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by mark 05/17/2016, 5:57am PDT |
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I agree the combat is really/conquest stuff is seriously under-baked, as is diplomacy. Nothing is sadder than watching a bunch of starships sitting on top of each other as some numbers descend (although maybe the animations do matter as in one battle the hundreds of ships I had seemed to cover the enemy transport craft so completely that it couldn't be killed, and my 120K armada had to retreat to end the battle after 6 months of stall).
A lot of improvements do just come down to +5% whatever. Or a flavourless Dogshit tech-level IV vs Dogshit tech-level III. AC still is the best when it comes to making you excited about technology, and giving the impression of different attitudes and ethical systems through the lore soundbites that accompanied each discovery. Here, the completely opaque tech-tree is another annoyance. You have no idea what will be available for study in 40 months when you are done "Future Zoo" or whatever, reducing your ability to plan.
But I still really liked it, especially the first hundred or so years. I felt there was character in my gross shroom people -- re-assigning leaders to challenging tasks or watching them die, struggling with the challenges of integrating the people I conquered into my empire, exploring the galaxy, playing through event chains, uplifting races, and finally crushing everyone in sight. It might really come down to your mindset, though. Maybe it is because I have been reading a book on the ancient Rome as I have been playing this that it felt like the epic, generational tale of a Space Fungi Republic and not a real-time Excel optimizer.
To some up this and my other threads: good game, I really enjoyed it, it hasn't seriously advanced 4X, it has the same problems most space 4X have, it isn't finished. |
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