Choosing a Strategy Game IN SPAAAAAACE!

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I've lately gotten the itch to play a sci-fi strategy kinda game after playing a lot of Starfinder, but I'm not sure which one to pick to get into, especially since I already have a lot of games on Steam (though most are fantasy-based or Total War titles). I've narrowed it down to three that seem best for scratching the itch, but was wondering if I could get some advice on which to invest in.

Spoiler: Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth

Show

This one seems like the most accessible, but it's also one that is generally regarded as a weaker title than others in the Civilization series, and definitely not as good as Alpha Centauri, which from what I hear is a superior game, but also more difficult. I like the way your research can "customize" your faction to an extent with the affinities, but on the other hand, you can only be humans. I'm hesitant because I feel like I'll also need to invest in its companion game, Sid Meier's Spaceships, and I'm not sure I want to invest in two games, especially since the general consensus seems to be that Spaceships was unnecessary.

Spoiler: Endless Space 2

Show

I've seen trailers for this and its world-building looks really good, with each faction being interesting in some way. On the other hand, it's got the same problem CivBE has, as it's the second game out of two, and there's also the OTHER Endless games like Endless Legends and stuff to get the full scope of it. Its factions don't seem QUITE as flexible as in the other games I'm discussing here either.

Spoiler: Stellaris

Show

This is the big one. Almost everyone I know who knows about this game has raved about it. It's flexible, it's rich, you can do almost anything with it...but I struggled a LOT with Crusader Kings II, and never really got the hang of it, never really felt like I knew what I was doing or how to accomplish any goal I might have. Since Stellaris is basically Crusader Kings II but IN SPACE! I worry I'd basically try it for 15 minutes and then abandon it because I'm just overwhelmed with information and not having a clear idea of how to do anything.

So...which of these should I look into if I want to colonize planets and stuff? What do you folks recommend?

[Artanis]

I've lately gotten the itch to play a sci-fi strategy kinda game after playing a lot of Starfinder, but I'm not sure which one to pick to get into, especially since I already have a lot of games on Steam (though most are fantasy-based or Total War titles). I've narrowed it down to three that seem best for scratching the itch, but was wondering if I could get some advice on which to invest in.

I haven't played Endless Space, so I'll skip that one. I have played the other two, however.

Spoiler: Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth

Show

This one seems like the most accessible, but it's also one that is generally regarded as a weaker title than others in the Civilization series, and definitely not as good as Alpha Centauri, which from what I hear is a superior game, but also more difficult. I like the way your research can "customize" your faction to an extent with the affinities, but on the other hand, you can only be humans. I'm hesitant because I feel like I'll also need to invest in its companion game, Sid Meier's Spaceships, and I'm not sure I want to invest in two games, especially since the general consensus seems to be that Spaceships was unnecessary.

There's no denying that Civ:BE is weaker than Alpha Centauri, but then, every Civ game is weaker than Alpha Centauri

Civ:BE set out to do to Civ 5 what Alpha Centauri did to Civ 2: take the mechanical foundation of the game and put it in a Sci-Fi setting where the designers can just let their imaginations run wild without worrying about all the historical baggage that usually comes with the Civ name. In that, Civ:BE didn't do as well as Alpha Centauri, but I wouldn't say it failed. I certainly enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than I enjoyed Civ 5. Basically, if you like Civ and you like Sci-Fi, then you will like Civ:BE.

Also, the Spaceships game might as well not exist, it's so unnecessary.

Spoiler: Stellaris

Show

This is the big one. Almost everyone I know who knows about this game has raved about it. It's flexible, it's rich, you can do almost anything with it...but I struggled a LOT with Crusader Kings II, and never really got the hang of it, never really felt like I knew what I was doing or how to accomplish any goal I might have. Since Stellaris is basically Crusader Kings II but IN SPACE! I worry I'd basically try it for 15 minutes and then abandon it because I'm just overwhelmed with information and not having a clear idea of how to do anything.

A lot of the problem that CK2 has is that it's kinda backwards from what one normally expects: CK2 is about the character and the dynasty, with the realm just being a means to an end. When somebody says, "I am the King of England", most games put the emphasis on the "England", or at least "King", but CK2 puts the emphasis on "I am", with the rest of the phrase often being tangential, or even irrelevant.

