Endless Legend?

[pants]

Anyone given this a look yet -> Steam link here

I'm hearing good things from podcasts like 3 moves ahead, and it sounds a lot like the Civ IV mod that we shall not name.  Just wondering if anyone else has given it a go before I take the plunge.

[lamaros]

I've been tempted, but supposedly there is a bit of overly complex stuff and really really bad AI.

They seems committed to updating it though, but I'm waiting for a sale.

[Flood]

I bought it right after release.  It's part of the "Endless <insert words>" series from Amplitude. (Endless Space, Dungeon of the Endless, Endless Legend).

It's a pretty game, and I like the different civs races and their little perks.  The little map oddities (Anomalies) and resources are kinda neat and there's plenty of flavor text and such to go along with.  You can, to a certain degree, modify / customize your military units.  All of the races have over-arching multi-phase quests, in addition to the map triggered events.  

I've read many comparisons made to the recent Civ releases and it does share a lot of the basic elements, but not to the point of seeming annoyingly derivative.  On the less <----> more scale of overall mechanic complexity comapred to Civ I'd say it's less complex.  They've streamlined some things and in that regard I actually prefer EL to Civ5, although some of that might be just UI design and ease of clicking down into sub menus and stuff.

On the flip side (some of the warts I mentioned briefly in another thread) are that on my rig the game plods at times.  The unit movement across the map seems slow.  When the AI is done processing it's turns, it indicates you're ready to go and start clicking away but you're really not - there's a 1-2 second hidden lag that's annoying when you're on turn 86 or something.  Admittedly part of the issue might be the CPU power of my computer, but overall the game just seems slow.  When I want to play I have to decide to set aside a block of time.  It's hard to describe - but overall it's the affect of some of the minutiae of the game and UI that combine to make the game pace to seem to poke along.  Also the game likes to crash at un-fun times, like around turn 60-100.

TL;DR - I bought it at release price and have found the game worth it, caveat being I'd probably play even more if it wasn't for the sluggish pace stuff.

P.S. - Dungeon of the Endless.  I'm surprised no one has made a thread about it.  I've never been into rogue-likes at all but it's a really fun little game, been playing it quite a bit.  Highlevel of replayability, fun, some strategy involved minus the odd RNG bend over.  Very much recommend it.  I think there's even some sort of EL & Dungeon of the Endless crossover package / bonus item things involved too.    

[Sir T]

I have endless space installed but I played it once for an hour and for some reason it didn't click with me. Is this a HOMM/AOW/MOM type game? it would be good to have a decent one of those to cry about not being able to afford.

[Yegolev]

Looks good but I convinced myself to buy a Python book instead.

[Hawkbit]

What book?  I've gotten into Ruby a bit over the past six months, but think I might start digging into Django with my two-weeks holiday break from work. 

Also trying to get my kid into programming basics soon using either Python or Ruby.

[Yegolev]

Welp, it was recommended as a "learn python" book but it's really a "learn programming via python" book and so I've somehow found myself re-educating on Perl instead.  The book is Learn Python the Hard Way and the first few chapters are a low-level grind while I try to distill some useful info that I didn't already know from ksh or Perl.  And I managed to get to that point my trying to find out what I can do with bash arrays; turns out the answer is "nothing fancy".

Now I'm thinking I probably should have bought Dungeon of the Endless instead.

[Paelos]

I thought the book was about snakes. 

[Yegolev]

It is.  Snakes love whitespace.

[bhodi]

Why would you buy a book when there is the internet? Tons of websites that teach you how to do whatever.

[Yegolev]

A fair comment, and I'm well aware of the fact that the best reference for Python is the open source internet manual.  Sometimes I want to read things on my paperwhite.  It also ties into my OCD in a weird way.

Another consideration is that man pages do not provide best practices; this is something that I learned with Perl.  Since I didn't actually take any computer classes in seven years of college other than CS101 (three times), I don't have a good grasp of the meta of programming.  If it causes less commotion, I'm using my company's Books24x7 subscription to read Curtis Poe's Beginning Perl.  Of course, I can only do this on my corp laptop.

Might rename this thread "Endless Programming".

[Sky]

This game seems amazing. I only had time for part of the tutorial last night, but the UI looks really competent and I like most of the mechanics revealed thus far.

I bought it solely on how much time Lantyssa has already racked up. Not disappointed.

[Maledict]

Its the best turn based strategy game this year I think - Warlock 2 remains fundamentally broken due to its AI not working, Age of Wonders was good but is more hero battle than anything else, Beyond Earth was a lazy pile of rubbish.

EL on the other hand is actually really, really nice - some unique ideas, a nice setting, really well done races and nice graphics / music. Great little game.

