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| Endless Space |
Thu, 03 May 2012 16:53  |
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 TheBaron |
 | Civilian |
Messages: 2
Registered: May 2009 | |
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Hey all!
Apologies if this comes off as a plug for another game, but I've just encountered a new 4x in space game, 'Endless Space', that looks pretty promising.
http://endless-space.amplitude-studios.com/
The presentation seems top-notch, but I've yet to play the Alpha (which you get from pre-ordering on Steam) enough to gauge how deep it is relative to Stars!
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| Re: Endless Space |
Fri, 04 May 2012 01:19  |
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looks promising but I reserve my opinion till I get my hands on playable beta/demo.
The presentation and the game, rarely match up to each other, in my cynical opinion... but I would love to be proved wrong here.
[Updated on: Fri, 04 May 2012 01:19] Report message to a moderator
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| Re: Endless Space |
Fri, 04 May 2012 09:19 |
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I went through the links again and registered as well..
If I could get a feel of how the game works, I might be tempted to pre-order... and add another addiction to my so-far shortening list. d###, just when I was sorta recovering too.
I couldn't find any specification list btw.. I guess you are talking based on the high level of graphics and the vid?
ah, found it after checking their forums a bit.
http://forums.amplitude-studios.com/showthread.php?210-News- from-the-Dev-Team
[Updated on: Fri, 04 May 2012 09:23]
I know my minefields.. but I'm a chaff sweeper.
I used to curse when I got stuck in traffic... till I realised I AM traffic.Report message to a moderator
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| Re: Endless Space |
Sat, 19 May 2012 00:28 |
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| Marduk |
 | Ensign |
Messages: 345
Registered: January 2003
Location: Dayton, OH | |
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Bear in mind that Endless Space is still pre-beta; significant changes and additions are yet to come. Most problematic, the game is currently only single-player. The real worth of the game will be determined by how it plays in multi.
So far I like the game. It is in some ways more complicated than Stars, in some ways less. There are plenty of balance issues that bother me, but game balance has not really been a development concern yet. There is a story behind the game, which you mostly see through descriptions of tech advances and some of the special planetary attributes. The interface is generally good... I have a few complaints, but since it is in alpha I have time to make my arguments and possibly get some changes.
THE GAME
Endless Space is generally turn-based, but optionally can have a minor real-time component to battles (choosing tactics). You can choose from five races (there are to be eight by beta), each with different strengths and weaknesses. Eventually you are to be able to design a race, picking and choosing from the attributes of other races.
THE MAP
The map is a galaxy, the "shape" and size of which can be selected. Shape determines the background art, and somewhat affects the layout of systems. By default the galaxy contains several constellations, each of which has several star systems. Each star system has from one to six planets. Once you have colonized (or conquered) a system, you can build system-wide improvements and ships. Ownership is on a system basis - once you colonize a world in a system, it is yours and no one else can colonize there (they have to conquer instead).
Each system has its own economic output; there are four normal resources that each planet produces. Collectively called FIDS, they are: food, which pretty much only contributes to population growth; industry, which determines production speed, and left over industry can be converted to the remaining two (there are system production items for this); dust, best thought of as money (there is story behind the dust, and weird tech based on it, but really it is money); and science, which determines research speed. Dust and science are empire-wide, food and industry are used on a per-system basis.
Dust can be used to purchase items from a system production queue so that they will complete the next turn without costing any more industry. Science points can be saved up and allocated later; I suspect this is a bug, but if you aren't certain what you want to research next you currently don't have to worry about losing the science points.
PLANETS
Planets come in a variety of types, such as Terran, Jungle, Lava, Asteroid Belt, Gas Giant; and a variety of sizes from Tiny to Huge. A few types (Terran and others similar to Terran) can be colonized from the start. Other types require tech advances before you can colonize them. The type and size of a planet are the main factors in determining population limits. Race type may affect the limit and some tech advances will increase it as well.