Stellaris does not do that. Stellaris is absolutely a 4X game. Admittedly, it's fairly sandbox-y as 4X games go, but it is still a 4X. When you play Stellaris, you will explore the galaxy, expand throughout your neighborhood, exploit the resources you claim, and then kill everything that gets between you and whatever you decide to do. If you have to compare it to another Paradox game, the closest comparison would be Europa Universalis, where you seek to expand your realm, and the characters are (at best) names attached to bundles of stats for the realm to do with as it pleases.

And Stellaris is incredibly flexible. In addition to the usual array of world/galaxy creation options, you can build your empire from scratch. The traits of your species, the ethics of your people, the system of government, and so on. And that's before we talk about mods, which Paradox goes out of its way to enable and support.

So...which of these should I look into if I want to colonize planets and stuff? What do you folks recommend?

In this case, I would suggest Civ:BE for one reason: you mentioned you were hesitant about spending money. Stellaris is (IMO) a significantly better game, and is MASSIVELY better-supported, but you can get the entire Civ:BE experience with just the base game and maybe the expansion. Stellaris is an excellent game even without any paid DLC, but knowing that more is out there can be an annoyance...and Stellaris already has multiple gameplay DLCs, with that number destined to climb as time goes by. Even though Paradox regularly puts DLC on sale for a massive discount, that can add up after a while.

[Grif]

I'm surprised that you didn't think to include Galactic Civilizations 3, given that it's practically one of the card-bearers for 4X in space. You may want to look into that at your leisure as well.

But I'll chime in on Endless Space 2.

Simply put, it's gorgeous. Aesthetically, Amplitude absolutely nailed the aesthetics of the series (a common theme with Endless games), standing heads and shoulders over other games in the genre in that it made every faction look distinct, and aesthetically pleasing. The factions are all very different, mechanically, and in appearances. In the base game alone, you have a corporatist human space empire, a race of literal clones, blue-reskins of grey aliens of yore, living trees that entangle planets, orthogonally challenged beings from another dimension, all-devouring space bugs, vritualised space vampires, capitalist fish/lizard(wo)men and ... uh, yeah there's space nomads too. Not to mention the minor races. The UI is possibly the best I seen for the genre, and the music is always good.

Gameplay wise, it's a very refined form of 4X gameplay you would be familiar. Explore, colonise planets, research new techs, conquer your neighbours, etc. Nothing particularly outstanding comes to mind, except the way it handles rare resources. (You basically use these rare resources to customise your planets further, as well as grow pops, which I found neat.) Combat is ... serviceable. At least they didn't force you to play out the card battles anymore, but it's still relatively unintuitive. Bigger numbers usually wins for most part.

The AI would give some challenge to a newbie, but quickly falls off once you learn how to game it. Not a strike against ES per se, but Gal Civ did set a pretty high standards for AI opponents.

[Otomodachi]

I've lately gotten the itch to play a sci-fi strategy kinda game after playing a lot of Starfinder, but I'm not sure which one to pick to get into, especially since I already have a lot of games on Steam (though most are fantasy-based or Total War titles). I've narrowed it down to three that seem best for scratching the itch, but was wondering if I could get some advice on which to invest in.

Spoiler: Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth

Show

This one seems like the most accessible, but it's also one that is generally regarded as a weaker title than others in the Civilization series, and definitely not as good as Alpha Centauri, which from what I hear is a superior game, but also more difficult. I like the way your research can "customize" your faction to an extent with the affinities, but on the other hand, you can only be humans. I'm hesitant because I feel like I'll also need to invest in its companion game, Sid Meier's Spaceships, and I'm not sure I want to invest in two games, especially since the general consensus seems to be that Spaceships was unnecessary.

Spoiler: Endless Space 2

Show

I've seen trailers for this and its world-building looks really good, with each faction being interesting in some way. On the other hand, it's got the same problem CivBE has, as it's the second game out of two, and there's also the OTHER Endless games like Endless Legends and stuff to get the full scope of it. Its factions don't seem QUITE as flexible as in the other games I'm discussing here either.

Spoiler: Stellaris

Show

This is the big one. Almost everyone I know who knows about this game has raved about it. It's flexible, it's rich, you can do almost anything with it...but I struggled a LOT with Crusader Kings II, and never really got the hang of it, never really felt like I knew what I was doing or how to accomplish any goal I might have. Since Stellaris is basically Crusader Kings II but IN SPACE! I worry I'd basically try it for 15 minutes and then abandon it because I'm just overwhelmed with information and not having a clear idea of how to do anything.

