Caotico09 wrote:
My opinion: Its better to lean towards the side of micro-management then to remove gameplay features.

Sharklion wrote:


Research Tree;

Not sure I like the idea of eras for Endless Space. It worked for Endless Legend because of the theme and the structure of the tech tree. If you kept the same style of tree as Endless Space then eras wouldn't work. Maybe empire theming based on



what kinds of tech you've predominantly researched? so instead of eras being determined by the amount of tech you have but the style of tech.

I want to note that I REALLY liked how tech was in ES and the way unique techs for races was done.

I decided to comment on this because I think these two things go together. Eras made sense in EL, due to the shorter times scales and orbit of Auriga, but I don't think it fits with ES. While I do see where Caotico is coming from, I would say that adding additional complexity just for the sake of complexity is not always necessary and can actually have a negative impact on enjoyment. In that regard I would say that eras limiting research would be something that I would not like to see. I also agree with Sharklion that the way progression and racial bonus tech was handled in ES1 was very good and may be a case of don't break what is already working. I don't see it as removing anything, just not adding unnecessary complexity/micro just for the sake of it.

Nasarog wrote:
That's a ginormous mech... ground combat perhaps?

Yup! I'm second to that, anything on Invasion/ground combat? really love

the idea of wiping out enemies defence fleet and take thing up close and personal.

been thinking about it since ES1.

Answering a few questions! Thank you for your input, it is much appreciated!

Teslaflux wrote:
So if I conquer a Sophon planet I will add the Sophons as population to my empire, is this right? And the Sophon populaion would give my a science bonus while for example the Amobea(if they are still there) would give my some influence bonus. Did I understand this the right way?

You are correct. When you conquer a system, you will have some control over what you do with the population on the planet - but not complete. So yes, this means you will get populations in your empire from conquests. Also each population will have unique bonuses to the system they are in.

Sharklion wrote:
Population;

Does information of our actions travel instantly to the population? will it be effected by empire size? If a system is far away from the focal point of an event could it take longer for the population on that planet to be effected?

How about a system where you could purposefully restrict information and effect the approval or effectiveness of your workers

Information of actions are transmitted 'instantly' - but actions affect different scopes. Some actions will only affect a single system, some will affect a system and the neighboring systems and some will affect the entire empire (such as going to war). You can have majority militarist sophons in one end of your empire and majority scientist sophons in another end of your empire - but it will depend on the systems they are apart of.

Sharklion wrote:
Senate;

So does the player count as a king or as an elected minister/president? Can we decide to ignore the senate? If we conquer the system of another race how would the different race in the population effect the senate? As a craver/necrophage player will we still have a senate because that sounds awfully sophon-esque more then cravers.

How would heroes effect the senate? because surely a hero of well renown would be a hero of the people and would effect the senate!

The player is, similar to other 4X's a sort of 'external godlike hand' - though can roleplay the 'emperor/leader' but in terms of control you are sort of above that. The elections in the senate will open a possibility space of laws you can enact - and populations could be happy/unhappy depending on which you choose. But after the election - the results open a certain number of laws and you as the player are free to enact what you want. Also there is a concept of 'government type' we're looking into - having control over what sort of election is run (such as a dictatorship would ignore populations for the most part).

Sharklion wrote:
Economy;

Is there going to be an easier way to transport population from one planet to another in the same system to improve the generation of a certain resource? Could trading posts be built on cosmic strings to boost resource by getting stockpiles and such?

We currently do not wish to have a micro-management system concerning moving populations between systems. Populations will 'migrate' but it will be based on indirect actions the player take and the individual populations current conditions and wishes.

rockmassif wrote:
Any changes to how expansion disapproval works? You're making a lot of improvements regarding population, I would like to see some changes there too.

I cannot go into too much detail - but we do want to change this a little. Though there will still be expansion dissapproval in the game. It may in some cases seem like a contrivance - but in 4X, territory is so important, that having no restriction on it is not really a possibility.

EvilDM wrote:
You will probably still be able to terraform a planet but you will lose the luxury good unless it can also grew on the post terraformed planet. No spice on non-desert planets.

ImperiumRex wrote:
I was hoping to see the outpost/colony mechanics fleshed out or changed from ES 1.

