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Author Topic: Astra Exodus  (Read 4593 times)

Martok

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on: September 16, 2020, 06:25:48 AM
(Gah!  Meant to post this yesterday...) 



Has anyone else played AE at all?  I picked it up (along with a few other games) using my Matrix/Slitherine anniversary coupon a couple weeks back, but have only tinkered around with it so far.  I'm going to see about spending more time with it this week, for reasons I'll mention in a moment. 

I feel compelled to begin by saying I wasn't terribly impressed with Astra Exodus when I participated in the beta last year, and therefore wasn't surprised when it was largely panned at release back in January.  However, reviews from the past few months have been noticeably more favorable, and I know Anguille has come to enjoy the game a fair bit.  I also have to admit that whatever critiques of the game I may have, the developer himself has always struck me as a super-nice guy, and he's worked very hard since release to squash bugs, add QoL features, and just in general has been pretty responsive to player concerns/comments.  I figured that alone was worth sending a few florins his way (especially when I wasn't paying full price).  :D 


Anyway, in a bit of somewhat serendipitous timing, a new update (v1.01.07) just dropped this past Monday.  Along with the usual bug fixes, AI improvements, performance optimizations, etc., it appears that five(!) new playable factions have been also added to the skirmish (sandbox) mode, including Pirate Clans!  I'll definitely be checking them out. 

Coincidentally ( ::) ), I also noticed Astra Exodus is currently on sale through Monday for 50% off ($14.99 USD), on both Steam and at the Matrix/Slitherine store.  So if you've been eyeing this one at all, it could be a good time to jump in.  I'll also try to post my impressions once I've gotten a few more hours under my belt.

« Last Edit: September 16, 2020, 06:30:29 AM by Martok »

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bbmike

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Reply #1 on: September 16, 2020, 08:15:23 AM
Still haven't tried this one. Or Pax Nova. Or Predestination. Or Star Control III. Or Stellar Monarch. Or Shadow Empires. Or....

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Capn Darwin

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Reply #2 on: September 16, 2020, 08:42:45 AM
I think Stars in Shadow is a better game with similar mechanics. AE has improved from release, but I have not had time to try the latest update. It appeared to be more an arena fight feature and less an addition to the base game.



Martok

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Reply #3 on: September 16, 2020, 05:53:27 PM
Still haven't tried this one. Or Pax Nova. Or Predestination. Or Star Control III. Or Stellar Monarch. Or Shadow Empires. Or....

Dude, let's just agree to not go down that road; that way madness lies.  (Although FWIW, I've barely touched Predestination myself, and I was one of the original Kickstarter backers.)  ::)




I think Stars in Shadow is a better game with similar mechanics.

I would agree with that assessment, at least based on my own experience.  (Heck, SiS and AE even have similar cartoon-ish visuals & art style.)  Probably the main difference between the two games is that AE has real-time combat (which is admittedly an attraction for me), whereas SiS' battles are entirely turn-based. 

I'd be curious to know what the main factors were in how the games were released, and their reception by the public.  Both AE and SiS are essentially MOO2 clones, yet SiS was much better received from the very beginning, whereas AE had a rough release, and only now appears to be making real progress.  I also wonder what effect it had with the games having different publishers (Slitherine for Astra Exodus, and Iceberg Interactive for Stars in Shadow); I feel like Iceberg does a better job of marketing their games, but maybe that's just me. 



AE has improved from release, but I have not had time to try the latest update. It appeared to be more an arena fight feature and less an addition to the base game.

The Arena was added in the previous update, not the one that just dropped.  But yeah, I felt like that was honestly a waste of time & resources on the dev's part; combat is already decent, it's the campaign side of the game that needs work.  This newest update looks like a major step in the right direction, though, so fingers crossed! 


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Anguille

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Reply #4 on: September 29, 2020, 06:19:40 AM
Stars in Shadow has been in a better shape for a while. It's solid game with few bugs left.

Astra Exodus has also a dynamic campaign. Maybe he aimed to high. From what i've seen and heard, Slitherine is very very weak in the support. Either you have a good team behind a game and you can manage with your game, or you're expecting some help during beta from Slitherine and you basically get nothing. I think the beta testing was way too short and with almost no involvement from Slitherine. I am very disappointed by them. As for Astra Exodus, i've seen the guy work a lot to solve bugs etc. so the game has progressed a lot. There are still some bugs so it's important to report them to AtomicKaiser. I don't think we'll get the polish Stars in Shadow has though.

