Endless Space

[Terramage]

Has anyone gotten Endless Space off of steam? It certainly looks interesting but I'm not shellin out any money without hearing something about it.

[Mystik]

same.
i'm a sucker for space stuff,
but i think i quite like single player campaigns that are well done.

since it has a very striking coincidental resemblance to the name "infinite space",
i got really excited since i loved that game for the DS.

[Fleksta]

I bought it, it seems to be a slightly shinier Sins of a Solar Empire, with a different battle system.

Instead of the real time battles of Sins, you get a turn based cinematic style based on four stages. Arrival/Long Range/Medium Range/Short Range. You choose a "card" which contains a special ability for each segment, played against the choice of the opponent. Right now the AI seems to cheat, as it always chooses the ability which counters your choice.

If you liked Sins, you'll probably like the game. Its technically still in beta, but its already very polished.

[bobvodka]

Yeah, I'd describe it as turns based Sins crossed with a bit of Sword Of The Stars.

Over all I like the game and for £18 can't really complain; I dare say like the aforementioned Sins and SOTS it'll eat a fair chunk of my time in the months to come...

[demo]

Bleh, turn based combat was hoping it was a better version of sins, in real time like sins.

[shockwave]

I love space games but after watching some gameplay videos, this looks like it'll get boring and tedious quite quickly

[DaJMasta]

I took a look around for info on this game and ended up buying it... I like it so far. Definitely not a finished game as there are a handful of bugs and things that seem out of place in an otherwise polished product (way more than I'd expect for an alpha, in terms of content and polish), but its good for the couple hours I've played.

For me the game is very reminiscent of Master of Orion, so if you're into that sort of turn based empire building space opera thing, then it should be right up your alley. The graphics are good and UI/controls are pretty fluid. The tech tree is complete, but it's been difficult for me to really grasp how technology should progress, since you can only research one thing at a time and there are four branching trees. The combat thing is interesting, but I'm not sure I really know how to use the cards properly yet.

A lot of the game mechanics are still a little unfamiliar, and maybe some things will still be fleshed out. From what I can tell, there is a game's worth of content already there, but there is some improvements to be made for notifications, automation, additional information placement, skipping of certain combat phases, etc that I hope to see in the coming months.

A word on the combat though, it's not really turn based. It's sort of a restricted input style - you don't get control over where ships go, what they shoot at, and there isn't a retreat button (I think it needs one), but you do influence the fight by picking 'cards' which are basically tactics or abilities to use in different phases of the fight. Phases are broken down by range, (long, med, short) where different kinds of weapons are most effective and choosing a 'card' that counters the opponents kills any bonuses they would otherwise get for it. So combat isn't turn based, it's just more of a cinematic with limited user interaction. There is an arrival and final stage, but you don't attack or play cards during them.

[pradvan]

Combat sounds a bit weird ... was also sort of interested in this one

[Napoleonic]

this is OOT but I remember seeing a trailer for similar game on gametrailers that contain direct challenge to Sins, they said explicitly "forget your Sins" or something like that at the end of the trailer...

anyone here know what game is that? is it this game?

[Terramage]

I've been playing it a few days now, it's definitely got promise. Wasn't worth the $20 I paid (yet, at least. One hopes it'll get better throughout development).

Much of it works as intended, mostly the balance is absolutely terrible and there are a few bugs and such. The battle system is a complete disaster and needs to be reworked for the game not to be a total failure. If they work out the combat, it could definitely be a contender vs MOO/Sins/Civ

[Mystik]

Originally Posted by Napoleonic

this is OOT but I remember seeing a trailer for similar game on gametrailers that contain direct challenge to Sins, they said explicitly "forget your Sins" or something like that at the end of the trailer...

anyone here know what game is that? is it this game?

Legends of Pegasus?

[DaJMasta]

They put out a beta update a day or two ago and a lot of stuff has changed. Most of the assets are the same, but the UI is better (more informative) and a bunch of useful changes have been made.

It reworked the way some things worked, added the remaining races, changed around some technologies, and various other tweaks. A lot of the complaints I had from the alpha haven't been specifically addressed, but it does seem to have taken a solid leap forward in overall quality. Still seems to need some AI improvements, but in the game I've played since the update it feels like the whole thing moves at a better pace and is somewhat more intuitive in terms of progression. We'll see what they do with it, but they are certainly working on it and the work shows.

[Dungeoncrawler]

Noticed its getting some good reviews. Anyone play the retail yet? The graphics look really sharp. I hear the story is only as good as you make it. The entire game is a skirmish mode if I'm not mistaken?

Overall the game feels polished and could almost be mistaken for AAA game. It’s basically a mixture of Eve Online and Civilization and that’s one good mix! It’s a truly impressive experience that proves this game is one of the best out of the indie scene since Minecraft.

[CoolNitro]

Overall the game feels polished and could almost be mistaken for AAA game. It’s basically a mixture of Eve Online and Civilization and that’s one good mix! It’s a truly impressive experience that proves this game is one of the best out of the indie scene since Minecraft.

I have a lot of what's? for that quote, first off Eve online did it make the list because it's the only other space game he has played because other then both being space related games they have nothing in common and Civilization the only thing in common there is diplomacy.

The game is exactly like all the other 4x space games that have come out over the years imo it's closer to Imperium Galactica II minus the ground battles and Sins of a Solar Empire for graphics.