Each type of planet has a set of attributes determining its economic potential per unit of population, and sometimes a penalty to approval rating (some people just aren't as happy living on a lava planet...). Each planet can also have one and only one planetary improvement, chosen from a set of four. Each of these four boosts production of one of the FIDS, and offers additional bonus production for one or more planet types - so it pays to think about what you really need. You can build another planetary improvement, replacing the current one, so you can redeem mistakes or make adjustments as needed.
Additionally, a planet may have a good or bad special attribute (some examples: low or high gravity, psychoactive air, coral reefs) that affect FIDS values and approval ratings. A planet (but only a planet, not an asteroid belt even though that is a planet type) may have a moon. The moon can be surveyed for traces of the precursor race (they liked to build temples on moons) when you have the appropriate tech. Finally, a planet can have special resources... rare things that offer a benefit if you have the technology to exploit them, and that can give further benefits if you have a monopoly on that resource.
PEOPLE HATE TAXES
FIDS production and population growth are strongly affected by approval rating (a system value); happy people are more productive in every sense of the word. The biggest single factor in approval rating is the tax rate (set empire-wide)... the lower the taxes, the happier and more productive people are. However, while dust production does increase with a lower tax rate, you receive less of it - so pay attention to your current needs and be prepared to change the tax rate. There are a number of tech advances that can improve the approval rating of a system, and as mentioned above the planet type and special attributes can affect it as well (factoring into the system approval rating).
MOVEMENT
Travel between star systems within a constellation is by means of strings (think lines bridging warp points, more or less) that span a distance between systems; fleets spend movement points to travel along those lines. Travel between constellations is not possible at first, requiring a tech advance. When you are capable of such travel, it does consume all remaining movement points a fleet. Later tech advances seem (I haven't yet bothered with these) to allow further travel afterwards even to the point of being able to traverse multiple constellations in a turn. Travel can be blocked by influence zones; each system grows a circular zone of influence, and your ships can only cross an influence barrier if you are at peace or war with the owner (the default state is cold war, where you will be blocked).
TECH
Tech is a bit different from Stars; there are four areas to research, basically boiling down to: military, scientific, environmental, and biological. Rather than having tech levels, there are tech trees. Techs in each layer cost more science points than those in previous layers, and aside from two initial techs in each tree you must research at least one prerequisite before you can research a new tech. An interesting tidbit, there are variations in the tech trees based on your race.
Military research pretty much just provides new ship systems (weapons, defenses, some support systems), though there are a few system-wide military improvements.
The scientific field is pretty general, giving system-wide improvements, ship systems, access to special materials (like a special resource, but instead of providing some benefit directly they are prerequisites to building certain items).
Environmental techs mostly revolve around being able to colonize planet types or terraform a planet into a type, but there are system improvements (including techs that increase population limits) and ship classes as well. This last strikes me as odd - almost all the new ship classes are gained through this field.
Biological research is another general category mostly split between life sciences (access to special resources, and some food-based system improvements) and political science (diplomatic advantages, system improvements affecting approval rating, improvements to heroes).
HEROES
Speaking of heroes... you can recruit heroes at your academy. Initially you have three available, and are limited to three. They cost dust to recruit, and have a maintenance cost as well. Heroes have two classes (from a set of corporate, commander, pilot, adventurer, administrator) that determine what special abilities they can have access to as they level up, and have five attributes (labor, wit, melee, offense, defense) that affect production and combat. They can be assigned to a system or to a fleet, and can be reassigned after spending at least six turns in their current assignment. Heroes gain a tiny amount of experience over time; heroes assigned to a system also gain experience for completed production in the system, while fleet heroes gain experience for battles. Each level they gain, they get one (rarely two) points to spend on special abilities. Special abilities may just raise attributes, or they may provide other bonuses (like new combat tactics or production bonuses).
SHIPS
Ships, fleets and combat, oh my. You start with two ships, a colonizer and a scout. You also start with two available ship classes with more being available through tech advances. A ship class has a mass allowance, a cost, hit points, and may have special attributes in the form of discounts (in cost and mass consumed) for a type of ship system. These types can be broad (defenses) or narrow (armor). Each ship system has a cost and mass; in some cases a ship can have only one of a ship system, or even only one of a type of ship system, while some are only restricted by the mass limit of the ship class. There are three categories of ship systems: weapons, defenses, and support. There are also three types of weapon and three types of defense: kinetic/deflectors; beam/shields; and missile/chaff. Support has several subtypes, being a catch-all for everything that isn't a weapon or a defense. Oddly, armor is a support system rather than a defense... it affects a ships hit points.