From a visual point of view, i think the maps in Stars in Shadows are very superior. AE's map isn't great.



Martok

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Reply #5 on: September 29, 2020, 05:40:19 PM
Anguille, I mentioned in another thread that I'm finding colony management & development to be on the shallow side, with there being not much in the way of building options aside from ships (and a few infrastructure improvements).  I'm curious if that's been your experience as well. 



Stars in Shadow has been in a better shape for a while. It's solid game with few bugs left.

Indeed, SiS was already in a fairly decent state at release.  There were still bugs & balance issues, of course, but the game was quite playable. 

In contrast, it was pretty clear (from what you and others have said) that AE was more of a mess when it came out. 



Astra Exodus has also a dynamic campaign. Maybe he aimed to high. From what i've seen and heard, Slitherine is very very weak in the support. Either you have a good team behind a game and you can manage with your game, or you're expecting some help during beta from Slitherine and you basically get nothing. I think the beta testing was way too short and with almost no involvement from Slitherine. I am very disappointed by them. As for Astra Exodus, i've seen the guy work a lot to solve bugs etc. so the game has progressed a lot. There are still some bugs so it's important to report them to AtomicKaiser. I don't think we'll get the polish Stars in Shadow has though.

Interesting comments.  My impression has long been that the level and/or type of support one gets from Slitherine can be very...uneven.  Fair or not, much seems to depend on how successful they believe your game will be -- which makes me wonder if they didn't have much confidence in Astra Exodus in the first place.  If that was indeed the case, then I feel bad for the developer; since whatever else might be said about him, he has a genuine passion for 4x games, and has worked his tail off to improve AE since release. 



From a visual point of view, i think the maps in Stars in Shadows are very superior. AE's map isn't great.

Agreed. 


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Anguille

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Reply #6 on: September 30, 2020, 03:30:41 AM
Anguille, I mentioned in another thread that I'm finding colony management & development to be on the shallow side, with there being not much in the way of building options aside from ships (and a few infrastructure improvements).  I'm curious if that's been your experience as well. 
Do you mean in AE? I think it's better than in Stars in Shadows (very basic) and Interstellar (barely better). In AE, there are more buildings available (but not as many as in MOO2). But the most important aspect is the allocation of workers. There are 5 fields (instead of 3 in MOO) and you always move them to where you need them (finance, work, mining, food, research) and this makes a big difference. I don't think we'll ever seen something as complete as in Imperium Galactica though....

Astra Exodus has also a dynamic campaign. Maybe he aimed to high. From what i've seen and heard, Slitherine is very very weak in the support. Either you have a good team behind a game and you can manage with your game, or you're expecting some help during beta from Slitherine and you basically get nothing. I think the beta testing was way too short and with almost no involvement from Slitherine. I am very disappointed by them. As for Astra Exodus, i've seen the guy work a lot to solve bugs etc. so the game has progressed a lot. There are still some bugs so it's important to report them to AtomicKaiser. I don't think we'll get the polish Stars in Shadow has though.

Interesting comments.  My impression has long been that the level and/or type of support one gets from Slitherine can be very...uneven.  Fair or not, much seems to depend on how successful they believe your game will be -- which makes me wonder if they didn't have much confidence in Astra Exodus in the first place.  If that was indeed the case, then I feel bad for the developer; since whatever else might be said about him, he has a genuine passion for 4x games, and has worked his tail off to improve AE since release. 
[/quote]
I've heard from a couple of others developpers that they do not want to work with Slitherine anymore because they're just not good at supporting them.



Martok

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Reply #7 on: September 30, 2020, 05:51:46 PM
Do you mean in AE? I think it's better than in Stars in Shadows (very basic) and Interstellar (barely better). In AE, there are more buildings available (but not as many as in MOO2). But the most important aspect is the allocation of workers. There are 5 fields (instead of 3 in MOO) and you always move them to where you need them (finance, work, mining, food, research) and this makes a big difference.

Hmm, interesting take.  I've never been a huge fan of the "worker allocation" colony management style (which is maybe another reason I've never been as ga-ga over MOO2 as most folks).  I rather prefer the slider/triangle method myself, which I suppose is one reason why I favor ISG more. 

Stars in Shadow's colony management is indeed even simpler.  But then, it's meant to be. 



