Endless Space vs. Galactic Civilizations 2

[Legendary Emu]

I was looking for a cool 4X game that was pretty well civilization in space and came across these 2 games. What do you guys think of these?

[Galacticruler]

I'd say GCII, TONS more modding capability, and a mod community. Or GCIII, which is in early, eraly, EARLY alpha, and costs $100 to become a Founder to get acess. Better graphics and expanded gameplay from GCII, but not much else from there.

can't speak for endless space.

[Dunbaratu]

I haven't played GC2 but I have played Endless Space, and I have to say that Endless Space has one very big problem, and it's highlighted by the name.

It's Endless. As in you get bogged down in slow slow slow progress as your empire grows. You seem to asymptotically approach winning without actually getting there, as the closer you get to winning, the longer the admin per turn takes. And like happens in a lot of 4x games, delegating some of the admin to the AI is just a sure formula for losing. To keep your civilization from doing stupid things, you have to control it manually. All Of It.

[Galacticruler]

almost forgot that aboug GCII, it happens there too, more so on larger maps...on the largest 3 it can take litterally YEARS to finish a game without cheats or mods.

[Specialist290]

Yeah, I think that's something basically endemic to the genre. You can mitigate it by adjusting the starting setup in most of them, of course.

I found GalCiv2 to be quite enjoyable, myself. Haven't tried Endless Space yet, but it's been on my radar for a bit.

EDIT: And not meaning to complicate your choices further, but you may want to investigate Sword of the Stars as well.

[Legendary Emu]

Dang. I discovered Master of Orion 1+2 for 6 bucks on GOG and it looks pretty much what I want, though it lacks graphics. I must investigate!

[XiXLLAMAXiX]

I've played both. I would say that they are roughly equal in terms of enjoyment. If you enjoy 4x turn based games, you would enjoy both of them, though GC2 fits the bill of Civ5 in space better than endless does if that's what floats your boat. If you don't need your 4x game to be turn based, I would recommend Sins of a Solar Empire (either the original game, or the standalone expansion "SoaSE: Rebellion"). In my personal opinion, GC2 does a better job of making you feel attached to your empire, like, as you see Korath Clan ships nerve gassing your capital, you feel like you've failed your people, and like 100 turns later when you've made a comeback and grind their fleet into dust, you feel like such a boss. On the other hand, in Endless, when something similar happens, you're sort of like "well that's going to be inconvenient" (The same thing in SoaSE results in cursing. Lots and lots of cursing). So that's really the big difference in the feel of the games. The other differences are mainly technical/mechanics (though I will say that the fact that there's no clear documentation on how "weapon strength" and "defense strength" of military components impact performance in battle in Endless, other than "Larger numbers are better" which kind of bothers me, but oh well).

So overall, GC2 has better flavor, Endless is slightly closer to chess on the chess->civ5 continuum (and has a slightly nicer and vaguely less cartoonish interface). Also, if this matters to you, GC2 doesn't have multiplayer, Endless's diplomacy system is (imo) stupid, and SoaSE is better overall if you're ok with real-time.

[Legendary Emu]

So pretty much I like Sins of a Solar Empire (I don't mind real time), Sword of the Stars and Endless space. Whatever goes on sale first I'm going to get.

[Brethern]

So pretty much I like Sins of a Solar Empire (I don't mind real time), Sword of the Stars and Endless space. Whatever goes on sale first I'm going to get.

Personally I'd choose sword of the stars.

Each faction plays differently, the maps are massive, a game could take days to complete (which isn't a bad thing.) You have randomly generated tech trees so there's no one perfect build to use.

The management system but it does the job.

Best part is that battles are played with semi realistic flight. Obviously things like orbits aren't in there but given the background of the game it does make sense. Other than that most of newtons laws are obeyed. So you can do things like disable the engines of a ship and it will continue to float in that direction. You can also hit ships with kinetic weapons that will send them spinning.

[WhiteWeasel]

So pretty much I like Sins of a Solar Empire (I don't mind real time), Sword of the Stars and Endless space. Whatever goes on sale first I'm going to get.

EDIT: It's still in alpha, but you might like Endless Legend even better.

Personally I like them, but for a lot of people the hands-off combat was a turn off. One thing I will say is; if you do get ES, get the Disharmony expansion. It adds another faction, and while the combat is still "cinematic" it's a lot more fleshed out. They added fighters, bombers, targeting commands and formations (what ships get targeted first by the opponent) for your ships. Also ES has a custom faction maker, if you dislike the stock ones.

And oh, before you say combat is unbalanced my faction had researched better weapons technology before the AI I fought.

While they are tied up with Dungeon of the Endless, and Endless Legend, the fact that they added 5 content patches and one old school big expansion pack a year or two after the game was released is a pretty good sign that there will (eventually) be more to come. But yeah as the other guy said ES is more "Chess Like" empire management with combat on the side, you want something fast paced and more action, get sins.

Endless Space Web Site You should check out their dev blog.

Edited April 25, 2014 by WhiteWeasel

[Legendary Emu]

That looks much better. Once I saw Totalbiscuits video on it I had low hopes for it because it didn't look like it had any character. Now I might get it on sale.

[*Aqua*]

I bought Endless Space when it came out. I thought it was a modern Master of Orion 2. While the build up of your empire comes close to MoO, the combat is really lacking in my opinion. You just assemble a small fleet, throw in some modifier 'cards' and watch, what happens.

The game does a lot things right but combat really sucks.

[WhiteWeasel]

That looks much better. Once I saw Totalbiscuits video on it I had low hopes for it because it didn't look like it had any character. Now I might get it on sale.

(4:20) It's an old sale box, but he did acknowledge the changes the game made since release. But still, if you want real time-actiony battles, might want to hold off on ES.

And sorry not to throw anothe game in your face, but The last federation seems really promising.

Edited April 25, 2014 by WhiteWeasel