Endless Space: My God, it's full of Stars!

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ArchangeI: Jul 15, 2010

Endless Space

What is it?

Endless Space is the first game of a new French Studio called Amplitude Games. It is a Space 4X turn based strategy game. So that means you build an empire, colonize new star systems, research new technology, design your own ships and then go find something and kill it. There is a definite Master of Orion II vibe to it. However, there are many ways to victory, including more peaceful ones.

System Overview

This is relevant to my interests. When is this going to be released?

It is actually out: Preorders on Steam are open and give you access to the ~~beta~~ alpha. Right now the game is 25% off, so it's $22.50. For $5 more you get the Emperor Special Edition, which comes with some cosmetic DLCs.

Techtree

I've played Sword of the Stars/Distant Worlds/Armada2526/Master of Orion III, how does this play?

1) There are four basic resources: Food to feed people, Industry to build stuff, Knowledge to research new technologies and Dust. Lorewise, Dust are nanomachines left behind by the "Endless" (Endless Space, get it?). It works roughly similar to Gold in Civ Games. Most System Improvements cost Dust to maintain, and you can chose to spend it to speed up construction.

2) Instead of building up each planet individually, you chose one Exploitation to improve production of one basic resource, in effect turning a planet into an agricultural/industrial/scientific/trade colony. Star systems pool their production to build System Improvements and Ships. Various strategic resources give boni to production or are downright necessary to build certain ships or buildings.

3) Combat revolves around a basic paper/stone/scissors concept. It is a curious mix of real time and WEGO Turn based combat: Combat is divided into three phases: long range, mid range and melee range. You don't control your fleet directly during combat, instead you chose one of (initially) three battle actions for each phase, which either buff your fleet, debuff the enemy or cancel his battle actions. Right now the AI seems to cheat a little and select the right action to cancel yours a lot more often than not, but against a human opponent it will make for interesting play.

4) There are 5 factions out already, with another 3 planned. As always, they have their advantages and disadvantages. Faction breakdown courtesy to renown Scholar and Gentlegoon Chomp8645:

quote:

Alignment: Evil

Lore The United Empire is essentially a loosely governed coalition of traders. All citizens of The United Empire are technically subjects of the central monarchy, but the reality of governing a galaxy spanning empire necessites large degrees of local autonomy. As a result corporate interests are the real driving force behind the Empire.

Individual human lives are of little value to the Empire, which aggressively pursues physical and economic expansion through corporate ventures. A newcomer on the galactic scene, the Empire's dogged tenacity promises it a prosperous future (at least for its leaders). Nevertheless the humans of The United Empire are a spirited and industrious people. Their sturdy ships are the most durable in the galaxy, and they adeptly sniff out every scrap of dust they come across. On the ground their stalwart soldiers resist alien invasion more tenaciously than other races, giving friendly fleets more time to aid besieged system

Gameplay: The United Empire is all about economy, as their defining trait is an enormous increase on dust gained in each system. Militarily they are defensive in nature; their ships enjoy a significant bonus to hull strength and their ground troops resist hostile invasion longer than other races. Their massive wealth generation also gives their fleets unmatched adaptability, as an Empire player can simply pay to retrofit new weapons or defenses as needed, rather than waiting for entirely new ships to be built. Their only real drawback is that their home planet always starts with a negative anomaly, a fact which only encourages their rapid expansion even more.

A good Empire player should be a consummate opportunist. Attack the weak, befriend the strong, and always cultivate trading partners. Whatever your goals, you can utilize your massive treasury to constantly adapt fleets to stay one step ahead of the enemy in war, or to speed economic and scientific development through the purchasing of planetary improvements in peace. Money can make many things easier, and you are the master of it. You are new to the galactic scene and other races look down on you for it. But they underestimate the power of money, industry, and the Human spirit. Their overconfidence will be their undoing. Play them like puppets your people will be the masters of the stars.

Alignment Evil

Lore: The Hissho are a race of extremely competitive tribal warriors, and their society values strength in combat above all else. Their ships are bringers of destruction which have more weapons that deal more than other races, and their gunners are the most accurate in the galaxy. As a result the Hissho are indisputably the galaxies' strongest and most feared warriors. Such prestige has not come without cost however, as such a bloody history leaves the Hissho with a relatively small population, and one that is not too adept at scientific discover.

Gameplay: Fight, fight, fight. Playing the Hissho means playing for military conquest, and all of their traits are geared towards this goal. Their ships get a massive boost to their damage output with all weapons, weapons which cost far less than other races to build. On top of this they fire their weapons more accurately than other races and gain a moderate empire wide combat bonuses whenever they capture an enemy system, and an enormous empire wide defense boost whenever a system is taken from them. The Hissho's only, but significant, drawback is a penalty to all technological research. So hit the ground running with these guys and start conquering right away or you will quickly trail behind.

