I'm sure there are a lot of Gal Civ fans out there, but myself, I was dissappointed with it, too simple, too many years since MOO2 and still no credible successor.



Is this game 'better' than Gal Civ (or Gal Civ 2?) The pictures are prettier, that's for sure, in the trailer. But I don't care that much for pretty pictures. What I'd like is a game with the depth of play and customization of MOO2. Or more!



So where are people seeing this rate? I don't feel like being a lemming and buying a game in alpha based off a trailer without some more facts to look at.

take youre time to read the first impresions on this forum and make up youre mind.

I shall only say this.

I had the privilege to play in pre-alpha status more or less from the start.

Despite having a full job, vacation, a real life and so on... I am over 50 hours play time and enjoyed every minute of it.

For me, it is THE successor of MOO2, already, in this Alpha status.

Maxsimal wrote:
I'm sure there are a lot of Gal Civ fans out there, but myself, I was dissappointed with it, too simple, too many years since MOO2 and still no credible successor.



Is this game 'better' than Gal Civ (or Gal Civ 2?) The pictures are prettier, that's for sure, in the trailer. But I don't care that much for pretty pictures. What I'd like is a game with the depth of play and customization of MOO2. Or more!



So where are people seeing this rate? I don't feel like being a lemming and buying a game in alpha based off a trailer without some more facts to look at.

I was disappointed in Gal Civ / Gal Civ 2 also.



This looks to be a whole lot better !!! But I've just started playing with it, so far I'm very pleased & impressed.

look a lot better too, the onlything that brings me down a notch is no real time combat just 3 phase combat

Maxsimal wrote:
I'm sure there are a lot of Gal Civ fans out there, but myself, I was dissappointed with it, too simple, too many years since MOO2 and still no credible successor.



Is this game 'better' than Gal Civ (or Gal Civ 2?) The pictures are prettier, that's for sure, in the trailer. But I don't care that much for pretty pictures. What I'd like is a game with the depth of play and customization of MOO2. Or more!



So where are people seeing this rate? I don't feel like being a lemming and buying a game in alpha based off a trailer without some more facts to look at.

At this point in the alpha the ship customization and combat is nowhere near the depth or complexity you'd find in MOOII. It's more like Galciv II combat right now with the exception of the addition of the 3 tactic choices during the course of the fight. Ship design itself has potential but currently boils down to 3 damage types 3 defense types and HP filling up a total weight limit. I don't know what the plans are to expand ship design and combat, if any, but it's definitely the weakest part of the game currently. Empire building and colonization on the other hand is spot on and my only complaints are minor UI annoyances. It's my favorite 4x space game since MOOII and with some more depth to combat/ship design combined with a decent espionage and diplomacy system it'll be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.

Radagar wrote:
I don't know what the plans are to expand ship design and combat, if any, but it's definitely the weakest part of the game currently. Empire building and colonization on the other hand is spot on and my only complaints are minor UI annoyances. It's my favorite 4x space game since MOOII and with some more depth to combat/ship design combined with a decent espionage and diplomacy system it'll be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.

I have only played around 8 hours so far, and I find that I agree with Radagar on this. Even as the game is now, I expect that I will easily put in 50 hours over the next week or so. With improvements to combat/ship design, and the addition of some of the game components that have yet to be added (like the other races and multiplayer), I see many more hours of playing ES in my future.

As far as I am concerned, GalCiv II had a convoluted economical model, annoying tile-based improvements and bland combat and ship customization - mind you, it was aesthetically pleasing, but all you could do was in fact tweaking ship statistics by adding more or less components. Such problems I don't see in ES -ship design and battles are somewhat superior to GalCiv in my book, even if not too good - so, speaking from alpha experience, it could well be a better game. Nevertheless, GalCiv also have a killer AI that could be difficult to live up to.