We have not addressed this too much - but there will be a little more gameplay meat here. But more in terms of competition between empires instead of 'non-colony' outposts with bonuses.

Poet wrote:
Will there be any move toward cooperative gameplay? I love Endless Space, and Endless Legend would suck away years of my life, except I'd rather play games with friends than alone, I'd rather play with than against my friends.

We internally really want this as well. I currently cannot promise anything, but it is one of the higher priority multiplayer points. The issue is how these kind of settings make diplomacy and victory conditions a lot more complicated (on an architecture level).

I honestly can't wait for this game... But I will try, if I must... As soon as you place a price on it, I shall own it!



Only a couple things concerned me - the 'Era Split' for instance... this is my least favourite feature out of all of the Endless games, I love the tech in ES1 - everything has a fixed cost, there's no need to plan out what you get, only when you need it. Don't get me wrong, I don't 'hate' it, it's just my least favourite thing out of all of the Endless games :P ... aside from Serious Errors...



The only other thing that caused me concern was the EL inspired weapons/defences. I enjoyed them in EL, but I can't see them working in the context of ES. I'm sure you guys will do amazing with them, but I can't help but worry anyways.



A few things that we'd (my friends and myself) LOVE to see?

• Custom narrative in diplomacy:
  
  

It'd be great to have it appearance specific (Please keep appearance and affinity separate like in ES1!) responses as a default, but it'd be pretty neat to have the option for a custom message to show up through all/most diplomacy messages - especially war!

• A more complex invasion system:
  
  

May be more trouble than it's worth, but making invasion a little more interesting would be good - stationing troops on planets/stations to help defend would be great! As would things such as selecting priority targets for invading troops and such.

• Space Battle Options (more of 'em)
  
  

By this, we mean things like separate targeting for Bombers/Fighters (able to tell ships to spread-fire and bombers/fighters to nose-breaker), also boarding - We definitely want the ability to board enemy ships, perhaps even take them over! (mid-late game tech perhaps?)

• Even more Custom Faction Traits
  
  

We can never have too many, anything you can think of, throw it in!

• Co-Op Victories
  
  

Probably the one we want the most - It's a rather large let-down to win thanks to an alliance, but not see your friends on the podium. A co-op victory, even as a toggle-able option for Multi-player specifically would be welcomed. Perhaps making the co-op victory condition to be in a new diplomatic state: Like, being in an alliance, and being a declared 'Blood Brothers' or something. Perhaps a 'Unison' diplomatic option to essentially permanently 'wed' 2 empires together? Ofcourse, any AI would require copious amounts of respect to accept such a thing.



These are some things that'd we'd really love to see in ES2. Perhaps food for thought?

Regardless, I'm adamant that we'll enjoy our time with it - we've enjoyed (and still are) everything else!

Hello.



Same as the others, I don't really like the Era system for ES. I find it too restrictive.

In ES, you were able to go wherever you wanted to go, take the path you wanted to. In EL it's a bit always the same scheme.

So, either you work more on this aspect for it to seem not as restrictive as before, or I think it'll be better to have research treesimilar to ES but with more depth.

Hello,

I'm also not for an Era system, however Amplitude Studio are really good to do crazy good stuff so we'll see. I was more for a different pattern with a research tree with a blueprint/patent subtree.

First of all, thanks for your comments! We'll keep answering your questions and suggestions as they come

Galaxy: Not clear how it is more important and challenging then ES1.... The teaser video is confusing with the probes. Do you use the connecting lines or not? I did not like is ES1 when AI ships would randomly appear halfway across the galaxy at my home system when they should of been locked down at the frontlines later game



Could more planets/systems arise as time goes on. If there's a huge time scale then the shape of the galaxy might change and new connections be made. Could we possibly make systems or planets on late game tech? I can imagine a wormhole opening tech being available later on in the techtree - maybe a limit on fleet size that can go through to make them more hit and run.

We’re still using lanes to move ships from one node to another. Probes allow you to explore the surrounding space and discover unconnected nodes; once they are discovered, you will be able to send ships with free movement to them. Regarding the systems, we want some of them to be discovered later in the game, as they will require a specific technology to become visible. Creating systems from nowhere can be troublesome from a technical point of view however.

