More 4x gaming: Endless Space

[Huw the Poo]

Right then, now that I've put a decent amount of time in...questions!

What determines which battles I get to control myself?  I just had two battles at the same system, both instigated by the enemy.  The first one popped up and I took manual control, and kicked his arse.  That was the smaller battle.  When I was dumped back at the galaxy screen I saw that the much larger engagement - the one I really wanted to participate in myself - had already played out and I lost. :(

Approval.  I need to wrap my head around this one.  Why, for example, are my systems unhappy with "overpopulation" when each system has free population slots on each of their worlds?  That isn't overpopulation!  Also, why does a system get an approval penalty because of "planets"?  What does that mean?  As far as I can tell, planets don't seem to have individual approval ratings so what's going on here?

[OJsDad]

Let me ask this about the interface.  A lot of games seem to have good interfaces at the beginning and middle part of the game, but don't seem to hold up very well late game, especially in very large maps.  Will Endless Spaces interface hold up well to late game large map games.

[mikeck]

Huw, from what I understand, there is nothing you can do about the multiple battle issue. It has been brought up repeatedly in the forums. OJ, yes, the UI is superb and holds up. Some, like me, dislike the combat in the game, but, if you don't mind it, the UI alone makes it worth a look.

From what I hear, the release version may include a moveable camera for battles which will make them more immersive

[Gusington]

Too...many...games...

[Huw the Poo]

Huw, from what I understand, there is nothing you can do about the multiple battle issue. It has been brought up repeatedly in the forums.

Wow, really?  That's extremely disappointing.

[tgb]

Also, why does a system get an approval penalty because of "planets"?  What does that mean?  As far as I can tell, planets don't seem to have individual approval ratings so what's going on here?

They do. Mousing over the type of planet or special features most of them affect happiness in one way or another.

[Huw the Poo]

They do. Mousing over the type of planet or special features most of them affect happiness in one way or another.

Oh man, did I really miss that?  Thanks mate.  Any idea about overpopulation?

[Nefaro]

  Any idea about overpopulation?

It's just an empire-wide penalty for quick expansions (before getting down the proper tech lines to mitigate it).   It's an artificial 'soft' deterrant against running a colonization steamroller across systems. 

You can reduce some of the population unhappiness penalties via some of the techs on the leftmost tech tree.  So if you're doing that tech tree, you could technically have more empire population without suffering all the extra unhappiness penalties to production & such.  Also.. I think you can have some random system rebellions, and/or foreign empires instigating them, if individual systems get too unhappy.  I've not play far enough in to see that happen yet, as I've paused while waiting on this "big" release update that is to come.

[Huw the Poo]

Ah, splendid.  Thanks Nefaro.

[Huw the Poo]

Hmm.  For a turn-based strategy game, there's a lot of real-time strategy...

[Barthheart]

Alright  Huw, I bought the damn game today and 4 hours just evaporated!!  :P

Really cool looking and playing game. Kinda reminds me of SOTS I, only better.

Turn 104 and I'm starting to get the hang of combat. Playing on a 4 arm spiral galaxy and I'm trapped out at the end of one arm with and AI race blocking my way in. Gonna have to blast my way through.

So much for what little spare time I had...... :-\

[Huw the Poo]

Haha, I'm glad you're enjoying it since I feel partially responsible for you buying it!  Amazing interface isn't it?

I can't decide whether to continue the game I'm playing, start a new one now that I know how to play, or wait until the next update.

[Grim.Reaper]

Haha, I'm glad you're enjoying it since I feel partially responsible for you buying it!  Amazing interface isn't it?

I can't decide whether to continue the game I'm playing, start a new one now that I know how to play, or wait until the next update.

So since the official release is tomorrow, is there expected to be some kind of update with the "final" release version code?  If so, is there any hints anywhere what will be included or just final tweaking?

[Nefaro]

AFAIK there hasn't been much in the way of updates this past month. 

Rumor was that they had been hard at work on the AI and other tweaks, so I've been expecting an update soon.  Day 0 patch or something..

[Barthheart]

Slowly getting the hang of the game but have some questions:

What determines when a colony's influence area expands?

I've started 4 games so far and I always end up with at least 1, and sometimes 2, other empires right next to me? Their random setup doesn't seem to spread people out enough on the huge galaxy settings....