Is the Game Fun?

[Doctor_Wiki]

As the title says, is the game fun? I enjoy 4x games particularly Europa Universail 4 and Civs.

Is it similar with just a larger sci-fi setting?

Can someone give me some pros and cons? Reviews seem skewed toward personal opinion as opposed to insight into the game as far as pros and cons.

[Bingeling]

So a list of pros and cons would not be personal opinion?

The pacing and real time system is EU-like. The setting of building colonies on planets and moons, building mines on the same, and see automated freighters travel around bringing resources from the mines to the colonies is not very EU-like. It is not "EU in space".

Be aware what kind of game it is when it comes to graphics and menus, it is not "pretty 3D", but neither was EU the last time I played it. EU is from a much larger team, and is probably way more polished in the menus and such.

I would guess the main hurdle is "getting into it", understanding enough of what is going on. Not unlike the games you mention. You can toggle automation in all areas, and go from fully manual to fully automatic (but I guess playing fully automatic is not "playing the game"). One likely issue is in finding the "right level of automation", or risk ending up watching AI suggestions pop up, things happening, and really having no idea about what is going on. It is probably quite possible to be overwhelmed.

If you manage to "get into it", there are hours of fun to be had, and you may discover that different players actually play the game in quite different ways. And you will be able to list a different kind of "pros and cons" than those that are relevant when first getting the game.

[Doctor_Wiki]

What I meant by pros and cons was more objective regarding the game. Like bugs and gameplay mechanics as opposed to things that come from a more personal standpoint.

[Doctor_Wiki]

@Bingeling thanks for all the input I really appreciate it. That answered most of my questions.

[Bingeling]

Some cons, from the top of my head:

It is an old platform beneath. Some get issues due to this.

The looks are "old school", but I like them.

It is a slow, complex game, but this is not unknown territory for an EU player. This turns on a huge percentage of gamers off.

The game may seem hard and confusing for beginners.

Diplomacy could use some love (for instance in what alliances are).

Some pros:

It is a galaxy with life, where private ships do their own things and bring resources around. You may have time to pay some attention to this.

Unless caught by technical issues (see above), it has become stable, crashes are rare. There are bugs, but some of those are in situations where the correct behavior is not obvious (three way battles in a two-ways battle world, for instance).

There is a huge flexibility in setting up the game, both in galaxy generation (including research speed) and in automation. It is possible to run reasonably fast games (played in an an evening or three?) but also set up games meant to be played for weeks if not months.

[Beanchilla]

I find it to be a lot of fun. The stories that emerge each game are usually different from others. You'll find yourself struggling to find certain resources, fighting pirates, trying to keep angry empires at bay, taking down monsters and all sorts of stuff.

There's also a ton of options when it comes to making your empire, designing the world and setting things up.

It's very hard to get in to. It took me 20 hours until I could play completely on manual. Maybe I'm a slow learner but this game is difficult at the start, especially if you haven't played any space 4x game before. If you have it's easier.

I'd say make the plunge if you're interested enough to make a forum post, you'll likely get your money out of it. I'm 130 hours in and I am just now able to beat normal mode with a couple of races. I'll definitely get another 100 hours out of this no problem and with the mods I imagine many more after that.

Great game. Check it out.

[icedude94]

I used to play Sins of a Solar Empire a lot to get my space RTS fix. After playing Distant Worlds, I'll never go back to Sins.

This game also has the grand scale of other 4X games like Civ. It has infinite replayability with all the customizations available in galaxy generation and the different AI empires. The mods add greatly to this.

Every game also has its own emergent stories of what happens.

When I first bought Universe, I played a game as humans with all storylines enabled on the largest galaxy setting with all races enabled. Watching my empire grow, the alliances I formed, the wars I got in was like directing my own sci-fi space opera. When the Shakturi arrived, I had put together a large coalition of different empires to fight them resulting in the most epic and unscripted combined fleet battles across the galaxy.

That game was like my own unscripted Mass Effect story with fleet battles and alliances against a powerful and ancient foe from another galaxy.

[PegasusJF]

My only complaint about my last few games was they were too peaceful, but then again I did have a lot of guns. I've had games where I was fighitng wars for years, fighting on multiple fronts against some enemies that even made my generally overly shielded ships look lightly defended. I remember getting several of my border colonies captured, but then doggedly fighting to get them back, stretching my resources to the limit with scraped together fleets.

Others have posted some cons and cover them well. But this game's strengths...they make it among the best space 4x games ever. Once you see all that is going on, it will engross you.

I haven't even played as pirates yet, that should be a whole new experience.

[Halfinger]

While the game is fairly deep and can take a while to get into it is a lot of fun. The game mechaics add to the fun factor rather than be filler or there to add unneeded complexity.

[Kevlar Axis]

I'm just going to chime in real quick and say that this is the best space (Or any genre, really) 4x I've ever played. Honestly, most of them fail to grasp my interest enough either because their complexity is higher than I seem to be interested in (Or perhaps I just happen to have lower patience on some days, maybe those days being when I first try out some complex 4x game, but I digress), or they fail to engage me due to a bland event environment. I've played Eu and HoI very little, so I don't think I can accurately gauge them in regards to how they stack up to this, but I've played pretty much every Civ game there's been, GalCiv, SotS, and a couple of others I can't think of at the moment. Aside from the real time battles with their physics engine in SotS, this game wins out for me in every way.

