Endless Space 2

My gripe with the first one is that the AI was a complete idiot and never provided a real challenge.
I did like the first one a lot otherwise. I think Ill take a wait and see on this one unless there are EA players that can vouch for the AI.

Decided to dive into ES2, apart from a few missing UI and game elements, it certainly plays like a fully featured release right now. Especially with all of the cinematic flourishes, from zooming in on your systems, to the planet flybys when you discover a new star. You would be hard pressed to name a better looking 4X game. Not sure about the AI yet, but my first few hours have been engrossed in my own corner of the galaxy, teching up, running elections, fighting pirates, assimilating minors, doing missions. Very impressive so far.

The latest stream contains a lot of information regarding the AI, including a way of peeking under the hood of the AI. This may be more appreciated here than many places!

I watched that video on E.N.F.E.R. It’s certainly interesting! But I’m not sure how much use it will be to the player, especially as we won’t have full access to the dev cheat that allows them to poke around other empires. More importantly, my impression is that this tool isn’t an SDK that will expose the AI to modders. Maybe I’m wrong?

Still, it’s heartening to see the devs spending time on twitch discussing the AI with the fanbase.

Didn’t they show how to use a web browser to look at all that info? I got the impression all that was in the game for the players to dig into.

Yep, that’s the idea. You load the game, then type in a URL, and after a moment, your browser shows you the AI’s game state. You can see why it’s doing what it’s doing. Which is cool! I guess the idea is that the tool will help players identify and report weaknesses in the AI? I’m not sure the tool allows players directly to mod the AI.

So yep, I think it’s great. I’m just not sure it’s a modder’s tool.

The Unfallen! Unable to fall!

I’ve Unfallen, and I’m good, thanks.

This and the United Empire – it makes me wonder what the process is behind Amplitude Studios’ naming of alien species/organizations.

I’ve unfallen and I can’t get down.

You know the difference between a chicken and duck? With a chicken you can only get feathers, but you can get down with a duck.

With this coming out in a little over a week, how is everyone feeling about it that’s had some time with it? I’m in the market for a new sci-fi 4X game, and this one is only $30 and while I never quite click with the Endless games (for whatever reason) I might give this a try, depending on what you guys have for impressions.

Also, is the price going up when it launches out of early access?

I haven’t spent a lot of time with it, but I’m intrigued by what I’ve seen. I’m anxiously awaiting release day.

I only dabbled and like it as a whole even though I still didn’t think the combat was great.I plan to get more into it soon - but maybe not before release.

"Also, is the price going up when it launches out of early access?

yes…it will be 39.99 at launch…its a 25% discount now but doesn’t say it because steam only states a ‘sale price’ for one week only and its been this price for months

someone needs to tell me what to buy…es2/stellaris or galciv 3 crusades…i’m leaning towards es2…stellaris will never be done like every damn paradox game and galciv3 crusades reminds me of civ in space…i’m tired of playing civ for 26 years

You buy Distant Worlds is what.

Now that’s just mean. Why would you do that to someone?

If you have issues with ongoing development, then yes, I would steer clear of Stellaris for sure. GalCiv3 with the Crusade update feels less “Civ in Space”, but it’s still got that DNA at its core. Distant Worlds is arguably a little more entertaining than staring at your desktop wallpaper.

ES2 still has food, production, and science, but to me it feels a lot more divergent from a “Civ in Space”. Granted, I’ve (intentionally) played it very sparingly in Early Access, so I don’t know if issues with the AI or endless fleet spam that I heard plagued the first one are still present, but I’ve liked a lot that I’ve seen.