Actually, I am very disappointed that none of you have made a thread about it yet. Some "spacebattles" site we are! Endless Space What is it? Endless Space is the first game of a new French Studio called Amplitude Games. It is a Space 4X turn based strategy game. So that means you build an empire, colonize new star systems, research new technology, design your own ships and then go find something and kill it. There is a definite Master of Orion II vibe to it. However, there are many ways to victory, including more peaceful ones. System Overview This is relevant to my interests. When is this going to be released? It is actually out: Preorders on Steam are open and give you access to the beta alpha. Right now the game is 25% off, so it's $22.50. For $5 more you get the Emperor Special Edition, which comes with some cosmetic DLCs. Techtree I've played Sword of the Stars/Distant Worlds/Armada2526/Master of Orion III, how does this play? 1) There are four basic resources: Food to feed people, Industry to build stuff, Knowledge to research new technologies and Dust. Lorewise, Dust are nanomachines left behind by the "Endless" (Endless Space, get it?). It works roughly similar to Gold in Civ Games. Most System Improvements cost Dust to maintain, and you can chose to spend it to speed up construction. Beyond these 4, there are dozens of strategic and luxury resources that are either necessary to build advanced ships or make you a shitload of Money Dust. 2) Instead of building up each planet individually, you chose one Exploitation to improve production of one basic resource, in effect turning a planet into an agricultural/industrial/scientific/trade colony. Star systems pool their production to build System Improvements and Ships. 3) Combat revolves around a basic paper/stone/scissors concept. It is a curious mix of real time and WEGO Turn based combat: Combat is divided into three phases: long range, mid range and melee range. You don't control your fleet directly during combat, instead you chose one of (initially) three battle actions for each phase, which either buff your fleet, debuff the enemy or cancel his battle actions. Right now the AI seems to cheat a little and select the right action to cancel yours a lot more often than not, but against a human opponent it will make for interesting play. 4) There are 5 factions out already, with another 3 planned. As always, they have their advantages and disadvantages. The United (evil) Empire are industrial juggernauts and probably the best starting faction. The Sophons are the usual "smart" faction that gets whipped in battle. The Hissho are birdpeople and are strong in combat but pretty dumb. Horratio are cloners and breed like rabbits. Cravers are the unholy mixture of Zerg and Reavers that knows neither fear nor mercy. No word yet if it will be possible to design your own faction. 5) You recruit and level up heroes. They come in two basic flavors: Admirals and Industrial Leaders. Especially the later can get very powerful in a built up system. The former get new battle abilities as they grow in skill. However, they cost Dust and their number is very limited (tech increases it), so one has to chose carefully. Planetary Info Wait, 'human opponent'? Will there be multiplayer? Yes. It is disabled in the alpha for now, but is definitely planned. What is this Games2Gether Stuff they are always touting? it is an attempt to get the community more involved in the decision making process. Certain design decisions are put to a vote. Every players has one vote, weighted by his contribution to the community, which is measured in G2G points. You get 500 for buying the preorder. If its a good idea or a terrible mistake remains to be seen. Media The Imperial Court of the United Empire United Empire Fleet in Action Craver Fleet on the run Trailer So go get it. Seriously.
I've tried the alpha. Very nice so far. Research interface could do with some tweaks, and a codex style library would definitely not be amiss. Combat definitely took some time to wrap my head around, but it's not bad. Though for some reason, United Empire faction ships look very heavily Roman inspired to me.
Looks intresting. I need something to numb the pain from SoTS 2 and as such will not preorder. Will be following it though...
Would have made a post last night, but was too busy playing. if this is alpha, the final product will be amazing!
Well, at least its progressing faster than an Alpha I'm playing on Desura, Star Drive, and it has the 'What Master of Orion III should be' vibe to it...
Looks nice, i'll inevitably try it one way or another, eventually. Sceptical about the combat though, its a pretty important aspect of a 4x game and in most of these games 3d combat is pretty horrible in both look and mechanics. It seems this games combat looks no more than average and cant be controlled either, doesnt seem good at all. The rest of the game looks great though.
Pre-Ordered. I LOVE Space 4x games and this is right up my alley! Is there Ground-Combat? I wanna invade my enemies with Power Armored Infantry.
You don't get direct control over the combat, no. But picking the right strategy can make a lot of difference in the outcome of a match (up to a point). If you can outsmart the opposing force with the right strategies, it's not possible to come out of an encounter where the other team has a 2 to 1 advantage with a draw when you'd normally be pasted.
I don't know about "fun", but it's playable, yes. Haven't played enough of it to get to the "fun" part yet since I'm too used to 4x games holding my hands and reminding me to do stuff like research
I've been playing it for HOURS. So yes it's fun and playable in Alpha. O_O No....But I think it's getting Mod Support so that could work. I think there are another three or so races left to add....So who know's WHAT we'll see.
The diplomatic ratings need to be a little clearer though. For example, what does it mean when a faction dislikes me for "military weakness"? Does it mean they're weaker than me, because I smacked their stupid ass scout ships for blockading my worlds, prompting the tag to show up, or does it mean I'm weaker than them? I give them props for coming up with literally the most narcissistic race I've ever come across in games though. An entire culture cloned from one guy who wants to fill the universe with more of himself? Wow.
Really? Huh. That's a bit odd because the dislike only showed up once I blew up one of their ships, and only increased when I blew up even more of them.
I had the entire galaxy turn on me because I was settling to many worlds. And FUCK pirates. I just had a number of pirate fleets swoop in and take out some colonies...And then the fucking Raptors came in and settle the worlds left behind....And they were my allies. :/
How the heck do you travel to other systems without using the phase lanes/wormholes? I see ships doing it, and even got a notification I could do it, but no clue as to the how. Nothing in the modules available that mention abilities like that either.
Huh. Well I'll figure it out....Big problem I'm having so far is you get dropped into a corner of the galaxy with NO Titanium-70. I can't build cruisers or anything.