A good Hissho player should have the mentality of a discerning general. Choose your battles and choose them well. Attacking the weak will be bring you easy conquests, but do not ignore the strong or the weight of your technological drag will make a intimidating opponent even more so. The weak can be exploited, but the strong must also be brought to heel. The galaxy fears the Hissho and the blood of your enemies will prove that fear justified. But conquering a galaxy is not easy. Your warriors are without equal and they are fanatically loyal, but they are not invincible. Lead them to the wrong battles and you will lose them. Lead them to the right battles and they will win you the galaxy.

Alignment: Good

Lore: The Sophons are race enamored with scientific and philosophical development. They prize all manner of discovery and cherish rational discourse. Their advanced technology shows off in their fleets in a variety of ways. While not particularly hardy, Sophon vessels are faster than others and employ more advanced sensors than those other races. On top of that they can fit more support modules of all sorts on their ships, giving them an edge in areas other than direct attack and defense. Such an advanced people do have drawbacks however, as people accustomed to lives of research and discussion often make poor soldiers and laborers. As such, Sophon ships take longer to build and their systems cannot resist hostile invasion as long as other races before capitulating.

Gameplay: The Sophons are (predictably) a science-oriented race, and they get a huge boost to their scientific discovery rate. Their boost to ship speed and sight range can also give them an advantage in the early stages of exploration and colonization. Turtling up and teching is the safest way to play the Sophons, as an enormous tech lead can pave the way for a science victory or military conquest led by ships with more advanced weaponry and defenses than their enemies.

A Sophon player should take on the role of a well meaning but cynical diplomat. You don't want to fight if you don't have to so court what allies you can, but realize that not everyone in the galaxy will play nice and someone WILL attack you sooner or later. The weak will leave you alone and make good trading partners but the strong will be more unpredictable. A strong military that isn't already engaged will be eager you attack you, both for easy spoils and to prevent your otherwise inevitable tech lead. Try to make friends but do not ignore your defenses. Sophon ships take longer to build, and you don't have the combat strength of the warlike races nor the adaptability of the Empire. Support modules are nice but there is no way around the fact your weapons don't have much teeth and your ships will always be outnumbered. You have a huge tech advantage, but your ships will need it to even think about going to toe to toe with serious war fleets. Barbarians are everyone but there are friends to be found as well. If you can rally your allies and hold back the hordes long enough then you and your people will reap the greatest reward of all: true enlightenment.

Alignment: Evil

Lore: The Cravers are more akin to a plague than a sentient species. They are a race of highly evolved creatures hybrids that exist only to consume, and everything they do is geared towards constant, unsustainable expansion. They are the ultimate hunter-killers and have an extreme affinity for efficient engineering, both in their ships and in themselves as Cravers heavily utilize cybernetic implants. "Sustainability" is a foreign concept to them however, and while they are extremely powerful they will eventually deplete their resources and succumb to scarcity if they are not constantly expanding. They are similarly unfamiliar with the concept of diplomacy, as Cravers cannot conduct negotiations or trade with other races. They know only war.

Gameplay: The Cravers have easily the strongest individual ability among all the races. Their ships are engineering marvels which simultaneously have more space, do more damage, and cost less than other races. Only the Hissho could hope to compare to them on the battlefield. Unlike the Hissho however, who have the choice of when and where to fight, the Cravers must be constantly expanding. All of their planets get a strong boost to all output for 50 turns after being settles or conquered, but a strong penalty afterwards.

A Craver player must have the mind of a predator. Prey on the weak whenever you can, prey on the strong only if you must. Quick, easy conquests are your greatest boon as they give you new systems that produce more than they did under the enemy, for now. You must never stop moving. Forget trade and diplomacy, the lesser races have nothing to offer you but their deaths. You are strong, but do not fall into the trap of overconfidence. Strong foes can still be dangerous, and prolonged conflicts will always favor the enemy. If you attack a foe to strong for you to conquer (or conquer quickly) you will waste your most valuable resource: time. Instead, prey on every weak or distracted system you can find. Be merciless when the enemy is weak or distracted, but look for new targets if they are strong and determined. If you blindly attack any foe you see you will exhaust your people to no use. But your people are the perfection of body coupled with unity of purpose. Let them feed and they will grow stronger every day until none can hope to resist them. Leave none alive.

Alignment: Neutral

Lore: The Horatio are a race of clones, all of one person. Horatio himself was a incredibly wealthy and incredibly strange corporate mogul in the United Empire, who eventually left to explore the starts. On an alien planet he discovered extremely advanced cloning labs left by the endless and decided to use them to populate the galaxy with the most beautiful person in existence: himself. Thus the Horatio were born.