[Lantyssa]

I bought it solely on how much time Lantyssa has already racked up. Not disappointed.

Keep in mind I often play things I can leave running in the background since I work from home.  Not all that time is spent in game.  (Though a lot of it was this week since I wasn't feeling well.)

[Sky]

I don't see that as a demerit. The guitar often calls me mid-game. Or the cat.

[Hoax]

This is good? I was super let down by Endless Space but then again as much as they sound like something I'd like its quite possible 4X is not for me. It just felt like the start of an Endless Space game was really slow and boring and that the tech tree felt super RPS and limiting.

[Tebonas]

Somehow the (basically same) mechanics seem to work better in Endless Legend, I tried to replay Endless Space after I discovered how much I like Endless Legend but it still didn't click the same way it does. Don't know if its the setting that makes that much of a difference.

[Lantyssa]

A lot of it is the tech tree, at least to me.  Breaking things down into eras, and being in an era affecting the game itself has a pretty significant impact.  Instead of trying to research everything you have to make a few choices and old techs often have an impact rather than become completely obsolete.  I'd love to see Endless Space's tech redone in a similar fashion and think that would breath more life into the game.

Winter is also an interesting change.  It annoyed me at first, but it is a regular event that impacts everyone, and gets worse as the game progresses.  Being able to endure it, or better continue advancing despite it, adds a new element to your strategy.

[Hutch]

I've started a thread in Radicalthons for this game.
Come make fun of me there 

[Lantyssa]

I don't want to ruin your thread by posting extraneous information, especially since you haven't gotten to assimilation basics yet.  Having the Haunts be your minor race with the Wild Walkers is winning the Endless Legend lottery.

Haunts and Demons are the best melee faction by far.    Driders are the best support faction.  If I can get both I know I've won the game.

[Hutch]

The assimilation has already happened, I just haven't gotten around to creating the post.

Feel free to post in the thread. I'm not claiming to be an expert, but ideally some kind of discussion will take place there.

Edit to add: Also, information like that is going to be really helpful, not only to someone like me, who is still learning the game, but to people that haven't played it yet, and might stop by the thread in the future to try and find some tips.

[Xilren's Twin]

I will say this game scratches the civ itch better that AoW3 for me.  Picked it up during the latest sale for half off and it's well worth it at that price.  The only part i wish was a little tighter is the combat section, but i can live with it.

[Phildo]

This is currently half off on Steam.

[Draegan]

Nice! Been waiting for this to go on sale. Thought I would have to wait for a while because I missed the last sale.

[Draegan]

I got sucked into this game last night finally.

Played a few games where I played the empire that doesn't use food. I kept getting smashed because I couldn't make peace and a military geared empire would eventually smash me. I didn't really build up too much of a military, and that was my bad.

Then I played a game with the Cultists last night. Holy shit that game is fun.

[Hutch]

I got sucked into this game last night finally.

Played a few games where I played the empire that doesn't use food. I kept getting smashed because I couldn't make peace and a military geared empire would eventually smash me. I didn't really build up too much of a military, and that was my bad.

Sounds like Necrophages. The AI Necrophages always declare war on me, and then start acting like they're having second thoughts once I start taking their cities. But then when I agree to a truce, they're all "Psyche! War is our natural state!"

[Draegan]

I just finished a game on Cultists but only on normal difficulty. Once you get enough minor tribes you just steam roll people. I kind of like only having one city to manage.

[koro]

I am bad at this game, but I'm really loving it so far.

[pants]

Yep, 50% off is pretty good for me.  Sold.

[Flood]

Yep, 50% off is pretty good for me.  Sold.

I'm glad it went on sale and more F13'ers are picking it up, it's a neat game.  Since my recent graphics card updgrade I've been playing it much more.  The custom faction thing is fun to mess with and make imba civs. 

[schild]

Gah, fine, I'll buy it. Damn.

[Soulflame]

You are weak, Highlander.

[Khaldun]

I spent some time today with this. Took a while to warm up to it, but now that I get how it all works, I found it reasonably diverting. AI factions don't really have that much distinctive personality except for the Necrophage guys. As with most 4xs, once you get up a head of steam, it's pretty much all over but the shouting. The Winter mechanic leads to some really annoying micromanaging--I find I have to shift a lot of workers to food production to make it through.

[Phildo]

I like how each of the factions plays differently.  Cultists and Vaulters are probably my favorites so far, though I've only done about half.  The Vaulters were really nice near the endgame when I had nearly max resources and could gear up my armies however I wanted.

[Khaldun]

Yeah, they really do play differently in some interesting ways. Good!