Set To Launch

[Thorondor]

Endless Space

 

It's not science fiction, Endless Space is here! Pre-orders are now available through Steam at a 25% discount until May 31st, granting access to the current alpha version.

https://www.strategycore.co.uk/site/assets/files/1676/news-thumbnail_endless_spc_pre_ordr_scr01.jpg https://www.strategycore.co.uk/site/assets/files/1676/news-thumbnail_endless_spc_pre_ordr_scr02.jpg https://www.strategycore.co.uk/site/assets/files/1676/news-thumbnail_endless_spc_pre_ordr_scr03.jpg

This 4X space strategy game employs the well-known mix of turn-based strategy and real-time combat but champions a new development paradigm that involves us too. It's called GAMES2GETHER and acknowledges gamer participation as something valuable and integral to the process of creating a top tier game.

 

Here's word from Mr.Mathieu Girard, CEO of Amplitude Studios:

 

Few industries have such a vocal community and even fewer have the luxury of listening to the feedback that it provides. During the many years we have worked in game development, we have particularly enjoyed working with communities and sharing, discussing and comparing ideas. Many great games today would not be what they are without that support.

 

Now that we’re independent and get to call the shots, the whole team shares the dream of bringing this interactivity and support one step further.

 

Learn all about it here.

 

Presently there are two different pre-order options on the Steam platform: the Admiral Edition and the Emperor Special Edition, each with its very own goodies.

 

Reluctant to engage? Then have a look at our fresh hands-on preview just penned by Azrael Strife!

[FullAuto]

It's turn-based, so I'm lowering an eyebrow.

[Space Voyager]

I'm at a loss, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

[FullAuto]

It's a good thing.

 

Now I sound like I go around with both eyebrows raised all the time, disapproving and yet surprised.

[Space Voyager]

HE HE HE, this was one funny mental image!

[Azrael Strife]

[owen magnetic]

I think the UI of this game is so awesome. I just hope the game itself is any good.

[Space Voyager]

It is a definite must buy for me. No, not because of my nick.

[Azrael Strife]

Looks like a good buy for me as well, I enjoyed my alpha test, seems like a fun game.

 

My only concerns, which were not completely addressed in the preview since it was an early alpha, is that there was no spying, no ground combat, and planetary invasion was most likely not completely implemented (the two could be related). By ground combat I don't mean to manage actual ground assaults (though that could be fun!), but handling it like in Ascendancy or Master of Orion 2, where you would just sit and watch the battle unfold by watching statistics of losses.

 

We'll have to wait for beta!

[Space Voyager]

I'd love it if ground combat was just like space battles - you set up battle tactic and see the battle unfold. Imperium Galactica 2 went a bit too far for my taste with RTS ground battles, usually it was just a huge waste of time.

[Azrael Strife]

Oooh, I had forgotten about Imperium Galactica 2! That was fun in some ways, I recall colony building being too much about micromanagement and I would get really bored with it short after a game was started, you not only had to choose every single building (like you do in most 4X, that's fine), but you also had to choose location in a RTS-style kind of way, not fun.

[Pete]

Imperium Galactica 2 - that's the one I've been trying to remember the name of for ages.

 

Think I must have played it for a whole summer once

 

I loved the detail and even loved the ground battles and colony building, but not when you were trying to track down the last few enemy strongholds - that was very tedious indeed!

 

On the whole though it was a very ambitious game for its time - it's 12 years old now and still looks pretty neat.

[Azrael Strife]

I recall some random events which were fun, like marrying a pirate princess or something like that.

 

Graphically I think it aged very very well, my main issue with the game was the galaxy map, it was in adjustable real time, in opposition to turn based which is what I am used to and prefer; and there are no star lanes. Few games have them, mind you, MoO2 didn't have them (but did so much right that I love it nonetheless), only Ascendancy, Sword of the Stars (for some races, AFAIK) and that other game from what I've played and remember.

 

I had fun playing it, for for some reason it just was never that memorable in the way Ascendancy or MoO are.

[FullAuto]

Was Ascendancy the very first game to have a 3D star map?

 

/looks at 2D star maps and sobs

[Space Voyager]

Sword of the Stars (for some races, AFAIK)

 

Humans have pre-determined lines, Zuul create (and maintain) theirs. This is one of the reasons I love SotS, the many and balanced ways of travel. Love lines? The two I mentioned. Wanna teleport? Go bugs... etc.

