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Abe Sargent · 01-14-2020, 05:07 PM

#12. Endless Space #2
2017
PC/MAC
Amplitude Studios
Strategy/Simulation - 4x

My favorite modern take of the space 4x games inspired by MOO. I like it best because of one major feature – its factions are different. Consider something like Civilizations. In the Civ tradition, here are the differences between factions:

Faction #1 gets a small boost to production or a minor combat boost to army units. They also get one or two unique units that replace a normal one and are a tiny bit better, and one or two buildings that do the same.
Faction #2 gets a small boost to production or a minor combat boost to army units. They also get one or two unique units that replace a normal one and are a tiny bit better, and one or two buildings that do the same

They neither play nor feel different. They are basically all the same nation, and you play them the same, every time.

However last Civilization (V) there was a Venice, which played very differently. After you set up your initial city that was it and you couldn’t settle more cities. But you had additional diplomatic options with city states and could really help to bring them under your influence. It played very differently that the rest of the civs. My hope that that Civ VI would become a group of Venices, each playing and valuing different things. Venice needed to keep city states alive where as others may have sought to take them. But that style of gaming was mostly abandoned later rather than embraced.

But in Endless Space 2, every faction is Venice and has different goals, quests, missions, heroes, weaknesses. One (the Nakalim) represent the lost remnant of a fallen empire that begins the game with a bunch of extra technologies! But it can’t trade for techs or do research and will need to find relics and aim for a galactic university system. One slower plant-like creature (The Unfallen) cannot move into a system and bring it under its control until its seed ships have connected it with an intergalactic root system, which takes a lot longer than other worlds to set up. If you find you have the Husk on your border in the early game, it will be quite different than the crazy scientist Sophons, or this guy who cloned himself enough times to be considered his own race. These are real, realistic, restrictions that also play into a different way each species sees the game.

That’s why it’s my favorite of the modern cycle of 4x. Each faction has different goals, and different ways of building. I have played them all, and my favorite is the Unfallen that are slow starters, but can build bigger planets and ecosystems, so they are slower early game, but stronger late.

If you are looking for a traditional, old-school 4X in the Master of Orion style of gaming, there are a lot of great options! And this is mine.

01-14-2020, 05:07 PM	#11
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	#12. Endless Space #2 2017 PC/MAC Amplitude Studios Strategy/Simulation - 4x My favorite modern take of the space 4x games inspired by MOO. I like it best because of one major feature – its factions are different. Consider something like Civilizations. In the Civ tradition, here are the differences between factions: Faction #1 gets a small boost to production or a minor combat boost to army units. They also get one or two unique units that replace a normal one and are a tiny bit better, and one or two buildings that do the same. Faction #2 gets a small boost to production or a minor combat boost to army units. They also get one or two unique units that replace a normal one and are a tiny bit better, and one or two buildings that do the same They neither play nor feel different. They are basically all the same nation, and you play them the same, every time. However last Civilization (V) there was a Venice, which played very differently. After you set up your initial city that was it and you couldn’t settle more cities. But you had additional diplomatic options with city states and could really help to bring them under your influence. It played very differently that the rest of the civs. My hope that that Civ VI would become a group of Venices, each playing and valuing different things. Venice needed to keep city states alive where as others may have sought to take them. But that style of gaming was mostly abandoned later rather than embraced. But in Endless Space 2, every faction is Venice and has different goals, quests, missions, heroes, weaknesses. One (the Nakalim) represent the lost remnant of a fallen empire that begins the game with a bunch of extra technologies! But it can’t trade for techs or do research and will need to find relics and aim for a galactic university system. One slower plant-like creature (The Unfallen) cannot move into a system and bring it under its control until its seed ships have connected it with an intergalactic root system, which takes a lot longer than other worlds to set up. If you find you have the Husk on your border in the early game, it will be quite different than the crazy scientist Sophons, or this guy who cloned himself enough times to be considered his own race. These are real, realistic, restrictions that also play into a different way each species sees the game. That’s why it’s my favorite of the modern cycle of 4x. Each faction has different goals, and different ways of building. I have played them all, and my favorite is the Unfallen that are slow starters, but can build bigger planets and ecosystems, so they are slower early game, but stronger late. If you are looking for a traditional, old-school 4X in the Master of Orion style of gaming, there are a lot of great options! And this is mine. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent Last edited by Abe Sargent : 01-19-2020 at 09:36 AM.