Amplitude Studios, a new games development company based in Paris is developing a new space strategy game called "Endless Space"
Aiming to inherit the values of: Master of Orion, Civilization and to some extent Total War all of that with a strong focus on Multiplayer.
Looks promising & certainly worth checking out.
Looks like a must buy. It is not that expensive either. I'm not quite sure, however, whether it will work on my old system (Intel duo, T6400, 2 ghz, GE Force 9600M GT, 4GB RAM). How is the framerate on your computers?
BTW I like the fact that ship design and combat is relatively simple. I hope they keep it that way.
I play it on medium details on my GF 540M (which is not that much more powerful than the 9600) laptop in 1920x1080 res.
Framerate is stable (even with FRAPS recording in Full HD, as you could see in the videos I posted).
My box can run it at max settings, but FPS isn't that great. So i dropped the res a little. I blame the video card for that. Its a g-force gt520. Looked interesting enough for me to get it thru steam, and try it out. Haven't really had a chance to put in a full game yet, but i am liking what i see so far.
A new update with three new races and multiplayer support was just released!
Yep, the beta went live this week. Some more UI, AI, graphics and gameplay updates as well. That expansion disapproval is a killer. In one stroke the gameplay went from "colonize everything, build everything you can asap" to "Should I colonize that planet on the edge of my frontier? Do I have the resources to support and protect it for 30 turns? Should I use those resources instead to build up my military or improve my core planets? Maybe I should save up instead for another hero?"
This game looks more like Sword of the Stars then MoO
lol, don't say that on the SotS boards, they'll take a strong disliking to you just like if anyone here compares Fallen Enchantress to Warlock:MotA. After playing through the newest beta, they have fixed & changed almost everything I disliked about the game (which was very little to begin with). It does play a lot more like MoO and GalCiv than SotS though, just because there's no real-time (or turn based) combat. I dare say this is what MoO3 should have been. The battle system has a charm all its own, though. For the $26.99 on Steam, this is a must-buy for anyone who likes turn-based strategy in space.
it looks interesting, but I'm not so hot on the '3 phases of combat' and tactics cards. Might just be that it is so different an approach that makes the old fart in me cringe. If the game really shines where SOASE is a black hole of lack, it'll be interesting. So, the game seems to have Hegemony style combat -all pretty automated? Well, that's a lot like the old RISK game. RISK in space... nifty.
Played some of the MP with Werewindlefr. It was fun, but still has a frequent bug that forced us to restart several times. Waiting for a new patch before I play any more.
Go ahead and compare it to SoaSE or SWOTOR or C&C, but it is not an RTS or an MMORPG. It only compares in that it takes place in space. The rest of the conversation is moot.
After few battles, you will end up autoresolving most fights anyway. I only choose "manual" battle when I feel like feasting on some space porn
This is game is an accessible light 4x title.It does not come close to having the gameplay depth of a MOO title.
Got any arguments to back that statement up?
Why do people need to "compare" games. The game is ether "good", or it "sucks". It is that simple. For example: SOTS1 is a GOOD game. SOTS2 well... It SUCKS! If we keep comparing every 4X to the MOO series then NO new 4X will meet any ones expectations, because they will ALL suck in comparison. If i wanted another MOO i would just load dosbox, and play MOO2. However i do not want another MOO. I want something new, and original. There is no comparison. Judge the game for what it is, and by its own merits. Which from my point of view this game does stand out. Considering it just went Beta, and the Alpha was a very polished WIP. Sure some things need work. Hence BETA.
I would put Sots2 and ES at about at the same point of beta testing. After playing both you can see that Sots2 is a hell of a lot bigger game than ES. Sots2 is a massive project that comes with a 64bit client and DX10/11. It's in a very playable state at the moment and when finished......wow.
So I wouldn't write off Sots2 just yet.
I would, I was willing to give it time and see what happened after the unarguably disaster state it was in at launch, but now, with many of the features in the game and it being generally playable, I've come to the realization that the game is a lost cause. There's still a chance some major UI refinements and other improvements could still turn it around, but overall I'm still not finding the game much more enjoyable to play than the garbage version that was released.
It's even worse when considered a sequel, where ideally the goal is to improve upon the prior game. Instead, I'm still finding literally everything changed for SOTS2 was better as it was before, with the possible exception of the combat system which gets points for being pretty, but is still a pain and the ass to actually use thanks to a crap interface, which goes for the rest of the game as well.
