Has anyone played this game? It came out a few months ago and seems to have decent reviews, but I had somehow missed it. I loved MOO2 (20 years ago!) and recently started playing it again, and it’s still a lot of fun.
I haven’t played it, but most of the buzz around it indicates that it is “okay.”
Which frankly, is not good enough for a game that wants to devour hundreds of hours. Especially when you can get Sword of the Stars and all three expansions for $10. Which was the best space 4x I’ve played since MoO1.
The main criticism is that it’s a very by the number Space 4x. Instead of innovating or heck, even incorporating some of the great stuff 4X games have been doing in the intervening years they appear to have spent their budget hiring Star Trek actors to do the voicework, and have left the core of the game largely untouched.
I found it boring as hell. I’d much rather play a game of Stellaris, or Civ V/VI, or especially something like Endless Legend than it.
I played it, found that it was essentially MoO2 with a fancier shell, and went back to playing MoO2. 
These seems like an odd decision. If the games are actually as similar as you say, why not stick with the one with the nice coat of paint? (And who knows, maybe there’s an option or two in there you haven’t seen hundreds of times because the tech tree is always exactly the same…)
I played my friends copy. It felt to me like a paint-by-numbers space 4X. That being said it did everything you expect from a 4X well. At this point though, I expect more from a game. I expect it to change the genre in some way. It doesn’t have to be big, that would be expecting too much, but you have to give me something that I’ve not seen before. There’s none of that in the newest MoO. So, in my view, if you want a serviceable space 4X to scratch an itch it is ok. If you’re looking for the next space 4X that is going to capture you for hundreds of hours, this is not the game you are looking for.
For the record, I should point out that I have a dos emulator on my tablet for the exclusive use of playing Moo2, so I’m a fanboy. I haven’t gotten the latest DLC, so most of my time was spent playing older versions. I’ve heard very mixed opinions on the newest patch, particularly on how they have changed the pollution mechanic, but I can’t comment on it myself.
At first, I really, really liked it. The music is nice, and the voice work is great. In particular, I love Alan Tudyk as the voice of the Psilons. The game does look far better with the high-res coat of paint. The alien races look good, and the UI is nice and clean.
Over time though, there where about a dozen things that were rubbing me the wrong way. The turn-based combat is gone, replaced with either watching the AIs fight or cursing the terrible combat system. Espionage is just kinda crap. Diplomacy is kinda meh. There are weird limits on how many workers I can have on each job per planet that bugs me. I’m not sure how a game that’s 20 years newer has AIs that feels dumber than it’s predecessor, but it totally feels like it does. I either lose by turn 50 or I’ve already won. I’m not a fan of the way that freighters are gone and now food controls colony growth. Star lanes remove strategy from the game. I’ve won using every win condition, and the win screens are uninspired at best.
My biggest single gripe? If I want to turn my 20 workers into scientists, that’s 20 separate mouse click and drags. You can’t lasso or shift-click them all and switch them all over at once. So every time I research a new building, it’s 20 minutes of micromanagement to get my empire to start building them. That part got old really fast.
So, in short, Moo CtS is 80% of Moo2 but prettier and blander. The problem is that they added so little that the missing 20% seems to really stick out in it’s absence. They rested on their laurels, played it safe, and it really shows.
That’s disappointing to here, and I don’t think I’ll shell out the bucks to get it. I still have MOO2, but what I’d really love is just a bigger, more epic option for MOO2 – like a much larger galaxy, slower exploration and travel and research, such that I’m not totally dominating after an hour or two of play.
I forgot about the change to the turn based ship combat…
Has there been any recent games about large ship turn based combat?
I almost want to start a Unity project for something like that, or maybe prototype on the browser…
It isn’t out yet but Endless Space 2 is looking amazing.
I remember liking Sword of the Stars, but IIRC the combat was rather involved (and not turn-based), and I’d like a ‘casual’ game which doesn’t require intense focus on timing. But I haven’t played it for years, so I don’t remember exactly.
SotS had a real-time tactical combat system. SotS2 was an unfinished mess.
Let’s see casual 4X.
- Aurora 4X is right out. It is the anti-casual 4x.
- Stellaris is pausable real-time. The game has had some growing pains but the next patch 1.5 looks like it will be the breakout point for the game. I’m not sure it is casual though. I really really really enjoy Stellaris.
- Endless Space and the sequel Endless Space 2 are pretty casual (as 4X games get) in that the combat system doesn’t have a lot of fiddly bits.
- Check out ‘Stellar Monarch’. I haven’t bought it (yet). It is a space 4x with a different theme to it since it tries to make you feel more like the space emperor instead of the disembodied guiding force to the civilization.
Overall, I’d recommend Endless Space or Endless Space 2. I love Endless Space and I will be buying Endless Space 2 with 98% certainty.
Thanks – I’ll check these out. By casual I just mean a game that I don’t have to stare at and tune out every distraction to succeed in – I like MOO2 and it feels ‘casual’, either because of my extreme familiarity or just because of the game design, since I can stop at any moment, even during battle, and come back to it with no problem. There’s no point where I have to intensely stare at the screen and ignore my wife and carefully click at the exact right moment.
Ahh. I think the recommendations I made are still valid. Stellaris, Endless Space/Endless Space 2 and Stellar Monarch all have that quality. I’m assuming this for Stellar Monarch based on Let’s Play videos I’ve watched, again I don’t own it yet.
Another vote for Stellaris.
It’s real time, but you can pause at any moment. Just like Paradox’s other titles, the gameplay is usually structured so that you give orders, change policies, check on your empire and political situation, then unpause for a bit to see what happens, rinse and repeat.
It’s a lot of fun, and after the 1.5 patch every facet of the game (early, mid and late) should be nicely fleshed out.
btw: anyone know when it’s due? Is it this month or next?
No idea, but I would love a bump in the Stellaris thread whenever it does happen. I haven’t played in a good long while and the 1.5 patch looks to be the perfect time to dive back in.
I follow Stellaris religiously. Martin Anward (Wiz from Paradox) is one of the few people I follow on Twitter. To the best of my knowledge, there’s no official release date for it yet but I think the this month or next is what everybody expects.
I’d be more than happy to post when it comes out because I guarantee I’ll know. 
Linky to the original thread, but feel free to start a new one if you think it’s worthwhile 
It doesn’t require any “intense focus on timing”; Stuff happens pretty slowly, and you can pause at any time. If we’re considering all these other games that have real-time with pause, it’s hardly an invalid criterion here.
Then I may just not remember it correctly – it’s been a while.