[Arcteryx]

wow! Fucking bought. How did I not know about this?

[thetrin]

Starting to get pretty interested in this game just looking at the screens. Is there any frame of reference as to something current I can compare it too? Is it more combat oriented like Sins of a Solar Empire? Empire / society building like Galactic Civilizations 2? Is it comparable to Sword of the Stars? I pretty much like all those games, so wouldn't complain if there were some similarities with them.

It's a mixture of Master of Orion and Civ. It's nothing like Sins.

[Mr Nash]

It's a mixture of Master of Orion and Civ. It's nothing like Sins.

Awesome! Master of Orion 2 and Galactic Civilization 2 are may favorites in the genre, so I may just have to snap this one up.

[thetrin]

Thetrin, what races are there at this point? SteveWinwood, chuck those impressions on the Amplitude forums if you haven't already! The devs would appreciate it. I do wonder if the ex-Eugen guys on staff did work on the UI...it sounds a touch like their games.

Sophon (super cool space scientists), Horatio (isolationist clone race), United Empire (evil human corporate empire), Cravers (evil insect klingons) and Hissho (evil avian expansionists) . I know they're adding in more races later, but it so far almost everyone is evil.

Sophon remind me of Salarians in Mass Effect. Hissho remind me of Turians, but evil. I think I'm just projecting, though.

I've been playing Cravers mostly, and they're pretty awesome. It's pretty funny that one of their negative traits is "Eternal War", which prevents permanent diplomacy with other races.

[SteveWinwood]

SteveWinwood, you should choose Fast when you play if you find it slow. The tooltip for Fast even says "The regular pace for the game". Normal is listed as a "slower pace".

I did! (It's in the parenthesis...)

I was about to join the forums to report a few bugs (or possibly me not understanding what I'm doing) but then I saw the few bugs I had were already in threads with tons of people saying they had them too and a dev had already said they were working on a fix.

So I didn't join their forums.

[MrCompletely]

is there a way to cancel orders for ships?

[McNum]

Well, I see I still have the massive talent of getting beat up in 4X games before I even get started. I colonize a planet or two, run into another empire who thinks I have to go, and then they suddenly have more ships than I even knew was possible at that point. Or the RNG just thinks a 2-1 battle should fall out for the one.

How do you start up right in this game? And can colony ships only colonize unclaimed systems, not more planets in systems I already own? It seems odd to get the "Choose a planet to colonize" dialog box, but clicking on a planet does nothing.

[Emitan]

One of my favorite Youtubers made a video about it

[Chrysalis]

Is the gorgeous string piece from the alpha trailer in the game? If not, where can I find it?

[thetrin]

is there a way to cancel orders for ships?

Click on anything in the production queue to cancel it. That goes for system enhancements, colonization and colony exploitation as well.

Well, I see I still have the massive talent of getting beat up in 4X games before I even get started. I colonize a planet or two, run into another empire who thinks I have to go, and then they suddenly have more ships than I even knew was possible at that point. Or the RNG just thinks a 2-1 battle should fall out for the one. How do you start up right in this game? And can colony ships only colonize unclaimed systems, not more planets in systems I already own? It seems odd to get the "Choose a planet to colonize" dialog box, but clicking on a planet does nothing.

if you have at least 2 units of population on another planet, colonization will just move that one unit over to the new planet. I'm not sure if you HAVE to, but there's no reason to waste a colony ship.

If you feel like you're getting beat up, don't forget to have your ships traveling in fleets. Have a couple patrol ships go with your scouts (it slows them down, but you'd need the extra firepower in an ambush).

Also, it might be worth it to do some early game weapon upgrades so that your ships will be a little more formidable.

If you're really getting your ass kicked too early in the game, it might be worth it to just play on a larger map, so you have time to build some defenses before other empires come to destroy you.

[Blizzard]

Is the gorgeous string piece from the alpha trailer in the game? If not, where can I find it?

Superstring Theory by Matthew Slater:

http://www.amazon.com/Superstring-Theory/dp/B005DCAMBM

Album:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/cin...et/id445699870

[Pylon_Trooper]

Sophon (super cool space scientists), Horatio (isolationist clone race), United Empire (evil human corporate empire), Cravers (evil insect klingons) and Hissho (evil avian expansionists) . I know they're adding in more races later, but it so far almost everyone is evil. Sophon remind me of Salarians in Mass Effect. Hissho remind me of Turians, but evil. I think I'm just projecting, though. I've been playing Cravers mostly, and they're pretty awesome. It's pretty funny that one of their negative traits is "Eternal War", which prevents permanent diplomacy with other races.

Awesome! Cheers for that. Glad to see they've got the Hissho straight out of the gate. They're intriguing in a Stargate kind of way.

