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chaosapiant posted:So I've got Endless Space 1 and 2 and haven't spent a lot of time with either. Is there, at this point, ever a reason to play ES1 over 2? Or is 2 the same factions and same story with updated graphics/gameplay?
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Jun 4, 2020 02:21
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chaosapiant posted:So I've got Endless Space 1 and 2 and haven't spent a lot of time with either. Is there, at this point, ever a reason to play ES1 over 2? Or is 2 the same factions and same story with updated graphics/gameplay? ES1 has some extremely serious design flaws that are remedied in 2, imo. Don't buy the hacking expansion
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Jun 4, 2020 02:27
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ES2 isn't "same factions with an update," the story is different, but ES1 is worse in basically every conceivable way. The two things I prefer about ES1 are 1) the main title screen for ES1 is my favorite Endless song1, but you can just go to SoundCloud and 2) some arcane stuff with the way Cravers work that is REALLY not worth more than all the other gameplay differences. To put it another way: ES1 is a mediocre 4x with VERY strong music, a couple funny concepts, and a handful of cool executions, ES2 is a fantastic 4x at nearly every level with especially strong music and writing. I'm also going to go against the grain here and say that the hacking expansion is pretty good but you probably want a game or two under your belt before thinking too hard about adding new mechanics. ES2 is made by pros, it's a very complete game with 0 expansions. 1I'm less staunch about this now, since I think the [url="https://"https://soundcloud.com/arnaudroymusic/immaterial-breath-umbral-choir-theme"]UC song[/url] is drat near as good.
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Jun 4, 2020 02:45
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Honestly the only expansion I feel is safe for a complete newcomer is probably the Vaulters. They're neat gameplay wise and the main mechanics added in their expansion are easy to grasp.
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Jun 4, 2020 03:09
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Yeah you really don't even need any dlc at all. The base game is huge.
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Jun 4, 2020 03:17
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I, too, actually like the UC and the expansion pack they come in. There's no defending the last expac though.
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Jun 4, 2020 03:38
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Mokinokaro posted:Honestly the only expansion I feel is safe for a complete newcomer is probably the Vaulters. Yeah this is probably the best read. Vaulters are neat and not meaningfully harder than any of the base game factions. Honestly the game's 'official' complexity ratings aren't great, here's my list for "newbie friendly," descending order. Basically vanilla tier: 1. United Empire. Simple, effective, all the basic mechanics, plus their unique mechanics basically all patch over mistakes. 2. Lumeris. Similar though a little up-tempo, colonization can be very 'loose' which is neat. 3. Unfallen. Pretty forgiving, better at warfare than the lore makes them seem. Colonization is very 'tight.' 4. Vaulters. Expansion is "weird" but ultimately intuitive. 5. Sophons. Honestly they're only this far down because I don't like playing them, but they are pretty straightforward and there aren't really any ways to gently caress up that badly with them. They are WICKED fast at movement, which papers over a lot problems. Substantial adjustments tier: 6. Riftborn. VERY strong when you get a feel for their pop production, but it is a LOT of fiddling and also their ships are super loving slow so mistakes can be more costly. Best writing though, give them a shot sometime. 7. Cravers. Similar boat but strong in a very different direction. Peak military, peak micromanagement. 8. Hissho. The thing that makes them really good is their happiness mechanic is all fucky. Not a good one to learn on. Barely playing the same game tier: 9. Vodyani. When you're really rolling you're really rolling, when things are going bad it's a constant roller coast of poo poo. The basic concept of UFO abducting people to eat them is very funny though. 10. Horatio. They are ALSO xenophages but in a way weirder way. If you eat the right people you wind up with an incredibly strong super civ, if you don't then you're having a bad day. 11. Umbral Choir. These guys are so out of whack that it's like playing Tetris99 against people playing PUBG. ??? Nakalim. Haven't actually played them.
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Jun 4, 2020 03:40
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The gameplay in ES2 is almost universally better, but personally I think I liked the factions in ES1 more. They tend to be more alien, while the ones in ES2 are more human. For example, the peaceful trading race in ES1 are weird amoebas, while the peaceful trading race in ES2 are green mafia dudes, and I find that a lot less interesting. I also really liked the concept behind the Sowers.
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Jun 4, 2020 06:11
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Even if some of ES1 concepts were more interesting that game didn't have those concepts realized beyond intro video and some bonuses. ES2 factions have their own questline, a lot of art and major mechanical differences. And you still have mathematical concepts materialized from another dimension as well as intergalactic jungle. Plus it was strange that, say, Empire and 2 factions born of it (elite specops and hippie explorers) start in the same symmetrical position. Now many of those interesting factions are minor races.
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Jun 4, 2020 06:30
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ilitarist posted:Even if some of ES1 concepts were more interesting that game didn't have those concepts realized beyond intro video and some bonuses. I dunno, the Harmony did a fantastic job at feeling utterly alien compared to everyone else by virtue of their unique interactions with Dust and their ability to Purify planets. I'm still sad they didn't make the jump to ES2 and their gameplay is the single biggest reason I still play ES1.
