsters for you after the next patch mate haha. ;)
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Re: Dominus Galaxia (Master of Orion like game)

Post by Martok »

Haha, I was just going to post that the new update nixes the old "capturing monsters" gimmick, as it's both a bit unbalanced, and was never intended by the developers anyway.

Nice trick with the beam weapons and H3 resource(s), though, Dewbacca! I'll definitely need to try that next time. :cool:
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Re: Dominus Galaxia (Master of Orion like game)

Post by Dewbacca »

Yeah, a patch fixing several bugs and preventing monsters from being captured is being tested o9n steam currently...

I'm kinda bummed about it and playing Star Wars: Empire at War.
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Re: Dominus Galaxia (Master of Orion like game)

Post by Martok »

I have to say, I'm really digging the latest edition of ISG's 1.2 beta update. Lots of balance changes that improve the early game flow, so you're not just hitting end-turn a bunch of times in the beginning before getting to the "good stuff". I'm finding it's a huge improvement!
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Re: Dominus Galaxia (Master of Orion like game)

Post by Blake00 »

Martok wrote: Thu Oct 15, 2020 6:34 pm I have to say, I'm really digging the latest edition of ISG's 1.2 beta update. Lots of balance changes that improve the early game flow, so you're not just hitting end-turn a bunch of times in the beginning before getting to the "good stuff". I'm finding it's a huge improvement!
That's really good to hear. I'm gonna hold off playing a new game for a bit now as I gotta get on with my Civ mod projects. However I'm drooling over this new DLC trailer! 2 new factions, alternative leaders for all races (so you don't have 2 human factions in one game looking the same lol), new abilities, bigger galaxys.. all sorts of cool stuff!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPJou3tXvwM
[bbvideo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPJou3tXvwM[/bbvideo]

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Re: Dominus Galaxia (Master of Orion like game)

Post by Blake00 »

If people are interested in more info I've finally just written a belated steam review with a big list of the game's pros and cons (IMO).
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198058803521/recommended/984680

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Dewbacca wrote: Sat Oct 03, 2020 3:17 pm Image
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I just released some videos covering my thoughts on the game and you get a mention Drewbacca as I couldn't resist showing people your crazy picture haha:
Part 1
[bbvideo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpqP2s6ypys[/bbvideo]

Part 2
[bbvideo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGdmW-swlZo[/bbvideo]
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Re: Dominus Galaxia (Master of Orion like game)

Post by Martok »

A pretty fair review, I'd say. I don't miss some of the features you wish the game had (at least not as much), but I certainly wouldn't complain if the devs ended up adding them in at some point.


Nice videos, too! They give a good overview of the game. I hope you don't mind, but I shared them over on the Explorminate forums, as I feel they deserve a little more exposure. :)
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Re: Dominus Galaxia (Master of Orion like game)

Post by Blake00 »

Martok wrote: Sun Nov 08, 2020 5:41 am Nice videos, too! They give a good overview of the game. I hope you don't mind, but I shared them over on the Explorminate forums, as I feel they deserve a little more exposure. :)
Cheers! Ahh yes I forgot about those guys.. I should really join their forums.
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Re: Dominus Galaxia (Master of Orion like game)

Post by Dewbacca »

I downloaded Steam to help those guys test the beta, but lost interest after the "correction" of the monster capture.

Steam led me to SWTOR, which is free to play for the first 60 levels, and I haven't looked back since.
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