The writer is clearly a Brit, and smart doesn't mean the same thing as intelligent to them. Same way fanny doesn't mean butt.
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Endless Space |Intel Thread| 4X Space Strategy by ex-Ubi/EA devs
- Thread starter Alex Connolly
- Start date
PoweredBySoy
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My best advice is, if you like Civ, get this game. They're very similar.
Think of the solar systems as plots of land, and the individual planets in that system as the land tiles. Planets have resources, Luxury and Strategic, and you need to develop the proper research before you can harvest the resources. In this case you'll even need to research in order just to colonize the planets with the more hostile environments.
Each system(city) has it's own production/gold/science and happiness output.
You use production to build system(city) improvments. Or military units. Or settlers. Etc.
You can use gold to hurry production.
I would say where it deviates from Civ the most is the actual combat. Instead of building specific units, through research you unlock ship plans, and then using all of the military tech you've researched you can outfit and create your ships how you like. Once in combat, it's fairly hands-off (as expected), but there are three phases to each combat: long range, medium range and melee. Just before the combat actually starts you choose a strategy card for each phase, some of which cancel the other players cards out, and then for the next 20-30 seconds you watch it all unfold with some pretty nice cinematic graphics. I'm guessing after 100+ hours watching the cinematics might get a little cumbersome, but for now it's pretty cool. And in general this isn't as much combat in this game as in Civ. Although I would say that when there is combat, it's much more grand - more meaningful to the winner/loser.
Maybe I got lucky with my first game, but it seemed pretty cake to me. Wasn't even doing that well until halfway through when I realised that my plebs weren't producing much because they were all unhappy and pissed - because my tax rate hadn't been changed the whole game. Brought it down a few notches, still positive, and everyone was much happier and produced a whole lot more.
For the most part, played an exploration game, until the last third where I kicked it up a notch - didn't hold grudges with a faction that had a few minor skirmishes with earlier - ended up become tight allies with them and proceeded to down the two front runners (we were 3rd and 4th) because we weren't attacking each other.
PoweredBySoy
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Well, go into the Empire screen and mouse-over the happiness meter to find out why they're unhappy. Then try to find the relevant tech to counter it (or lower taxes if able). There are penalties to colonizing too far away from your home planet, and obviously for colonizing shitty planets like gas giants and barren.
The Pilgrims get a really nice happiness bonus while settling planets, so they seem more manageable in that regard.
You can also create your own playable race. Go to the race selection screen, and over on the right click "ADD". Then you can customize your own race to be super happy hippies - although I'm sure they'd then start to suffer in other areas.
I think the combat of the game leaves a bit to be desired to be honest. The graphics are nice, especially for this kind of game - but the pacing and control is such that after the first couple goes, you just end up pressing auto battle for the most part. Funnily enough, the only time I do manual battles is when I want to retreat - that option is only acccessible from within the game. And frustratingly, even when you retreat successfully in the cut-scene, you'll sometimes get a notification that your retreat failed and lose your fleet.
I lost a stacked 18/18 fleet that way because I retreated from a 50/50 battle where they had a hero backing their fleet (so I would've lost) - which caused massive problems because that was the only fleet I had guarding that entrance at the time. My other fleet was on another front fighting another battle - so I spent most of 10k gold/dust raising a new fleet - only to have them get taken out piece meal because they were coming in from a variety of different planets.
But back to the battle - what would be nice is if they just skip to the action shots. I get that they're trying to do a timed thing where you can still change the card until the last moment when the phase finishes/occurs, but the options and plays you get seem to make so little difference to me (that is, the relative ship powers are always vastly more important), that there's little point to the exercise.
Also, there's next to no feedback on the strategy of playing the cards - it seems to be largely - play 3 random cards, and hope they go right. If they want to retain the mechanic of playing cards - it should occur on the same screen as the one asking you if you want to play manual/auto - you select the three cards upfront - hit play, then it gives you the three outcomes in comic book style snap shot pictures and the results. Not quite as fancy, but much snappier and much more in line with the overall flow of the game - as it is, 2 minutes per battle for results that are pretty much in line with pressing auto battle inevitably makes it so that the battles are going to be underutilized.