The Horatio are extremely advanced in the areas of food production, medical science, and ergonomic living. Their worlds make more food and can hold more people (Horatios) than other races, and their medical knowledge allows them to rapidly return wounded heroes to the field. Their downside is a lack of industrial affinity similar to the Sophons, and their ships take more time than others to build.

Gameplay: The jury is still out on Horatio strategy, as only thing they do well is make more Horatios. I'm guessing these guys will probably get their traits revamped in the balancing phase so I'll write more about them then. I'm sure you're all eager to hear just how Space Goons can be the galaxy's greatest race.

5) You recruit and level up heroes. They come in two basic flavors: Admirals and Industrial Leaders. Especially the later can get very powerful in a built up system. The former get new battle abilities as they grow in skill. However, they cost Dust and their number is very limited (tech increases it), so one has to chose carefully.

Planetary Info

Wait, 'human opponent'? Will there be multiplayer?

Yes. It is disabled in the alpha for now, but is definitely planned.

What is this Games2Gether Stuff they are always touting?

it is an attempt to get the community more involved in the decision making process. Certain design decisions are put to a vote. Every players has one vote, weighted by his contribution to the community, which is measured in G2G points. You get 500 for buying the preorder. If its a good idea or a terrible mistake remains to be seen.

Media

The Imperial Court of the United Empire

United Empire Fleet in Action

Craver Fleet on the run

Trailer

FAQ

Q: My Fleets are too small. How can I grow my fleets in a few weeks?
A: Left side of the tech tree, look for techs with stylized birds.

Q: I can't collect more ~~Pokemon~~ Heroes.
A: Left side of the tech tree, look for techs that increase Academy Cap.

Q:My ships won't move when I order them/I can't click on things properly in the techtree
A: Steam Overlay has a problem with this game. Press shift to exit the Queueing mode.

Q: I can't move my ships to a certain system/out of a certain system. I pressed shift and it didn't work! What evil magic is this?
A: Your ship has stumbled into the Zone of Influence of another Empire which you are not at war with and with which you don't have an open border agreement. Personally, I suggest a declaration of war to remedy this problem.

Q: I had the enemy by the ropes when I lost due to Economic Victory. This is an outrage and I will not stand for it.
Switch off Economic Victory when starting a new game. Right side of the game setup screen, look under advanced options.

ArchangeI fucked around with this message at 23:13 on May 28, 2012

# ? May 3, 2012 13:39

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# ? Apr 20, 2024 03:29

drunkill: Sep 25, 2007; me @ ur posting; Fallen Rib

Looks quite a bit like Sins of a Solar Empire, which isn't a bad thing at all.

Is there any gameplay footage out there (which isn't really shwon in the trailer) How is the fleet combat, upgrading planets/buildings etc?

Looks very interesting.

# ? May 3, 2012 13:58

Corin Tucker's Stalker: May 27, 2001; One bullet. One gun. Six Chambers. These are my friends.

If you're remotely interested in this, I'd suggest checking it out. Even in an alpha state the game is far more compelling and full of character than any strategic space game that I've played lately.

The overall presentation, from UI to the art style and ship/faction design is top notch. In my opinion a lot of strategy games ignore how much this aspect can pull a player in, but Endless Space has been fully absorbing.

This game came out of nowhere. A really cool surprise.

# ? May 3, 2012 14:04

Squiggle: Sep 29, 2002; I don't think she likes the special sauce, Rick.

Everything Corin Tucker's Stalker said.

Whoever calls this an alpha is funny. You could've put me in front of this and I'd probably not even notice. It has a level of polish and sense style in its current state that most games won't approach over their entire lifespan. I'm sure they've got more plans for it, but to be honest I can't even really tell what still needs to be done.

I knew NOTHING about this game before I saw the trailer on Steam's bottom bar, and took the "leap" of $22, and I am VERY impressed and feel like it's worth more. Absolutely a welcome surprise.

I'm hoping this game blows up on the usual channels, because it deserves every bit of praise it'll get.

drunkill posted:

Is there any gameplay footage out there (which isn't really shwon in the trailer)

Looks very interesting.

Combat itself isn't direct tactical control, and it's not totally automated, it's actually more like...hmm...well, here's how it works:

Combat has three "action" phases: long range (where missiles do the heavy hitting), medium range (beam weapons) and melee range (where the cannons shine). At each of these phases, you get to play what I guess are "cards" (such as "sabotage," "kinetic warheads," cards that boost repair that round)that have different effects that, you hope, are counter-effects to what the enemy plays. In addition to giving a certain effect, each card also has a rock-paper-scissor result against the opponent's card choice that gives one side or another the advantage at that phase, causing more damage, taking less, etc. Clever card playing can give a single ship the ability to take out two or three otherwise-equally-matched ships.

The fight plays out cinematically, with you picking the cards. It's a unique system that currently needs camera controls and speed options, but thats apparently in the works.

