First post, so hey, I'm Merku, nice to meet you.



Feedback:

General impressions on the alpha are very good. So far there has been only one freeze-crash while trying to tend to early game planetary exploitation. I was unable to reproduce this and won't go into it.



Good points:

Atmosphere and immersion is great.

UI is smooth and functional.

Graphics, though not state of the art, are stylish and executed very well.

The battles in the game are entertaining; not as stressful as those in SotS or Sins and not dull like in Gal.Civ.2. Hoping to see more tactical choices for the phases in the future, including race-specific and research-unlock ones.

Music is generally good.

System-Planet interaction is logical and flows well.

Strategic map is beautifully rendered.



Problems:

Map generation seems problematic. Example: My 2nd game, playing as Sophons on a 2-spiral galaxy, tiny, with 3 players total - there is a solid third of the galaxy purely to myself. There are no points that lead out except through one of those non-fully formed jump lanes. This greatly limits the interaction with the other players. Given that it was only my 2nd game it left me with the ability to learn quite a bit without hassle of being bothered by other players. Still, given the structure of the research system and my lack of familiarity with it I was unsure, even after some checking, as to which technologies would be required to try and traverse that unstable or non-fully formed lane. It left me stuck in my third of the galaxy.



I have a joystick attached to the computer; a Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2. This joystick controls the view on the main map. This is incredibly irritating since it has to lean at an odd angle for the map to stop moving around.



Suggestions:

Regarding map generation - either prevent the generator from making the map with divided portions only accessible through unstable jump lanes or create an option to prevent this from happening.



Regarding the joystick problem - either add an option to disable gamepads/joysticks in the menu or disable them completely.



The buttons in the top-left corner of the galaxy view could be a bit bigger. More width would likely work. This could also be a misperception since I am using a large widescreen monitor, though.



Make the main menu accessible through a key. I don't recall any key working and having to mouse-click the menu button in the top-left of the galaxy screen.



Overall impression thus far:

I'm extremely impressed by the quality of the game so far. The game is in alpha-state but is remarkably stable and actually fun to play, even now. I'm eager to see how it progresses.



Final question... I bought the Emperor's edition and want to know how to get those forum perks. :P How do I go about doing that?



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Merku

Merku wrote:


Final question... I bought the Emperor's edition and want to know how to get those forum perks. :P How do I go about doing that?



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Merku

Go to the steam library, right click on endless space, select show product key, copy product key, click on the upper left amplitude logo in this forum while logged in, click on your name in the upper right, enter product key, have 1000 g2g-points.

Hello again. I've had much more time with Endless Space since writing that initial impressions piece and have some modifications to the initial feedback.



First:

Map generation seems to have a means of altering these wormholes or whatever already in the form of the constellation connections. This is fantastic. I still suggest, however, that how to traverse these wormholes be made more apparent to the player in the tutorial. Say, the first time a player runs into a system with a connection like that to have a prompt come up stating what technology unlocks the ability to get through. This would lessen that learning curve a bit.



Second:

Planetary invasion needs more explanation as far as how it works. I figured it out after some trial and error (designing ships with lots of planetary invasion weapons and stacking fleets of them in a star system) but this, like the wormhole part, was not clear either through the tutorial or upon engagement. Once I figured out how to do this it made a lot of sense, but it needs to be introduced with more clarity to prevent some newbie facepalming.



Third:

Battles are fun to watch. The angles for the battle do not seem to change, though. It is as though the same movie is playing, with the same camera angles, just with some different actors and weapons. Adding some more angles or patterns for the battle sequences would liven things up. Still, they are fun to watch. Adding something like battle chatter may also help with some subtle immersion, especially in the presence of a hero character leading the fleet.



Fourth:

If two players are at war with one another there should be an automatic prompt for combat if enemy fleets are encountered. The player(s) can choose whether to engage or not via this prompt. It will help in cases where, during system invasions, a fleet shows up to foil the invasion and should be swatted away. During my last (extended) play session yesterday there was a long war with the Hissho. During the invasion of their core systems it became somewhat difficult to keep track of when enemy fleets would arrive to prevent the invasion from continuing in the various systems. A prompt for combat in these systems would help draw attention to them.



Part of the problem with the planetary invasions being foiled by enemy reinforcements is in the placement of the enemy fleets when occupying the same system as your own. Your fleet icon is positioned to the right of the star system whereas the enemy fleet occupies a position below it, around a 4-5 o'clock position. In the particular orientation of systems that I was invading during my war with the Hissho the system sending reinforcements was from that direction. Due to lack of prompting, it was difficult to determine if a fleet had arrived in the system or was merely close and still heading from that general direction. Placing an enemy fleet on the opposite side of your own fleet icon, the left side of the star system, would make this more intuitive along with additional notifications of encountering the enemy. So in the event an enemy fleet arrives several things can happen: (1) a prompt comes up saying an enemy fleet has arrived, would you like to engage in combat; (2) the star system in question highlights or flashes or somehow becomes evident that there is potential combat in that system; (3) placing the enemy fleet icon opposing your own would make it more evident that the fleets are both in system and not merely heading from another direction.



tl;dr version of above:

Add more information about how to traverse wormholes, which tech unlocks it, etc..

Planetary invasions, how they work, and how they can be done effectively should be clearer.

More camera angles or different patterns to existing angles for combat sequences.

If two players are at war and their fleets encounter one another a prompt should come up asking the players if they desire combat.

Fleet icons should be repositioned; other fleets should be opposite (to the left) of the player fleets. This is more intuitive than the 4-5 o'clock position.

Visual cues that there is potential combat in a system; highlighting the system in question or something like that to draw attention to it.



Do not get the impression that I think the game is bad because of the above suggestions. If anything, this Alpha version of Endless Space is a model for other games of the genre. It is already quite impressive.



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Merku