Research: Straightforward, sounds like EL. So nothing crazy :P. Would of liked to see a "new" attempt at research.

Not sure I like the idea of eras for Endless Space. It worked for Endless Legend because of the theme and the structure of the tech tree. If you kept the same style of tree as Endless Space then eras wouldn't work. Maybe empire theming based on what kinds of tech you've predominantly researched? so instead of eras being determined by the amount of tech you have but the style of tech.

I want to note that I REALLY liked how tech was in ES and the way unique techs for races was done.

We really like what we’ve achieved with Endless Legend in terms of pacing. Our current idea is to mix the era’s structure from Endless Legend with a link system, which will enable:

• Prerequisites on some technology
• Combos (if you unlock two technologies, you get an extra unlock)
• Choices (unlocking one of the tech, blocks the research of the other)
  
  

Still, we’ll provide more faction technology than in Endless Legend, we want to be closer to Endless Space on that part.

I was hoping to see the outpost/colony mechanics fleshed out or changed from ES 1. I found there are some systems which (at least in the early game) you might only want a presence in without commiting a lot of resources to building system improvements, population growth etc. Perhaps they have only gas giants, or no food/production rich worlds.

The outpost system is not exactly the same as in Endless Space, we’re working on dependency of the outpost from the empire. The main intention driving the design of the outpost is to offer early conflicts between empires, without going to war. And for that, we’ll allow different empires to colonize the same system and (in)directly fight to gain its ownership.



Cheers,

The outpost system is not exactly the same as in Endless Space, we’re working on dependency of the outpost from the empire. The main intention driving the design of the outpost is to offer early conflicts between empires, without going to war. And for that, we’ll allow different empires to colonize the same system and (in)directly fight to gain its ownership.

Sounds good!

Can I ask if/how we might see minor factions implemented for ES 2? And also raise the question of 'space pirates' as these tended to be quite contentious in ES 1 - so curious if they will make an appearance and how the player will interact with them.

So far ES_2 sounds and looks great.



Since we can shoot questions here goes question about one of my least favorite things to manage in ES, fleet management. So under assumption that in ES_2 things as CP's and blockading are still present.



Will there be any mechanics in place to prevent things like creating dozens of cheap ships for blockading systems, or the opposite when you run onto heavily blockaded system but you can attack only one fleet per turn. Some suggestions that cross my mind right now that I would like to see:



- some kind of fleet cap, like CP for ships in fleet, maybe dependant on galaxy size, faction in question, number of admirals etc... (not so sure about this one though)

- maybe even better, some kind of fleet upkeep (dust and maybe some influence), more fleets your empire have (regardless of number of ships), bigger the bureaucratic hell for empire to manage

- allow fleets to attack multiple time per turn (via some military tech)



I feel some of these implemented would give more emphasys on carefully choosing the compositions of your fleets, and also although there might be less battles overall, there would be more of those important ones.



Thanks in advance!

on the guy who said about agriculture planets. Thats something i would really like to see, it reminds me kinda of Elemental where at a specific level you could choose what kind of city specialization you wanted. Not necessary pick a specialization but focus on food for example and that food to be distributed to the rest of the empire through transports.



Also wanted to know more about battles. You make some choices before and then enjoy the show or there will be options during battle like first ES? Ground battles will make an appearence too?

BGMD wrote:
So far ES_2 sounds and looks great.



Since we can shoot questions here goes question about one of my least favorite things to manage in ES, fleet management. So under assumption that in ES_2 things as CP's and blockading are still present.



Will there be any mechanics in place to prevent things like creating dozens of cheap ships for blockading systems, or the opposite when you run onto heavily blockaded system but you can attack only one fleet per turn. Some suggestions that cross my mind right now that I would like to see:



- some kind of fleet cap, like CP for ships in fleet, maybe dependant on galaxy size, faction in question, number of admirals etc... (not so sure about this one though)

- maybe even better, some kind of fleet upkeep (dust and maybe some influence), more fleets your empire have (regardless of number of ships), bigger the bureaucratic hell for empire to manage

- allow fleets to attack multiple time per turn (via some military tech)



I feel some of these implemented would give more emphasys on carefully choosing the compositions of your fleets, and also although there might be less battles overall, there would be more of those important ones.