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Jun 4, 2020 06:41
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Yea I can't think of any reason to play ES1 anymore, which is kinda what you want in a sequel. People are still nostalgic for Alpha Centauri, which really shows how much the Civ series has been dropping the ball.Tulip posted:Honestly the game's 'official' complexity ratings aren't great, here's my list for "newbie friendly," descending order. I'd swap two of your ratings: I'd call Horatio rather simple, they're basically a slow-cooker empire that eventually gets insane. You can't really speed it up, nor gently caress it up. Cravers, otoh, are a great way to crash and burn if you're unable or unwilling to ride the military snowball micro. Now that there's no religious opt-out for them, they really can be hosed up, and how.
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Jun 4, 2020 06:42
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So I’ve been playing some EL after owning it for a couple years and never getting into it. Something about it today clicked with me and I’m finally super into this game. I’m excited to see if ES2 is as able to hook me as this one did. I’ve been trying to get into turn based 4x besides Civ for a while and nothing had been grabbing me. But now I’m grabbed! Also, it must be said that the UI is quite good and managing citizens is way easier than in Civ and I hope more games adopt it.
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Jun 6, 2020 01:09
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chaosapiant posted:...after owning it for a couple years... Something about it today clicked with me and I’m finally super into this game. Congratulations, you reached that magical age where any adult's brain starts getting into previously lame things like Euro Truck Sim, crochet and staying inside.
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Jun 6, 2020 02:01
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Det_no posted:Congratulations, you reached that magical age where any adult's brain starts getting into previously lame things like Euro Truck Sim, crochet and staying inside. I scoffed at this, but then noticed I'm actually inside right now with a lovely crochet blanket
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Jun 6, 2020 03:26
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So I'm getting into ES2 just as much as I am EL, loving both of these games and wish I'd played them a bit more a bit sooner. Question regarding ES2: everything I build in each system is a system wide thing, correct? Like if I'm buying a XenoPornShop, it's 1 XenoPornShop per system, not one for each planet or what have you? I hope this question makes sense.
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Jun 6, 2020 19:28
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chaosapiant posted:So I'm getting into ES2 just as much as I am EL, loving both of these games and wish I'd played them a bit more a bit sooner. Question regarding ES2: everything I build in each system is a system wide thing, correct? Like if I'm buying a XenoPornShop, it's 1 XenoPornShop per system, not one for each planet or what have you? I hope this question makes sense. Yep it makes sense and yep that's how it works.
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Jun 6, 2020 19:40
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Also, what mods are you playing with
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Jun 6, 2020 19:42
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chaosapiant posted:So I'm getting into ES2 just as much as I am EL, loving both of these games and wish I'd played them a bit more a bit sooner. Question regarding ES2: everything I build in each system is a system wide thing, correct? Like if I'm buying a XenoPornShop, it's 1 XenoPornShop per system, not one for each planet or what have you? I hope this question makes sense. There's basically 3 things that are planet specific: exploitations (these have pretty clear indicators that they're planet locked), terraforming, and fixing anomalies. Every other type of building is system-wide.
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Jun 6, 2020 19:51
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El_Elegante posted:Also, what mods are you playing with I'm not, should I be? I've only got about 6 hours in the game, so unless there's something ultra-mega-necessary, I usually like to come to grips with a game's systems before adding mods.
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Jun 6, 2020 19:56
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I don’t play with mods, but when you mentioned having a xenosexual playground as a buildable structure it made me curious.
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Jun 6, 2020 20:02
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El_Elegante posted:I don’t play with mods, but when you mentioned having a xenosexual playground as a buildable structure it made me curious. Oh yea, it was just an example. I don’t have porn stores in my game.
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Jun 6, 2020 21:02
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extremely Seinfeld voice I’d like to think Horatio speed dating would go a little like this
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Jun 6, 2020 21:13
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Tulip posted:??? Nakalim. Haven't actually played them. They're an interesting concept but unfortunately their expansion often renders the game completely unplayable thanks to the horrible overpowered AI Academy faction.
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Jun 8, 2020 09:51
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So I bought Endless Space 2 once the steam sale started and it has just devoured my time the past week. Off the advice of the thread I avoided all the expansions but the Vaulters, but my problem is the first race I started playing was the Vaulters and I have a hard time playing anything. Being science based, with portals, their different colonization and the best scout in the game have really hurt my enjoyment playing any other faction. (Also I'm a sucker for any woman lead faction, doubly so when it seems they are now a Homeworld reference.) For normal factions, is there any blanket advice in terms of how much to spam colonizers? Also some kind of key research order? Since I'm used to Vaulters with their science machine just printing out techs no matter how stupid I am. And is it better to have a larger or smaller map? When I play with the recommended number of ai's, it feels incredibly cramped. (Though it makes the slow move speed feel slightly better.) Eimi fucked around with this message at 09:29 on Jul 1, 2020 |
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Jul 1, 2020 09:26
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Always spam colonizers. There's no benefit to playing tall so go as wide as you can afford. You just need to make sure you're generating enough happiness. That said, any system with 2 or less planets probably shouldn't be a priority.