Anyways, I suppose that since my biggest gripe with the game at this stage is the UI, pretty much everything is irritating as hell to do, thanks to most tasks requiring excessive use of poorly designed menus that still seem to hang up for a second or two while loading what amounts to nothing, that sort of stuff could theoretically still be fixed (although my faith in the devs at this stage is minimal). My concern now is how long they can actually keep working on it as a main project, I can't imagine sales were all that great, especially once reviews of the release version got .
Perhaps that concern is unfounded, as I'm surprised it's still being worked on as it is and they have said they'll stick with it until it's good, but like you said, SOTS 2 and ES feel at about the same stage of beta testing, if anything, I'd say Endless Space is further along. The difference is that SOTS2 is actually released, for what, 8 months now? The reviews are out there, the game has been showing up for under $10 on Steam sales for quite some time, are they really going to spend the next year on a project that isn't likely to merit the expense?
I hope they do, but my expectation is that at some point, they'll start working on DLC / expansions to sell in order to justify additional development, which is fine, if they actually sell. If the game isn't in good enough shape by that time, and given the bad press it already has, I'm not so sure they will. And from there, hope fades fast.
TLDR: SOTS2 still isn't in good enough shape for me to consider actually recommending to a friend to give it a try, but Endless Space is looking pretty good (although hardly groundbreaking either, pretty generic gameplay wise, just nice to have a modern entry in the genre and they're doing a great job with the UI, minus a few tweaks I hope to see yet) decent enough game in it's current shape and only just starting it's official beta phase now.
I guess I am lucky that I have only just bought sots2. If I had bought it at release I probably would have been madder than hell too. If only they had sold it as alpha/ beta funded like ES, I think people would have been happy with it then.
I actually like the changes over sots prime. Everything has sort of a personal feel to it in sots2, you get attached to your ships and stuff.
I think their reasoning (and have probably convinced Paradox as well) was that SotS Prime never really took off either until after their expansions were released. When they first released Prime it was very buggy and barely playable (albiet in a better state than II was), refined the game over time into a space strategy hall of fame worthy entity. Supposedly the all-clear is coming within a couple weeks and I would imagine Paradox will be watching for an uptick in sales.
Personally I haven't played in a few months, I got burnt out playing on release, trying to find the golden nuggets midst all the bugs. I did have some fun, but it was way too much work. I have a soft spot in my heart for these guys, since they did give us one of my all-time favorite games... I'll probably buy any expansions they release as well just because. Hopefully Kerberos makes my money worth the price of that admiration.
Bah! SOTS2 is nothing more than a glorified screen saver from my point of view. I am mad as hell that i did paid full price for it, but then again i was "expecting" a somewhat finished product when they released it. I have to agree with Davidabc66. IMO even in the state SOTS2 is in now it is not worth playing. The horribly vague menus, and clunky UI, The lag, Inept AI, I could go on, and on. Plus they STILL didnt fix the missing barren world texture. The only good point of the game is the opening menu.. Hence "glorified screen saver". I was hoping the patches would change things, but like david said. Everything that made SOTS1 good is NOT in SOTS2. Almost as if the dev's said lets take everything that was fun about the game and REMOVE it... Trollolololololo... Really?! SoTS2 is another shining example of Top of the line graphics, and Pretty Eye Candy does NOT make for a good game.
I would like to reiterate how special and amazing Endless Space is. I am sorry if some people spent their game budget on SOTSII, but Endless Space is objectively a better game with a better dev team. No need to hash and rehash SOTSII here. Let's talk about a game that is already very good and still has much time before release.
In truth I found ES to be all about micromanagement in the excessive. The combat is not really worth talking about, the interface and information is written in Swahili . In short, there is very little game there, but it does look pretty. Only my opinion and not fact.
Sounds a lot like Stronghold 3 from what I have heard about both. I actually have SotS and The Stronghold Collection, so I have been interested in both series, especially Stronghold. I can't even play Stronghold and Crusader at the moment thanks to a VIZIO TV not liking the resolution.
Endless Space looks promising, but Steam is really starting to get on my nerves, due to the way it does things yet is still ridiculously popular.
I'd like to re-ask my question from page 1: how do you think this game "compares" to Distant Worlds Legends? Particularly in terms of AI. I don't want to purchase an SP TBS game and have no opponent.
