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It’s way beyond Earth! Let’s Play Endless Legend! Endless Legend is the second of the “Endless” games put out by Amplitude. It’s a 4x game, like Civilization, where you explore, expand, exploit and exterminate. While the first, Endless Space, took place in, well, space, this one is confined to just one planet. A planet of magic and mystery and science and a million different sentient races all coexisting. Or not. The planet, Auriga, is dying. Every winter gets longer than the last and if your chosen faction doesn’t find some way to win the game, everyone freezes to death. Fortunately, there’s a lot of ways to win: kill everyone, make friends with everyone, earn a shitload of money, research the poo poo out of the world, build something big, or just go on a quest to rebuild a spaceship and get the hell off Auriga.  The developers have consistently provided updates to this title over time and keep introducing new DLC and new free content. As of now, there’s three major DLCs: Guardians, Shadows and Shifters. Each introduces new gameplay elements to the already-robust system and a few new factions, too. Guardians introduced World Wonders and giant loving monsters you build to rampage over your enemies (and competitive quests.) Shadows introduced spying as a way to gently caress over enemies surreptitiously, plus cloaking your army or sabotaging enemy resources. Shifters introduced a new resource that is produced during winter, Pearls, and new winter effects and goodies that can only be built with Pearls. And the factions, which we’ll get to in the next proper post, are AWESOME. Instead of being “balanced” per se, they’re all balanced by being overwhelmingly awesome at one thing nobody else is. Since most of you have played Civilization and not this game, expect me to start a lot of sentences with “like Civilization” or “unlike Civilization” for comparison’s sake. But I don’t think I’ll be making up a narrative for this game, because each faction already has its own story baked into the gameplay. So let’s get to it, shall we? Chapters! 1. Character Select 2. Go Forth, Young Mothman! 3. Mothmen Vs. Ogres 4. Alter-native Research 5. The Dark Season! Speedball fucked around with this message at 04:22 on May 31, 2016 |
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May 12, 2016 22:38
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 11:48 |
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Endless Legend Pt 1: Character Select! This is what the basic game looks like in action: gorgeous land with units standing on top of it like a pretty painted game board. If you played Civ V, you’re in familiar territory. You grow your cities, you research techs, you expand your influence, collect resources, and so on. However, you also have to explore to level up your heroes and go on quests, so there’s a bit of RPG elements as well. There may not be a zillion different sides to choose from in Endless Legend, but they’re all unique. I’ve decided to let you all decide which we’ll be taking out for a test spin to show off the game. HERE WE GO:  Wild Walkers Specialty: INDUSTRY! And hanging out in forests. The Wild Walkers are huge-eared elves who turn the wood of forests into extra production, which lets them grind out units, build buildings and generally just get poo poo DONE faster than any other race. They can sense other factions’ armies in other territories with a sort of forest-radar and all their units fight much stronger if they’re standing on a forest tile. Their overwhelming industry makes them good at the Wonder ending, but also any sort of military victory based around pumping out units. That said, they’re pretty much the “vanilla” race of Endless Legend; not nearly as many frills as other races.  Broken Lords Specialty: Making money. And eating money. The Broken Lords are people who transferred their souls into living suits of armor powered by Dust (this magic substance that is the game’s money). Therefore, they don’t eat food and totally ignore the food mechanic in the game. They reproduce by you manually spending money in their cities. Fortunately, they are really good at making money. They also heal instantly using Dust instead of regenerating slowly over time, and all their units have some sort of in-combat life drain attack. Broken Lords typically have a rough early game but become unstoppable juggernauts by the end if they leverage a dust economy to the max. They’re a popular faction because their lack of food cuts out a lot of the bullshit of managing an empire, making them great for learning the ropes of the game. They’re good for an Economic ending (reached by making a shitload of money) and the Expansion ending (reached by covering about 80% of the planet).  Vaulters Specialty: Research and Strategic Resources. They harvest more science from the ground on terrain that gives science, but where they get interesting is their ability to manipulate strategic resources. They can burn up a lump of it (for example, Titanium) for a temporary boost to their empire, and during that time, all units with weapons and armor of that same resource type will have massively boosted stats. Vaulters with a well-planned army can be very deadly. They also learn some unique techs that let them mitigate some of the damage that winters do, and can teleport units between cities which makes them able to respond to attacks. They’re of course good for a Science Ending (reached by researching all six top-tier techs, all of which take forever) or the Quest Ending (which requires a lot of running around the map; the teleporting helps). Canonically, these are the guys who beat the game and made it out to space, which is appropriate, since their backstory is they’re the descendants of people who crash-landed on this planet in the first place.  Roving Clans Specialty: Buying stuff! They start out with all marketplace techs unlocked, which means they can buy mercenary units, resources of all types, and heroes right out of the gate. Mercenaries they hire have double health and extra movement, plus their native units are kinda sucky, so it’s to their best interest to hire their help. Roving Clanners cannot declare war on other nations, but can lock out other people from the marketplace at will. They can also use their mercenaries and disguise them as neutral units to attack enemies if necessary. Their cities are also mobile (whether or not you find this useful is up to you). Because of their intense reliance on buying stuff, developing a strong economy is key, and they work well with an Economic ending. Which is not to say you can’t go for other endings if you’re feeling devious.  