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Pictures of your Games Episode X - The Journey to Babel


Rosbjerg

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He actually was kind of a running joke with Amplitude, putting him as a random alien in the game's various artwork and in-game images. After fans noticed him and started speculating who he is, Amplite has added him as a hero you get for completing a quest chain.

 

And you can encounter his species as well if you haven't:

 

VMstgcG.jpg

 

pMBnYgA.jpg

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How does Endless Space 2 compare to Stellaris?

 

I haven't played Stellaris that much (I got it only for ST New Horizons), but they are different types of games. They share the "strategy in space" theme, but that's about it.

 

Stellaris is your typical Paradox grand strategy simulation, with rather unfocused campaigns. Not that that's a bad thing, but in contrast, ES2 has clear, well-defined victory conditions, to be reached within a given amount of turns. Games are much shorter in ES2, but you can change this by playing on slower speeds. This isn't something I would personally recommend, as game speeds aren't the most thoroughly tested element and you can get stupid interactions such as your systems not producing enough food and pops starving on turn 1.

 

ES2 is a more traditional 4X game, where you start with one node and two units and go from there, in a randomized environment. What I like about ES2 is that the different factions not only have their own distinct quests and lore, but they really play differently. For instance, the Riftborn mentioned in an earlier post do not reproduce naturally* and need to be manufactured, which puts you in the difficult position of deciding whether to delay production or growth. The Vodyani are shipbound and do not grow naturally either, but make up for this by being nomadic and can just pack up and leave for greener systems, or squat on your neighbor's backyard to prevent them from seizing some nice real estate. You can also create your own custom factions, and make them as broken or gimped as you want.

 

Civics/government is less well developed in ES2, no two ways about it. You get one government type out of four available, which aren't necessarily all that different, and which you can change after researching the requisite tech, and a ruling party which determines available policies. Who are the ruling party(es) is influenced partly by your decisions, partly by your political system, and partly by the makeup of your pops. This is one of the weakest points of the game, but AFAIK, the devs have promised to revise and expand on it. (Promises, promises...)

 

Pop management is really basic in ES2, and it ranges from awkward workarounds to downright infuriating mechanics you can do nothing about. On the other hand, I'd say combat is better because it allows you some agency in battles in the form of tactics "cards", and it isn't just about who has the bigger stack. Ship design is elementary, but can give you a huge edge if you know what you're doing. The combat system is deceptively complex, but the details aren't something you need concern yourself with at the beginning (or at all).

 

Research/tech is your usual 4X tech tree, only modified by racial affinity, in contrast to the semi-random approach which is one of the bigger selling points of Stellaris.

 

For the time being, Amplitude hasn't hopped on the DLC milking model bandwagon too much, but they are Sega now, so the cynic in me warns that it's just a matter of time before they go full Total War.

 

As is the case with pretty much every game these days, ES2 needs some serious patching before it can be considered a polished experience. It's currently perfectly playable and the issues are mostly minor, but they can add up. Or maybe I'm just old and cranky.

 

Whew, that came out rather long-winded. Hope it helped.

Edited by 213374U
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- When he is best, he is a little worse than a man, and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast.

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(Promises, promises...)

Well they did already release a whole bunch of free content, including stuff like fightes and bombers for space battles, new quests and quest chains etc. And considering the way Endless Legend kept growing throughout its support period, I'd say chances are good.

 

But yea, I'd say that about nails the difference - I'd also like to add that Stellaris would be good for people who are fans of purely mechanics-driven games, whereas Endless Space 2 (and Endless Legend for that matter) focuses a lot more on combination of mechanics-driven play with a ton of pre-written lore, faction stories and generic quests that expand and polish the already established universe.

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(Promises, promises...)

Well they did already release a whole bunch of free content, including stuff like fightes and bombers for space battles, new quests and quest chains etc. And considering the way Endless Legend kept growing throughout its support period, I'd say chances are good.

 

Sure, I have no reason beyond my own jadedness to disbelieve the devs' statements in this regard. I was pleasantly surprised by how responsive they are and patches seem to be released regularly. The free content is nice, but I hope they will keep releasing it in the vein of the Galactic Statecraft update rather than making it subject to Steam account linking. I'm perfectly happy to buy your DLC if it offers good value, but don't make me make yet another throwaway account goddammit!

 

Their track record regarding DLC and apparent openness and interaction with customers is what finally sold me on ES2 before Stellaris, but that's not really a game-specific point.

 

 

 

And Endless Space has the most beautiful faction ever. Ask Horatio. He is the most wise, he would know.

 

Edited by 213374U
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- When he is best, he is a little worse than a man, and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast.

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Also having a history of testing for them (sadly not ES2. After the first two early builds I had no spare time for proper testing :( ), I have a lot of faith in them having every intention to do what they say they'll do.

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Sometimes, when you're out in the field, you stumble across a dangerous monster:

 

Llots5U.jpg

 

Sometimes you make new friends:

 

J4PKRkt.jpg

 

Also, I got Benny a new outfit:

 

1lw6jPp.jpg

 

Oh my goodness, he looks so adorable!  :wub:

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The true meaning of "dressing up a pig?" :biggrin:  It's adorable. I read you can capture pets or something, I assume that's one of them.

“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts
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The true meaning of "dressing up a pig?" :biggrin:  It's adorable. I read you can capture pets or something, I assume that's one of them.

That one is outside near the research HQ, but you can capture creatures and have them as pets and very likely Poogies, since they've been in all the MH games and are sort of a mascot for the series (them and Felynes[Palicos in this game]).  You can capture giant monsters too, though you need more than just a net and it's definitely harder than just killing them, but it does net (no pun intended) you much larger rewards.

Edited by Keyrock

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"Any organization created out of fear must create fear to survive." - Bill Hicks

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FMKDPFB.jpg

 

pnfRkLZ.jpg

 

I wish I had gotten a better picture of the Barroth when it was closer, but when it was closer, well, I was kind of preoccupied with fighting it and not getting trampled.

 

fG35lyD.jpg

 

A cool beer after a successful hunt.

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Haha I was just doing that benchmark a bit ago too. The benchmark samples they were using looks good on 1080. Ran it a few times, always came out close to the same, Fairly High and a little bit under the "High" benchmark ranking for 1080.

 

 

Pc-benchmark1.jpg

“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts
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FFXV's 1.21 update finally fixed Ignis' Casual Crownsguard outfit so it actually changes his hairstyle to be the one that's featured in his DLC episode. So now I can have him look like this:

 

FF-15-Ignis-0015.jpg

 

On the other hand, I get the feeling this style is rather "stuck in place", so sometimes I'll have to switch back so I can get the kooky wind/rain bad hair days, because those are funny.

 

FF-15-Ignis-0016.jpg

CtaGKxp.jpg

 

 

...I really wish they'd add a purely "dressup" slot or two for each of the boys, where you could change their hairstyles or accessories - these changes would have no stat bonuses attached, just decorative. I mean, they're all like boy-band members, right? We should be able to put scarves, santa hats, different hair, jackets over their shirts etc. on all of them. There's no character creation in this game ... but they could still let us play dress up more. It's boring looking at the same purple shirt or black tank top 24/7 (which they wear because they have the best stats). Yes I'm weird. :p

Edited by LadyCrimson
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