If it transitioned into a shogun total war kinda battlefield RTS, then yeah, it's almost like getting two games in one... but tbh, I always found myself auto battling that stuff too.
Very much enjoying the game, even tho i got completely crushed in my first game. I don't really know what i did wrong, but i had like 300 victory points where as AI players all had 1k+ 
I picked the science race, but i felt like i could not really focus on the science, because i had to pick a lot of things from the colonization tree to expand my empire and i did not really got to pick things from the science tree at all, since the other stuff always seemed more important to increase happiness in colonies etc.
Is it just a bug or is the planet screen's font and icons really low-res and blurry for everyone?
I picked the science race, but i felt like i could not really focus on the science, because i had to pick a lot of things from the colonization tree to expand my empire and i did not really got to pick things from the science tree at all, since the other stuff always seemed more important to increase happiness in colonies etc.
Is it just a bug or is the planet screen's font and icons really low-res and blurry for everyone?
Man From Atlantis
Member
guys i know it's a stupid question but how can i buy units or buildings ? i make gazillion money but nowhere to spend it other than retrofit..
PoweredBySoy
Banned
You just click the little 'gold' icon in your build queue. You can even see it in that pic above.
ofcourse...
their should be a dust icon next to the building that is queued and if you have adequate dust you can click it and be ready next turn.
what space strategy games you liked?
This would really be my first attempt at them
Alex Connolly
Member
I think the user interface in Endless Space, with its plethora of mouse-over menus and ease of parsing, is the perfect introduction title to the genre.
PoweredBySoy
Banned
I like you.
There is supposed to be a Mac version coming down the pipe, but they don't have definitive release date set for it yet. The hope is sometime between now and the retail release on Aug 24th.
flashburn2012
Member
Ugh, I really suck at this game apparently. I thought I was doing really well, until I checked the scores of the other two factions I was against. My score was only like 400, and the other two were like 1600 and 3000. I still persisted, but in the end, I just gave up. Their population/number of systems was huge. Not sure what I did wrong. Maybe I didn't expand enough, but the hit I was taking on my approval as is was pretty substantial, even with cutting my taxes down to like 25%.
I really wish the tutorial was better. Not really sure what to do my second game to improve things. As it was, I was playing on the "newbie" difficulty.
I really wish the tutorial was better. Not really sure what to do my second game to improve things. As it was, I was playing on the "newbie" difficulty.
I'm in the same boat - there's some real good stuff on youtube and the official forums if you need a hand.
You need to mouse-over the unlocks for the tech to see what they offer.
Left side of the tree opens up the hero roster (look for unlocks that increase Hero Academy size)
It's not that I can't tell what I'm unlocking per say... it's just easier to understand why 'Ironworking' in Civ is useful as opposed to 'particle nuclear accelerators!'.
I'm still loving it, though.
I haven't been playing it long so it'll probably "click" later once I play a few more sessions.
Not sure how I missed this honestly.
Not sure how I missed this honestly.
flashburn2012
Member
Has anyone compiled a list of "general" tips anywhere? I don't really have the time to comb through various forums and youtube videos.
Purchased this game last night. I have a background with a lot of turn based strategy games and have been looking for a new one for a while (I wish I liked CiV). Only a few hours into it and so far:
* No idea what I am doing
* Having a blast. Game play is brilliant, game seems well polished (my non-gamer wife likes its sound track).
* Lot of depth to explore, especially from a min max POV.
I haven't been able to find a 'basics' guide. I would consider compiling one but I don't understand the game well enough yet.
* No idea what I am doing
* Having a blast. Game play is brilliant, game seems well polished (my non-gamer wife likes its sound track).
* Lot of depth to explore, especially from a min max POV.
I haven't been able to find a 'basics' guide. I would consider compiling one but I don't understand the game well enough yet.
I would say a good way to play is focus on getting a few of the world colonizing tech early (arid, desert, tundra are some that I'm particularly fond of) which are located at the bottom of the tree. Then, either go for tech/industry on and right side -OR- Military at the top of the tree. You'll also want to throw in some of the food production/empire expansion/fleet capacity techs from the left side of the tree regardless of whether you choose military or tech/industry focus. Then later in the game when your empire is a bit bigger get some of the les accommodating world types unlocked like arctic and lava.