This is after only three hours of tired gameplay, but hopefully someone else can explain it more.

Squiggle fucked around with this message at 14:34 on May 3, 2012

# ? May 3, 2012 14:10

kuddles: Jul 16, 2006; Like a fist wrapped in blood...

It looks very compelling to me, even though I haven't been crazy about other recent 4X space strategy games. I think it is because the UI looks way more approachable and clean. The notion of design decisions being made via popular vote sounds somewhat troubling, though.

# ? May 3, 2012 14:13

ArchangeI: Jul 15, 2010

kuddles posted:

It looks very compelling to me, even though I haven't been crazy about other recent 4X space strategy games. I think it is because the UI looks way more approachable and clean. The notion of design decisions being made via popular vote sounds somewhat troubling, though.

Right now its just designing new heroes and stuff, not basic design decisions, and the devs present the choices. So expect a Hero that is totally not Darth Vader in the near future.

# ? May 3, 2012 14:19

kuddles: Jul 16, 2006; Like a fist wrapped in blood...

ALright, I'm going to take a chance on this game and buy it today, then. Although I'll probably wait until the official "release" to seriously play it.

# ? May 3, 2012 14:20

Al!: Apr 2, 2010

As with most strategy games a few screenshots of UIs are fine and all but are there any gameplay videos recorded for this game? I'm vaguely interested in this game but I'd like to see what it looks like in motion before I make the purchase.

# ? May 3, 2012 14:23

JamieTheD: Nov 4, 2011; LPer, Reviewer, Mad Welshman

(Yes, that's a self portrait)

Squiggle posted:

Everything Corin Tucker's Stalker said.

Whoever calls this an alpha is funny. You could've put me in front of this and I'd probably not even notice. It has a level of polish and sense style in its current state that most games won't approach over their entire lifespan. To be honest, I'm not even sure how much more there is to be done.

I knew NOTHING about this game before I saw the trailer on Steam's bottom bar, and took the "leap" of $22, and I am VERY impressed and feel like it's worth more. Absolutely a welcome surprise.

I'm hoping this game blows up on the usual channels, because it deserves every bit of praise it'll get.

Welp, as one of the journos who they got in touch with, I'm definitely doing my bit to support this, especially since, as noted, they call this an alpha. I'll ask the PR dudes if it's alright to make up some footage, and see what I can do there.

In the meantime, I wrote a little preview article, and will quite happily natter about the races and my experiences thereof if anyone wants.

# ? May 3, 2012 14:24

Hav: Dec 11, 2009; Fun Shoe

kuddles posted:

The notion of design decisions being made via popular vote sounds somewhat troubling, though.

This is pretty much what happens whenever anyone listens to 'fan' opinion for the wider decisions; they've just formalized and weighted it, which is something interesting to see. Is it going to work out better than Hammer Legion's studious wagon-circling over Sword of the Stars I & II? We shall have to see. It certainly looks a lot better than SotS II *right now*, let alone at release.

CloD suffered from a similar level of groupthink between the die hard 'fans' who've got into a circle jerk with the developers; forget that the multiplayer is fundamentally broken and they've re-written large parts of the game from the ground up, they really want to concentrate on the correct colors for 1940s ground vehicles...

# ? May 3, 2012 14:38

ArchangeI: Jul 15, 2010

Al! posted:

As with most strategy games a few screenshots of UIs are fine and all but are there any gameplay videos recorded for this game? I'm vaguely interested in this game but I'd like to see what it looks like in motion before I make the purchase.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tykMKgEV0bg

Is the only thing I've found. Best not to listen too closely the commentary, though.

# ? May 3, 2012 14:39

Squiggle: Sep 29, 2002; I don't think she likes the special sauce, Rick.

Starting to collect media things: Here is a Worthplaying preview from yesterday, and here is a good writeup from Space Sector.
And here's an interview with the devs.

Squiggle fucked around with this message at 14:44 on May 3, 2012

# ? May 3, 2012 14:39

Pierson: Oct 31, 2004; College Slice

I love 4X games but this:

ArchangeI posted:

2) Instead of building up each planet individually, you chose one Exploitation to improve production of one basic resource, in effect turning a planet into an agricultural/industrial/scientific/trade colony. Star systems pool their production to build System Improvements and Ships.

Makes me a little leery. Does this mean you basically make a single choice regarding planets and that's it? I loved GalCiv2 where you could do anything you wanted to your planet and it would have an actual effect where building times from planet to planet would be different, or they would have different spheres of influence, and you could reclaim and restore damaged planets. This seems a little basic in comparison, or am I misunderstanding how it works?