Thanks in advance!

on that mate. Fleet cap i believe is mandatory on ES2. Ridiculously vast numbers of fleets was really annoying

I am really excited for ES 2 and I would like to have some clearer understanding of how deep the fleet combat is going to be outside of just designing ships.



I think someone made a really good point that no matter how cinematic the battles are, people will tire of them quickly if there are not some compelling interactive elements that make you pay attention during the battles and take some kind of action. Now maybe battle cards like ES1 are not the answer, but I do not see how just telling your ships what route to take before combat begins will satisfy the need for meaningful player input.



This worries me because I am one of the folks that likes battles to be resolved with both good ship design but also somewhat the skill of the admirals. Will hero abilities play a more active role in battles now rather than just passive bonuses?

Slashman wrote:
I am really excited for ES 2 and I would like to have some clearer understanding of how deep the fleet combat is going to be outside of just designing ships.



I think someone made a really good point that no matter how cinematic the battles are, people will tire of them quickly if there are not some compelling interactive elements that make you pay attention during the battles and take some kind of action. Now maybe battle cards like ES1 are not the answer, but I do not see how just telling your ships what route to take before combat begins will satisfy the need for meaningful player input.



This worries me because I am one of the folks that likes battles to be resolved with both good ship design but also somewhat the skill of the admirals. Will hero abilities play a more active role in battles now rather than just passive bonuses?

Yeah, even though i can understand that design choice, I fear this will be a weak point of the game, especially since basically everyone is awaiting the new combat system.



I think you need two ways to see the battles. One with the full cinematic experience, and one with the style you see in the planning phase, faster, with more precisions about damage given and taken, as if you were actually some Emperor watching a tactical view of the fight. So you wouldnt have to choose between simply "see a cool battle" and "just skip at the results".



Another way around would be to be able to return to the planning phase at any time of the battle to issue new orders, but it would go against the "no micro management" that Amplitude seem to prefer.

Meedoc wrote:




We really like what we’ve achieved with Endless Legend in terms of pacing. Our current idea is to mix the era’s structure from Endless Legend with a link system, which will enable:

• Prerequisites on some technology
• Combos (if you unlock two technologies, you get an extra unlock)
• Choices (unlocking one of the tech, blocks the research of the other)
  
  

So.... like Civ 5 tech tree? With Era's but more tree like?

...once they are discovered, you will be able to send ships with free movement to them. Regarding the systems, we want some of them to be discovered later in the game, as they will require a specific technology to become visible.

Cold you expand more on travelling between planets that don't have lane connections? Will this be handled like ES1? Will new lanes be made? Is there anyway to intercept ships that are traveling through 'open' space?

The outpost system is not exactly the same as in Endless Space, we’re working on dependency of the outpost from the empire. The main intention driving the design of the outpost is to offer early conflicts between empires, without going to war. And for that, we’ll allow different empires to colonize the same system and (in)directly fight to gain its ownership.

How does this (in)direct fighting work? Could one of my outposts convert to an enemy without direct combat? If it is based on population growth (or similar), I could see it being very difficult to settle outposts/planets if a high-difficulty AI that gets resource bonuses can settle in the same system.





Edit: I agree with Slashman and Talfos on being interested in more information regarding how battles will work.

Caotico09 wrote:
So.... like Civ 5 tech tree? With Era's but more tree like?

Well sort of. Civ5 has nodes with one or more pre-requisites connections between all nodes.

We also have a few 'prerequisite' connections, so 'unlock A' before you can 'unlock B'. But we are also experimenting with other connections such as 'unlock A and B' to automatically 'unlock C' (or just unlock C without A and B). Or 'Unlock A' to get a science discount on 'unlocking B' (but again - no restriction on doing A first). But we're keeping the same overall system of Endless Legend, just with occasional connections to spice it up.

Overall, we're more happy with the more open choices of Endless Legend. There is merit to the sort of tree structure of ES (and the more focused version of Civ5), but we've decided to go with a system we believe is healthier in terms of meaningful choices and game pace.

Caotico09 wrote:
Cold you expand more on travelling between planets that don't have lane connections? Will this be handled like ES1? Will new lanes be made? Is there anyway to intercept ships that are traveling through 'open' space?

