Hi there,



At first, I must say I really love the idea of your "Game2gether", it can bring very good ideas to life in your game.

Endless space is goind to be very interresting !



Battle :

I like your idea of cards and cinematic battle, it's more strategic than it looks like.

- Free camera to look out the battle would be really great.

- The weapons effectiveness (kinetic at close range, missile at long range ...) is not really seen.

I read about strategic formation for fleets. It could be a great idea,

With your system I see it like this : At each phase of battle, player can use 2 cards : one for offense/defense/engeenering , and one for formation (Defense / Offense / Stay away. where Defense beat Offense, Offense beat Stay away, Stay away beat Defense ... for example.).

- about the cards : the firsts cards automatically obtained should be less powerfull than the ones gained with heroes / research...



Pirates :

- They appear too soon.

- They should stay around trades route / Planets with lots of exploited resources / Less defended planets..

- If they have a starting planet/base (I saw the suggestion) They shouldn't be able to colonize other systems.

- Corsairs could be an idea : with some diplomatics, pay the pirates (so they become corsairs). In this way player can't control them, but the corsairs will attack other players (at least their trade routes). Not all the pirates, but some fleets, depending on your offer.

- The planets that rebel against players should form a new player not pirates. They are rebels (in the point of view of the player), but not pirates. furthermore, it give more importance to diplomacy. As a player, you could encourage the rebels by giving them money / resources, so you can strike indirectly at a dangerous ally.

- Pirates concquering planets, they could sell it to a player (maybe even to it's owner). In exchange they could obtain more ships, or upgrade some of their ships (depending on the value of the planet and the ship's value). Or maybe create a rebel faction.





Heroes :

- Cloning is very powerfull (but it's also a strenght of a race). Losing a clone should be definitive (no healing. He is dead.) maybe define a clone maximum level ? 10 ? in that case, (10 is not that much) a cloned hero could count at 1/2 hero for your maximum hired heroes.

- For solo only : an exportation and importation option ? (it'll make the game easier, so it should have a cost. like this hero count as 2 or 3 for your maximum hired heroes)

- define a maximum level of 15 or 20 ? heroes at level 15 / 20 are still really powerfull... but after it's really too much.



Planets :

- The possibility to place colons from one planet on another one is an excellent idea, but the interface is not great. How many times did i zoom on the planet instead of moving or selecting a colon... aarrrgggg

- Terraforming : you show the future production of the planet, but not the present one (simply the planet type base production). It could help to make the choice quicker and more intuitive.

- Exploitation option : an option for trade and population contentement could be great.



Staring of the game :

- The starting planetary system shouldn't be random and defined for each race. not the name, in case multiple player choose the same race, but the number of planet and their types (not the random resources).

It will help to have a correct beginning of game for every player, and a balanced begining.

- More Hereos to choose from at start of the game. (select the 3 hero you'll keep in your academy from a list of 6 heroes for example)



Travels :

- the first click on the destination should only show the whites and red dots of the deplacement. The second click on the destination should send the fleet.

- Add a research to create a route between 2 systems under control (near systems, around 10 parsecs max).

- the research allowing deplacement outside routes should be a little different in my opinion : Max speed of the fleet divided per two (actually 3 i think). But the fleet should have reach a system at the end of the turn, or at the end of the next turn.





Diplomacy :

- loss of point because of weak military is ok, but why don't I gain points because of my superior technology ?

- the loss of point because of "tense border" should be inexistent if there are no military forces in the border system.

- Trading things (technology, systems, ressources) should award some points depending of the value of the trade. (even if they decrease each turn)

- Possibilty to demand help in a war.

- Possibilty to trade ships/Fleets.

- A gain of point for diplomacy with races with the same alignement. A loss of point in the opposite case.

- When trading technology, i'd like to see the details of what I buy, and what I sell. (Only the technology name, the description and the technology value in points is seen)



Spy, Sabotage.

- I'd like to see the equipement of the other players. What is their most equiped weapon ? armor ?

- I'd like to give false informations about my equipement to the spy I spotted instead of killing him.

- sabotage is a good idea. It should reduce the movement of the target fleet, maybe do some damage. But destroy a ship is too much.

- I'd like to have high tech holograms, so my enemy thinks I have a huge military fleets defending some place.

- I'd like to have some cloaking technology usable only on non-moving/fighting fleet, so my ennemy can think my system is vulnerable.

(cloaking device should not be usable on ships moving, or maybe only on very little ships within a little fleet. it could be too much unbalancing to have cloacking fleets of dreadnoughs... even of cruisers)



Ships and customisation :

- It would be great of we could see a part of the equipement of the ships. Visually, my cruiser full of laser beam is the same as my cruiser full of rail guns.

- More work designers ! could we have 2 or 3 design of each class of ship ? It would be great to have different cruisers...



AI :

I only played on normal difficulty, so I don't know if it work the same way in highter difficulties.

In my last game, I conquered all the planets of another player. I checked the improvements of each system, and systematically, everything was improved. the AI didn't chooses the matching improvements...

it's a huge cost of dust. so a slower developpement ect ... in the end it makes them a little weak.



General :

- I'd like to see how many Dust I gained, and how much the others have gained (even if it's approximatively), and more globally, how far I am from victory / defeat.

- More event alerts: When I don't have research. When one fleet arrived at destination. When there is no production on a system. When people are about to rebel. When an ennemy entered a system under my control.

- Why I have to attack / defend my system when I meet something ? when you meet someone, you don't punch him before becoming friend (well, not each time ^^). Agressions are systematic, obligatory, and you don't lose diplomatic points... attacking should be optionnal (except when at war or with pirates)



Bug encountered :

- when I travel, If I pass through a system (and my movement bring me further), and if there is an ennemy in the system, I fight. And then... well. My fleet stay here. I can't select it, can't move it, and it won't move next turns.

I don't know if it was luck, but I finally unstuck my fleet... by having another fleet doing the same travel. During this time, all ennemy fleet entering the system will fight.

I have saw an ennemy fleet in the same case. I couldn't attack it.

- At the end of a turn, if one of my fleet move, and then encouter an ennemy the screen of the fight appear, but I can't click on anything. I have to wait the end of the timer and the automatic resolve of the fignt.

- Sometimes at the beginning of a new game, I don't have hero to recruit. After the 50 turns... no hero appeared. (after 100 turns... nothing too)

- Sometimes when an ennemy fleet come into a system I control, I can't fight. My fleet have to move away and come back.



I think I'm done.

for now

Moved to the suggestions forum

Talking about combat perhaps you would be interested in my threads on combat which suggest much of what you just suggested. I'd appreciate your criticism or praise of my ideas for this reason especially but also for anyone else that might be interested in comment.



Links: /#/endless-space/forum/28-game-design/thread/11640-5th-tech-tree-military-doctrine and /#/endless-space/forum/29-archives/thread/13307-expanding-on-combat-doctrine-and-fleet-construction