Endless Space

[BobTheJanitor]

We're about 2 months out from the super ultra mega Steam summer sale, and if the game doesn't go on some kind of discount then I'd be extremely surprised. Plus it should be a lot closer to finished by then. All that said, I don't think I'm regretting my early purchase so far. Now that I've managed to get a game going that isn't becoming unplayable due to unity bugs (so far) I'm quite enjoying it.

[Mánagarmr]

Isn't it on -25% sale already? That's what keeps popping up everytime I look at the page at least.

[Volatar]

I might be blind, but why haven't anyone of you mentioned the Space Empires series yet? In my eyes, they are the best 4X games out there. Old as hell, but really good. SE5 with the Balance mod is magic. Too bad it runs like a crippled hippo on modern systems


EDIT: Yeah, I was blind. As for Space Empires combat, I just run with auto-resolve tbh. Playing every battle by yourself is agonizingly slow. I set the formations, tactics and let my ships duke it out and they do a decent job as well.

I have played SEIII, IV, and V. While I like V, it really wasn't playable for me. It ran fine, but the balance was completely broken (note: I did not mod it), and the AI completely useless. (wouldn't expand, was nearly incapable of organizing an attack, and did stupid things like field carriers with no fighters)

I played SEIV a lot more and enjoyed it, but considering that I both modded AND played it with a large PBEM group I cannot fairly compare the two.

[Mánagarmr]

Aye, which is why I mentioned the Balance Mod for SEV. Without it, it's pretty much as you described: Broken.

[BobTheJanitor]

Isn't it on -25% sale already? That's what keeps popping up everytime I look at the page at least.

Well yeah, but that's just a pre-release discount. When the summer sale rolls around I would expect to see at least 50% off or more if it hits as a daily deal.

[Volatar]

Aye, which is why I mentioned the Balance Mod for SEV. Without it, it's pretty much as you described: Broken.

Does it fix the AI?

[Mánagarmr]

Aye, which is why I mentioned the Balance Mod for SEV. Without it, it's pretty much as you described: Broken.

Does it fix the AI?

No.






It replaces it.

[keith.lamothe]

On X... I love living-world games. I love space-games.  I really, really wanted to get into X3:TC.  I tried.  I failed.

I'm thinking that it's because I rarely have more than an hour at a time to play a game.  Is it possible to "get" X in relatively short sessions?

[Cyborg]

On X... I love living-world games. I love space-games.  I really, really wanted to get into X3:TC.  I tried.  I failed.

I'm thinking that it's because I rarely have more than an hour at a time to play a game.  Is it possible to "get" X in relatively short sessions?

Depends which of the 4X you are doing.  For example, delivery missions do not take long if you are using your jump drive (fast-forwards the travel a little bit). If you are chasing down the storyline, certain missions do take longer. I think what you think is taking long is really just the learning curve in trying to figure out how to do what you want. In that sense, it may feel like the missions take longer than they really do.

[keith.lamothe]

On X... I love living-world games. I love space-games.  I really, really wanted to get into X3:TC.  I tried.  I failed.

I'm thinking that it's because I rarely have more than an hour at a time to play a game.  Is it possible to "get" X in relatively short sessions?

Depends which of the 4X you are doing.  For example, delivery missions do not take long if you are using your jump drive (fast-forwards the travel a little bit). If you are chasing down the storyline, certain missions do take longer. I think what you think is taking long is really just the learning curve in trying to figure out how to do what you want. In that sense, it may feel like the missions take longer than they really do.

I didn't really get into the missions, I just played maybe 5 hours of learning my way around, mining asteroids (some of them were obviously soviet asteroids, because they mined me), and then some intra-system trade runs, and then some inter-system trade runs.  Iirc the latter was in the process of a delivery mission, and I'm not sure it worked properly (I probably just missed something).

I have both X3:TC and Albion Prelude (and X3:Reunion but iirc that doesn't have much in the way of mouse control).  Which would you suggest for trying it again?

[Cyborg]

I have both X3:TC and Albion Prelude (and X3:Reunion but iirc that doesn't have much in the way of mouse control).  Which would you suggest for trying it again?

Terran conflict. Start with the tutorial, do the first mission by talking to one of the pilots adjacent to the station. You may or may not have enough money for the jump drive that you can buy at that first station, depending on your starting point. Obviously choose the easy path first, I think they labeled them according to difficulty and modus operandi if I remember right. Do that first mission and see what you think. It should be simple, like flying into a sector where there is a fight going on and you are asked to help and then land at the space station.

[Volatar]

Note: Do not play Albion Prelude until you are a Terran Conflict vet. It makes the game really, really hard. (War. War everywhere.) I have played about 100 hours of Reunion and TC and I found it too hard. 

[eRe4s3r]

I don't think you can start Albion Prelude as a terran and not totally lose anyway. That is really one heck of a badly balanced expansion. There is also that earth territory has nearly no profitable trade or combat missions. And anything but manual trade is nearly impossible due to the situation.

There is also that large carriers camp on the exit gateways... Albion Prelude is one of these things where I ask myself "What were they thinking"

[keith.lamothe]

TC it is, thanks

[BobTheJanitor]

For getting in to the X games, this series of tutorial videos often gets recommended. There's about 4 or more hours worth of stuff there, all told. The guy does do a fairly decent job of explaining everything step by step, though. I actually watched all of them once upon a time, and then got distracted by another game anyway. It's silly. I have TC and AP and yet I have never put more than a couple of hours into the games. I'm sure there's some sort of fun, engaging game in there, but it feels like it's locked behind a 50 foot high wall with razor wire along the top. I've heard that the next X incarnation is supposed to be more streamlined and easier to get in to. Of course, I'm fairly certain they've been saying that about each release so far...