Awakening: An Update

I agree with gwfwshoker  : the bugs are one thing but the expansion is poorly designed on top of them. Academy balance is off of course because we are used to crappy balance now.

Cool. Thx.

So when could Amplitude fix the bug I reported 6 mounths ago?

https://www.games2gether.com/amplitude-studios/endless-space-2/forums/114-bug-reports/threads/33724-the-game-cashes-if-a-mac-user-clink-diplomatically-status?page=1#post-281856

I love ES2 and still plays it now, but this bug, which still be here for even half a year, really disappoints me.

A number of you have been disappointed with Awakening—not the premise of the expansion itself, but the state it came out in.

For me, it's quite the opposite. I didn't encounter any major bugs so far. Probably I haven't played enough. I started a game with the Nakalim but it just felt uninteristing. The new relic mechanic is a nice idea but feels more like something that every faction should have access to (like the hacking system, that is special but not exclusive to the UC). Beside that the science head start is the only special trait remaining for the Nakalim. And that's not really something that makes them feel different compared to lumeris, sophons or others. 

In my opinion the faction doesn't fulfill the fantasy of rebuilding an ancient empire. Here are just a few things that could have easily been added:

- Start with all colonizable planets in your Home system already colonized. 

- Give them the ability to reclaim old systems (maybe every system in their constellation, or those with a relic, ...) by instantly turning them into an outpost (or a full colony but with some penality for a number of turns) for a price in dust or strategic resources (basically like the lumeris can).

- Have special curiosities that allow unique system projects to wake up additional pop from hibernation (could also be done by events, maybe with the choice to get a science boost instead). 

- Start with some more ships (where are all the ships we see in their opening cinematic?). Maybe colonizers, maybe warships. Could be balanced by making them slow and not changeable.

18 hours gametime. 

7 trys. 

6 games unable to play, after 120-150 rounds.

Only 1 succesfull play through

I was never able to complete the Nakalim’s questline. Your hotfix wasn't helpfull.

I had never experienced such a bad DLC-launch like this.

This was the last Amplitude DLC I have bought in the release month.

Thanks for wasting my time.

Invite more Beta-Testers next time.. I 've been let out this time :(  ;)

I appreciate the honesty and all the hard work. I haven't tried the Nakalim yet, but I've enjoyed the changes to the academy so far. I look forward to future updates, good luck stomping all those bugs.

gwfwshoker wrote:

A number of you have been disappointed with Awakening—not the premise of the expansion itself, but the state it came out in.

For me, it's quite the opposite. I didn't encounter any major bugs so far. Probably I haven't played enough. I started a game with the Nakalim but it just felt uninteristing. The new relic mechanic is a nice idea but feels more like something that every faction should have access to (like the hacking system, that is special but not exclusive to the UC). Beside that the science head start is the only special trait remaining for the Nakalim. And that's not really something that makes them feel different compared to lumeris, sophons or others. 

In my opinion the faction doesn't fulfill the fantasy of rebuilding an ancient empire. Here are just a few things that could have easily been added:

- Start with all colonizable planets in your Home system already colonized. 

- Give them the ability to reclaim old systems (maybe every system in their constellation, or those with a relic, ...) by instantly turning them into an outpost (or a full colony but with some penality for a number of turns) for a price in dust or strategic resources (basically like the lumeris can).

- Have special curiosities that allow unique system projects to wake up additional pop from hibernation (could also be done by events, maybe with the choice to get a science boost instead). 

- Start with some more ships (where are all the ships we see in their opening cinematic?). Maybe colonizers, maybe warships. Could be balanced by making them slow and not changeable.

Very nice ideas!

Frankly, when they first described the next faction as an ancient empire, I naturally thought that the we would have multiple systems already colonized at the very beginning.

If well implemented, your suggestions would make the Nakalim a truly unique and interesting Faction.

furthermore, I also think that the Relic system should have been accessible to every Factions, adding archeology related mechanics to the mix.

Regarding the OP, thanks for letting us know that you plan to fix your game. But this is far from the first time that you screw up a release due to lack of testing and poor management of the feedback of the Beta testers. I was in the last 2 Betas, and we warned that the Supremacy and Penumbra DLCs were not ready to be released. Amplitude is still trying to fix bugs and balance problems introduced by these DLCs to this day.

Anyway, I supported you from the very beginning (ES1 beta tester here), but the time where I blindly buy anything from you is over.

Apology accepted. Thanks again. 

honstly l already forseen this is the outcome of this dlc,but l wont tell it ,because some people in this form dislike my prediction

Keep it up you guys!

Endless Space 2 made me fall in love with 4x gaming. 

It is the best i played in 30 years!

(Preordered, haven't played yet)

So, Sega can afford less testers than Amplitude had while being independent?

Thanks for the response to the community. While none of us want to be in the position where Amplitude needs to write out an apology to the community it is refreshing to have acceptance of failure than pretending it doesn't happen. It would be nice to have a stronger QA presence for Amplitude as it does seem that this isn't the first time it has happened, at varying degrees, but hopefully over time lessons are learned and the studio adapts.

The market value of apologies is very low these days, considering how many get issued and what the follow-up is like (which is reminiscent of a serial killer going to confession every Sunday). The good news is that what matters in the long run is not the mistake but the practical response to it (because marketing can only carry you so far *coughcoughanthemcoughcough*).

I'm glad a fix is coming soon. I only encountered two bugs so far. I can build a science improvement over and over in a system and the game not progressing when ending your turn. The latter being present before awakening. I really like the new faction, my only minor complain is that if you play with a big map, it is hard to convert cities for the academy. Thanks.

Good to know guys. I normally don't buy DLC on launch date because of this. I always wait for the fixes. But to tell the truth, I always have greater expectations from this Studio and I am glad to know you try to honour them.

We have just released an opt-in work in progress preview of the patch. You can find the patch notes and instructions how to access it in the general forum.

Mistakes happen andI respect that you guys owned up to it. I love all your games, and I'm defonitely going to continue playing them. Thank you to the entire Amplitude team and keep up the hard work!