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Jul 1, 2020 09:28
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Clarste posted:Always spam colonizers. There's no benefit to playing tall so go as wide as you can afford. You just need to make sure you're generating enough happiness. That said, any system with 2 or less planets probably shouldn't be a priority. Would a system with a low amount of planets be worth it if it had a unique planet in it?
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Jul 1, 2020 09:47
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Unique planet will probably give you a bigger benefit in the short term. If you have time you can terraform planets into whatever you want. Long term size and quantity of planets matter more. But it's not a game where you play 500 turns so short-term benefits are more important, I think.
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Jul 1, 2020 10:51
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I'd say it depends on the unique planet. Auriga for example has 0 food and 0 industry, so it's a hard planet to justify if it doesn't have a few supporting planets to actually sustain a population/build poo poo. Teonha and Veil on the other hand are pretty sweet on their own.
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Jul 1, 2020 17:01
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Do the Vaulters get anything special if they return to/(re)claim Auriga?
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Jul 1, 2020 19:14
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Torrannor posted:Do the Vaulters get anything special if they return to/(re)claim Auriga? It's part of their quest, they need to find it and at least search anomaly's on it. You don't need to colonize it iirc. Oh it also gives a happiness malus/science boost when you find it. At the end of their questline you find out that those left behind colonized a new system named for Auriga and you get a bonus pop that's either science or mil focused.
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Jul 1, 2020 20:43
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So having played and won with the other factions some Vaulter's still remain my favorite. Partly because I just love their theme, as a woman I always appreciate any faction lead by a woman, especially when they are relatively good guys. Also while portals are amazing, honestly their incredible scout ship might be my favorite thing they offer. Having four modules right away means you can actually move at a decent pace and analyze an anomaly a turn, compared to the other races where if you want to go after anomaly's it's better to just make a second version with no engines but lots of probes. My second favorite race would probably be the Unfallen, because their method of peaceful takeover is really funny. Buddy up to someone, give them all these buffs while your vines tick down, until you hit the button and assimilate them all at once. I wouldn't be surprised if they were based on the Muir from the Hyperion Cantos, who are similarly trying to connect the universe together with vines as a form of fast travel and togetherness. One thing I've found annoying is the Academy questline. I enjoy the narrative, but it turns into a ton of annoying busywork. The rewards are nice but given how late it starts, redundant. Though on a lore related question, who would actually want to bring back the Lost? I guess the Unfallen because their Heart is one, was Auriga a Lost? E: also given how sad that Vaulter's comic was I wish their quest made a bigger deal out of Zolya's daughter surviving. Getting her as a hero would be cool. Eimi fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Jul 5, 2020 |
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Jul 5, 2020 19:08
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I bought penumbra on sale but forgot to get awakening on sale too 
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Jul 13, 2020 15:15
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Any tips on the Allayi? I've not played in quite a while but kind of want to sit down and really figure out the games systems.
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Jul 17, 2020 16:41
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Flipswitch posted:Any tips on the Allayi? I've not played in quite a while but kind of want to sit down and really figure out the games systems. Your scouts rule; use them. Be aggressive about collecting orbs. Act like a dick in the winter. Hell, you can just burn stuff down for the sake of it if the option presents itself -- then pull back in the summer if you have to, and maybe make nice with your neighbors' neighbors in the meantime. I once won an allied victory by getting together with the dragons and sandwiching the poo poo out of the vaulters while I pushed for whatever victory style I'd gone for at the time. Science? I forget. In my experience, if anyone can (and almost has to) play tall, it's the Allayi. It's been a bit, honestly, but I remember three to four cities being enough.
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Jul 18, 2020 00:21
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Should those 4 regions be linked by a border? I'm never quite sure how to tackle resource-poor regions in this and whether to skip them or not.
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Jul 18, 2020 00:48
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Connecting via border is nice for obvious military reasons, and has good returns if you are deciding to use trade routes, nevermind basic roads. I'm not afraid of ignoring crap regions, but my empire usually ends up coherent, if oddly shaped.
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Jul 18, 2020 06:32
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Eimi posted:So having played and won with the other factions some Vaulter's still remain my favorite. Partly because I just love their theme, as a woman I always appreciate any faction lead by a woman, especially when they are relatively good guys. Also while portals are amazing, honestly their incredible scout ship might be my favorite thing they offer. Yep, that mega-scout combined with portals is huge fun- it makes for a nice effortless feel to empire management, while the slower colonisation inclines you to care about your worlds. And the fact they are easy to play as good guys is a big deal for me! Serephina posted:coherent, if oddly shaped. Not a bad description of the average 4X player
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Jul 19, 2020 08:18
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Nobody stans for the buxom mercantile frog lady
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Jul 19, 2020 12:54
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El_Elegante posted:Nobody stans for the buxom mercantile frog lady Extraordinary I'm really glad 13-year-old-me could never see the Vodyanoi leader
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Jul 19, 2020 14:48
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 11:25 |
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El_Elegante posted:Nobody stans for the buxom mercantile frog lady Cowards.
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Jul 19, 2020 18:17
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