Stellaris vs Endless space 2 for new 4x games player

[Bayons]

As the title says, it's the first time I get closer to 4x games. I'd like to ask you which game you suggest for a greenhorn in 4x genre.

Thank you

[Jimmy McGill]

ES2 has a lot less micromanagement in stuff like systems the Hero systems(vs. large numbers of Leaders to manage), more intuitive ship designing and a more tradtional tech tree.
Its also a proper turn based game(well not really proper but turn based anyway) so you can enjoy it on your own pace without a maximum speed that may bite you in the arse after someone declares war but you don't pause again or things like that.

[JH]

Stellaris isn't a 4X, this one is.

[rewolf]

i cant say that much about whats better or not cause i did not buy ES2 till now. But i got over 400 hours playtime on Stellaris so i can say a few things about the Differences. Much i know from Endless Space2 is from many many Lets plays and so on. Stellaris really is a great game. The game itself is easy to learn and there is nothing really hard to understand. At first you might got some problems to balance your resources but that does not last long. The diplomatie is sometimes tricky but really good and the KI is ok. If you do it right you can create gerat coalitions or simple kill everyone who is not from your race ;)

What really nearly killed my interest in this game is the real great ****ing Fps problems. Some still say "there is no problem at all" or "the mods fixed it all" but i cann tell you i tryed alot and i got the impression that the game is like round based in the endgame. that means that it takes me ca 10 sec to only klick on a planet at my current savegame. My enginge is not the problem i got nvidia 1080 and so on and son on. the real problem is that it seemes like the game had been programmed really for single core only and that this is not the only game from the stellaris makers where they did this.


the real problem now is that if you really try to play a universe with more than 1000 systems you will have fleets in the endgame from 300-800k or more ships hundres of planets an billions of people on this planets. to hadle this seemes like doing mathematics with just one brain ;)

if you want to know more about that singlecore problem just read the discussions from stellaris there are people who know much more about this than me.

the only thing i can say for sure that this game has big performance problem but if you cut out this its a great game.

[grandnovice]

Endless Space 2 can be played in a night or two tops for a nice game, or longer if you choose to continue after a victory happens. Stellaris takes a lot of time, but can be fun, not that ES2 isn't. But if you're looking for something you can learn after a few games and won't eat up all your time, try ES2. If you have a machine for it and like watching space battles in system in interactive 3D, then try Stellaris.

[Kraehe]

ES2 every time. But Stellaris is also a good game.

And War in Stellaris is frustrating and boring. You can dominate every enemy system and they won't give up if you are unlucky. It is a pain in the ass...

[Grug]

ES2 is more of a city building game. The AI is so pathetic that 'endless' difficulty (lol) barely gives a challenge.

By turn 90-110 game is already decided in my favor and I'm just hoping the AI catches up, but never does. I've tried different galaxy types, etc. to no avail.

[Star Paladin]

Gee, I never saw this question before, well, unless you count the DOZENS of other threads you'll find on it if you do a quick search.

[ElPrezCBF]

Originally posted by Grug:

ES2 is more of a city building game. The AI is so pathetic that 'endless' difficulty (lol) barely gives a challenge.

By turn 90-110 game is already decided in my favor and I'm just hoping the AI catches up, but never does. I've tried different galaxy types, etc. to no avail.

It's usually not about the AI and ES2 is not a city building game. Even AAA games like Total War rely on expansion moderation mechanics, not "smarter AI" to try and prevent/slow late game steamrolling. How fast you hit steamrolling stage also depends on what faction you're playing, especially in ES2 where factions are truly unique.

Although ES2 already has things like expansion approval penalties, steamrolling is inevitable once you've mastered the mechanics and this is a challenge many games (not just ES2) face: how to keep the late game challenging for the veteran player.

I think what you're looking for is a more powerful moderation mechanic where the player cannot simply use his vast empire scale resources late game to more than offset the current moderation mechanics. However, be careful what you wish for. Total War has various examples of such powerful mechanics like having the entire map, even your allies, declare war on you once you grow too powerful. Or having a civil war where a huge ton of rebel armies appear within your territories out of nowhere. Then you end up having many players complaining about how such mechanics don't make sense and take the fun out of the game instead.

Granted these are inferior solutions to a "better AI", but that seems to be the only alternative apart from going mp.

[Alien]

ES2 is a more classical, but also more refined gaming experience than Stellaris. In Stellaris you also need to rely much more on your imagination, while ES2 is more story-driven. In the same time, ES2's gameplay is based on numbers much more than Stellaris, which is more intuitive, with almost no complicated menu.

If you're a beginner I'd avice you to start with Stellaris, ES2 only if you can handle a complex tech tree and dealing with numbers to optimize your ships.


Ignore people telling that one game or the other is "pathetically" easy or something like that. As a beginner, you'll find the AI challenging anyway.

@Sinnaj63 Honnestly, I don't know how you could came to those conclusions. In most empire buils Stellaris doesn't involve any micro at all ; you can very well use automated ship designs (literally two clicks) without encountering problems vs the AI, you don't have nto manage your leaders at all...

[rewolf]

the only thing that is REALLY bad in Stellaris is the Sector Ki. The only way you can get the KI out of your way is colonize a planet build up your colony add it to a sector when its finish and go on with the next. Takes a lot of time so i do this just with planets when i have to wait for terraforming. the rest i had to manage with mods like mentioned before.

[rfmacros]

Greenhorn? The new Master of Orion. It's breathtakingly simple.

[Whiskeyjack]

I wish I could compare, but I can't get ES 2 to run... So my vote has to go to Stellaris.

[Morvana]

The two games are realy good, but Stelaris after a few games is only fun with friends, because it is realy repetitive...
With Endless Space 2 you can at least make one game with each race before you have to make the same things. (and you can try some ridiculous things like a pacific Cravers...)

[Meomyo]

Try them both, after many hours in each. I much prefer Stellaris. But each to their own.

[Covfefe]

Originally posted by aMEIzing:

also, i dislike stellaris as a whole. after only populating 6 planets, you need to turn those planets in to an inefficient and uncontrollable AI until you can continue populating other planets. and it takes a while before you reach the appropriate tech to be able to expand your empire. ofcourse, mods can help you alot, but being dependant on mods for something basic as expanding your empire in a more normal way already tells how little the developer thought about certain aspects of a game.

I see you haven't played since launch. Sector AI is very much improved, players start with colonzation tech, and there are a multitude of ways to have more than 3 systems under the player's control. Plus, colony governors are now sector-wide governors, even for the player's controlled systems.

As to the OP's question: I prefer Stellaris due to the story that can be developed over the course of the gameplay and sheer customization options. However, I still really like Endless Space 2. ES2 is far superior to ES1 by nearly every instance, which is a great thing as I despised ES1. I hope Amplitude adds the Harmony again, but better than they were in ES, as I really liked that race.