So...which of these should I look into if I want to colonize planets and stuff? What do you folks recommend?

Quick-and-dirty opinions-

Don't get Civ:BE unless you're also going to get the expansion. It's still an aggressively flawed game, but you CAN definitely get enjoyment out of it if you enjoy Civ games. I can't remember everything the expansion does, but it's generally very positive changes and the big thing it opens up is hybrid playstales for your faction instead of being limited to options A, B, and C you could be an A/B hybrid. I.E. instead of having to choose between tech or genetic engineering focus, you can hybridize. It was a big deal for ME, at least.

---

Endless Space 2 is a pretty fun game, the DLC is pretty inexpensive and mostly focuses on adding new factions (8$USD-ish price point IIRC?) and adding extra quests ($5USD-ish IIRC?). There's probably close to a dozen of em, at this point. The downside to Endless Space 2 are, IMO:

1) Other species living inside your empire. There are very limited options for
purging other species that immigrant for various reasons. This annoys me, because I either need to micromanage a LOT more suddenly to relocate this populations to planets where they'll be the most effective *OR* settle for feeling like I am inferior while ignoring them.

2) Because it uses this quest system, your first few playthroughs will be cool experiences of discovery and understanding. Then you've seen em all, and things will start to feel a bit repetitive between playthroughs. Depending on how many hours of satisfying play you expect from a game, this could or could not be an issue for you. You'll definitely get the 50-ish hours of fresh gameplay *I* expect from a title, but I usually also want more from a 4x style.

---

Stellaris is good fun, but getting it with all the DLCs is going to yield this biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig, intimidating, somewhat expensive experience. NOT getting all the DLCs always leaves me, personally, wondering why I bothered. Maybe that's not an issue for you.

It's a good fun game with lots of cool exploration tidbits and fun things to discover. ON THE OTHER HAND. There are very, very optimal and sub-optimal choices so I always end up feeling like I either have to play essentially the same way each game, or suffer feeling like I am playing in an inferior way. Might not be an issue for you like it is for me.

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In general I'd recommend Stellaris with all it's DLC if money is no real issue; Endless Space 2 with NO DLC if money IS an issue, as the DLC for that one doesn't expand the core mechanics much and is mostly just adding factions.

I'd ALSO recommend checking out Sword of the Stars from back in the day. Not 2, one. Just take a look, if you've never played it.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I haven't played Endless Space, so I'll skip that one. I have played the other two, however.

Thank you!

There's no denying that Civ:BE is weaker than Alpha Centauri, but then, every Civ game is weaker than Alpha Centauri

Civ:BE set out to do to Civ 5 what Alpha Centauri did to Civ 2: take the mechanical foundation of the game and put it in a Sci-Fi setting where the designers can just let their imaginations run wild without worrying about all the historical baggage that usually comes with the Civ name. In that, Civ:BE didn't do as well as Alpha Centauri, but I wouldn't say it failed. I certainly enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than I enjoyed Civ 5. Basically, if you like Civ and you like Sci-Fi, then you will like Civ:BE.

Also, the Spaceships game might as well not exist, it's so unnecessary.

I should add that I've never actually tried a game in the Sid Meier's Civilization series before. The extent of my 4X Strategy experience comes from the real-time Age of Empires series (and their Age of Mythology spinoff, whose campaign I've played through multiple times!). My best friend DOES have Civilization V, and he has played it a lot and recommended it to me, so I figured I'd like Beyond Earth since I'm not as keen on the primary Civilization's focus on real-world historical figures, when the Total War series has kind of spoiled me in terms of historical verisimilitude...

A lot of the problem that CK2 has is that it's kinda backwards from what one normally expects: CK2 is about the character and the dynasty, with the realm just being a means to an end. When somebody says, "I am the King of England", most games put the emphasis on the "England", or at least "King", but CK2 puts the emphasis on "I am", with the rest of the phrase often being tangential, or even irrelevant.

Stellaris does not do that. Stellaris is absolutely a 4X game. Admittedly, it's fairly sandbox-y as 4X games go, but it is still a 4X. When you play Stellaris, you will explore the galaxy, expand throughout your neighborhood, exploit the resources you claim, and then kill everything that gets between you and whatever you decide to do. If you have to compare it to another Paradox game, the closest comparison would be Europa Universalis, where you seek to expand your realm, and the characters are (at best) names attached to bundles of stats for the realm to do with as it pleases.