# ? May 3, 2012 14:43

old beast lunatic: Nov 3, 2004; by Hand Knit

Even though I'm never the best at them, I love 4x style games. Its rare that one hits the right buttons to suck me in. Sword of the stars was a bit too simplistic for me in the empire management and the art style didn't click with me. Galciv2 went too far in the micromanagement direction. No thanks, I don't want to visually design every ship. This game just feels right. There's interesting choices to make while expanding your empire. Everything looks amazing, and the UI is clean and sleek, there's helpful mouseover tooltips exactly where you're expecting them that tell you exactly what you need to know.

The only thing I don't quite get yet is the combat. I'm not sure if its because the AI is cheating a bit or because I'm awful. It looks awesome, just hasn't clicked for me yet.

The best thing I can say about this game is I've never even heard of "Endless Space" before yesterday, and today I don't feel like playing anything else.

Pierson posted:

Does this mean you basically make a single choice regarding planets and that's it? I loved GalCiv2 where you could do anything you wanted to your planet and it would have an actual effect where building times from planet to planet would be different, or they would have different spheres of influence, and you could reclaim and restore damaged planets. This seems a little basic in comparison, or am I misunderstanding how it works?

Planet management is somewhere between galciv2 and sword of the stars. Its fairly simplistic there's interesting choices to make thanks to each star having multiple planets (this has always been a back of my head gripe with some of these space 4x games), special resources and other bonuses.

old beast lunatic fucked around with this message at 14:52 on May 3, 2012

# ? May 3, 2012 14:47

Corin Tucker's Stalker: May 27, 2001; One bullet. One gun. Six Chambers. These are my friends.

Pierson posted:

I love 4X games but this:

Makes me a little leery. Does this mean you basically make a single choice regarding planets and that's it? I loved GalCiv2 where you could do anything you wanted to your planet and it would have an actual effect where building times from planet to planet would be different, or they would have different spheres of influence, and you could reclaim and restore damaged planets. This seems a little basic in comparison, or am I misunderstanding how it works?

Each System can have as many improvements as you want, and there lots of them. The planetary improvements are specific to (obviously) each planet, and while you can only have one active on each planet you can change it at any time.

Also, planets can have exploratory bonuses, like moons that can contain artifacts or anomalies.

So you're not digging super deep on each individual planet, but you are getting a lot of choices and locations with meaningful distinctions.

# ? May 3, 2012 14:51

Rookersh: Aug 19, 2010

Pierson posted:

I love 4X games but this:

Makes me a little leery. Does this mean you basically make a single choice regarding planets and that's it? I loved GalCiv2 where you could do anything you wanted to your planet and it would have an actual effect where building times from planet to planet would be different, or they would have different spheres of influence, and you could reclaim and restore damaged planets. This seems a little basic in comparison, or am I misunderstanding how it works?

Let's use our Solar System as an example here.

You'd start out with Earth Colonized, and maybe the ability to colonize the Gas Giant Planets as well, you do this in the creation screen, and it takes up turns that would go towards more Scouts/Ships.

Once they are colonized, their production gets added to Earths, effectively boosting the creation/tech speed of that System.

A fun thing you can do is tell a planet how to focus itself. You could make Earth completely drop all worker rights, and push production levels to the max, while Jupiter focuses on science laboratories. This takes something like 10 turns to complete for the switch, but you can get this lower as your empire expands, allowing you to customize systems to your liking, a home system can have 4 planets all set to increased production, so it'll be your main ship production area, with another mainly set to tech to get more research points, or another near the border to an enemy area with high trade set ups to get more Dust.

It's extremely intuitive, and really allows you to customize your entire Empire on the fly.

Honestly, this is the best 4x game I've ever played. The UI is fantastic, and you don't even really need the tutorial to understand it, because it's so well designed. Every screen tells you everything you need to know, and it allows you to quickly know exactly whats happening across the universe/your Empire. Tech/Production has been turned into something really fun to do, with the ability to make whatever kind of ships you want, and the ability to finetune your Empire exactly like you want it. And Battles are basically spacefighterporn, but in the best way, since you choose the cards you want to play before the fight, and then your ships go in and do the tasks you ordered them to do. Earlier today I got to see a 20 on 20 battle, and the closest thing I can describe it to is spaceshipporn.

If you have even a base interest in 4x games, this game is worth $60. At $24/$26 this game is launching on sale, and is an amazing deal for what you are getting.

Rookersh fucked around with this message at 14:34 on May 25, 2012

# ? May 3, 2012 14:52

Squiggle: Sep 29, 2002; I don't think she likes the special sauce, Rick.

Pierson posted:

I love 4X games but this:

Makes me a little leery. Does this mean you basically make a single choice regarding planets and that's it? I loved GalCiv2 where you could do anything you wanted to your planet and it would have an actual effect where building times from planet to planet would be different, or they would have different spheres of influence, and you could reclaim and restore damaged planets. This seems a little basic in comparison, or am I misunderstanding how it works?

