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[NullForceOmega]

The game is in early access and you're a beta tester?  If combat is the weakest element then they would need as much input as possible in order to improve it, right?

[Majestic7]

The combat form is a design choice. It is quite similar in spirit to the combat in the original ES, so I really doubt they will overhaul it, no matter what people say.

[forsaken1111]

So you've identified a weakness in the game and decided without even trying that it is hopeless to suggest any changes. Why are you beta testing it?

I've provided them a lot of feedback so far through various channels and they don't seem deaf to it.

[Majestic7]

There are several threads on the Steam forums about the very subject. Their content is pretty much the same as regarding the battle system when ES1 was in EA. Considering the ground combat is based around rock-paper-scissors (tanks eat infantry, airpower eats tanks, infantry eat airpower) they seem quite married to simplified combat.

The game can still be good if the other parts shine, tho, but it is definitely weakest in the department.

[Retropunch]

Ooooh!!! I loved ES - I felt it had the best 'atmosphere' of any 4x game in recent memory. If they can improve on that and integrate it even further into the game that'll make for a fantastic play

However, I didn't really like the whole 'doom stack' play style and found that things got a bit tedious end game - they often do in 4x games, but ES seemed to lack any big shakeups or different avenues to win like other games try to do - you just sort of grinded towards the end with lots of doom stacks.

Anyone that is beta testing, please keep us updated, especially if it becomes more playable as I'd definitely do EA for this.

[Drakale]

Looking forward to it. Other than the combat system, the original kinda broke up to me in the late game due to the ease of terraforming, it just became a game of number with very few worlds that truly matter. Terraforming, if terraforming happen, should be a limited thing that you invest massive ressources into.

[Man of Paper]

Not too familiar with the first Endless Space, but I've enjoyed the other Endless games (Endless Legends should qualify as a gateway drug) enough to buy yet another space 4X.

First impressions are good. It feels familiar enough that you can try to pick it up and think you're doing something but has enough depth, at least this early, to it that you're going to need a practice run or three to get a handle on the game. And each race provided right now is different enough to give a nice general feel of the game mechanics. I've yet to come across any issues, or perhaps I am but they aren't noticeable to me yet.

Since I don't have the, uh, whatever the opposite of rose-tinted glasses is, that people who played the first seem to have, I'm generally pleased with the product, the promise it has, and the direction it's going in.

However I will not tell anyone to buy it now, if only because I'm one of those strange assholes who uses Early Access to support ideas he likes when he has the money, as opposed to a sensible individual that holds onto his cash until he know what the actual product being paid for is, as most of you seem to be.

[IronyOwl]

Unless they went back to an older, still-buggy engine for space things, this probably shouldn't be relevant.

So naturally, it refuses to run at all.

Apparently there's a pretty wide range of early crash type bugs. They have a lot of suggested fixes, but none of them worked for me. They also claim to be working on them, so hopefully this is a temporary condition, but until then I am sad.

Apparently the game requires a dedicated GPU to run, so laptops without a non-Intel card are out.

Too pretty for its own good, I fear.

[Majestic7]

I've played something like four-five hours and so far had zero bugs. Well, technically, there has a been a few minor script errors where, for example, a quest says %QUEST_PLACE_1 instead of a solar system name. But nothing that would actually prevent you from playing.

So basically, the game is already completely playable and enjoyable, just lacking things and with a turn limit around 100 turns. Based on this, I think it will be a solid game with a fun empire building and exploration (you run around probing anomalies on planets), but weak combat and diplomacy. So the same as Endless Legend. Except the combat is worse.

My critique regarding combat doesn't mean the game is bad, just that the combat is bad. 

[Man of Paper]

Today's update, among other things, removes the turn limit. Probe forever at your own leisure!

[RedKing]

I was excited till I saw that the rock-paper-scissors combat is still in (for space and ground now). That was my least favorite thing about ES1.

[Persus13]

What was so bad about it for you?

[Chiefwaffles]

I'm so sick of RPS combat in general. I mean, it's fine for it to play a background/light role and is almost a basic aspect of combat design in that respect, but so many games abuse it.
Take Galactic Civilizations, for example. You have three types of weapons - Laser, Missiles, and Kinetics. You have three types of armor - Armor, Shields, Point Defense. All there is to combat is just having the ship with exactly the right type of armor and weapon then you auto-win. There's absolutely no aspect of strategy - you just have to micromanage your fleets and shipbuilding depending on who you're at war with.

It's just not fun. I want to have strategy and tactics in games, not "oh they have spearmen I guess I send axemen". It's fine to believe that you shouldn't have to focus too much on tactics/combat in games like Endless Space, but there has got to be a better compromise than yet another RPS system.

[Persus13]

Okay, thanks. I was confused whether you and RedKing were talking about the card system, or the weapon design, because RPS combat could apply to both, but the weapons part is way more important then the cards.

[RedKing]

I'm so sick of RPS combat in general. I mean, it's fine for it to play a background/light role and is almost a basic aspect of combat design in that respect, but so many games abuse it.
Take Galactic Civilizations, for example. You have three types of weapons - Laser, Missiles, and Kinetics. You have three types of armor - Armor, Shields, Point Defense. All there is to combat is just having the ship with exactly the right type of armor and weapon then you auto-win. There's absolutely no aspect of strategy - you just have to micromanage your fleets and shipbuilding depending on who you're at war with.

It's just not fun. I want to have strategy and tactics in games, not "oh they have spearmen I guess I send axemen". It's fine to believe that you shouldn't have to focus too much on tactics/combat in games like Endless Space, but there has got to be a better compromise than yet another RPS system.

^^^^
This.

It wasn't as bad as GalCiv (oh, you have reams of the most advanced armor in the universe? Too bad, I haz missiles, you die) but it was still relatively bad. The last space major 4X I can think of with really good space combat was MOO2. Lots of different kinds of weapons, different ranges, different countermeasures which led to different tactics without necessarily having to design your ships specifically tailored to specific opponents.

There's no tactics in ES1 combat at all, no deft maneuvers, it's just "fly towards each other and hope you picked the right cards". Abstraction can work, but the way it was done just felt unsatisfying.