Endless Space? Nope, it's Endless Legend!

[Toonces]

The fact that JH finds this having greater pull than FE and AOW3 makes me much closer to a purchase....damn, do I really need this?   ::)

[Gusington]

I still haven't taken the plunge on AOW III yet so I am also shopping around.

[tgb]

.Is this game pretty "feature complete" or are there glaring omissions (like no diplomacy or something!?

Not entirely.  Only 4 out of 8 playable factions, and 10 out of 15 NPC minor factions.  The tech tree only has 4 out of 6 "eras". The only victory condition is conquest, and the game is capped at the moment at 200 turns (I think one of the developers said after that you start running into memory leaks and random crashes, so they coded in a hard cap for now).  Also diplomacy is crippled somehow, but I couldn't say how, because I haven't encountered any other factions yet.

All of that said, there is a lot to like and it's still a hell of a lot of fun.  There are significant differences between the factions, combat, while basic in the beginning, becomes a lot of fun once you start researching different stances and orders.  I can't comment on the A.I. since I haven't encountered it yet.  All I can say is I woke up to go to the bathroom and decided to boot it up for "just a turn or two".   That was 2 hours ago.

[undercovergeek]

there is also no so sea or any tech and units based around that from what i saw on the video - your only world choice is pangea or all land, so continents and islands are yet to be added

i joined Endless space at this stage and the developers were very open to suggestions from fans and players who actively steered the direction of the game

[tgb]

One thing I can say after playing 20-30 turns for each of the 4 available factions - they all play differently.  Also the narrative for their faction-specific quest lines is pretty well written and very immersive.

[bbmike]

must...stop....visiting...this...thread........  :P

[tgb]

OK.  One thing that's starting to bug me a bit is that once you've chosen to attack another army, you're committed.  This wouldn't be a problem if you could see details of the army first before deciding to attack, as in AoW 3.  As it stands now, you don't get to see the army makeup until the pre-battle force comparison screen, and at that point there's no option to withdraw.

Am I remembering correctly that Endless Space did the same thing?  Seems to me that at least there was a tech you could research that let you see another army's makeup.  I sure hope they have one like that in EL.

There also doesn't seem to be a way to refuse any quests.  This hasn't been a problem because so far they've been easy, but I wonder if there is a penalty for failure (other than not getting the reward).

[Capn Darwin]

There is a hero ability that let's you do that I believe. I do like the way other forces in the area can reinforce the battle. The battle AI needs a few tweaks so ranged units don't run up to shoot at melee units. Fun so far.

[tgb]

The battle AI needs a few tweaks so ranged units don't run up to shoot at melee units. Fun so far.

Archers with the hold command rushing forward anyway is listed as a known bug

[mikeck]

.Is this game pretty "feature complete" or are there glaring omissions (like no diplomacy or something!?

Not entirely.  Only 4 out of 8 playable factions, and 10 out of 15 NPC minor factions.  The tech tree only has 4 out of 6 "eras". The only victory condition is conquest, and the game is capped at the moment at 200 turns (I think one of the developers said after that you start running into memory leaks and random crashes, so they coded in a hard cap for now).  Also diplomacy is crippled somehow, but I couldn't say how, because I haven't encountered any other factions yet.

All of that said, there is a lot to like and it's still a hell of a lot of fun.  There are significant differences between the factions, combat, while basic in the beginning, becomes a lot of fun once you start researching different stances and orders.  I can't comment on the A.I. since I haven't encountered it yet.  All I can say is I woke up to go to the bathroom and decided to boot it up for "just a turn or two".   That was 2 hours ago.

Thanks. That's actually not bad. I will pick it up. The company really seems to stick with improving their games so I have confidence

[steve58]

OK, I caved.  Just a heads up that the GameFly code APR20OFF will work on Endless Legends.   Just picked up the Endless Legends Founders Pack for $26.99 :).  The code should work on the classic pack as well (~$21).

Steam code activated just fine.  Just hope to find some time this weekend to get into the game.

[spelk]

I really like almost everything about this title. Especially the UI. It's sort of what I wanted with Fallen Enchantress. Only better. I like to imagine its the natural evolution of Armageddon Empires, without the dice. :)

[mikeck]

I bought it. It definitely has a cool feel to it. Unfortunately, I'm kind of in a gaming slump so I can't seem to play anything very long

[mikeck]

Reading the instruction manual, there are a lot of neat things here in this game. For example when you overproduce in one city either food or resources you create stockpiles. You can then select the stockpile and then select the city you want to send it to.  so you can send food from a food producing city to another city of your choice that might have a shortage. I like that system much better then a simple worldwide calculation.

Another interesting thing seems to be handling military units. Units can be purchased and later on disbanded but unlike other games when they are disbanded they go to a worldwide marketplace but they can be purchased by other players. You may find a unit that you had been used against you for battle. Not sure if this goes for units you have produced yourself or units you have purchased from the military marketplace almost like mercenaries

[tgb]

I'm putting this aside for now, not because I don't like it but because I like it too much. Whenever I get an alpha/beta copy of a game I really like I play it so much that by the time the release version is out I'm burned out on it and I want to avoid this.

I've explored just about every facet that's currently in the build with the exception of capacities (which I guess are kind of like spells after all). I can't figure out how to use them in battle, and I'm not sure if that's because they aren't in the game yet or I just never researched the right tech.