Drakken Specialty: Politics! The Drakken are badass politicians who think of themselves as the dragony guardians of the land, but that doesn’t mean they play nice if they don’t like you. They generate more Influence and can spend it on their Empire Plan much sooner than other races, plus they are better at assimilating minor factions into their culture than other races, which means more passive benefits and more unit types to build. All their native units generate more XP than normal and have a high health pool, so they’re no pushovers in combat. The kicker is they can force peace by burning up influence. Being at peace with other nations as long as possible to generate peace points is how you win the diplomacy ending, so the Drakken are natural at that. But their ability to sway minor factions to their will and leverage alliances also means they can annihilate their enemies, then force them to choke on a peace agreement.  Necrophages Specialty: Eating people. No, really. These horrible bug-men are bad at farming (they get less Food from the terrain) but generate food from conquered villages and the corpses of their enemies. They have zero diplomacy options because they see everything else as food, and one of their units is able to spawn larva into “Battleborn” units as long as they keep killing enemies. Their cities are also capable of expanding physically faster than other races, so they can have huge sprawling hives covering the land. All their units cause disease to the enemy, which grinds them down over time. Obviously these guys are suited to Military victories, but their weird food management and giant cities can be leveraged into other victory types as well. They’re tricky to play as, but fun as hell if you get it right.  Ardent Mages Specialty: Magic. And Pain. The Ardent Mages expend dust to create lots of field effects either in the world map or during battle; they can create extra Science yields or other FIDS at will, and do stuff like cast spells during battle to hamper enemies. Their units all do a lot of damage, and do more damage the lower their hit points are, because their magic is powered by pain. They’re excellent for a Research ending but also a good Military victory if you have a lot of dust and a good army.  Cultists Specialty: Assimilating the world! Cultists are bizarre and awesome. For starters, they have only one city, like Civ V’s Venice. These malfunctioning robe-wearing robots (“robe-ots?”) are on a mission to destroy every city on the planet except their lone capital, which is built like a fortress with extra defenses. They brainwash villages into serving them, providing them with extra resources and free troops. If you go out converting as many villages as possible, you’ll have a huge army of expendable drones to throw at your enemies. They’re good at Military victories because of their hordes, but can be maneuvered into other ending types of your choice due to how efficient their one lone giganto-city can become. I love playing as these guys. And now for the two DLC factions:  The Forgotten Specialty: Spying. These guys do not research techs the normal way; they either need to buy it using dust or steal it from other nations by spying. All their units are cloaked by default, and a little weak defensively, but can sabotage enemy fortifications and resource generators. A few good spies in every city is all they need to bring their enemies to their knees, if used correctly. The only problem is, of course, they’re hard to use correctly. Sometimes you have to play the long game, embed your spies for a while until it’s time to strike. And it’s hard to research tech if you have nobody else to steal it from. Playing Forgotten is a risky business, but a fun one.  The Allayi Specialty: Exploration. The Allayi are “quality over quantity;” their cities grow in population slowly and they can’t support as many cities as other races, but their city districts produce a ton of extra Food, Industry, Dust and Science per turn. To expand, they need Pearls, which they find in ruins and across the land. Winter only pisses them off and transforms their units into Dark Mode, making them stronger, faster and meaner; it’s during Winter that new Pearls emerge and they’re the best at scooping them up. They also have a special flying unit that is capable of sucking resources out of distant lands you don’t own, so you don’t need every city in the land to get every resource. The Allayi are really great at the Quest ending but require careful management to get them at their best; still, I like them a lot. Oh, and there’s a race called the Mezari but they’re just reskinned Vaulters as a bonus. Not including them in the running. So: which do you want to play as? Put your votes in bold but if you follow it up with a good explanation why you want to play as that race, I’ll make your vote count for two. HAVE FUN!
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May 12, 2016 22:38
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Vaulters. Can't go wrong with them! Well, yes, you can. But that'll be fun!
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May 12, 2016 22:48
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Let's go with the Broken Lords, so that you can constantly make jokes about the Necrons. Or just because immediately screwing around with one of the game's resources sounds like an interesting start.
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May 12, 2016 23:03
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Let's see what those robe-ots can do. Cultists.
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May 12, 2016 23:22
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Broken Lords. Mana-vampires sound fun. Also, at least one canonically makes it off-planet to become a hero in Endless Space. Cythereal fucked around with this message at 23:33 on May 12, 2016 |
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May 12, 2016 23:30
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Vaulters Getting to really exploit the strategic resources for teleporting death armies is great. Nobody else ever seems to get enough.