[Azrael Strife]

Was Ascendancy the very first game to have a 3D star map?

 

/looks at 2D star maps and sobs

 

Not sure.

 

Ascendancy not only had 3D star map, but also 3D star system view Complete with star lane jump points.

 

I don't really mind 2D star maps that much. If done badly, 3D maps can be awfully confusing, for the most part I like SotS star map but it gets a bit too convoluted for my taste.

Endless Space and MoO2 have 2D star maps as well

[FullAuto]

I know, but 2D star maps make no sense at all. They're one of the things I hate most about science fiction in space, along with spaceships that handle like aircraft. Human beings are as thick as mince.

[Azrael Strife]

I know, but 2D star maps make no sense at all.

Why not? You can always think of a 2D star map as a flattened 3D one for simplification purposes. That is the way it was in MoO2, travel between two systems that appeared to be close took a lot longer than between two that appeared farther, meaning that the former was actually farther away but on the Z plane which is not visible in a flattened map.

[Pete]

This game sort of makes it look pretty but having the galaxy spiral sort of layered with hundreds of pinpoints of light in the background, so when you zoom in and out you get a sense that it's deeper than it is, but the star map you're playing on is still flat.

 

It's not even remotely necessary for them to have done this (or for the colours of the galaxy to be randomly generated with your galaxy) but it does look pretty.

 

My only gripes thus far is that it only feels as deep as MoO, but that's not a bad thing - there are more complex 4X games out there, and that the space battles early on can be a bit dull - again, that's just because scout ships and other early ships don't pack a punch.

 

I'd welcome some more randomly generated camera angles in the battles though. I can see what Az means about it being the same camera angles every time so, since you would expect the computer to know what's going to happen at the other end of a barrage of gunfire it could theoretically be programmed to focus the cameras on the meaty bits. That said, I'd rather they focus their efforts on making it the best it can be gameplay-wise before working on something as trivial as better camera angles.

 

It would be awesome if yhey could have it generate rough, bumpy, sometimes unfocused camera angles like on Firefly though rather than the graceful fly-by's, but that's just me being really picky now.

[Space Voyager]

Ok, this is going to be my last game purchase for a long time. Now I have 6 games I really ought to play at some point.

[FullAuto]

Why not? You can always think of a 2D star map as a flattened 3D one for simplification purposes. That is the way it was in MoO2, travel between two systems that appeared to be close took a lot longer than between two that appeared farther, meaning that the former was actually farther away but on the Z plane which is not visible in a flattened map.

 

It's a fundamental misrepresentation of the situation. What you're talking about isn't really a 2D star map, it's more of a node map. Fair enough, it sort of works, in a very limited fashion, but it distorts the situation terribly and is incredibly reductive. A map which does not depict things accurately is not really a map, after all. It's more of a joke.

 

It's human beings taking what they are familiar with (maps of the ground) and attempting to apply them in an area where that sort of movement is no longer applicable, solely to make comprehension easier. Making a proper 3D star map is hard (e.g. it involves trigonometry and actual thought). Making a 2D star map keeps things simple. A 2D star map is not just functionally useless, it is misleading.

[Space Voyager]

A 2D star map is not just functionally useless, it is misleading.

 

Isn't this a little harsh? 2D map is not misleading if it does not represent actual 3D space. If actual (game) space is 3D, its 2D representation is misleading as it may have very little to do with reality. Meaning that long, mostly vertical (relative to the projection plane) distances between objects will be drawn as short lines. What you think is a turn's journey will take most of the game, to go into extremes.

 

But if the actual game space is 2D, than a 2D map is completely accurate.

 

I haven't tried the game yet so I don't know which of the two approaches it takes, if it must be 2D map than I hope the game space is 2D as well.

 

Disclaimer: I prefer 3D space with 3D map above all. EDIT: For the beauty and reality.

[Space Voyager]

FA, you sneaky ninja! It is not allowed to continue a discussion through Twitter!

[Pete]

But did you see the tweet after where I sad the galaxy is flat? Then Owen started talking about chocolate in reply and I got hungry.

[FullAuto]

Owen?!

 

But if the actual game space is 2D, than a 2D map is completely accurate.

 

No argument there. But I'm talking about an accurate representation of space and the location of stars within it. You need 3D to do this, any attempt to use 2D will involve massive distortions. Using 2D is a cop out.