And Stellaris is incredibly flexible. In addition to the usual array of world/galaxy creation options, you can build your empire from scratch. The traits of your species, the ethics of your people, the system of government, and so on. And that's before we talk about mods, which Paradox goes out of its way to enable and support.

That flexibility IS part of what makes Stellaris attractive to me. I'm just concerned that, much like Crusader Kings II, I'll get stuck trying to learn HOW to play the game in the first place. It's like, I see all these suggestions in Crusader Kings II threads to assassinate this guy or convert to that religion or try to find a partner with these specific traits to pass them on to your child and the only question I have is WHAT BUTTON ME PUSH TO DO THING?!

In this case, I would suggest Civ:BE for one reason: you mentioned you were hesitant about spending money. Stellaris is (IMO) a significantly better game, and is MASSIVELY better-supported, but you can get the entire Civ:BE experience with just the base game and maybe the expansion. Stellaris is an excellent game even without any paid DLC, but knowing that more is out there can be an annoyance...and Stellaris already has multiple gameplay DLCs, with that number destined to climb as time goes by. Even though Paradox regularly puts DLC on sale for a massive discount, that can add up after a while.

No arguments there, enough people have raved about Stellaris that I KNOW it's good, and I know from experience that Paradox puts a LOT of love and effort into their games, but really the only games by them I've done WELL at are RPGs like Pillars of Eternity and Tyranny, which I know how to play because they were developed by Obsidian, and the King Arthur: The Roleplaying Wargame series since that behaves enough like a Total War game that I could figure it out.

I'm surprised that you didn't think to include Galactic Civilizations 3, given that it's practically one of the card-bearers for 4X in space. You may want to look into that at your leisure as well.

It's one of those things where my reference pool is kind of small: I know CivBE because it's a Civ game, and everyone's heard of Civ games and I know Stellaris because everyone's talking about it.

But I'll chime in on Endless Space 2.

Simply put, it's gorgeous. Aesthetically, Amplitude absolutely nailed the aesthetics of the series (a common theme with Endless games), standing heads and shoulders over other games in the genre in that it made every faction look distinct, and aesthetically pleasing. The factions are all very different, mechanically, and in appearances. In the base game alone, you have a corporatist human space empire, a race of literal clones, blue-reskins of grey aliens of yore, living trees that entangle planets, orthogonally challenged beings from another dimension, all-devouring space bugs, vritualised space vampires, capitalist fish/lizard(wo)men and ... uh, yeah there's space nomads too. Not to mention the minor races. The UI is possibly the best I seen for the genre, and the music is always good.

Oh HECK yeah! I only discovered it because YouTube's algorithm thought I might like music from the game, which I listened to out of curiosity and was blown away by! That's why I keep coming back to it as a possible purchase, since that music is JUST THAT GOOD!

Gameplay wise, it's a very refined form of 4X gameplay you would be familiar. Explore, colonise planets, research new techs, conquer your neighbours, etc. Nothing particularly outstanding comes to mind, except the way it handles rare resources. (You basically use these rare resources to customise your planets further, as well as grow pops, which I found neat.) Combat is ... serviceable. At least they didn't force you to play out the card battles anymore, but it's still relatively unintuitive. Bigger numbers usually wins for most part.

The AI would give some challenge to a newbie, but quickly falls off once you learn how to game it. Not a strike against ES per se, but Gal Civ did set a pretty high standards for AI opponents.

As I said, I'm kinda new to the mainstream style of turn-based 4X gameplay, so the learning curve may be steeper for me, which is part of why I'm asking these questions in the first place. Another thing that makes me hesitant about ES 2 is the fact that it's not quite standalone: While it's more of a reboot to the first Endless Space than a sequel, it IS also a sequel to Endless Legend, the fantasy one that ALSO got rave reviews, so I feel like I may need to start with Endless Legend to get "the whole Endless Experience," if you will. Besides that there's also Dungeon of the Endless, which is a completely different kind of game AND has a reputation for being incredibly hard, even on "Too Easy" mode (at least according to my preliminary research on TV Tropes). So I'm wondering if I should look into these other games, especially Dungeon, if I'm just going to hit a brick wall of difficulty the way I have with Crusader Kings II? Honestly, part of me is going, "Why are you even ASKING about this, you should try Crusader Kings II again and get your money's worth for it?!"