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May 12, 2016 23:36
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This interests me. As a reward for making an interesting thread, I request that you bind yourself to the Ardent Mages.
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May 12, 2016 23:51
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Let's go Ardent Mages or Forgotten.
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May 12, 2016 23:58
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The previous LP died, so I never got to see the full story of the game. I'd really like to see the Quest Ending, to see the full story, and the Vaulters seem perfect for it, both mechanics-wise and story-wise.
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May 13, 2016 00:12
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Cultists Until all are one... 
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May 13, 2016 00:23
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WE DEMAND THE RETURN OF PLASTIC SNAKE! I don't care about no drat faction but PLASTIC SNAKE MUST RETURN! Edit: Snake would work quite well with The Forgotten people actually...
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May 13, 2016 01:39
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Allayi! I want to see those weirdo mothmen in action!
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May 13, 2016 01:51
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Go Cultists, because I have no idea what a successful cultist game looks like.
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May 13, 2016 01:59
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I vote for the Allayi. I have the DLC but I haven't really seen what all can be done when you are the master of pearls in this game.
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May 13, 2016 01:59
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Green Intern posted:Allayi! I want to see those weirdo mothmen in action! Mothmen are cool. I'm down for mothmen.
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May 13, 2016 02:12
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I vote for Necrophages because they're the race I tried when the game was free and would like to see how they'd actually play out. Also devouring your enemies sounds fun.
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May 13, 2016 02:25
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Those Cultists sound fun, but maybe I'm biased because I can't build wide for poo poo in Civ V, so one city gimmicks always appeal to me.
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May 13, 2016 02:26
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Forgotten! I love this game.
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May 13, 2016 02:29
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Allayi quest ending please! Winter is gonna be a really boring as hell LP moment without em.
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May 13, 2016 02:30
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Allayi
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May 13, 2016 02:35
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Necrophages please!
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May 13, 2016 03:56
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I guess I'll be in the minority, but I'd like to see you be the master of the Roving Clans
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May 13, 2016 04:23
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Green Intern posted:Allayi! I want to see those weirdo mothmen in action!
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May 13, 2016 04:50
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Cult 
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May 13, 2016 05:27
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Green Intern posted:Allayi! I want to see those weirdo mothmen in action!
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May 13, 2016 05:43
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I love the notion of industrialist elves, but this game has something for everyone, and I've not tried any of the dlc yet, so let's go with the Forgotten! Let's see some cloak and dagger bullshit.
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May 13, 2016 05:54
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Gonna vote Allayi on the grounds that I haven't played them yet and wanna see them shown off.
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May 13, 2016 05:56
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Allayi because I don't have their DLC yet and I want to see them in action.
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May 13, 2016 06:08
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Broken Lords. Also, a Speedball 4X LP? Yeeeessssssss
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May 13, 2016 06:12
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I like Necrophages because they're a deceptively good city-building faction once you get past their initial food deficit in the early game and their units are great.
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May 13, 2016 06:32
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Siegkrow posted:WE DEMAND THE RETURN OF PLASTIC SNAKE! See, when I saw the bit about the Drakken forcing peace on other factions, my mind's eye saw Liquid Ocelot turning off everybody's guns with a gesture.
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May 13, 2016 07:31
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Vaulters, because sci-fi Vikings are always great!
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May 13, 2016 07:58
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Drakken
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May 13, 2016 08:00
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Broken Lords Because power armor is awesome...and thus being armor powered by money is Even MORE awesome
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May 13, 2016 08:18
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I don't care who we play as, but I want to see the Story Victory. Even if we wind up playing as someone who makes it really hard. 
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May 13, 2016 08:20
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FredMSloniker posted:I don't care who we play as, but I want to see the Story Victory. Even if we wind up playing as someone who makes it really hard. Each side has its own campaign-long Faction Quest with plenty of story fluff; they're all different! (sometimes they even have differing objectives just to mix up repeat playthroughs). They unlock certain goodies specific to that faction as you go, usually capping with something awesome at the end. For example, at the end of their quest Allayi and their cities become 100% immune to all detrimental winter effects, and Necrophages get a universal +30% attack boost. Completing the Faction Quest is how you unlock the ability to pursue the Wonder ending (you build a World Wonder that requires a fuckton of industry to build, it's the Industry ending, essentially) but it also unlocks the Quest ending which requires a lot of running around and gathering of resources to build a spaceship to get off the planet. However, even if you don't pursue either of those endings it's worthwhile to complete your Faction Quest just to get all the goodies that come with it. Speedball fucked around with this message at 08:52 on May 13, 2016 |
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May 13, 2016 08:48
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Allayi our fears about the coming winters.
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May 13, 2016 09:12
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I'm in a canonical mood, let's do Vaulters.
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May 13, 2016 09:31
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 11:48 |
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Allayi. Alternatively I'd be up for the clans, but it's probably going to be interesting regardless.
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May 13, 2016 11:24
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