I really like Endless Space, but I just cannot play it for long because:



-The auto system manager isn't as smart as I am (It does okay-ish, but I'm heavily OCD, so that's not good enough)

-The more a game progresses the more the micromanagement of your colonies just takes over. In my current gamesession, Turn 77, I'd say I've micromanaged my Economy and Systems for about 93% of the time, and it just isn't fun enough.



I'm looking for similar games, examples:

(my favourite) Sword of the Stars (very little economic management if any, also epic combat, which ES lacks)

Sins of a Solar Empire (is actually a bit too RTS-y, but at least easy on the economy time spenditure and lots of combat, do much prefer modular ships though)



I'm not looking for games like the Civilization series, they are just downright terrible, the combat in ES is lacking, but at least you can do a lot with the components, but Civ has no combat whatsoever. (At least the latest, Civ 5)



Any suggestions are welcome

1) the auto system manager isn't smart enough for anyone. I haven't met a single person who uses it (the devs do need to power it up)

2) I don't micro manage my colonies. I have forge systems and systems turning Industry into Dust/Science during the late game, when I have all the improvements in my high systems. I don't bother putting expensive improvements into my smaller systems since they do more good converting Industry.



My suggestion is that you stick around for the expansion pack. Combat will become far more epic.

The combat is actually not that bad in ES... I don't like the way it works with the waves, but you can already do a lot, with the cards and all (even though atm the AI doesn't use cards anymore, must have somehow broken it with my mods, but couldn't figure out what exactly), and since you can design your own ships.

I'm on turn 78 now (20 minutes of playing = 1 turn ), with 22 colonies... I'm probably just playing the game wrong, but that's my OCD...



Also, I have no intention of abandoning ES, but I'm afraid there's another awesome game out there that I'm missing out on, and I'd like to try it, there's quite a few in the works that I'm waiting for.

ES is the best turn based 4X strategy game that I have come across, so I can't point you anywhere but here.



20 minutes per turn??? You are extremely OCD lol That's probobaly your main problem right there. Of course, you could try playing the game on slow so that you can take it in more bite sized chunks.

You can try Galactic Civilizations 2 and Distant Worlds... Master of Orion (1 or 2, 3 was pretty horrible) or Star Empires IV if you want to go old school... (not going Stars! old school if anyone complains ) or Star Drive (but it's still in beta). Later this year (according to devs) a MMO RTS 4X is going to come out, but I'd read the reviews first . Those cover most of the best Space 4X's (at least that I know... XD)



Stealth_Hawk, I played a fast game earlier, and I'd have 80+ construction finishes a turn (while I was mass terraforming and improving systems and building a fleet) so it MIGHT not be the OCD's fault XD



PS: Thanks to Stealth_Hawk () I also remembered Homeworld (Getting stuck on a campaign mission kind of spoiled it for me, but I might try again later...)

Homeworld 1, 1.5 and 2 are probably my favourite games of all time, simply because they're so awesome :P



I didn't quite have 80 constructions finished, but I micromanage my systems to first mass food, then once ~15-20 pop mass industry, to get up improvements, then back to food, then on to science.



My main issue however is that I play with a modified galaxy generation: I got sick of the insane imbalances in galaxy generation, so now my galaxy generates as Large or Huge, 6 planet systems, and each enemy "district" has an equal amount of planets, also every planet has an anomaly (I'm playing with a mod that adds a truckload of anomalies, spreads the anomaly unlocks around the research tree, and all anomalies turn into +1-3 fids-ish benefits after lots of research (the bad ones that is, the good ones can be better).



I first played ES a few months ago (when I made this account), and simply couldn't play it as I was forced to play Amoeba to see how the starting conditions were, I created games for about 4-5 hours, and I could predict how it would go after looking at the starting position, I ended up playing one where I was somewhere between two enemies (planets wise), and lo and behold, 70 turns later the enemy which was ~20 planets short in his area was dead, I uninstalled it shortly after.



Now, with this mod, I can play, and I have to say I'm having a blast, but my 20 systems (6 planets each) require as much work as 40 normal ones.



Also, no AI ever dies out due to a bad starting position, we're all on a rather even footing.





The only downside is I'm currently employing missile boats to incredible effect, nothing but missiles (the first ones which require a resource), and the small hull that requires a resource makes for one shot one kill boats for incredible low cost. The enemies ships cost 250-350ish, mine cost <100, and I'm trading them 1:1. The AI hasn't caught on to making flak yet, which is a shame.



Next game I wont use that tactic.



Oh, and thanks everyone for your suggestions. Distant Worlds wasn't for me (from what I saw from the youtube videos), but I'll definitely give Galactic Civilizations 2 a go. Not sure if I can stomach something as old as MoO, but then again, only the graphics would be bad, so I might as well

Sentenza wrote:


The only downside is I'm currently employing missile boats to incredible effect, nothing but missiles (the first ones which require a resource), and the small hull that requires a resource makes for one shot one kill boats for incredible low cost. The enemies ships cost 250-350ish, mine cost <100, and I'm trading them 1:1. The AI hasn't caught on to making flak yet, which is a shame.

These are what is known as "Glass Cannons" Aka suicide bombers. There is currently much discussion on how to eliminate this glass cannon effect. Until then, it is not tolerated if you use it during one of my MP games lol

TBH, I've tried them, used them for a spell, but got off it, it's simply a cheat against the AI.



What kinda breaks the game for me is the incredible amount of micromanagement necessary to properly develop and get the max out of your systems

Try Sword of the stars, the only system management you do is set new colonies to max out terraforming until it's done, then science or industry depending on what you want to do otherwise. Science or trade, forgot which one :P, either way, it's almost all combat... It's not as in depth as ES, you create fleets, choose fleet formation then an attack pattern, followed by watching the battle unfold until time runs out or they're all dead.