Hello,



After a day off i had this nice game running for a full test.



Well no wonder after reading the devs bio on the official website that this title smells like Master of Orion, Ascendancy or Galciv.

But when Endless Space takes the best of those for the strategic map, research, fleet management/design, and all others micro-managements, it seriously lacks in the combat phase. I do not have the feeling of a grand space opera game here at all, but just a space game with good migromanagement UI. Seems some others here noticed that too.



Being in my 30's i've played and seen many 4X games since Reach for the stars. I then made it my profession as a journalist to review games, 4X among those i like best. So what you'll read under is my personnal opinion of what is lacking in this game, knowing that this is an ALPHA, that devs are making the game they envisionned and like, but knowing also that the devs are taking into consideration what gamers expect today for 4X games (if the G2G system is really genuine and impact the game design, not just the graphics or background).



I'll briefly list the PROs that make this game quite good to my eyes, thanks to all 4X legacy :



- well designed star map (zoom/planetary level similar to many games in the genre, like Imperium Galactica 2 or Hegemonia)

- in general very friendly UI, quite intuitive (sometime lacking a bit, i-e like when selecting the techs to add to queue in science tab - a misclick can just cancel it all, or the inability to modify the order of queued items - unless i'm missing something )

- very stable for an alpha, not a single crash in 10 hours straight of play

- promising diplomatic system (i really like the "cold war" status, but are there any treaties beyond peace and military access? like trade/tech treaties? i dont mean trading techs, i mean tech treaties like in MOO. any alliances (i've seen same races are more friendly to each others)? possibility to ask for war against, demand to stop war against? etc etc... in my 10 hours game i havent seen that yet)

- very good strategic ressource managing (thanks Civilization/GalCiv^^) whish adds to the fun of the game by controlling them and waging war for them

- good ship design interface (take the best of many games without being too complicated, half way between Space Empires and MOO)

- friendly empire management/research interface, easy to navigate, to see essential things directly



Many 4X games have failed at making a good UI (even SOTS which is among my beloved 4X is not that good at that, not even speaking of Lost Empire Immortals crap for a counter-exemple. Haegemonia, Pax Imperia and MOO are the best at that, GalCiv following next). Endless Space has one of the best UI i've seen to this day. Simple and effective.





What i think could be improved (also the CONs in order of preference) :



- more space fights, moooaaarrr space fights not just this automated fighting phase where the only thing that makes difference is your tech level and your fleet strengh. Where is tactical skill in this? Where is the drama from MOO or GalCiv or SOTS space opera battles? this is truly lacking... moreover when the actual rock paper scissor system is quite random from AI point of view.

- better managing queued items (tech, buildings and so on)

- building listed accordingly to what can be build in a system (no small/tiny+ building when there is no small/tiny planet ie, or no moon building when no moon in system)

- an icon telling ship(s) is in a system hangar would be welcome on starmap

- path of ships is not very visible on starmap

- trade lines (i havent understood how they work yet, not implemented yet?)

- diplomatics relations change too fast (reasons?)

- Any starbase + physical defenses?

- Planetary invasion interface?

- more random events (any Space Hydra?^^)

- Any galactic council? (like in MOO/GalCiv)



Various bugs probably already listed elsewhere :



- sometime when fleets stack in the same place in space, not possible to select each fleet, but only the last that came there.

- ennemy sometime moving during player turn (graphic glitch?)

- sometime some fleets are stuck in space lane, not possible to select them anymore on starmap or via the fleetmanager



And my questions :

- Customable races? Everything is here for that it seems (like in MOO)



All-in-all :



This game is a decent 4X for now, unfortunatly not yet the next space opera game i was looking for, but this is still an alpha. And to be clear i'm not looking for another GalCiv/MOO/Ascendancy or whatsoever 4X game clone. But if this game is going to borrow much from those, as most 4X games have done anyway, let it be in full of at least what made those games such jewells. (it seems according to the Design sticky many missing features from those titles are taken into consideration, whether it is for release or futur developments, would be cool if true).



When the game is very good at micromanagement with very intuitive and friendly UI, it seriously lacks the feeling of being in total control of your empire when fighting (inability to lead fights on tactical level). Borrowing a bit of what made SOTS a space opera game would be a welcome improvement



On the other hand the actual combat system might be good for quick multiplayer games where you dont need to wait too long for your turn. But still, that does not fit for a solo game ^^



If i had to rate this game i would put a 12/20 today, mostly because of the lacking combat system, when everything else that makes a perfect 4X is already there in Endless Space. I hope this might change!

Would be 17-18/20 with a more immersive combat system.





ps : i'm not native english so forgive my grammar

Thanks for the feedback! The resources in my sig may be helpful to learn more about trade, find known bugs, and discuss other interesting suggestions for the game.

Yep, you are in the majority with most of your observations, praise and complaints. ES is an interesting and charming game with much potential. But one of it's strengths potentially has noting directly to do with the game itself: it's player community. I personally am impressed by the quality of posts here, reflecting a player pool that is diverse, knowledgeable and - maybe best of all - civil with each other. And though many, like you, do not use English as your primary language, those of us that are native speakers of English, appreciate the effort that others have put into expressing themselves clearly in what is, for them, a foreign language. Trust me, you would not want to see me try to express myself in, say, Italian! So your English was just fine, thank you.

I bet my italian is like your italian

Indeed like yourself i'm amazed by the community so far, browsing all good suggestions posts here and there. Also means the 4X genre never died, which is a very good news!



And davea thanks a lot for the unofficial FAQ that was very helpfull and answered many of my questions !

@Christophe_Degoy: I think I concur with everything you've written there.

I think the civil and mature community comes with the genre. More complex games like 4X games attract a different kind of people.