This may not necessarily be the best way to play but it's worked pretty well for me although I'm still losing on points.
Do you understand how the tooltips for resources work?
I have a Medium Jungle planet (3 Food Per Population (FPP)) right now (3/6 population) with Alien Grafting exploitation. The exploitation is listed as:
2 FPP on Terran
2 FPP on Planet
1 FPP on Ocean
1 FPP on Jungle.
When I zoom onto my planet it is giving me 18 Food. 12 from population, 3 from infrastructure, 3 from type. It appears to me that I get 3 FPP for jungle, and 3 FPP for the exploitation (2 from planet, 1 from jungle) but it lists it from 3 different sources.
The same goes for my capital which has Hydromeal (3 extra FPP). I have 5 population on a Terran planet (3FPP) plus Hydromeal (an extra 3 FPP) which equals 30. However the breakdown of my 30 food is listed as 24 from population, 3 from luxury, 3 from type. All my totals add up to what I expect but when I look at the breakdown I fail to see how it works.
I am attempting this game (my 2nd game, first was cut short due to my unfounded aggression) to try out city specialisation. From what I have seen there doesn't appear to be maintenance costs for military units though that may be wrong. I will have some unit producing systems that just pump out ships and a backbone of economic systems to keep me moving. I haven't found a lot of uses for dust yet so I might focus on science.
I looked for this specifically, coming from Civ, and I haven't noticed it either.
As far as dust: I heard that one of the victory conditions is accumulating a total of 300,000 dust through the duration of a game. Otherwise it's nice to be able to powerbuild things in 1 turn.
Some quick tips from someone who sucked really badly to someone who seems to have gotten the hang of it.
1. Don't be afraid to play around with species choices/making a custom species - you might have a particular play style that is really favourable to particular traits.
2. Some resources are very important early on - I used to ignore food, but then I realized how absolutely important it was early on, you colonize a solar system and pump food upgrades into it, and then you have more people - and all those modifiers (+1 blank per person on planet) start to really add up quickly.
3. Take a good long look at the system and planetary modifiers. You think that upgrading your planet modifiers for example are silly, but they are a HUGE boost - especially considering they are retroactive.
4. Try your best to always have 2+ people per planet on a solar system, constantly making pilgrimage ships can cripple your growth, especially early on - it will slow you down.
5. Solar system upgrades are -key-, need to keep your population happy? There is a solar system upgrade for that. A few actually, and some are cheap.
Little tips people might not realise -
You can shift click and select specific tech upgrades in any order you want
You can 'pollinate' a solar system you're already in without building another pilgrimage ship - and it's cheaper (I didn't realize you could just click on another planet in the system, and when you have 2 or more people on a planet, can populate the new planet)
Don't go to war right away - put a few points in being peaceful and diplomatic trades, and hold off a war until your ready and comfortable
Any planet with a garden of Eden trait is gold
It's there, you can see it in your 'where is all my gold going' breakdown in your empire screen when you hover over your cash.
1. Don't be afraid to play around with species choices/making a custom species - you might have a particular play style that is really favourable to particular traits.
2. Some resources are very important early on - I used to ignore food, but then I realized how absolutely important it was early on, you colonize a solar system and pump food upgrades into it, and then you have more people - and all those modifiers (+1 blank per person on planet) start to really add up quickly.
3. Take a good long look at the system and planetary modifiers. You think that upgrading your planet modifiers for example are silly, but they are a HUGE boost - especially considering they are retroactive.
4. Try your best to always have 2+ people per planet on a solar system, constantly making pilgrimage ships can cripple your growth, especially early on - it will slow you down.
5. Solar system upgrades are -key-, need to keep your population happy? There is a solar system upgrade for that. A few actually, and some are cheap.
Little tips people might not realise -
You can shift click and select specific tech upgrades in any order you want
You can 'pollinate' a solar system you're already in without building another pilgrimage ship - and it's cheaper (I didn't realize you could just click on another planet in the system, and when you have 2 or more people on a planet, can populate the new planet)
Don't go to war right away - put a few points in being peaceful and diplomatic trades, and hold off a war until your ready and comfortable
Any planet with a garden of Eden trait is gold
It's there, you can see it in your 'where is all my gold going' breakdown in your empire screen when you hover over your cash.