Slight misunderstanding. There are systems and planets - the real functional unit is the star system - ships, industrial upgrades, buildings, etc are all built at the SYSTEM level. However, each colonized planet within the system gets an additional "focus" to choose - better soil improvements on this planet so it grows more food, improved infrastructure for better manufacturing, etc. One "boost" as far as I can see for each resource.
The star system has an aggregate Food/Industry/Research/Money score, made up of the planets scores in each area added together. So ships are built with the full industrial might of the system behind it.

edit: Okay I'm going to stop trying to reply while I'm working. Others have this WELL in hand. Thanks dudes.

Edit 2: One final statement, because it really can't be said enough, the UI for this game is the most intuitive UI I've ever seen for a 4x game. I was closing the tutorial windows that explain everything because it was easier to just look at the interface and intuitively know what everything does and how it all fits together. It's perfect.

Squiggle fucked around with this message at 15:03 on May 3, 2012

# ? May 3, 2012 14:53

Oenis: Mar 15, 2012

I just bought it and 10 minutes into the game I can't imagine ever regretting this purchase. It scratches that 4x itch like no game since MoO2.

edit: Considering this is an alpha and the amount of polish that's already in the game, with more to come and mod support, holy poo poo.

The only thing I kind of miss is a custom race :3:

but even with the 5 available in the game right now you've got enough variety to suit every playstyle.

Oenis fucked around with this message at 15:00 on May 3, 2012

# ? May 3, 2012 14:54

Souai: Dec 16, 2007

I didn't realize how much I had that 4X itch, time to see if this game will scratch it!

# ? May 3, 2012 14:56

Dirt5o8: Nov 6, 2008; EUGENE? Where's my fuckin' money, Eugene?

Downloading now. Looks awesome! Can't wait to take the ~~Imperium of Man~~ United Empire for a spin to genocide some xenos.

# ? May 3, 2012 14:56

Pierson: Oct 31, 2004; College Slice

Squiggle posted:

Slight misunderstanding. There are systems and planets - the real functional unit is the star system - ships, industrial upgrades, buildings, etc are all built at the SYSTEM level. However, each colonized planet within the system gets an additional "focus" to choose - better soil improvements on this planet so it grows more food, improved infrastructure for better manufacturing.
The system has an aggregate Food/Industry/Research/Money score, made up of the planets scores in each area.

Makes perfect sense now. Sold.

# ? May 3, 2012 14:59

tehsid: Dec 24, 2007; Nobility is sadly overrated.

Loading this up to play for the first time now. Wish me luck!

# ? May 3, 2012 15:09

Ugly In The Morning: Jul 1, 2010; Pillbug

drunkill posted:

Looks quite a bit like Sins of a Solar Empire, which isn't a bad thing at all.

Is there any gameplay footage out there (which isn't really shwon in the trailer) How is the fleet combat, upgrading planets/buildings etc?

Looks very interesting.

It's nothing like Sins, so I wouldn't go expecting that. Sins is more of a straight-up RTS, this is pure 4X.

And it's so very, very good. I was up until 4 am playing it, though. :gonk:

. It definitely has that "One more turn... One more turn won't hurt" aspect to it.

EDIT: VVVVV If you like MoO, you'll like this. There's a lot of the stuff that worked in MoO in Endless Stars.

Ugly In The Morning fucked around with this message at 15:17 on May 3, 2012

# ? May 3, 2012 15:11

triggerpappy: Mar 29, 2010

I love the old school space games like star control, moo and homeworld. I also love Sins to death. The thing I worry about is that I have come to prefer the real time aspect of Sins as opposed to turn based. I think that is the only thing holding me back. There is also a slew of other space 4x games coming out. Legend of the pegasus, gemini wars and sins rebellion so I am on the fence.

# ? May 3, 2012 15:13

Entorwellian: Jun 30, 2006; ~~Northern Flicker~~
Anna's Hummingbird

Sorry, but the people have spoken.

I'll probably wait on the reviews for this one but hopefully it fills in the 4x gap that SOTS II created.

# ? May 3, 2012 15:38

toasterwarrior: Nov 11, 2011

The game locks up in a black screen when I try to run it, and I've seen this happen before with other fullscreen games. Any way to run this in windowed mode? I need me some 4X action while waiting for Diablo 3!

# ? May 3, 2012 15:40

Alkydere: Jun 7, 2010; Capitol: A building or complex of buildings in which any legislature meets.
Capital: A city designated as a legislative seat by the government or some other authority, often the city in which the government is located; otherwise the most important city within a country or a subdivision of it.

I blame Drunkill for saying "Kinda like Sins of a Solar Empire" because I've already bought this game and started poking around. It's definitely interesting and I've had a few good laughs already and I haven't even advanced the turn timer yet. The game's interface is so straightlaced that the little bits of humor, such as the description for Bluecap Mold jump out and slap you on the face. (Side effects: craving for pastries, rapid hair growth.)

