Hello fellow Endless spacers!

I am new to this genre in general but have some games in this genre: Endless space 1 and 2, Endless legend, Civilization 4/5/6, Galactiv civilizations 3, CK2, EU4 - just to mention some. At this momemt I feel I have basic understanding of EU4 and CK2. I have played Civ 6 and Endless space 2 the last few days. I have so much to learn. I have downloaded tutorials for all the games (in pdf) and watched a lot of tutorials and Let`s play videos on YouTube. 

What are some prerequisties to be play the 4X genre? What does the "pros" when they approach the game? 

I suppose someone used to play those games tends to learn how the outputsystem for a new game works and which buildings and techs work best for a quick headstart. (I wouldn´t call myself a pro compared to some other players in this forum though)

dragontyron wrote:

I know something that tripped me up with ES2 was how ship fleets are typically built. The game presents it as a sort of rock/paper/scissors between weapon types, but it turns out that energy weapons are considered objectively superior almost every time, and any differences in fleet composition are because of other factors, such as the presence of certain card tactics (making sure your fleets don't get wiped by the firing angles of their own turrets), Behemoths, or Blast Effect Batteries.

Just checking but didn't that get addressed with the last patch? Shields got a significan't buff vs energy weapons didn't they?

Barbarian_80 wrote:

Hello fellow Endless spacers!

I am new to this genre in general but have some games in this genre: Endless space 1 and 2, Endless legend, Civilization 4/5/6, Galactiv civilizations 3, CK2, EU4 - just to mention some. At this momemt I feel I have basic understanding of EU4 and CK2. I have played Civ 6 and Endless space 2 the last few days. I have so much to learn. I have downloaded tutorials for all the games (in pdf) and watched a lot of tutorials and Let`s play videos on YouTube. 

What are some prerequisties to be play the 4X genre? What does the "pros" when they approach the game? 

Your first mistake is trying to compare Paradox games to Amplitude games. As someone who played ES2 before EU4, I couldn't wrap my head around the latter for a long time. Amplitude 4x's like tend to be a lot more streamlined than Paradox's, and are easier to pick up in my experience. However, that lack of complexity also means there's a comparative lack of depth; there are some CRAZY things you can do in EU4 that have no comparative side in Endless Space 2. The two games are only barely comparable, basically, so trying to play one with the skills from another is like saying 'if I can sail a saiboat, I can paddle a canoe'.

In my experience with ES2, you start by finding as many planets conducive to your empire's race as you can and colonizing them first; bonus points for fertile and temperate planets, as a lot of early techs give you great early bonuses for each temperate and fertile world in the system. To that end, I go for Xeno-Industry first if I don't have it, so I can build ships faster; scouts or defense fleets mainly. Then I go for food tech so my population can grow. From there, if you don't already have Public-Private Partnerships (which at least 3 races start with by default, last I checked), get it, and from there, it's all situational. Generally speaking, if you have a shortfall or a problem to solve, base your research on that, and bend your industry to mitigate it in the meantime if you can. Don't over-expand if you don't have the fleets to protect your space, the population to spread, or the food to maintain them.

Dust-wise, you can't do anything with it for yourself unless you research a certain tier-two technology. Hoard it for the first part of the game, and then use it as you need it for buyouts and the market once you can. My suggestion is to make sure you have a positive income of Dust so that you can afford a buyout in 2 turns before trying to run lean on it. The Super Tax Law helps to shore up your Dust income if you have the Approval, which you really don't have to worry about that much as long as its above, say, 60% before the law is passed.

That's everything I can think of off the top of my head. Do that for the first 20-30 turns and you should be fine for the early game, barring Cravers, pirates, or any big hostile empire.