That said, the Endless games are just BURSTING with style, and that makes even Endless Legend VERY attractive to me.

Quick-and-dirty opinions-

Don't get Civ:BE unless you're also going to get the expansion. It's still an aggressively flawed game, but you CAN definitely get enjoyment out of it if you enjoy Civ games. I can't remember everything the expansion does, but it's generally very positive changes and the big thing it opens up is hybrid playstales for your faction instead of being limited to options A, B, and C you could be an A/B hybrid. I.E. instead of having to choose between tech or genetic engineering focus, you can hybridize. It was a big deal for ME, at least.

My understanding was it's been long enough that the base game and expansion are part of a package deal anyway, and I was planning on getting the Expansion if I get CivBE anyway to have the "complete" game, and I DO like the whole hybrid affinity thing.

Endless Space 2 is a pretty fun game, the DLC is pretty inexpensive and mostly focuses on adding new factions (8$USD-ish price point IIRC?) and adding extra quests ($5USD-ish IIRC?). There's probably close to a dozen of em, at this point. The downside to Endless Space 2 are, IMO:

1) Other species living inside your empire. There are very limited options for
purging other species that immigrant for various reasons. This annoys me, because I either need to micromanage a LOT more suddenly to relocate this populations to planets where they'll be the most effective *OR* settle for feeling like I am inferior while ignoring them.

2) Because it uses this quest system, your first few playthroughs will be cool experiences of discovery and understanding. Then you've seen em all, and things will start to feel a bit repetitive between playthroughs. Depending on how many hours of satisfying play you expect from a game, this could or could not be an issue for you. You'll definitely get the 50-ish hours of fresh gameplay *I* expect from a title, but I usually also want more from a 4x style.

Good to know! Thank you!

Stellaris is good fun, but getting it with all the DLCs is going to yield this biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig, intimidating, somewhat expensive experience. NOT getting all the DLCs always leaves me, personally, wondering why I bothered. Maybe that's not an issue for you.

It is, and I was planning on picking up the DLC as well to have the "complete" game. It's not so much about the money spent as the number of games taking up space in an already pretty expansive Steam Library, and me feeling self-conscious about that.

It's a good fun game with lots of cool exploration tidbits and fun things to discover. ON THE OTHER HAND. There are very, very optimal and sub-optimal choices so I always end up feeling like I either have to play essentially the same way each game, or suffer feeling like I am playing in an inferior way. Might not be an issue for you like it is for me.

Could you provide some examples. My preliminary research into their wiki made me think of some things like "Aw, that'd be cool to do!" and I'd want to know if I'm setting myself up for disappointment or failure. Is Crusader Kings II like that too.

In general I'd recommend Stellaris with all it's DLC if money is no real issue; Endless Space 2 with NO DLC if money IS an issue, as the DLC for that one doesn't expand the core mechanics much and is mostly just adding factions.

I'd ALSO recommend checking out Sword of the Stars from back in the day. Not 2, one. Just take a look, if you've never played it.

Again, the cost isn't so much the issue as much as what I'll get out of it overall. What makes me nervous about these games isn't monetary value per se, but difficulty and learning curve. Like I said, Crusader Kings II is a very big, well-put-together game that lots of people love, but I can't seem to accomplish anything of value in the game because I don't know what I'm doing. That's why I'm afraid of Stellaris, kind of, I worry that I'll buy it, play it for maybe 15 minutes, and then be so overwhelmed and confused that I abandon it and never go back to it, effectively wasting that money and having it sit with the other games that I haven't finished. That's part of why I'm nervous about the Endless games. I'd be happy to play Endless Legend to get more out of Endless Space 2, but I worry I'd suck at Dungeon of the Endless and I'm one of those obsessive compulsive types who wants to plan out "the Ideal way of Experiencing the Thing." It's why I haven't played the Witcher games despite their quality, because I haven't read the books first, or done a full playthrough of the Mass Effect games because I haven't figured out the order of my media consumption between the books, games and other stuff (especially since some of that content is now unavailable, like the Mass Effect: Infiltrator game for tablets and smartphones).