I did! (It's in the parenthesis...) I was about to join the forums to report a few bugs (or possibly me not understanding what I'm doing) but then I saw the few bugs I had were already in threads with tons of people saying they had them too and a dev had already said they were working on a fix. So I didn't join their forums.

Very well. Super intrigued to see how the UI goes.

Also, this thread demands more quoted screenshots!

[thetrin]

Awesome! Cheers for that. Glad to see they've got the Hissho straight out of the gate. They're intriguing in a Stargate kind of way.

They're the first race I tried. My most recent game was with the Cravers, but I don't think I can sustain a game with that Eternal War malus. I might go back to Hissho in my next game. Sophon seem pretty interesting, too. It'd be nice to get through research faster with them.

[Pylon_Trooper]

They're the first race I tried. My most recent game was with the Cravers, but I don't think I can sustain a game with that Eternal War malus. I might go back to Hissho in my next game. Sophon seem pretty interesting, too. It'd be nice to get through research faster with them.

I'm usually a sucker for any Terran/Human species/race in my 4x games, but this is one of those rare occasions where they all seem very intriguing.

[Keasar]

After trying out the game a little before having to sleep. I found myself absolutely adoring the User Interface. Anyone else who also would like to try this on a touch screen? It really felt like I wanted to use my fingers to interact with the planets, move menus and ships and etc.

Ipad release?

[Mr. Luchador]

Subbed. Wish Listed. Interested. Tempted.

[Sullen]

I'm a huge fan of 4x games as well and just found out about this. I got burned pretty bad by sword of the stars 2 (though it is at least somewhat playable now) but this game looks quite good. My only concern so far is the rather limited combat from the impressions. Is it really that automated even in manual mode? The whole selecting one action thing doesn't really seem tactical at all or that interesting. Combat is the main thing holding me back from this right now, can anyone comment on it more?

[Carcetti]

Haha, this alpha is more fun than some finished 4X I've played. I'm even liking the combat but it seriously needs more variation. The ships always come from same direction, always has the same camera shots. If they can improve that it'll be golden.

[MrCompletely]

Click on anything in the production queue to cancel it. That goes for system enhancements, colonization and colony exploitation as well.

Thanks, i should have been more specific, I meant can you cancel move orders once
Issued but before ending your turn.

is there a way to re prioritize build queues? Couldn't figure that out if it's in there.

This may seem like a dumb question, buy what does the colored area around my colonized systems represent? Im guessing its some kind representation of my territory, buy i Dont get the significance of its size. I noticed other empires have a huge area around their systems, while mine remains small :(

[red731]

This game is now on my space radar.

Subbed

[PaulLFC]

How easy would this be to get into for complete newcomers to the genre? I do have Sins Trinity, but I've not got round to playing it yet, and I read earlier in the thread that this is nothing like Sins anyway.

Going to watch the Let's Try video now and see what the game's like.

[doubleplusgood]

How easy would this be to get into for complete newcomers to the genre? I do have Sins Trinity, but I've not got round to playing it yet, and I read earlier in the thread that this is nothing like Sins anyway. Going to watch the Let's Try video now and see what the game's like.

It takes a bit of time to get into, at least it does for me. There's a tutorial mode which gives you information about each screen the first time you see them. Watching a few Let's play videos is probably a good idea.

[thetrin]

dumb question, buy what does the colored area around my colonized systems represent? Im guessing its some kind representation of my territory, buy i Dont get the significance of its size. I noticed other empires have a huge area around their systems, while mine remains small :(

It's your border, yeah. Outposts do not belong to the empire, so they will only expand the border once they become a colony.

During Cold War, enemy empires cannot attack within your borders (but they can attack outposts and ships outside of your border without declaring war).

I'm usually a sucker for any Terran/Human species/race in my 4x games, but this is one of those rare occasions where they all seem very intriguing.

I tend to gravitate towards alien races rather than Humans in 4X games, but I actually do want to try United Empire. They seem pretty heavy on expansion, and that's one thing I enjoy in games 4X games.

[Keasar]

RockPaperShotgun just wrote a article about the game.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012...endless-space/

[I speel my dreenk]

Subbed. Wish Listed. Interested. Tempted.

Agreed, sir

[red731]

And I've just bought the game.
I never played anything like that before, but as I saw, I can let AI manage planets for me so thats great.
I can't wait to learn this.

Also choosing between the two versions to buy after seeing that playthru video? No brainer, just two euros more.
Take my money you company I don't even remember! Take them!

[Mindlog]

RockPaperShotgun just wrote a article about the game. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012...endless-space/

I completely agree with the sentiments expressed in that article. We're getting a bunch of spiritual revivals to older games. Seeing Nexus II fall short of it's extended funding goal was disappointing.

Then this game comes along.

