Got this game a couple weeks ago and I am loving it. Thanks dev for the great job.



I would like to make a couple suggestions that are, hopefully, easily implementable:



1) Indicate an empire's homeworld on the galaxy map. A lot of times I would capture a few systems but I cannot tell if any one of them is the homeworld of the enemy's race. Since capturing all the home worlds is a victory condition, there should be an indication on the map to tell the player "that's the right target".



2) I quite enjoy the combat system, but I find it time-consuming to switch weapon types of an existing fleet to counter an enemy's build. Yes I know you can retrofit ships, but that's very costly. And building a new fleet takes time. I think allowing players to switch weapon types and loadouts easier would enchance the tactical element of the game. May I suggest reducing the cost of retrofit by at least 50%?



3) AI: do AI go to war with each other? I have not seen any so far (30 hours in). When races like the Cravers and Hisshios sit next to each other, I expect them to start fighting, instead being peaceful neighbours and just wait for the player to come.



Thanks!

I like your suggestion #2 but for the others it is already in the game.



#1: If you are the Amoeba race you will have the ability to find the other empire's homeworld at the beginning of the game. The way that you can tell which world is the home world is by finding the Crown symbol on the star system.



#3: They do go to war with each other sometimes. I seen that in a few of my games but I would sometime cause them to go to war with each other when I join an alliance then declare war on a non-alliance member.

Kantharr, you took the words right out of my mouth.

Thanks guys. I should have known about #1. Time to dig out the manual :P



Some more ideas:



4) Missions: These are tasks given to your faction that can be completed for a small reward. All missions are optional. The Total War series have implemented this very well. If the missions are tied to the lore, they can greatly enhance the atmosphere of the game. An example is: Capture system X in 10 turns for 100 dust; Acquire resource Y in 20 turns to unlock a new tech etc.



5) Heroes: I have had games where all three starting heros are commander/pilot/adventurer. Can the game randomize the heroes better (or have more than three starting heroes) so that there are more variations? Playing a race like Amoeba/Pilgrim will be greatly benefited from having an administrator type hero.



6) UI: Another great way to instill personality into the game is to make the UI art looks slightly different for each race (e.g. see Starcraft). It can be just the colour tone of the UI, the edge of info boxes etc.



7) More race-specific techs: it will be hard for the dev team to put in new techs at this point, so instead of adding new ones, the dev team can look at blocking out some techs for certain races. I think it's important to differentiate the races even more and make them more unique. That's how games like Starcraft succeeded.



Thanks!

Play on a harder difficulty and you will see more of these things happening.

4) There are random events with choices. Not sure if I want to see missions, as this takes attention from the game.

5) There are variations between heroes, sometimes you get admin/corporate hero in the first turn, sometimes - no admin hero throughout the game. It's random, and it's life.

6) In SC there are just three races, in ES there are much more. Devs don't have time even to make unique ships for Automatons. However, good idea for mod.

7) There are serious effects from race-unique techs. Now developers are focused on special buildings, which, in my opinion, is better: g2g vote.



Now I really suggest you play a bit more (100h+), and make suggestions then, as there is certain ability to see the important things, but you need more experience with what we already have.