The research tree is vast and adds what seams to be loads of perks but in reality they are all just levels of maybe 5 core abilities per each tree and the rest are buildings that give x of y on z the usual stuff nothing new in the genre except that they at least try with the naming.

As for the combat in my honest opinion it sucks and it's more luck based then actual ability or ship config / strength based, what happens is there are up to 5 turns each lasting around 15 seconds, when the mission loads combat starts right away and you have the ability to choose a card the enemy can also choose a card, once the first phase / turn is over it goes right on into phase 2 without pausing at which time the first chosen card is played for each team, now dependend on what you chose vs them it can either be good, bad, or equal for you and the enemy.

During phase 2 you must choose another card that will be played in phase 3 and the same goes for 3 to 4, you can only choose 3 times and can't change it once it's made. If both teams are still alive I'm guessing they just shoot at each other normally during phase 5 at which point it maybe ends in a draw I've never seen it reach 5 without either me or them being dead.

The actual combat visually is completely scripted and boring.

Another thing on top of combat is the limited number of ships per fleet based on command points which is very limited I think at most you can have maybe 4 of the largest ships in one fleet on their own, and speaking of ship types there is only I believe 5 hull types per faction and other then looks they are all exactly the same minus racial passive bonuses.


The game is simply a generic 4x that is anything but endless with the largest maps being smaller then most other 4x games and your average life span being in or around the 200 turn mark which usually takes about an hour and a half to reach, at which point all the AI allied with you if you are lucky while also forcing you into a corner via them taking over every other inch of the map so you end up going to war and losing because of a stupid rock paper scissors contest even when you out gun the opponent

[Napoleonic]

Originally Posted by Mystik

Legends of Pegasus?

yes that one; anyone know which of the 2 games is better?

[Dungeoncrawler]

Originally Posted by Napoleonic

yes that one; anyone know which of the 2 games is better?

Pegasus is not out yet.

[HyperNovae]

After watching that video for a bit it looks exactly like civ 5 just in space. I mean ffs it's almost exactly the same.

[DaJMasta]

Originally Posted by HyperNovae

After watching that video for a bit it looks exactly like civ 5 just in space. I mean ffs it's almost exactly the same.

The video is back from the alpha and there are really big differences (for example, tiles in civ)... but the game is definitely way closer to civ V than it is sins of a solar empire.

Anyways, I do like the game (as you may have gathered), but the full release seems a little underwhelming. They've rounded out the amount of content well, but there are still a handful of really annoying bugs (at least they seem like bugs). In the half to one third of a game I've played since the release I've encountered two glitches which I don't think are excusable and are really frustrating in a sort of unfair kind of way:

Sometimes at the beginning of a turn a combat comes up and there's a countdown for it to go into auto mode - I usually go manual to be able to pick the cards played... but then you're starting the first combat and an alert for the another comes up. Except this alert is back at the galaxy view screen which is completely inaccessible during combat... so while you're watching the first one, the second combat essentially gets forced to auto-play before you can even figure out where it's happening or with who.

The other is with fleet movements - the AI player's have their turn in single player after you hit the end turn button, but they can still move unmoved ships during your turn under certain (seemingly random) circumstances. That means every so often your fleet protecting a system that you move away suddenly has an AI controlled fleet move in behind them immediately after you move them, as if the AI was waiting for your move to use up its movement points - something which I don't think a human player can do at all.

It's just a few things like that which are really frustrating. The AI doesn't seem to be the smartest (at least on normal), as they often keep many small fleets and attack you in a line instead of a mob (which does make it easier...), but that's not so much frustrating as it is just a bit dumb.

The balance feels reasonable to me, but you have to understand the way combat works for it to feel that way. Lasers get a huge power boost for a given amount of damage simply because they hit early (and with high accuracy at long ranges). Missiles really only deal damage towards the end of the round, but if your ships can hold out long enough, the damage can be massive. Kinetics are quite inaccurate, but with enough of them and at shorter ranges they can be wrecking. I don't think the battles are decided entirely by the cards, but it's easy for the entire battle to be decided by the opening phase of combat, because if the lasers knock something down before its missiles can land (for example), the damage from the missiles is negated and the fire can be focused on remaining vessels. It's a somewhat unusual combat method and it can be unpredictable even in otherwise straightforward scenarios, but if you understand that I don't think it's necessarily unbalanced.

[mad]

Originally Posted by DaJMasta

Sometimes at the beginning of a turn a combat comes up and there's a countdown for it to go into auto mode - I usually go manual to be able to pick the cards played... but then you're starting the first combat and an alert for the another comes up. Except this alert is back at the galaxy view screen which is completely inaccessible during combat... so while you're watching the first one, the second combat essentially gets forced to auto-play before you can even figure out where it's happening or with who.

I think i read that that is by design.
You don't alternate turns with the AI, everyone plays their turn simultaneously. I now usually wait moving my ships for a few seconds (doing the other alerts first and all that). But the AI apparently can wait for you to move your ships deliberately.

[Napoleonic]

last two comments really remind me of that idea someone mentioned about a semi real time based total war game... hmmm while I somewhat like civ games, but I just couldn't get into it's space counterparts... guess I've been spoiled with real time 3d space rts in the past.