Now I'm wondering what is going to happen to Nexus II. Internet?

[jaundicejuice]

It took about four or five hours but it finally clicked. Think I've been hooked by my first 4x strategy game.

[zoku88]

I completely agree with the sentiments expressed in that article. We're getting a bunch of spiritual revivals to older games. Seeing Nexus II fall short of it's extended funding goal was disappointing. Then this game comes along. Now I'm wondering what is going to happen to Nexus II. Internet?

This makes me sad whenever I hear about this, because I loved Nexus, but had no idea that Nexus II was undergoing some kind of crowdsourcing thing until it had already failed. :(

[Carcetti]

This makes me sad whenever I hear about this, because I loved Nexus, but had no idea that Nexus II was undergoing some kind of crowdsourcing thing until it had already failed. :(

That was before Kickstarter boom. Things might go better now if they did an impressive campaign and price it right.

[red731]

I just played it for two and something hours straight.
Damn, it is really great!

Sophomes or whoever you friendly race are - don't hate me becasuse I am expanding.
Doesn't matter that only players are you and me...and pirates. Burn pirates burn.

Will play more tomorrow.

Also many people on my planets seems unhappy.. Maybe I shouldnt terraform for the sake of tourism and wellbeing of my people there.

Did anyone encountered bugs where screens wont show, mouse wont scroll and clicks wont be recognized - I know what alpha is, just asking.
But that was my fault I guess, I've read that if the game is going slow, we should restart it because of memory leaking or something like that.

Alpha manual
Amplitude forums; Raptors FAQ

[BigTnaples]

Debating picking this up, never realy got into 4x games, but loved Sins to the point of addiction.

I know this is more like GalCiv, which I just the other day tried the demo for, and liked it, though it felt dated.


If this is a more modern version of GalCiv II count me in..

Does the Ai scale with the number of CPU cores like GalCiv II?

[thetrin]

It took about four or five hours but it finally clicked. Think I've been hooked by my first 4x strategy game.

I'm hoping we see more testimonials like this further into the thread. This game is the perfect 4X gateway drug.

[SteveWinwood]

My major problem right now is that it isn't grid. It's all corridors. One of may favorite things is teching my sensors and speed up and being all over the map and knowing what everyone was doing and where everyone is at all times. In this, even on really big maps, I get blocked into a corner by two assholes and never explore more than 20% of the map and it drives me nuts. I research more into transportation and it gets me wormholes which so far opens up... Another corridor. Oh boy :/

I'm guessing they want you to go more diplomatic and have open borders with people if you want to travel more. Or maybe not, I don't know. I'm still feeling this game out.

[Keasar]

Fucking A.I, first game ended in a absolute catastrophe.

I thought I had it pretty well going, got some good development in exploration and home system improvements to keep my empire all snug and warm. Then suddenly came along the Cravesh or something like that and roflestomped my entire empire. My ships could barely put up a fight. Frustrated I quit and saw the scoreboard, I was third ranked with ~4000 points, the second with just a little over 5000, the roflstomping A.I had over 30.000 points. :/

[epmode]

My major problem right now is that it isn't grid. It's all corridors.

I find that I prefer the lane travel of Master of Orion to the more open grid movement system of GalCiv. I can't really explain why!

[SteveWinwood]

I find that I prefer the lane travel of Master of Orion to the more open grid movement system of GalCiv. I can't really explain why!

Yeah it's not a terrible thing per se. Just not something I'm used to and I'm definitely going to need to change my playstyle to adapt.

[jaundicejuice]

I'm hoping we see more testimonials like this further into the thread. This game is the perfect 4X gateway drug.

Strategy games are a relatively new interest of mine, all thanks to Civ V and yes, I know it's the red headed step-child of the Civ series with long-time fans. I've tried a few real time strategy games over the years--Warcraft 2, Warcraft 3, Dawn of War, Company of Heroes, Dawn of War 2 and Starcraft 2--and none of them clicked, whereas I've dumped hundreds of hours into Civ V, all of it in the single player. Playing every permutation, scenario and difficulty.

Endless Space feels like Civ V without the training wheels or hand-holding. You want to click to your next turn without choosing a planetary exploit, assigning any production to system improvements or fleet construction, you want to go to your next turn without selecting something to research? Okay, Endless Space will let you do that. You want to research WHATEVER tech you want, potentially forgoing the development of some early necessary, fundamental technologies and putting yourself at a horrendous disadvantage? Endless Space will let you do that too. Civ V will let you game its tech trees but it will always shove the essential research that you SHOULD develop in your face. Endless Space just gives you everything all at once.

