Endless Space

Puzzle too hard >,<

that's one of the reasons I like it, it's simple to grasp but so much to discover. Factions really feel different so you can try different play styles :)

Well yeah the combat system feels more like watching a cut scene. You can interact with different tactics though (reminds me of rock-paper-scissors) but that's pretty much it.

The devs are working on an expansion that focuses on combat btw, you might want to check the game again after the expansion is out :)

Yah, that pretty much describes it. The exploration aspect of it is fun, the building up of your planets is interesting, the tech trees take some getting used to since its not obvious at quick glance what any of the techs do without reading the small print but the combat is the same (just with bigger fleets or tech advancements) every single time. I've heard its improved since I played it during the free weekend but still haven't seen the game at a price I'd be comfortable paying.

idd it is a nice change, the game is more about exploring and development than combat (for me at least)

could you tell me the name of the game? :)

Wonder why this isn't on Steam or sold on GMG.

Epic sad face!

Yeah, Eclipse is a great game! Probably the best (board) game made in Finland.

Just checked the Amazon listing. This game looks epic...

I just registered to the forums and devs actually lets the community to vote what's included in future updates or choose between different ship models.

Fragile Allegiance was awesome :) One of the best games of my childhood. I'm sure you will like Endless Space too :)

I actually have this game sin of a solar empire (and I have not even tried yet) but as you are mention it a lot here together with endless space and fragile allegiance, I have decided to give it a go.

Also curious about it, haven't seen enough to form an impression yet

I haven't spent a lot of time on it yet, but first impressions are that the beta version seems really good, if still slightly rough around the edges.

This article is fairly recent, and gives a nice summary of the current state of the game.

All 3 are entirely different games except they contain space ships. Recommend watching a few Let's Play videos.

There are almost no gameplay similarities between those and ES.

Any particular reason for disliking GSB and SPAZ? I love both.

I'm playing a custom faction based on Pilgrims right now :) Changed the faction affinity to sophons and tweaked some traits but the main focus is still on trading :) It's an interesting playstyle, quite different from your normal fleet building and war waging.

Unfortunately I can't answer this as I haven't played Galactic Civilizations. I think GalCiv has more depth and micromanagement to it (more complex, slower pace), game design is older but AI supposedly better. Endless Space is more like the Eclipse board game mentioned above, you make huge decisions in few turns and instead of micromanaging you affect your whole star systems with a click or two.. and it looks prettier too if that matters.

Haven't tried multiplayer yet but I hope one of my friends will grab it at some point :)

Endless Space might have a chance if devs address few issues and add features (expansion focusing on battle system is already on the way so at least they're listening us). Stardrive has a lot of Master of Orion 2 references and clearly takes its inspiration from there so you might enjoy it? Haven't played it but it looks promising and you can find a nice article few posts above.

I actually rather enjoyed having a simple battle system. Such a rare thing in space games.

Also, if you ever get bored of ES and feel the need to command a fleet again, try Star Ruler