# ? May 3, 2012 15:41

Squiggle: Sep 29, 2002; I don't think she likes the special sauce, Rick.

toasterwarrior posted:

The game locks up in a black screen when I try to run it, and I've seen this happen before with other fullscreen games. Any way to run this in windowed mode? I need me some 4X action while waiting for Diablo 3!

There is, I'm not sure WHICH Registry.xml to edit, but try the one in the Endless Space folder it creates in your Documents folder. Resolution and full screen controls are in there.

There's another Registry.xml file in the game's install folder itself, but it didn't have the full graphics options in it that I could see, and I can't remember where it is at the moment anyway. If you're still having problems I'll look when I get home.

Man, I took YESTERDAY off work, why couldn't I have found Endless Space before 10:30pm last night.

WANNA PLAY

# ? May 3, 2012 15:42

FrickenMoron: May 6, 2009; Good game!

How playable is the alpha? I'm really interested in getting this, but they've done that horrible 1$ = 1� thing which puts me off quite a bit.

# ? May 3, 2012 15:49

Squiggle: Sep 29, 2002; I don't think she likes the special sauce, Rick.

FrickenMoron posted:

How playable is the alpha? I'm really interested in getting this, but they've done that horrible 1$ = 1� thing which puts me off quite a bit.

Like I said earlier, if it showed up installed on my compuer one day in its current state, I wouldn't notice that it was in an incomplete state for probably hours.

"Alpha" is either a joke or these are the most perfectionist people on the planet. With that said, the AI is (according to the devs) in a not-on-all-cylinders state, and multiplayer is currently disabled. As far as I can tell, and this IS PROBABLY WRONG, but it seems like a lot of what they hope to add is content.

# ? May 3, 2012 15:54

GrandpaPants: Feb 13, 2006; Free to roam the heavens in man's noble quest to investigate the weirdness of the universe!

As someone who hated how bland and spreadsheety GalCiv 2 was but loved MOO2 enough to do an LP of it, how much would I like this game?

Specifically, are the choices in this game actually interesting? I'm not really expecting much out of planet/colony/whatever management, but take the tech tree. Are there actually interesting choices to be made? Do the technologies you're researching feel substantial/interesting or is it like GalCiv's woop de doo +5% bonus to Production?

Another concern is just how much micromanagement does the game have? Sword of the Stars 1 had a bit too little, such that I never really cared about any particular planet. Late game Master of Orion had a bit too much, which would have been alleviated if you could have preset building queues instead of having to make each and every one. GalCiv's, again, felt like too much effort for too little reward, what with being able to set your tax rate as whole integer percentages, instead of abstracting it in a meaningful way.

Lastly, is there a good tutorial/encyclopedia in the game?

I want to think that there is life in the 4x space genre beyond Master of Orion 2, but as you can see, I've been burned before. Never again, Stardock, never again.

# ? May 3, 2012 15:55

ArchangeI: Jul 15, 2010

FrickenMoron posted:

How playable is the alpha? I'm really interested in getting this, but they've done that horrible 1$ = 1� thing which puts me off quite a bit.

Lets just say if this is an alpha then Sword of the Stars II Release was the first internal test build. There are still some minor UI things to fix (can't edit building queues, enemy fleets sometimes bypass your defending fleets without battle), but it is rock stable and a lot of fun already.

quote:

Specifically, are the choices in this game actually interesting? I'm not really expecting much out of planet/colony/whatever management, but take the tech tree. Are there actually interesting choices to be made? Do the technologies you're researching feel substantial/interesting or is it like GalCiv's woop de doo +5% bonus to Production?

Define choices. You can research the entire tech tree - no tech cancels out others. As for tech boni, the weakest part right now is the combat tech tree, because a lot of it is just Laser+1. The infrastructure research almost always unlocks a new building or expansion option or unlock the exploitation of a new resource which you need to build more advanced stuff.

ArchangeI fucked around with this message at 16:04 on May 3, 2012

# ? May 3, 2012 15:57

thetrin: May 4, 2009; I pull down the curtain, wantin to do me some dirtin aint nuthin better then jerkin my gerkin so I start with some flirtin

But my magic find aint working so I can't do no spurtin its got Wirt's feelins all hurtin, and his wooden leg stops all perking

After reading the Endless Space Intel thread on GAF, I thought "there has to be an endless space thread on SA. This is THE perfect game for SA".

I was pretty surprised when I looked yesterday and saw no thread. Glad to see someone finally created it.

I love how the GAME2GETHER thing works, and fully support a restrained crowd sourcing model for a game like this. I also hope that the gorgeous visuals draw in people that might not normally be 4X fans.

If they manage to position this game as a 4X gateway drug, I think they could have a serious hit on their hands. I'm sure Steam is already exploding over this game.