To travel to a system, you need to either be able to see the start of a lane going to that system OR see the system itself.

If you can see a lane, you will 'click' in the lane to move the ship to the end-node of that lane - mostly without knowing what is waiting on the other end of the lane.

If you can see the system, but do not see any lanes - the ship will travel through open space to that system.

So discovering systems with probes is a possible method of getting to a system, even if no lanes go to that system at all - meaning finding 'un-connected hidden' systems.

Like in ES there is no way to interact with ships that are currently in a lane. However, we do have actions to lock down systems and limit movement.

Caotico09 wrote:
How does this (in)direct fighting work? Could one of my outposts convert to an enemy without direct combat? If it is based on population growth (or similar), I could see it being very difficult to settle outposts/planets if a high-difficulty AI that gets resource bonuses can settle in the same system.

Outposts progress based on resources produced in your empire. So if the opposing empire finish their outposts first, all outposts in the system will go to them. Though we do have a small minigame of attempting to gain control using a few actions. Though we're still figuring out what we want that system to look like.

Caotico09 wrote:
Edit: I agree with Slashman and Talfos on being interested in more information regarding how battles will work.

Talfos wrote:
Yeah, even though i can understand that design choice, I fear this will be a weak point of the game, especially since basically everyone is awaiting the new combat system.

Slashman wrote:
I am really excited for ES 2 and I would like to have some clearer understanding of how deep the fleet combat is going to be outside of just designing ships.

There is a GDD (number 4 I think) entirely on the battle coming out, so we prefer holding off on going too much in depth until then. But basically, we are focusing on strategic pre-planning as opposed to tactical second-to-second play in the battle. We're not going for a strategic battle ala EL - the system inherits from Endless Space and expands on what we think made that system interesting.

To make my above post a bit clearer, I would like player tactical input to have a greater impact than just picking your flight routes. And I would like hero admirals to enhance or extend those tactical options.

Metalynx wrote:
But basically, we are focusing on strategic pre-planning as opposed to tactical second-to-second play in the battle. We're not going for a strategic battle ala EL - the system inherits from Endless Space and expands on what we think made that system interesting.

Will it be more about adapting the proportions of each type of unit within a fleet to counter your opponent´s proportion than it will be about putting each type of unit into use inside battle?



If so, will the "Retrofit" function be visually expanded so that players can be dynamically changing their fleet composition when they need to? Sorry if the question is redundant, I don´t how it work in Endless Space.

Metalynx wrote:
Well sort of. Civ5 has nodes with one or more pre-requisites connections between all nodes.

We also have a few 'prerequisite' connections, so 'unlock A' before you can 'unlock B'. But we are also experimenting with other connections such as 'unlock A and B' to automatically 'unlock C' (or just unlock C without A and B). Or 'Unlock A' to get a science discount on 'unlocking B' (but again - no restriction on doing A first). But we're keeping the same overall system of Endless Legend, just with occasional connections to spice it up.

Overall, we're more happy with the more open choices of Endless Legend. There is merit to the sort of tree structure of ES (and the more focused version of Civ5), but we've decided to go with a system we believe is healthier in terms of meaningful choices and game pace.

The example you stated sounds pretty cool. Will be interesting to see .



Will there be a required number of techs per era researched? Or will you be able to focus research more? If I wanted to ignore colonization techs and only focus on military weapons research could I? (This is one of my 'complaints' on EL research)



Let me give examples.

• In Civ 5 I have played different research paths, I have focused on pure military early game (lower tech tree), forced science and wonders (mid-upper tech tree), and focused on sea-faring (upper tech tree). I could then change focus as situation allows.
• In ES I split my games by focusing on different tech trees (expansion vs military) etc. In certain games I would try to get specific techs that were fairly deep into tech trees to get me a certain advantage that I wouldn't have in other games.
• In EL I mainly pick the same techs every time. Since I have to research a certain amount of techs per era, I research the 'good' ones and ignore the same ones every time. My techs chosen do vary slightly depending on which faction I have, but not much game-to-game. But you really cant focus on pure economy, or pure military paths because the era's are not "open"
  
  

This looks bloody amazing, can't wait to play it! Will there be new alien races? I was wondering if the races of Endless Legend would feature in some way or another.