Ship designs can be modified, and ships based on those designs can be upgraded to later versions. This costs dust and happens immediately, though doing so consumes all remaining movement points.
FLEETS
Your empire has a command point limit, restricting the size of a fleet (tech advances can increase this limit and allow larger fleets). The bigger the ship class, the more command points required for it - so two fleets of the same "size" in command points may have different numbers of ships. A ship has to be in a fleet to go anywhere, even if it is only a fleet of one ship. If not in a fleet, a ship will be stuck in the system hanger. The game does not keep track of movement by ships. If you merge two fleets, all ships are set to the lowest amount of movement remaining to either fleet. Split that fleet, and the resulting fleets keep that lowered movement.
COMBAT
Combat can be done automatically or manually, and occurs between two and only two fleets (if you and the enemy both have say ten fleets in a system, that could mean a lot of separate battles). Automatic is just how it sounds; the battle occurs only in the CPU and the results are shown. Manual battles are a five-stage affair: approach, long range, medium range, close range, and report. The approach is just an animation of ships arriving and closing; its function is to give you time to choose a tactic for the long range stage (and the following stages if you want, though you can wait until a moment before a stage to choose a tactic for it). Long range is best suited to missiles, medium to beams, and close to kinetic weapons (though all weapons fire at all ranges). The report stage is really just an end-of-battle animation (I assume the simple battle statistics don't take too long to tally). Ships gain experience from battles and gain bonuses (relatively minor) to their hit points as they advance in level.
TACTICS
Tactics come in different categories and offer different benefits. You start with three available: overclock weapons (offense, counters sabotage); short-circuit (sabotage, counters sabotage); and nano repair (engineering, counters sabotage). More tactics can be acquired from tech advances or hero special abilities (these cost dust to use, be warned). If your tactic is countered it offers reduced benefit, no benefit, or possibly even a penalty; if your tactic counters the enemy, it provides an increased benefit.
INVASION
System invasion is accomplished by fleets. Any fleets, provided they have military power (which is hard to avoid as even scanners count for some). The greater the military power of the fleet, the more invasion power it has. A system has a defense rating, which seems to work like hit points. As an invading fleet stays around and continues to invade, the system defense dwindles. If you can reduce it to zero, you gain control of the system with no damage done to it. There is a downside, though, you start with a trivial amount of ownership of the system which results in rock-bottom approval ratings (and system defense) there. Every turn you maintain control your ownership percentage increases until eventually it is as if you had colonized the system yourself.
AND SO
There are several possible victory conditions, selectable with game setup. An expansion victory requires exploring at least half the systems in the galaxy and having population on 70% or 75% of the planets. An economic victory goes to the first player to have produced - not acquired - 300,000 dust. Scientific, diplomatic, and more I haven't looked into yet.
That is pretty much it. Lots of details left out and if you have questions feel free to ask.
Edit: I added a few things above; the last paragraph of THE MAP, the last paragraph of SHIPS, and the first paragraph of AND SO. That's what you get for my doing this while half-asleep.
[Updated on: Sat, 19 May 2012 09:50]
One out of five dentists recommends occasional random executions to keep the peasants cowed and servile.Report message to a moderator
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| Re: Endless Space |
Sat, 09 November 2013 16:54 |
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I recently purchased this game from Steam, when it was running an offer.. got the game + the DLC (disharmony) and it's fun to play.
I am having a bit of a bother with the way battle dynamics and the tech tree is explained, but it's only been 2 AI games I've played so far.
The battle graphics are beautiful and aren't that heavy. My i5 2.4ghz laptop can handle it quite decently.
Does any else here (still) play this game?
I know my minefields.. but I'm a chaff sweeper.
I used to curse when I got stuck in traffic... till I realised I AM traffic.Report message to a moderator
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