Endless Legend - Fantasy 4X TBS from Endless Space devs

Hey guys, have you heard? SEGA is buying Amplitude! Now I want a Sonic hero in Endless Legend. And Dungeon of the Endless.

Guys. GUYS!

Amplitude? TOTALLY bought by Sega. For serious.

I used to be able to count on you guys for keeping me up on news.

What does any of this have to do with Shadowbane?

Fourth expansion for Endless Legend announced - Endless Legend: Tempest.

https://www.games2gether.com/endless-legend/blog/464-announcing-endless-legend-tempest-closed-beta-contest

The expansion focuses on the seas of Auriga. There’s a new aquatic-based major (playable) faction. Naval battles will be introduced with plenty of new mechanics. There will be a new weather system for the seas, and ocean regions will have sea fortresses (I suppose they’re somewhat similar to cities or settlements?).

Whoa, I thought they were done with this. This is pretty good! The oceans felt pretty empty in the games I’ve played, so it’s ripe for addtional content.

Wow, very cool. I also assumed it was finished and they were all working on Endless Space at this point. This expansion looks particularly interesting to me.

Yeah, this expansion will get me back into the game. The announcement mentions that closed beda will proceed from mid-September for a couple weeks. Does that mean we can look forward to release in October?

Yeah, October would be my guess, though late September seems viable too.

Endless Legend: Tempest has a release date: October 14th.

For more info (including price, preordering, etc) go here:

https://www.games2gether.com/endless-legend/blog/469-tempest-expansion-coming-october-14th

Hmm, that’s tough timing for me. That’s three days after the EU4 expansion and one week before Civilization 6. I might need to wishlist this, or perhaps circle back around if Civ6 is a disappointment.

I wonder if this will be the final DLC, with Endless Space 2 kicking into EA soon.

This is a game I keep starting, really like what I see, and then lose interest. I decide to play again with all the expansions and started a new game. I like the interface, I love the graphics, the game mechanics make sense and seem well thought out…but I am kind of bored. There isn’t that one more turn feeling, and I can’t figure out why.

One reason might be that the AI is out doing stuff, but we aren’t interacting at all. We aren’t negotiating, fighting, or anything else. I am only about 60 turns into my current game, but there is no reason to go after my neighbors because there are still open areas to claim. (I am trying to manage happiness, so expansion is slow.) I am running around doing quests, building up my cities, and we run into each other, but there isn’t any tension.

I really do hate combat. I still can’t figure out to get my guys to do what I want them to do. Basically I can tell them to attack or stand there, but it won’t allow for any intricate planning. Why on earth didn’t they just do turn based? It would have made it so much easier.

And what is really annoying is that while the tool tips are mostly helpful there is no game documentation at all for the expansions. The game has two wikis, neither of which has been updated. There isn’t any type of civilopedia or offline documentation either outside of the original game.

I seem to not be alone because a ton of my Steam friends own the game, but only a couple have more than a couple of hours into it.

So what am I missing?

Autoresolving combat is something I’ve suggested since the game first came out and I still stand by that. It’s a timesink that detracts from the pace of the rest of the game and isn’t very interesting or well done (Age of Wonders 3 this ain’t). You still get to design and equip your units which has a big impact, but you don’t have to do the tedious chore of flailing around with units.

The strength of this game resides in the empire building side. The way cities and districts work is brilliant (which is why Firaxis stole it for Civ6), heroes are a lot of fun for me, etc. The thing I enjoy the most, though, is how dramatically different the races are. If you’re bored, try switching it up to a different faction, try to complete their questline, and play to their strengths.

It’s not the combat that it’s killing it for me though. The game just isn’t grabbing me, and it should be. I like everything about the game (besides combat) on paper, but it’s just not gripping me. Maybe I have never played it for long enough to where things heat up? I only have 22 hours in the game, but have probably started 5-6 games in the 2 years it has been out.

Play with a different faction perhaps? That could help.

Agreed about the combat being really weak. I loved how they did combat in Endless Space. It’s a shame they didn’t just repeat that in Endless Legend. I guess spectating and autoresolving will have to do.

And, yeah, if Endless Legend isn’t clicking for you, try a different faction. Every faction is its own game!

-Tom

I never did understand the combat system in Endless Space, and how it related to ship construction, despite doing a lot of online research to try to understand it.

I think Endless Legend, when compared with Endless Space, does have a tendency to disengage the player, mainly, in my view, because of its diffusiveness: there’s simply too much to choose from at any given time. ES was much more simple and elegant in that respect.

My main reccommendation would be to play on a small or tiny map and, maybe, factor out certain aspects, like quests.