Yeah, I'm kind of a crazy perfectionist...

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I don't think Stellaris is toooo much more complicated to learn than Endless Space. I personally much prefer Stellaris, and would pile on in highly recommending it.

[Otomodachi]

Stellaris is simpler than most other Paradox games. It's much less simulation-y and much more 4x, so it's going to have a lot of conventions that will feel more comfortable to you.

It's got a big library of anomalies, stuff you can research and sometimes make decisions based on, that you discover throughout a game just kinda through the natural cycle of explore/exploit. It'll feel fresh for a while, although by your second play through you'll kinda be speed-clicking through the most common of them- "Oh yeah that's extra resources, right, I remember" kinda stuff. There's a lot of somewhat to extremely rare stuff so you'll get curve balls for a good amount of time though.

It's a pleasingly fiddly system; you're almost always making choices to specialize, which I enjoy. Like I said, there are limited channels of very definitely "optimum" choices, but the AI is only so good so in single player there's still a decent thresh-hold of sub-optimal choices where you'll be able to have a fun engaging game. Honestly, going fully optimal will frequently make the game too easy once you get the hang of it, so some amount of "roleplaying" your civ is encouraged.

To sum up, the big difference between Stellaris and other Paradox games is the 4x component; you're not simulating an existing, real world thing, you're creating an imaginary thing from scratch. Since everything develops from a sort of "starting settler, one warrior" scenario, I think you'll have an easier time getting your feet wet.

I DO imagine you'll be sitting at the faction creation screen for a good bit cuz there's a lot of good stuff to pick from!

[warty goblin]

I quite like the new Master of Orion; it's got a relatively straight-forwards economy system with mostly linear advancement so it seems a bit less easy to totally fold up and break in half. The various species are pretty flavorful, albeit very unbalanced (but who cares?) the galaxy map is probably the best take on such a thing that I've seen in a long time.

GalCiv III is a solid option. It really needs at least the first two DLCs to be worthwhile though. The one that adds Citizens is particularly key, since they're easily the most interesting take on empire advancement and customization I've seen in a while. Every ten turns you get a Citizen, who can be turned into some particular sort of specialist. As the game progresses, you get more ways to specialize them. It's both incredibly straightforwards, and surprisingly deep. And, delightfully, there isn't some horrible special sub-currency one has to accumulate to unlock them *coughCiv6cough*. You get one every ten turns, that's it.

Oldie but goodie: Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion. Still looks remarkably good, and once you get a ways into a game, has really excellent giant space battles.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone!

How long will Stellaris be releasing DLC for? Some of the less than positive reviews (which are rare) that I've seen of it basically imply that the gameplay changes dramatically with each new update or DLC, and if that's the case, part of me wants to wait for the game to be "done" before I buy it (part of why CivBE was on the list, actually, since with the expansion it's pretty much "done").

[Grif]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone!

How long will Stellaris be releasing DLC for? Some of the less than positive reviews (which are rare) that I've seen of it basically imply that the gameplay changes dramatically with each new update or DLC, and if that's the case, part of me wants to wait for the game to be "done" before I buy it (part of why CivBE was on the list, actually, since with the expansion it's pretty much "done").

If CK2 was any indication, up to 10 years is possible. You may as well get it now, and enjoy it for what it is, IMO.

Stellaris is an exception to Paradox's typical model of only adding incremental changes, simply because how barebones it was at launch, and how some things (like, sectors) continue to yo-yo between absolutely useless (early 1.0 and this patch) and barely functioning.

[MCerberus]

I was really disappointed in Civ: Beyond. There was more variation from the civ baseline in Call to Power, and more space stuff to do... and that's pretty much the black sheep of the series.

[Otomodachi]

I was really disappointed in Civ: Beyond. There was more variation from the civ baseline in Call to Power, and more space stuff to do... and that's pretty much the black sheep of the series.

Yeah, unfortunately it didn't really innovate all that much. I can honestly say I still boot it up and play though.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Honestly, since CivBE would be my initial exposure to playing a Civ game at all, I don't think that'll disappoint me as it does longtime fans of the series...

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

In that case perhaps as an intro to Civ, CivBE might not be terrible, but just know that all the other games outstrip it.

[Winthur]

In that case perhaps as an intro to Civ, CivBE might not be terrible, but just know that all the other games outstrip it.

