I just wanted to respond to some of your feedback with some of my feedback as well!

1. Take away forced truce. It's rediculous that even the Cravers can force a truce on me! Include a war weariness penalty by all means, but techs/boosters etc should also be available to offset war weariness to give the player more flexibility in strategy. After all, the player is already penalized by the expansion penalty, why double penalize him? The highly arbitrary nature of forced truce also doesn't make sense. Why should a more powerful faction stop attacking for 10 turns just because the faction about to be destroyed says so? What if you're behind a faction close to a turn victory and need to take over one of their planets at the last minute to tip the balance in your favor, but no, you suddenly get forced truce. It's outrageous.

I agree, I don't get the forced truce thing. I'm not totally against it as a mechanic, but it needs to be a rare option somehow (like, only the one who declared war can force a truce, maybe?)

2. Provide clearer explanation in the politics UI on how the political system works. The politics system currently seems to take on a mind of its own and is oversensitive. For example, political support should not be so sensitive simply because you built something that pleases an affinity group. It's too unstable. If you want to implement this, at least require several buildings of the same affinity and events to affect affinity support. In short, make it less sensitive and explain to the player how he can have more control over the political system beyond just using dust or influence during an election to get an outcome you're neither sure about nor understand why.

I also agree here. In my current game, I haven't researched a single war tech aside from ship hulls (so I haven't built ANY war buildings), but when I built about 8 ships, the Militarists exploded and became the dominant political faction. I haven't been invaded for more than a turn, haven't seen any ground combat, and I haven't invaded any other systems. I have probably 10 systems under my control, I figured that 8 ships shouldn't really make that faction become so crazy. Maybe in the single system that built all of the ships, but all the other systems shouldn't have any militarists at all since they haven't seen any military production. 

4. Fragmented techs cripple gameplay and are highly sub-optimal. For example, there should have been only 1 or 2 colonization techs instead of 7-8 spread out over different eras. When I finished my Lumeris campaign, more than half the planet types remained uncolonized because I did not have the appropriate tech due to such fragmentation! It just kills immersion. The buy out option that was immediately available in ES1 was turned into a separate tech in ES2 that you had to research. Such fragmentation is also unnecessary and wastes research time.

I don't agree with you here. I like the fragmentation to a point, though I do believe it has plenty of problems. As far as colonization goes, I like being forced to pick and choose which planet types I will go for and which ones I will ignore. I don't agree with this notion that in space strategy games, you MUST colonize EVERY planet--to me, that breaks immersion, because it makes absolutely no sense to me that space faring civilizations would colonize every single piece of rock they come across. I almost wish there was a way you could build outposts that do not become colonies, but instead become resource generating hubs--like you build a mining facility on that tiny barren planet that you're never going to colonize, but at least you could get a little bit of industry out of it. Or maybe you could build a space station orbiting that one gas giant that isn't doing anything for you, and maybe it could work as some sort of tourist destination and give you Dust. 

5. Reduce buyout costs and scale them according to the era the building belongs to and their benefits relative to the buyout cost. Currently, the buyout costs are prohibitive. It also seems that the buyout cost is disproportionate to the improvement's production point requirements, although it's just a gut feel.

I don't know about this one. In my current game as Lumeris, I make like 1k-2k Dust per turn during mid-late game, and I feel that buyout costs are fair. Buying something outright should be prohibitive in my mind, and should only be available to those who really invest in Dust like I have. Because I've focused on Dust, my military is very, very weak. Being able to buy lots of ships in an instant can offset that weakness a bit. I do think that some things could be cheaper for buyouts, like some of the earliest improvements, just so you can get a bit of a jump start on new colonies started in mid-late game. 

7. Remove the default "zoom all the way" view of each individual system everytime you scroll the mouse wheel as it's annoying and unnecessary. I often had to control my scrolling speed to avoid going "all the way" beyond the probe view! The closest scroll zoom level should only be up to the probe view. This is also another reason why having a master "list box" as mentioned earlier is so useful. You can locate individual systems quickly and efficiently if you wish to build stuff.

I agree with you completely, it is super annoying.

11. Is there an auto resolve option for battles? I can't seem to find it in the battle screen.

Yes, it's the slider that says "watch" on the bottom of the battle popup. Set it to grey and it'll auto resolve the battle. 

I'll chime in on 4 and 6.

The tech "tree" is very hard to understand in its current incarnation.