It took a couple of games of asking myself why the A.I. could build up such epic borders, have such powerful fleets, what I was doing wrong with system and fleet production, how I was doing colonisation and what research I was pursuing to make me really evaluate everything. Take a harder look at my local system, the immediate systems nearby, when I research assets where are they appearing, how large a fleet should I constantly maintain, how many heroes should I have, if any.

Now I think I get it, Endless Space looks like could potentially be just as massive and enjoyable a time sink for me as Civ V has been. Also it got me to download and install that copy of Sins of a Solar Empire I bought on Steam a while back (rts, I know, I know), 4x here I come?

[Blizzard]

I'm a huge fan of 4x games as well and just found out about this. I got burned pretty bad by sword of the stars 2 (though it is at least somewhat playable now) but this game looks quite good. My only concern so far is the rather limited combat from the impressions. Is it really that automated even in manual mode? The whole selecting one action thing doesn't really seem tactical at all or that interesting. Combat is the main thing holding me back from this right now, can anyone comment on it more?

I'm also interested in feedback on the combat. Can anyone else provide their opinion about this, please?

[thetrin]

I'm also interested in feedback on the combat. Can anyone else provide their opinion about this, please?

I like it a lot. You can just set it to auto if you don't want to do it, but the manual combat is pretty fun. I do like that you can pick little cards to pick your tactics, and you can unlock more via the tech tree.

I do dislike that the AI cheeses the rules of the game (ie. unable to enter combat unless in orbit) by sticking to one spot just outside of orbit. I wish there was some way to blockade an occupied system.

[Blizzard]

That's an interesting point. Does the AI have a lot of abililty to cheat and ignore the rules humans have to play by? Or is it an option, like in Civ where higher difficulties let the AI cheat and get more gold or whatever?

[SteveWinwood]

I like it a lot. You can just set it to auto if you don't want to do it, but the manual combat is pretty fun. I do like that you can pick little cards to pick your tactics, and you can unlock more via the tech tree. I do dislike that the AI cheeses the rules of the game (ie. unable to enter combat unless in orbit) by sticking to one spot just outside of orbit. I wish there was some way to blockade an occupied system.

I've given it to auto quite a few times now and even if my part of the overall bar is bigger it's still makes me lose :/ like 5 times now... (could be a bug)

I should just learn the manual anyway. There's just like a baseline dmg happening right? You just change it by just a little with the cards right? I wish there were more numbers... Like do I do less damage while far away? I'd assume so, but you know, lasers...

[eznark]

Just pre-ordered Rebellion to mess around with the beta, kind of wish I had seen this earlier today! I'll jump into the alpha next week. Looks very interesting.

[Deraldin]

I like it a lot. You can just set it to auto if you don't want to do it, but the manual combat is pretty fun. I do like that you can pick little cards to pick your tactics, and you can unlock more via the tech tree. I do dislike that the AI cheeses the rules of the game (ie. unable to enter combat unless in orbit) by sticking to one spot just outside of orbit. I wish there was some way to blockade an occupied system.

I'd like to see more variation in the combat visuals, but I'm liking the way they have it set up. Wouldn't mind some more cards to play as well.

It is annoying, but you can still catch them if you are quick depending on when they move. If they move during the turn you can initiate combat as they move through your system provided you can click on the button before they manage to jump away again. I've caught a number of scout ships like this and had a number of my own caught in the same way. It's not a real blockade, but it works for now.

[-Deadpool-]

Loving this so far, but I'm pretty mystified by some stuff. I guess I've been out of the 4X thing for a long time and I'm no doubt rusty, but damn the AI seem to have a massive lead, even on Easy.





Case in point, Dusay was my outpost colony, enemy moves in, takes it over in about three moves (I had my fleet over at Muzis on defense). I move the fleet up to Dusay to take it back, but they've been there trying to get it back for about 10 moves since then and it's almost like there's no progress..


Additionally, their area of effect (the red rings around systems) seems to blow out massively within 2-3 moves. Hydrus, my best system has taken like 40 moves to get to that effect.. Again, not sure what I really need to do to improve.




Seems like a fantastic game, but AI seem to run rings around you for most of the time. Hope it's softened after the Alpha - already looking like 5 hours work on this game is going to be wasted.

[BigTnaples]

Just bought it, reading through the tutorial now, seems pretty daunting, but intriguing at the same time.

[Victrix]

I no longer have any faith in the space 4x genre :|

[BigTnaples]

I no longer have any faith in the space 4x genre :|

?

[Pylon_Trooper]

I no longer have any faith in the space 4x genre :|

Sounds like a case of Sword of the Stars 2 PTSD. Stay strong.

EDIT: Finally home and installing this sucker! Might go the humans to kick it off.

[Kabouter]

I no longer have any faith in the space 4x genre :|

Because of this game or because of previous games?

Also, I'm really tempted to get this. How deep and well executed are the non-combat elements? How is the game balance?