[BOT nic]

The amount of information a new player encounters can be overwhelming. A massive learning curve exists partly due to the massive amount of information there is to analyze and partly due to the ui and mechanics. I found that simple things such as loading ground troops onto troop transports both a pain in the ass and confusing, same being for landing troops onto planets.

Pirates in the game are also a handful and can quickly spiral out of control if left un managed. You'll find yourself constantly checking your planets for pirate bases, and constantly destroying them. Once bases are destroyed, it wont be long till new ones pop up. The automation settings I've found have not been sufficiant in queeling these neusenses, forcing me to micromanage pirate base demolition.

The advertised automation this game offers is both a hinderance and a helping hand. At the default automation level the game will basicly play itself leaving new players with little to do, and therefore little to learn. Once you've learned the game however, the automation settings can offset some of the things you don't enjoy doing in game.



Now, is the game fun despite these gripes? Yes! Once you've learned the game to a good degree, it becomes quite fun. I recommend playing with automation settings off just to learn the game. Others will tell you to leave them on, but I honestly learned better with them turned off.

[gponto18]

Great game.

[PegasusJF]

The in game encyclopedia is also very informative, I largely learned that game through that.

[andymcnish]

Eventually - it took me ages (over 80 hrs played) before finally I got it and had that 'just one more attack' feeling.The UI is really clunky at times but once the game grips you it's the best 4x space game on the market...
I'd lose the storyline stuff and space critters at the outset and make sure you play with the enhancement mod.

[DVD]

I find this game fantastic. Im more of an old school gamer. I like huge learning curves, when i play any video game i automaticaly set it on hard mode. But i'll list pros and cons from my point of view

Pros and cons can be different depending on the player so here are some main aspects of the game.
1. Very complex. It could be considered a con based on the type of gamer. Ships and stations are 100% fully custumizable. You get to chooses every single component a ship or station has on it. if you want a station with nothing but fighter bays and a lot of shields, or a ship with almost nothing but lazers or missiles it can be done. The research tree is huge compared to other 4X games as well. Google the reseach trees to see exactly what i mean.

2.The AI isnt bad, sometimes it an be questionable but once you find your "level of automation" the AI can be a great asset. For me Automation is great when you first start a game and you can slowly turn off the automation as the game progresses.

3. Trade is another pro in my book. you most certainly can play the game with out trade or building alliences but the benifits are very realistsic when it comes to trading and relationships with other empires.

4. The scale of the game is most impressive. you can have a small map with a few hundred stars or a absolutly huge map with 1000s of stars. Exploration is definatly exciting because you simply never know what you might find in the next system, ruins that give great bonuses if you can colonize it, abandoned ships that are very powerful and can help you fight off pirates or aggressing enemies that are overpowering you, finding one of these ships can really turn the tide early game or you can deconstuct the ship for a huge boost in research. And much more exploration events that can trigger if you find the right system.

5. You can play as a pirate faction. This is one of my favorites, forcing empires to pay you for "protection" or you keep attacking there trade ships and colonies, Trade critical goods on the black market with empires, fight off other pirate factions taking over your territory. Its a very interesting experiance for a 4X game that stands out and is very fun if you enjoy the main game.

6. "hero char." There are different types of char. you will obtain. you will always have a Leader that can have good or bad attributes and will gain good or bad attribute base on what your doing i nthe game att he time, for instance if your building military ships your leader has the chance at gaining military contuction speed attritube, or if you have high/low taxes on you colonies they can gain attributes based on that. There are alot scientists which must be place on a research station or any station with research modules. Ship Captains, Fleet Admirals, Troop Generals. Intelligent agents that are used for counter inteligents against enemy agents or send them on missions to steal maps, sabotage, steal research, deep cover, and much more.

7. Be good or evil. You can change you government type at anytime, be a dictatorship or a republic. Monarchy or theocracy, you choose base on how you want to play. Some ruins you find have add special government types that have great bonuses and cons. What you do like how you engage in war can effect what other empires think of you, such as invading a colony or blasting it from orbit. betraying your allies and helping them can effect this. If you play in the story turned on there is a great evil empire that comes and if your evil and have the right government type you can be friendly with them or if your good you can be friendly with the Good equivalent of this empire that is present from the start.

These are some of the things about this game that stand out to me. certainly there is A LOT more about this game that i havent mentioned but these are he ones i can think of. This game isnt for everyone but if you do enjoy it it will be one of the best 4X games you will play. i recomend watching you tube gameplay videos for a better idea.

Note: one con is that there is no multiplayer. kinda suks because this game would be the beez kneez if it did. but i still play the hell out of it.

[Honorable Discharge]

Originally posted by mattswg:

5. You can play as a pirate faction. This is one of my favorites, forcing empires to pay you for "protection" or you keep attacking there trade ships and colonies, Trade critical goods on the black market with empires, fight off other pirate factions taking over your territory. Its a very interesting experiance for a 4X game that stands out and is very fun if you enjoy the main game.

I forgot to mention that. It's pretty much the only game where you can play as the parasite doing nothing but chaos and being a constant pest.