Eclipse:New Dawn For The Galaxy

tgb · September 16, 2016, 12:46:07 PM

Eclipse:New Dawn For The Galaxy dropped this morning. It's hitting a couple of my hot buttons in that it's a 4X based on a (apparently) highly-regarded board game. There's also an IOS version that's been out for a while.

Never heard of the game in any format, so I'd love to hear from someone who's played it if it's worth the time.

99% sure I'll be grabbing it at some point today, so will try to post impressions later.

bbmike · September 16, 2016, 01:01:06 PM

What is going on with all the new game drops? This looks interesting and it seems to be based on a board game! I'm looking forward to hearing impressions (if I don't buy it first) :P

Silent Disapproval Robot · September 16, 2016, 01:03:37 PM

Of all the various iterations, I've only played the board game but it was a lot of fun. It's a mix of 4X with some Euro style economics. I really enjoyed it the few times I've played as there always seemed to be something interesting to do whether it was exploration, tech development, or straight up combat. I hope they do some work on the game aesthetics though. Holy crap are the board game components fugly! Everything's some horrid shade of yellow, pink, orange, and brown. Think of the most hideous, drug induced kitchen design from 1976, double it, and that's what Eclipse looks like.

I was going to pick it up if it were under $10 but it isn't, so I'll hold off until then.

Fugly dice.

Fugly tile

Fugly game board

tgb · September 16, 2016, 01:31:26 PM

Here's some random guy playing the IOS version.

Sold!

bbmike · September 16, 2016, 01:59:35 PM

Don't forget to post impressions! O0

tgb · September 16, 2016, 10:04:34 PM

So brief impressions based strictly on playing the tutorial and a couple of turns beyond: I like it. A lot. I especially like the influence/money synergy and how it limits what you can do. Overall I think it does a fine job of taking all 4 X's and adapting them to a board game format. There's even diplomacy, which I'm not sure I fully understand yet, because the (otherwise quite good) tutorial didn't cover it.

My only quibbles so far are with parts of the presentation. It's definitely not a big-budget title, and that's really apparent in the combat animation, which is sort of cheap looking. I realize they're trying to dress up what is basically a roll of a D6, but still......

Also there are almost no changes to take advantage of a PC, and the tablet roots really show through in things like a lack of tooltips (although you can find out what just about everything is with a mouse click), and the face that instead of an end-turn button there's an end-turn slider.

Some people on the forum are complaining about crashes, but I haven't seen any. There are also complaints about turn times, but I think that has to do with playing against 5 AI opponents, and I haven't tackled that yet either.

There's still a bit of a learning curve to get past, but it seems to be a keeper so far.

bbmike · September 17, 2016, 07:57:10 AM

Thanks for the write up! I'll probably end up getting it.

tgb · September 17, 2016, 10:59:28 AM

I won my first game outside the tutorial, against 3 Terran AI opponents on Easy. I realize I had it set for Baby's First Game, but expected more of a challenge. I did more harm to myself through stupid mistakes (like having to give up 75% of my sectors to get out of bankruptcy) than the AI did.

Time to ramp it up a notch.