• There are unclear goals regarding what is required to get to the next era.
• Things that should be baseline mechanics are instead researches.
• Early "off-road" travel undermines the nature of constellations. Better to keep the wormholes from ES1.
• Some techs have icons, some have pictures, none are big enough to tell what it is showing.
• The above is compounded by the "busy" color schemes and backgrounds of ES2.

werewolf_nr wrote:

 

• Early "off-road" travel undermines the nature of constellations. Better to keep the wormholes from ES1.

Agree with that. But I think that better than putting them from start, will be moving the tech to uncover wormholes to Era I or Era II and leave free movement in Era III.

werewolf_nr wrote:

I'll chime in on 4 and 6.

The tech "tree" is very hard to understand in its current incarnation.

• There are unclear goals regarding what is required to get to the next era.
• Things that should be baseline mechanics are instead researches.
• Early "off-road" travel undermines the nature of constellations. Better to keep the wormholes from ES1.
• Some techs have icons, some have pictures, none are big enough to tell what it is showing.
• The above is compounded by the "busy" color schemes and backgrounds of ES2.

If you've played Endless Legend, you'll know that the tech tree in ES2 is non-linear like EL. There are no goals to get from one era to the next. You can research any techs in any order in an era and I think once you have reached any 10 techs, it automatically unlocks techs for the next era. You can also go back to research earlier era techs after reaching the next era, but every new tech you research will require an increasing amount of science points. This is challenging but also very fun because it makes you think carefully what techs you want to prioritize earlier to get them at a lower science cost to save research time on them. The downside in ES2 is that although the EL tech tree works well, the accompanying mechanics like tech, production etc boosters were not brought over into ES2, which means you need to pay much more attention to science unless some other mechanic is also introduced to help offset the escalating science costs. The good news is that some hero traits in ES2 also have science bonuses and if you play your cards right, research should still be manageable though I still like to see boosters in ES2.

I agree wormholes are cool, but if implemented, I'd like to see them appear earlier in the game than in ES1. All exploration techs should be accessible in era 1 as the early game mostly requires exploration, while related techs in later eras could simply give movement bonuses. Free movement, or "off-road" travel as you call it, should be accessible in era 1  or latest era 2 for the same exploratory reason. Unlike ES1, ES2 also has hidden constellations that can be uncovered by probes. Without early access to "off-road" travel, it would delay their exploration unnecessarily or prevent certain quests from being fulfilled until much later. Another reason why early access to exploration techs is so important is because certain factions like Cravers and Vodyani need to uncover enemy planets asap to capture/exploit them.

I updated my wishlist with 11 and 12. This game is still quite raw in its current state.

idlih10 wrote:

werewolf_nr wrote:

I'll chime in on 4 and 6.

The tech "tree" is very hard to understand in its current incarnation.

• There are unclear goals regarding what is required to get to the next era.
• Things that should be baseline mechanics are instead researches.
• Early "off-road" travel undermines the nature of constellations. Better to keep the wormholes from ES1.
• Some techs have icons, some have pictures, none are big enough to tell what it is showing.
• The above is compounded by the "busy" color schemes and backgrounds of ES2.

If you've played Endless Legend, you'll know that the tech tree in ES2 is non-linear like EL. There are no goals to get from one era to the next. You can research any techs in any order in an era and I think once you have reached any 10 techs, it automatically unlocks techs for the next era. You can also go back to research earlier era techs after reaching the next era, but every new tech you research will require an increasing amount of science points. This is challenging but also very fun because it makes you think carefully what techs you want to prioritize earlier to get them at a lower science cost to save research time on them. The downside in ES2 is that although the EL tech tree works well, the accompanying mechanics like tech, production etc boosters were not brought over into ES2, which means you need to pay much more attention to science unless some other mechanic is also introduced to help offset the escalating science costs. The good news is that some hero traits in ES2 also have science bonuses and if you play your cards right, research should still be manageable though I still like to see boosters in ES2.

The tech system is anything but thought-provoking. If you picked anything other than colonization tech, government tech, and then access to the materials, congrats, you just screwed yourself. The era system needs to be dropped outright, and the good old tech tree brought back, so we can get back to actually choosing how to develop our race.

Woefinite wrote:

I just wanted to respond to some of your feedback with some of my feedback as well!

