Hey Retro, have you gone back to try some of the later additions? Have any of them done anything to dissuade you from your meh-tastic original impressions?

Me, I'm finally playing a long-term game, and it's great. And I now have issues with some of your complaints. It may be due to the later additions fixing some of your concerns, or it may be due to I'm tired of everyone jizzing all over MOO2's corpse in a goddamn nostalgia bukkake.

I've also played six rounds as of this morning: this was a game I wanted to like. But for the x4 genre, I'll either go back to MOO2, Alpha Centauri, or Sins of a Solar Empire if I need something a bit more modern...

Retro

PS ES also has a heavy Sword of the Stars vibe going on... Except it isn't as animated as that game world.

Issues with Endless Space...

1) Planetary improvement feels flat - basically, I build up the pop of a planet so I can switch it to max industry or science to either speed up my credit allotment or research. After that, I don't need to ever actually touch a base nor does anything interesting ever happen.

This isn't even touching on the fact that four or five planets are grouped together and each is a functioning base... A bit too streamlined?

2) Combat feels too... Streamlined. I have my carrier / BC groups, but ES (Endless Space) offers less than Alpha Centauri, CIV 2 - 5, or MOO2 in regards to immersion.

3) Economics feels fairly stagnant - all I do is max my trade route bonuses and boom... I'm done.

4) Games are fairly 2D - build up planets -> Max industry / science -> Build ships -> subvert. Though its about the metagame, there doesn't appear to be any sort of real enthusiasm to push me to keep playing. Alpha Centauri had secret projects and the constant threat of both the Planet and other players knocking you over, MOO2 felt as if I lived on the pulse of the universe... ES feels... Dead.

5) The tech tree doesn't give "rewards" for me to care about moving up it. Okay, so weapons, ships, and shields offer new things for me to play with but the more important trees give me what? A new button to press so I can colonize a lava planet? Though required to beat the game, it doesn't really draw me into it.

July 4th is also Geraldo Rivera's birthday.

Although Geraldo never appeared in Family Ties, he did appear in Contact with James Woods, who appeared in Stuart Little 2 with Michael J. Fox. So that's pretty close.

Endless Space will be officially released on July 4th! So make a note of that date on your calendars!

Endless Space BETA was released today on Steam. It adds all the remaining factions, diplomacy, and a bunch of other stuff, including a new UI look for the galaxy screen which I like and everyone is bitching about.

The preorder discount is now down to 10% (from 25% for the Alpha) but needless to say, it's still well worth it, even if there were no discount.

Imagine no preorder discount /
It's easy if you try... - Lennon

How can I sell it to you? You either like space 4x, in which case you will like Endless Space, or you do not and will not.

OK, now...... sell it to me!!!

I think we're good, as far as having random song lyrics dumped in posts, by the way. We've seen a bunch of those, had a good run and I think it's time to move on.

What are some other things the developer or developers have already accomplished in their lives?

Endless Space is still in alpha (beta to be released next week), and it's already the best space 4x game since MOO2.

Calling it an "alpha" is a deliberate kick in the junk to all other developers with the balls to release an "alpha". In its current state it's already more complete and playable than most games are on release.

Anyone with even a passing interest in space 4x must immediately preorder the game from Steam to get the "alpha."

This thread will follow the progress of the game.

Thank you for your time.