A.J.
Mohammad AlHuraiz
bigdaddygamebot
beige
bowlisimo
ckim
cptcarnage
feenwager
friedturnips
George
iscariot83
Jeff Grubb
LiK
mjpilon
Pete Davison
rampantbicycle
RedSwirl
scribl
Shingro
Mike Minotti
unmanneddrone
zegolfSquaddies by the Fireside: Endless Space
Pete and Alex C settle down for a lengthy chat about Amplitude’s upcoming 4X title.
(Caution! Extremely lengthy, multi-page post ahead.)
The flames burned brightly in the fireplace of the Squad lounge. Though the day had been hot, the nights had taken a turn for the cooler, so the fire had been lit as a means of making the room a little more cozy — and for serving as a convenient focal point for socialisation. It was late now, though, and there was but one figure still up and about.
Alex “unmanneddrone” Connolly sat in one of the two wing-back leather chairs either side of the fireplace. He gazed into the depths of the flames, lost amid their flickering, jumping patterns and the gentle crackling of the logs — the only sound in this otherwise silent room.
The door burst open to reveal Pete “angryjedi” Davison, clad in full spacesuit, clutching a helmet under his arm. Breathlessly, he wriggled out of the oversized outfit and nodded to Alex, who gestured for his companion to join him by the fire.
“Endless Space?” said Alex.
“Endless Space,” said Pete, pouring himself a gin and tonic before settling into the other of the two wing-back chairs.
Alex waited for his friend and comrade to get his breath back and enjoy a mouthful of the cold drink. Pete swallowed, closed his eyes for a moment and took in the subdued, relaxed atmosphere of the lounge at night-time.
“So,” he said finally. “Let us begin, for we have much to discuss, I feel.”
Alex nodded sagely.
“Why don’t you start by telling me how you found out about Endless Space in the first place?” he said, leaning back into the chair and cupping his G&T glass in the palm of his hand. “I found out about it through you, but how did you come to it?”
Alex frowned, thinking for a moment.
“I think it was via Space Sector,” he said thoughtfully, “which incidentally is a magnificent blog for sci-fi gaming geeks. It did catch my eye, not only because the first scant few screenshots were gorgeous and unbelievably in-game but because it didn’t have the ‘Kickstarter’ suffix attached. Finding out that developers who had worked on many of my favourite games had come together to create one of the great strategic showcase subsets was, in my own experience, a very good thing.”
Pete took another sip of his drink and waited for Alex to continue.
“What’s your history with games of this ilk, and moreover, what did you expect before jumping in?” he asked.
“My history with strategy games is a bit patchy, to be honest,” Pete began, “and I’ve only really come to them recently. Traditionally, the closest equivalent I’ve come to them is the role-playing genre.”
Pete pulled out his iPhone from his pocket and launched an app. The dormant Recorderbot, who had been standing dutifully immobile and inactive in the corner of the room until now, came to life, his face lighting up as he trundled over to the pair by the fireplace. Pete tapped an icon on his phone and Recorderbot’s chest opened to reveal a projector.
“A few years back, some friends and I took to board gaming in a big way,” said Pete. Recorderbot’s projector lit up, displaying what looked like an old photograph of a group of friends on the wall above the fireplace. “We started with ‘Ameritrash’ titles like Hero Quest and Space Crusade but shortly afterwards graduated to the more cerebral, strategic Eurogame genre.” Here the picture changed to show the friends playing a board game with a hexagonal board — Alex recognised it as The Settlers of Catan.
“It was about that time we all got into Civilization IV,” Pete continued. “I guess that was my introduction to this type of game. Since that time, I’ve given a number of turn-based strategy titles a go and while I’m clearly still not very good at them, I enjoy exploring them and learning how they work.”
Recorderbot changed the projected image again, this time to a large screenshot of a “YOU LOSE” screen from Civilization IV. Alex smiled wryly. Pete took another sip of his drink and continued.
“As for Endless Space specifically, it intrigued me from the concept. I’m a fan of space games that put a big focus on galactic exploration and discovery — as a long-term sci-fi (particularly Star Trek) fan, it looked like a good concept to base a strategy game around. I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting going in — something similar to Starbase Orion on iOS perhaps? I was pleasantly surprised at quite how Civ-like the game turned out to be — it made me feel like I already had a grasp of the concepts and rules.”
Alex nodded. Pete tapped the icon on his iPhone and Recorderbot shut off the projector.
bowlisimo are discussing. 
The Squadron of Shame Squawkbox 
bowlisimo 7:05 pm on June 20, 2012 Permalink
That was a fun format, although it took me like 4 paragraphs to realize it was imaginary (…or was it?)
You guys should have told me, I’ve got a baller space-conference room at Praxus HQ you could have used. It’s pure white and lined with Teladi holo-walls. The board of directors likes to have ancient Earth leaders serve them pangalactic gargleblasters. Weird, right? I’ve been meaning to talk to them about that. The rehab for our monthly meetings is starting to cut into our bottom line.
Intrigued by Endless Space, for sure, sounds right up my alley, “but can my aged computer run it?” is the question. Also kind of bummed to hear it lacks a touch of personality and that diplomacy isn’t all there, although I think a lot of space games struggle with those aspects. Actually I feel like all 4X games (at least the ones I have played) struggle with diplomacy the most, even the mighty Civ. It’s all you can do to keep every A.I. from acting completely irrational and dickish.
As for personality, it’s hard to love an empire of faceless planets. A council is a good start. I really think the planetary council in Alpha Centauri was a nice step in the personality direction, and it gave you reasons to contact faction leaders for more than just trading. There was a nice game of politics there that focused around votes and who you could persuade/buy off to vote your way on issues that affected everyone. I don’t see why there couldn’t be an inter-empire version of this, or maybe that’s too much to deal with. Civ 4/5 have the U.N. council, but it’s little more than a floating GUI with text.
And did Alex really drop a Star Wars Rebellion reference? Here I thought I was the only one who played that wonderful, but flawed, wrist-crippling strategy game. It definitely had personality, you recruited Star Wars characters for god sakes, but it also sounds like Endless Space has a similar combat system where you watch ships auto-battle with very loose interaction from the player. It worked back then, despite looking like ass, so I can image it still works for Endless Space. I’m down with the spectacle and cinematics. I don’t care about micromanaging battles as much.
OH, and yes to 4X narrative, however thin.
Anyway, I’ll probably pick this up the first time it’s on sale.
Pete Davison 9:49 pm on June 20, 2012 Permalink
Good stuff. I’m pretty sure you’ll dig it. As for the personality and diplomacy issues, it’s worth reiterating that the game isn’t “out” yet — the version that’s currently up on Steam is an unfinished beta and the devs freely admit that not everything is implemented yet, with diplomacy being a particularly prominent item on their “To Do” list. So it’s possible there will be some strides forward in that department before it releases for realsies.
unmanneddrone 2:41 am on June 21, 2012 Permalink
I think it’s definitely one of those genres where your own personal drive and direction can conceivably make up for any narrative absence or limited sense of character. That said, I do find ES to be on the more fulfilling end of the spectrum.
And just as an aside to this Squaddies by the Fireside chat…it’s nice to be able to engage in some of that high-level discussion that is usually reserved for podcasts, as the logistics, timezone and familial duties will always prevent anything further…a man weeps.
Anyway, Bowley, I echo Pete in saying this is very much your bag.