1. Take away forced truce. It's rediculous that even the Cravers can force a truce on me! Include a war weariness penalty by all means, but techs/boosters etc should also be available to offset war weariness to give the player more flexibility in strategy. After all, the player is already penalized by the expansion penalty, why double penalize him? The highly arbitrary nature of forced truce also doesn't make sense. Why should a more powerful faction stop attacking for 10 turns just because the faction about to be destroyed says so? What if you're behind a faction close to a turn victory and need to take over one of their planets at the last minute to tip the balance in your favor, but no, you suddenly get forced truce. It's outrageous.

I agree, I don't get the forced truce thing. I'm not totally against it as a mechanic, but it needs to be a rare option somehow (like, only the one who declared war can force a truce, maybe?)

Have forced truce tied to a third-party. You pay them, some way some how, and they enforce a truce. The third-party doesn't necessarily need to be omnipotent or even just merely strong; all that's necessary is to make the truce a better deal than continued war.

The side trying to force a truce has to expend resources to do it. The side on the receiving end can ignore the enforcement but risk being ganged up on.

Anyways, that's just some theorycrafting on the general idea. I'm not so sure it'd work well within the Endless Space setting, but maybe it could be expanded on or mutated from here?

Romeo wrote:

idlih10 wrote:

werewolf_nr wrote:

I'll chime in on 4 and 6.

The tech "tree" is very hard to understand in its current incarnation.

• There are unclear goals regarding what is required to get to the next era.
• Things that should be baseline mechanics are instead researches.
• Early "off-road" travel undermines the nature of constellations. Better to keep the wormholes from ES1.
• Some techs have icons, some have pictures, none are big enough to tell what it is showing.
• The above is compounded by the "busy" color schemes and backgrounds of ES2.

If you've played Endless Legend, you'll know that the tech tree in ES2 is non-linear like EL. There are no goals to get from one era to the next. You can research any techs in any order in an era and I think once you have reached any 10 techs, it automatically unlocks techs for the next era. You can also go back to research earlier era techs after reaching the next era, but every new tech you research will require an increasing amount of science points. This is challenging but also very fun because it makes you think carefully what techs you want to prioritize earlier to get them at a lower science cost to save research time on them. The downside in ES2 is that although the EL tech tree works well, the accompanying mechanics like tech, production etc boosters were not brought over into ES2, which means you need to pay much more attention to science unless some other mechanic is also introduced to help offset the escalating science costs. The good news is that some hero traits in ES2 also have science bonuses and if you play your cards right, research should still be manageable though I still like to see boosters in ES2.

The tech system is anything but thought-provoking. If you picked anything other than colonization tech, government tech, and then access to the materials, congrats, you just screwed yourself. The era system needs to be dropped outright, and the good old tech tree brought back, so we can get back to actually choosing how to develop our race.

I find that EL's tech tree has the advantage of greater flexibility for you to choose what techs to prioritize in every game. Granted there are certain techs that are "must haves" like farms, but the point is you have complete flexibility over what techs to go for first without constraints over forced prerequisites apart from era availability. The catch of course is the esaclating science costs of each consecutive tech you research including techs belonging to the same era (that should all cost the same/similar science points by conventional logic), which actually makes you think carefully what you want to prioritize first. So technically, you can choose any tech unlocked by the era in any order, but in practice, you often have to face the thought provoking choice of prioritizing between different techs that may appear to be equally urgent, knowing that the ones prioritized later would have a higher science cost because of your decision. It's a brilliant mechanic.

idlih10 wrote:

I find that EL's tech tree has the advantage of greater flexibility for you to choose what techs to prioritize in every game. Granted there are certain techs that are "must haves" like farms, but the point is you have complete flexibility over what techs to go for first without constraints over forced prerequisites apart from era availability. The catch of course is the esaclating science costs of each consecutive tech you research including techs belonging to the same era (that should all cost the same/similar science points by conventional logic), which actually makes you think carefully what you want to prioritize first. So technically, you can choose any tech unlocked by the era in any order, but in practice, you often have to face the thought provoking choice of prioritizing between different techs that may appear to be equally urgent, knowing that the ones prioritized later would have a higher science cost because of your decision. It's a brilliant mechanic.

One that only seems to fix something that wasn't broken. What you're describing is what the tech tree ends up forcing, while still allowing for an even more focused rush if needed/wanted. I don't mind Endless Legend's system all that much, although I'm certainly not a fan of it. But it's fine within that game. The system sure as hell doesn't belong anywhere near Endless Space though, as it doesn't fit in terms of gameplay or lore.