Aye, I'd personally go for SMAC first because the core Civ2 mechanics are simpler to grasp and the game works on a toaster, plus it's a classic of the Anyone Should Know variety.

[Otomodachi]

Aye, I'd personally go for SMAC first because the core Civ2 mechanics are simpler to grasp and the game works on a toaster, plus it's a classic of the Anyone Should Know variety.

The interface, compared to modern games, is so bad that I honestly have trouble recommending it these days.

[Winthur]

The interface, compared to modern games, is so bad that I honestly have trouble recommending it these days.

Bah, let them eat cake. It's really not that hard, especially once you get used to hotkeys.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Well, I've made my decision and purchased Stellaris via the Humble Store, since it was on sale there and I got the game and all its current expansions for about the same price as I would have paid for the base game and two expansions on the Steam Store. I'm gonna give it a spin after watching some YouTube tutorials on how to play and strategize.

Thank you all for the advice and the reassurance that I will be able to wrap my head around this game.

[Otomodachi]

Well, I've made my decision and purchased Stellaris via the Humble Store, since it was on sale there and I got the game and all its current expansions for about the same price as I would have paid for the base game and two expansions on the Steam Store. I'm gonna give it a spin after watching some YouTube tutorials on how to play and strategize.

Thank you all for the advice and the reassurance that I will be able to wrap my head around this game.

Hahahah, so different from me- my first time I just plowed in and lost gloriously. :)

[The Glyphstone]

The nice thing about Stellaris is all the sliders. Don't want to worry about the Endgame Crisis while you're still learning basic mechanics? Turn it off, or down to the threat level of an anemic kitten. Want to focus on diplomacy over territorial gain? Increase the number of starting empires. Prefer a 'narrow' style of play where you only have to worry about your two immediate neighbors rather than everyone else around? Play in a Ring galaxy instead of an Ellipse. It's super customizable for higher or lower difficulty depending on your game settings. You can even turn off Ironman mode to enable save-scumming and undoing crucial mistakes during your learning period.

Or embrace the Dwarf Fortress mantra that Losing Is Fun, and learn from the mistakes of crumbled empires in turn.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Thanks for the tip! From the few hours I've played, it IS much more accessible than CKII was! I'm really enjoying it!

[Artanis]

And of course, if you ever want to look up some specific information...obligatory wiki link.

[Grif]

Thanks for the tip! From the few hours I've played, it IS much more accessible than CKII was! I'm really enjoying it!

All's well and good until

Spoiler

Show

you run into the endgame crises.

[The Glyphstone]

All's well and good until

Spoiler

Show

you run into the endgame crises.

That's why I suggested remembering the Dwarf Fortress Mantra.

[thirsting]

And of course, if you ever want to look up some specific information...obligatory wiki link.

Or just press the "?" button in-game.

[LibraryOgre]

I have been playing a lot of GalCiv 2.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Gah! Now I've got choice paralysis on what faction to play as and what achievements to go for!

[Artanis]

Gah! Now I've got choice paralysis on what faction to play as and what achievements to go for!

I'd suggest a Materialist + Fanatic Militarist for situations like that. Pretty much no matter what you find yourself doing, you will be researching things and you will be fighting at some point, so you might as well be better at those barring any other specific plan

[5crownik007]

My goodness, a Space Strategy thread and no one has mentioned Aurora 4X?
The most complicated, inaccessible and by far the best space 4X game I've played.
Trying to explain it is incredibly difficult, but I'll make my best attempt.
Aurora has incredibly high amounts of detail meaning you'll want a good processor and it notoriously crashes if you don't have one. You will have to design the missiles your starships will fire, as well as the thrusters that send them to space.
MandaloreGaming did an excellent video.
Aurora 4X Download

[Grif]

My goodness, a Space Strategy thread and no one has mentioned Aurora 4X?
The most complicated, inaccessible and by far the best space 4X game I've played.
Trying to explain it is incredibly difficult, but I'll make my best attempt.
Aurora has incredibly high amounts of detail meaning you'll want a good processor and it notoriously crashes if you don't have one. You will have to design the missiles your starships will fire, as well as the thrusters that send them to space.
MandaloreGaming did an excellent video.
Aurora 4X Download

Considering the original purpose of this thread was to help pick the best strategy games to one who is a self-confessed newcomer, it's not hard to see why Aurora isn't mentioned.