Oh, yeah - my particular class has hero bonuses, so I start with extra hero xp right away - they govern systems great, and mine levels up twice off the bat. I give him + labour then +25 increased productivity.
early on, that +25 is huge.
I haven't but frankly there's not really a reason to worry about how it's breaking down. What is important is the stuff you are already looking at like looking at all modifiers and deciding what would be best for that planet. Not sure why they would even bother breaking that down like that tbh. They should just list all components that add something and how much they add.
Took Kinitari's list and amended a few other things I thought of for a 'general information' list... I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out why I couldn't travel swirly lines... :<
Winning Conditions:
User manual linked from the Steam forums. It might be a bit outdated, but still seems useful.
Winning Conditions:
User manual linked from the Steam forums. It might be a bit outdated, but still seems useful.
I am interested in this game but there is one thing bothering me. The use of cards.
I do not like card games (besides playing actual old style cards) that came out of Magic the gathering etc. I find them boring and the random aspect is a major turnoff in a strategy game.
Is there a possibility to remove card part in any gameplay options?
because playing with cards in computer games is boring and unneccesary
please tell me that the card aspect is not actually playing with cards but instead just a different way to select battle options
I do not like card games (besides playing actual old style cards) that came out of Magic the gathering etc. I find them boring and the random aspect is a major turnoff in a strategy game.
Is there a possibility to remove card part in any gameplay options?
because playing with cards in computer games is boring and unneccesary
please tell me that the card aspect is not actually playing with cards but instead just a different way to select battle options
Alex Connolly
Member
I think you're applying far too much emphasis on the "card" aspect. They're a visual proxy simply for researched or hero perk options to use in the combat phases. They're boxes with iconography and info - a glorified button to press. I wouldn't let your hang-ups get in the way of something that isn't really anything more than selecting orders.
kingschiebi
Member
in terms of beginner tips, I'd advise to keep taxes really low in the beginning to garner some extra output boni.
also take into account that rapid expansion will lower the satisfaction rate and that there are specific research/upgrade items to counter that
it is still a good idea to expand quickly during the beginning or the ai will start taking up a lot of space
for the mid-game it might also make sense to scrap certain improvements that are not needed anymore (i.e. i tend to get rid of those +food boni after 80-90% colonization in a system)
it does usually make sense to apply terraforming where possible, especially to reduce the dissatisfaction ratings on lava type planets and similar
from what i've seen, it almost never makes sense to go full on to a single scientific tree, but to have at least some exploration and trading skills in addition to whatever complements your playstyle
also take into account that rapid expansion will lower the satisfaction rate and that there are specific research/upgrade items to counter that
it is still a good idea to expand quickly during the beginning or the ai will start taking up a lot of space
for the mid-game it might also make sense to scrap certain improvements that are not needed anymore (i.e. i tend to get rid of those +food boni after 80-90% colonization in a system)
it does usually make sense to apply terraforming where possible, especially to reduce the dissatisfaction ratings on lava type planets and similar
from what i've seen, it almost never makes sense to go full on to a single scientific tree, but to have at least some exploration and trading skills in addition to whatever complements your playstyle
flashburn2012
Member
Thanks for the tips guys. I'm on my second game, newbie setting, with 3 AI, I'm in 2nd, sort of close to the guy in 1st. I feel like I'm doing a bit better, but something happened where I was in 1st by a large margin and then I kind of let the guy that was in 2nd run away for a bit.
Alex Connolly
Member
Also, get those administrator heroes into systems as soon as you can afford them, then drop taxes a touch to really keep smiles on dials if you can afford it.
Remember to use the IND > DUST improvement on industrial worlds after you've done the population boom if you're not immediately constructing something. It's a great way to utilise non-active forge-worlds and keep the coffers full for the early game.
Remember to use the IND > DUST improvement on industrial worlds after you've done the population boom if you're not immediately constructing something. It's a great way to utilise non-active forge-worlds and keep the coffers full for the early game.