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Re: Endless Space 2

#3
Watched a couple let's play on YouTube, it seems they have abandoned the whole card based combat and you only get to set initial combat tactics and watch combat completely hands off. I'm not sure I like having even less control of the combat..

They expanded the explore aspect of the game with probes and planets possibly needing multiple probes to discover all the hidden attributes.

They have added many levels of complexity with minor races, government policies with political parties, and some sort of trading system. I like complex layers but I can see it being a turn off for some.
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Re: Endless Space 2

#4
I bought into Early Access (did for ES1 as well). Have only played about an hour so far though.

It's clearly a large step up on the first iteration. Everything is much more polished, and the game is much deeper. I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it.
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Re: Endless Space 2

#5
mcsven wrote:I bought into Early Access (did for ES1 as well). Have only played about an hour so far though.

It's clearly a large step up on the first iteration. Everything is much more polished, and the game is much deeper. I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it.
Thats enough for me to want it then. :D
I really really like 4x games, but I suck at them and never finish them. :V
At least not since IG2. That game was amazing.
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<Cuisinart8> apparently without the demon driving him around Silver has the intelligence of a botched lobotomy patient ~ Mar 04 2020
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Re: Endless Space 2

#6
I tried to play ES1 again a few weeks ago and could never really get into it as much as I want to. Those dang cards (that I am glad are gone) are too rock-paper-scissors for me. Even when my fleet is better armed and defended, the enemy always *happen* to pick the same, or the counter to my card and I end up losing.

That plus the fact that I was about 30min into a match, had like 8 planets as the Empire and the Cravers came through one of the warp only phase lane things (the ones you have to research to use) with two fleets of 12 ships each. That was double or more my fleet count, even though my ships were better. But I kept losing due to the above reason.

When I get more time I plan on buying and trying out the sequel, that vampire-ish faction looks pretty awesome.

Damn Midterm papers
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Re: Endless Space 2

#7
Though I can understand why the random aspects of the card system was a turn off, the thing was it was much less random than you would think.

Each card gave certain bonuses to certain things if not countered, some types of attacks where just better in certain battle phases, so there was a strategy to the use. The flip side was the AI (in the later patches) understood this. So there was a higher chance they would use counter cards for that phase.

The AI would also catch on if you kept using the same cards and forced you to switch it up to catch it off guard.


It wasn't perfect, but simulated the effect of being a fleet commander enough for me.
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Re: Endless Space 2

#8
I realized that, but it just seemed like every time I chose any card, they always had happened to choose the counter, or we chose the same type so there was no counter. I dunno, just still felt too rock-paper-scissors like to me. At least hopefully this one with the only choosing where your ships go makes it more dependent on how good your ships are not some random cards.
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Re: Endless Space 2

#9
MrPerson wrote:I realized that, but it just seemed like every time I chose any card, they always had happened to choose the counter, or we chose the same type so there was no counter. I dunno, just still felt too rock-paper-scissors like to me. At least hopefully this one with the only choosing where your ships go makes it more dependent on how good your ships are not some random cards.
The problem with depending mostly on the ship design, is the ships certainly do have a rock, paper, scissors effect on each other. (3 different attacks and 3 different defences). I don't know how close they kept the system to ES1's system.

Also, again, it's not just random cards, it was a weighted chance based on how valuable the card was for that phase and your and the enemy fleet. There was some degree of luck, but it was mitigated by remembering what cards the AI played in the past, and judging what cards are more valuable now.

One thing I didn't like, was "upgrade wars". You would need to switch your designs up every so many battles to counter the AI designs. (who would then adjust their designs) There isn't much skill or strategy, it was a simple "this blocks this" adjustment until you ran out of money to upgrade. Pointless busy work really. You knew after going at the AI with all laser ships, they will be refitting their ships with mostly shields to make your laser pointless, so after a couple battles you needed to roll out the missile ships...
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Re: Endless Space 2

#10
Zanteogo wrote:
One thing I didn't like, was "upgrade wars". You would need to switch your designs up every so many battles to counter the AI designs. (who would then adjust their designs) There isn't much skill or strategy, it was a simple "this blocks this" adjustment until you ran out of money to upgrade. Pointless busy work really. You knew after going at the AI with all laser ships, they will be refitting their ships with mostly shields to make your laser pointless, so after a couple battles you needed to roll out the missile ships...
defenses were worthless anyways. You could conquer multiple Ai´s just by spamming small ships packed with long range kinetics.
More people want exploding kittens than exploding ships. Somehow, this makes me happy.
- credits go to dwmagus
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Re: Endless Space 2

#11
(Feel compelled to post this out of the sheer awesomeness of the game and my respect for the devs)

Tried this one recently, based on the very positive reviews and the fact that Stellaris just didn't do it for me but left me wanting a decent 4X experience.

And this was exactly what the doctor ordered. I'm sure it's come a long way since this thread was started. The game is mostly done; they come out of Early Access in two weeks.

This is one of the most well-thought-out, polished, creative, and beautiful games I have ever played. It's certainly the most enjoyable 4X I've ever played. At $30 it's an absolute steal :)

PROs
- Great graphics
- Great races & unique race mechanics (each lends itself to a very different play style; choosing a race is much more than choosing a set of bonuses)
- UI is breathtaking and still good at presenting you with the abundance of information in the game
- Great randomization of games; playthroughs feel very unique
- Great music, if a bit repetitive
- Abundance of mechanics that actually matter: heroes, government type & laws, population make-up, strategic resource usage for upgrading planets; exploring anomalies; choosing research direction wisely; choosing combat tactics for both space and ground battles; etc etc etc. And they all make a real difference in the game.
- Genuinely interesting random events, some of which actually provoke an emotional response
- Automation of planetary construction with role-setting!!! YAY for reducing micromanagement!

CONs
- Diplomacy, at least in SP, doesn't seem to matter much
- AI is not very smart (seems to be a common theme in 4x...)
- May significantly hurt sales of future Stellaris DLC (...maybe it's a pro?)

In summary: everything that I wanted Stellaris to be. AAA-quality game for $30.

10/10 would get in vicious cycle of ( require break -> play game that inspires me to work harder on LT -> work harder -> restart loop ) again!
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.” ~ Henry Ford
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Re: Endless Space 2

#12
JoshParnell wrote:This is one of the most well-thought-out, polished, creative, and beautiful games I have ever played. It's certainly the most enjoyable 4X I've ever played.
Hmm.

To properly evaluate this recommendation, I'd need to know whether you've ever played Master of Orion 2 or Civilization (original or Civ IV).

"Enjoyable" is subjective, but any modern 4X game that "gets it" almost as well as those did would be worth buying at full price.
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Re: Endless Space 2

#13
You're very right to call me out on that Flat, as I am not typically a 4X person, so I haven't played the classics. You'll have to ask someone else for a genuine comparison ;)

Suppose I need to educate myself :monkey:
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.” ~ Henry Ford
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Re: Endless Space 2

#15
I really didn't mean my comment as a challenge, Josh.

"You are not sufficiently informed/experienced for your opinion to have any value" annoys me every time I read some version of it. If that's how I sounded, I apologize.

What I was trying (poorly) to say is that MoO2 and Civ have generally been highly regarded by people who like 4X games. So if Endlesss Space 2 is anywhere near them in fun for those who like this kind of thing, it's a must-buy.

On the basis of the detailed recommendation you provided, I'm definitely interested. I've been having broadband connection dropouts for a week now, but if ES2 looks as awesome to me as you make it sound, it'll probably go into the "buy at full price" queue along with Arkane's Prey reboot.

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