Enjoyed the base game, just picked up the DLC. This is kind of an underrated game imho. Not sure if the art style is the issue for some but it’s a pity.
Agreed. Out of the sheer glut of space 4Xs to come out recently, this has been my favorite.
I managed to put a bit of time into this game the last few evenings. I kind of like not knowing what the heck I am doing, and making a bunch of mistakes, but playing on normal difficulty so I can hopefully recover.
Blowing stuff up is pretty fun.
Edit: It’s interesting to me how differently some things play out than my last game of Stellaris.
So I established a colony at the southern end of my space. Nearby, I discovered a pirate base, but they were too far away to reach with my current technology. Oh well. I had a pretty decent fleet concentrated on my homeworld and another fleet reasonably close by. I sunk a lot of resources into the developing that planet, getting them past the point of slow growth and building up a decent population and mining industry.
Then the pirates attacked. They were faster than I expected, and only needed three turns to reach the colony. My fleet was four turns away. Oops. I had some fixed defenses at the colony (more sunk costs) but they weren’t enough to take out the pirate fleet, which also stronger than I thought due to some of the ships being stealthed. In tactical combat, I managed to snipe their assault transport with my defenses and celebrated. Hah, you won’t be taking my colony today, pirate scum! My fleet is only one turn away!
So they nuked the colony. Oh, everyone is dead now. Most of their fleet flies away before I get there. Oops.
I think about how that scenario would play out the last time I played Stellaris. I would actually be able to reach the pirate base, since there is no range concept. A spaceport at the reasonably developed colony would have been able to fight off some measly pirates in the early going. If it fell, the pirate would probably have limited themselves to blowing up some space mines. If they’d attacked the planet, it wouldn’t have been wiped out. My centrally-located fleet would have been able to get there before too much damage was done.
It’s a nice “you’re not in Kansas anymore” moment. Sometimes the old ways are the best.
I’ve been playing the hell out of this one too. Interesting, but not as deep as others, but does that really matter in a game?
So, 60% off right now. I’m thinking of this as a replacement for the sadly aged (and, in parts, annoying nowadays) SotS. Any comments on that?
I’d say it’s more toward the MoO1/SotS1 side of the slider than MoO2 and its ilk. Out of the recent deluge of space 4X games, it’s one of my faves.
I guess they are both space 4x games where they try to keep the economic aspects fairly simple. However, I don’t think anything in SiS couldn’t have been done in the SotS era. So if SotS hasn’t aged well, then I don’t see SiS as a glitzy update. SiS is very much not glitzy. SiS colonies still require a bit more attention than SotS colonies, though less than most space 4x games.
Also, SiS combat is MoO2-style turn-based. I find it has a very different feel than SotS. More Moo2 with quality of life improvements.
I agree with this. The planetary management is very streamlined. It seems like a more logical progression from MOO1 than MOO2 was. It’s my favourite of all the space 4Xs released since, well, MOO1.
Fair! Maybe SotS with different design choices?
An updated MOO sounds good too. I preferred MOO2 as a kid but as I’ve got older, the elegance of the original is starting to win out.
Interesting, this sale caught my eye as well and I was mulling over a purchase, sounds like a thumbs up then?
Most definitely.
I like MoO1 and I really like SiS. IMHO SiS is more fun than MoO2.
I haven’t got far into this yet, but so far I like it. There are a number of nice design features that reduce micro-management tedium (limited planet building slots; automatic building ugprades; decoupling metal production from industrial production) as well as increase strategy.
I need to experiment more with the tactical combat to see if it’s all that deep, but so far it reminds me a lot of SotS (in terms of design principles, not implementation). I’m hoping it does have good depth while still being playable by the AI, but we’ll see.
It also seems a somewhat half-way house between MOO and MOO2, but I too would rate it more like the former than the latter.
It’s obviously not as deep as many other recent games, but I appreciate the focus things game has and brings to the table.
Unlike SotS you can’t aim for hardpoints. But the sounds and flash of blowing up your opponents’ ships is satisfying. And being able to bandbox ships and moving/firing at once reduces some of the tactical combat clicking that I found annoying with MoO2.
This was a pretty niche element! I always felt I was abusing the AI when I did things like that, or took out their command ships, etc.
SotS had a lot more stuff in its combat, but a great deal the AI simply couldn’t use (or use effectively). The systems here are sufficiently simple I’m encouraged the AI could make use of it.
So the Legacies DLC has some mixed reviews, where a few people say it makes the game worse. Any truth to that?
I dunno. I played a mini-campaign last night for an hour or two and the new border mechanics and etc plus planet management made me reconsider this one. I’ll be back to it later this weekend.
I’ve been debating picking this one up and likely will while on sale, the reviews I’ve read made it sound like this was mainly the addition of a new race that most were calling a good addition?! Would love to hear first hand knowledge on it, for 3 bucks it seems like the obvious choice to pick it up with the main game unless the consensus is it breaks stuff horribly.
Do people have impressions of the updates to this game in the last year? I haven’t really looked at it in a while.
What the hell? I used the forum search to try to find a thread on this game at least three separate times and it never came up with anything.
I’ve actually posted some thoughts very recently in the Endless Space 2 thread. I’ll see if I can contact a mod to move it over to this one.