# ? May 3, 2012 16:00

toasterwarrior: Nov 11, 2011

Dammit, the lock-up happens before the game creates a folder in My Documents. No-one on the official forums seem to be experiencing the same problem either.

# ? May 3, 2012 16:02

Squiggle: Sep 29, 2002; I don't think she likes the special sauce, Rick.

toasterwarrior posted:

Dammit, the lock-up happens before the game creates a folder in My Documents. No-one on the official forums seem to be experiencing the same problem either.

Give it an uninstall/reinstall, and give the official forums a post. The devs appear to be actively reading them, especially bug reports.

thetrin posted:

I love how the GAME2GETHER thing works, and fully support a restrained crowd sourcing model for a game like this. I also hope that the gorgeous visuals draw in people that might not normally be 4X fans.

If they manage to position this game as a 4X gateway drug, I think they could have a serious hit on their hands. I'm sure Steam is already exploding over this game.

I so impressed, I will make this game a hit if I have to shove it into peoples figurative hands. I rarely jump so squarely on board with something, but when I do pick my favorites the support is fast and heavy. I've got the same love-out-the-gate for this that I had for Mount & Blade all those years ago.

They've earned a disciple.

Squiggle fucked around with this message at 16:16 on May 3, 2012

# ? May 3, 2012 16:06

JamieTheD: Nov 4, 2011; LPer, Reviewer, Mad Welshman

(Yes, that's a self portrait)

Yeah, I will mention one of the few, inmho, bad points of the game (only found after a fair bit of play)... If you're missing a strategic resource, especially if it's Titanium-70, you're hurtin' bad. Just realised how boned I was on my Horatio play when the player I'd been warring with turned up last turn with 8 cruisers. Then another 8 he'd been saving for a rainy day. Meanwhile, my laserboat destroyers were getting wrecked, and, due to lacking one resource... I couldn't make missiles, cruisers, or decent armour. Oh sod.

Still, the races are great fun. Currently, I'm trying to get the hang of the Horatio, who colonise easily, but their ships are more expensive (which hurts in the long-term, especially against the AI, who is generally on the warpath)

# ? May 3, 2012 16:19

Al!: Apr 2, 2010

ArchangeI posted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tykMKgEV0bg

Is the only thing I've found. Best not to listen too closely the commentary, though.

I cannot, in good conscience, watch something by "Furries Without Skill" Goons are always recording video of them playing games these days, maybe one of you could do a stream?

# ? May 3, 2012 16:21

Corin Tucker's Stalker: May 27, 2001; One bullet. One gun. Six Chambers. These are my friends.

GrandpaPants posted:

Do the technologies you're researching feel substantial/interesting or is it like GalCiv's woop de doo +5% bonus to Production?

You're unlocking new ships, materials, the ability to colonize different planet and asteroid types, battle cards, standard movement/attack/defense upgrades, all sorts of system/planet upgrades that work like Civ buildings and wonders, the ability to use wormholes, mine stars, and all sorts of other stuff.

As ArchangeI said, you can eventually grab everything, but you have so many options that you do need to focus on your order of progression. While most of the planetary and system tech that you research grants stat bonuses, it's usually framed in something that's conceptually interesting and feeds into the sort of planets and resources that are available to you.

quote:

Lastly, is there a good tutorial/encyclopedia in the game?

There's a tutorial, which basically pops up a card explaining all the elements you're looking at when you first enter a new screen. The UI is so good that you probably don't even need it, and even though I usually flail around in strategy games everything felt really natural and easy to grasp. There are tooltips for pretty much everything, giving you detailed stats and explanations, and most everything can be clicked to bring you to some sort of summary screen.

# ? May 3, 2012 16:22

nessin: Feb 7, 2010

JamieTheD posted:

Yeah, I will mention one of the few, inmho, bad points of the game (only found after a fair bit of play)... If you're missing a strategic resource, especially if it's Titanium-70, you're hurtin' bad. Just realised how boned I was on my Horatio play when the player I'd been warring with turned up last turn with 8 cruisers. Then another 8 he'd been saving for a rainy day. Meanwhile, my laserboat destroyers were getting wrecked, and, due to lacking one resource... I couldn't make missiles, cruisers, or decent armour. Oh sod.

Still, the races are great fun. Currently, I'm trying to get the hang of the Horatio, who colonise easily, but their ships are more expensive (which hurts in the long-term, especially against the AI, who is generally on the warpath)

Make a note about that on the forums as a balance concern, remember it is a (supposedly) Alpha.

# ? May 3, 2012 16:26

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# ? Apr 20, 2024 03:29

Underwhelmed: Mar 7, 2004; Nap Ghost

Can anyone change the in game resolution? Nothing I do seems to change, not the ingame menu or hand editing the registry file in the documents folder. What am I missing here?

# ? May 3, 2012 16:30

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