Malicar wrote:
I love the combat. It's strategic, economic, and quick. This allows multiple battles to occur without dragging the game on and allows for some really interesting multiplayer. Battles in MOO2 had to be mirco or you would lose almost every time. By controlling the battle you could really win with an inferior force but it took forever. That's all fine and dandy for single player but ES tries to macro a bit of that and speed things up all while proving a nice view to the battle. Again attrition comes into play here. In MOO2 or Galciv2 you either win or lose. In ES you can draw as you try and widdle down the opposing ships. I remember doing some brainstorming years ago about redoing the combat for MOO2. We had a very simular system in place but without the strategic or economic factors that effect your choices. Some of the strategy comes from technology also. This adds another layer to the strategic battle since your enemy could be using tactics you haven't developed yet. So while the ships are very important in their roles and sizes of the fleets there is also a strategic element which draws from economics at the same time. If you have the tactics and the money to back your fleets your going to be hard to stop.



I'm hoping to one day see the battle phase expanded to Orbital Bombardment and eventually Ground Combat. To this day it seems to be missing in all 4x games. Sins did it very well however there was no actual invasion with ground forces after orbital bombardment.

This, also the fact its a set timed battle means more players in multiplayer can play without having to wait for ages while someone else battles each other.



Birth of the Federation I strangely miss that game, the some of the random events in that were truly game breaking.

I don't have a problem with simplified or streamlined combat. Lots of 4X games do it differently. I don't think it is fair to claim that there is only one right way to do combat. While i enjoy some complicated, involved turn-based combat systems, i don't think a 4X game is generally a good place for them. It just makes things take too long, especially for multiplayer.



So i think the basic card system is fine. But they undermine it's main virtue (speed) by making you go through the cinematic, or abandon all control. Adding some way to make your three choices as quickly as you want would let the benefits of the way they have done things really shine through.

I've never been a fan of possessing my ship captains to personally pilot every damn ship in my fleet - admiral level control suits me perfectly. The cards system is a fun take on turn-based orders. I'll enjoy seeing the system developed a little better, seeing the addition of carriers and fighters, etc.

Im not going to lie... i haven't played MOO, even though i perhaps should one day. Yes its space combat is awesome etc. But Endless Space is no "Total War:", a game that completely gives over to YOU commanding the battle every single time... which is very unrealistic. Not only that Total War has a massive design team so they can afford to implement some depth in building as well, not much as Endless Space or a 4X strategy game is capable of though. Total Wars strength is in controllable combat and it feels so good.



However, expanding on your MOO videos, the ground combat in particular. We are expecting at some point for the ground war combat screen to be implemented... SG kinetic shells hammering buildings while your Hissho Samurai run the gauntlet. Cannot wait, especially when fighters and bombers are introduced, making ground combat more cinematic.



But one thing is that ES is no MOO... because its Endless Space. Its more manageable due to its clean interface, elements, clean tech tree etc. Focusing on cinematic combat is rather new to me. And in my opinion more satisfying in some respects to see your grand plan and strategy come together rather than being a "Creed" (Imperial Guard Tactical Genius) and winning everything yourself because the AI is stupid.

I like the fact that the combat is relativley simple. Its quick and keeps the game moving at a consistant pace. Although sometimes I do wish that there would be some more exciting things going on in the battle.

I would like to see a fast forward for each phase - pick your card, space or other key to see result, then a few seconds to possibly change your next card. It may not save too much time in player vs player (since you have to coordinate both participants), but it would really speed up combat with AIs without losing the option to use the cards.