That sounds disheartening. I'm trying to understand what explains the differences between your opion and that of say, seanw3, aside from "taste". I believe aesthetic categories work well for explaining smaller differences within major categories (e.g. I like strawberry icecream on day D1, you like chocolate), but beyond that, people need to explain their opinions in a form of mini-review, like you, Tattyhat, did in an exceptionally short way.
The AI is competent enough, but is bad in battle. Anyways, it's being improved with patches, something I can't say DistantWorlds is doing, and that game's AI is still bad. One important issue I'm not convinced will be ever be "fixed" is that all the races have unique playstyles but the AI plays roughly the same across all the races. You do see some crazy expanding from races you'd expect from but other tech/war-turtle races aren't up to par.
Also diplomacy is flawed. Way too easy to trade everything with AI, just hand in some shit tech to them and they'd agree on anything. Although this problem is even worse in DW(last time I played at least).
Overall a very strategic game with tons of decision making and depth, something I wish I could say for DW.
I wasn't going to address Tattyhat's comments because I generally like him and his opinion didn't seem very persuasive to me. Since it seems some people might take his comments and not try the game, I will respond.
The game has the best interface I have ever seen in a TBS game. It flows so well a skilled player can manage a 50 planet empire in less than 30 seconds. It is truly a wonder of technology and intelligence. I honestly don't know how you could dislike its design. IMHO, the UI is the best part of the game. It would take me 10 minutes in GalCiv2 to do about the same that takes me a minute in ES. GalCiv2 had a good UI as well.
By information I assume he means the meat of the game, the FIDS. Food, Industry, Dust, Science. Dust is universal currency, the rest is obvious. It is simple to take a cursory glance and instantly know what these things are and how they work. There are many more detailed aspects in the planet management that are somewhat more complicated. Planetary improvements involve so many interesting choices, you may spend a great deal of time in the beginning trying to figure out which improvements are best for a system. But once you understand the use of an improvement, it becomes very easy to see which systems will benefit from it. Isn't that what 4x gamers have always been asking for? Interesting choices. And this game is full of them. Beyond that, each race approaches these concepts in unique and interesting ways. Each system needs a unique set of improvements to maximize its potential. There will be no Civilization IV cookiecuttering.
The combat is essentially autoresolved, but it fits well into the streamlined gameplay. If a battle is close, you can go into a tactical screen and choose strategy cards to attempt to turn the battle in your favor. The AI is getting much better at this. It is very much like Rock Paper Scissors, but with 6 tactics to start and many more available for research. A wonderful way to add some fast paced strategy to the game. The ship design is where battles are really won though. It is essentially as good as GalCiv2, but with better balance and no option to add props to the ship designs. I find it very rewarding to make my own ships. There were some problems with gaming the system, but the devs have done a pretty good job of squashing the exploits. I can't help but think Tattyhat is talking about an older Alpha version of the game. We are well into the Beta now. Combat is much better and honestly enjoyable to observe.
Another thing we are just now experiencing is multiplayer. This game is absolutely great for online play. The fast pace lends well to quick turns and competitive gameplay. It also helps balance the game much better. It is clear that MP is what this game will excel at.
Worthy of note as well is that the devs are working some powerful modding capabilities into the game. You can expect all of your favorite Star Trek and Star Wars races to make their way in at some point.
If the AI does not handle some races the way they were intended, you can bet these developers will fix it. They have proven themselves to work quickly and effectively. Very little game there? What Alpha version have you been playing? The game balances extreme complexity with beautiful and efficient UI. Perhaps some of this is a little over your head, but the more diligent TBS space gamers have been begging for a game like this. I think maybe Tattyhat is a little too young and inexperienced to share my perspective on ES and that's fine. Perhaps I like my games too complex. With too many interesting choices. And too much strategy. I may be guilty of this. But at least give the game a chance. I am sure there will be a beta and if not, there are plenty of Let's Play videos coming. Decide for yourselves.
I am not trying to sell people on the game, I just didn't think Tattyhat did it any justice with his comment.
I am in no doubt Mr SeanW3, that the game will appeal to many, yet even though I found it pretty, and very slick I also found boredom creeping in as monotony took hold.
As you say, it could be that the game just does not grab me personally, but I put forth my opinion freely, as you do yours. More than one opinion is good for the blood don't you know?
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