I don't think we'll ever seen something as complete as in Imperium Galactica though....

Probably not, unfortunately.  :( 

Although, you may want to check out a game called Stellar Sovereigns.  We'll have to see if if actually gets released, but so far, it looks...interesting. 



I've heard from a couple of others developpers that they do not want to work with Slitherine anymore because they're just not good at supporting them.

Fair enough.  I kinda got the impression that was part of the reason why Pavel decided to self-publish when he released Imperium: Greek Wars(?), so I can't say I'm hugely surprised. 


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Martok

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Reply #8 on: October 01, 2020, 07:07:07 PM
This trailer was just released: 






I find it a bit odd they make it sound like the Arena feature was just added (instead of back in June), but I suppose it sounds like a more substantial update that way.  Although with the addition of four more playable races and crapload of bug-fixes, balance tweaks, and other improves, I think this latest update is already beefy enough.  But maybe that's just me. 


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Anguille

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Reply #9 on: October 13, 2020, 05:02:25 AM
Do you mean in AE? I think it's better than in Stars in Shadows (very basic) and Interstellar (barely better). In AE, there are more buildings available (but not as many as in MOO2). But the most important aspect is the allocation of workers. There are 5 fields (instead of 3 in MOO) and you always move them to where you need them (finance, work, mining, food, research) and this makes a big difference.

Hmm, interesting take.  I've never been a huge fan of the "worker allocation" colony management style (which is maybe another reason I've never been as ga-ga over MOO2 as most folks).  I rather prefer the slider/triangle method myself, which I suppose is one reason why I favor ISG more. 

Stars in Shadow's colony management is indeed even simpler.  But then, it's meant to be. 
Well, basically, the worker allocation or the slider/triangle is the same thing. It's only the visual aspect that is different. But i actually i agree, i prefer the sliders of MOO1 to the workers of MOO2.  Still, the sliders of MOO1 (5) offer more options than the triangle in ISG (only 3 directions).  The colony management in Stars in Shadow is way too simple for my taste. I would play it more if it was deeper and offered more options,
« Last Edit: October 13, 2020, 05:05:17 AM by Anguille »



Martok

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Reply #10 on: October 13, 2020, 01:07:17 PM
Astra Exodus does seem to have improved, incidentally; but man, I just cannot seem to get past the visuals & art style.  It honestly hurts my eyes to look at it.  I wish the dev had gone with a little more "serious" theme, or at least a darker palette. 


To be fair, I have similar problems with Stars in Shadow's visuals/art style (although it doesn't bother me *quite* as much).  There's something almost cartoonish-looking about both games that really bothers me. 




Well, basically, the worker allocation or the slider/triangle is the same thing. It's only the visual aspect that is different. But i actually i agree, i prefer the sliders of MOO1 to the workers of MOO2.  Still, the sliders of MOO1 (5) offer more options than the triangle in ISG (only 3 directions). 

FWIW, you can can use sliders in ISG.  (It's what I've been using this whole time, as I don't care for the triangle either.)  There's a little icon by the triangle; if you just click on that, it will switch to sliders instead. 



The colony management in Stars in Shadow is way too simple for my taste. I would play it more if it was deeper and offered more options,

Understandable.  I like SiS for when I want to play a 4x game, but am in the mood for a bit lighter fare. 

It's clear the game is never going to have the same depth as more "serious" titles like Distant Worlds, Interstellar Space: Genesis, Stellaris, etc.  Nor is it mean to. 


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Anguille

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Reply #11 on: October 14, 2020, 02:58:16 AM
Yes, the visuals are the biggest problem of Astra Exodus.

I know the colony management in Stars is Shadow is meant to be simple. It is simple in MOO as well. The problem is that it's not dynamic. Once you settle up the colony, you never need to get back to it.



Martok

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Reply #12 on: October 14, 2020, 06:59:03 AM
Once you settle up the colony, you never need to get back to it.

You make that sound like it's a bad thing.  :P 


I understand what you mean, of course.  On the other hand, there is something to be said for simplified colony management as well, especially once you have more than a handful of them.  It's a subject I admittedly go back & forth on in my own mind.  :-\ 

(I think that's another reason I like Distant Worlds so much.  While the game is obviously not without its flaws, I do feel like the dev managed to strike the right balance with the level of player input into colony management.) 


"I like big maps and I cannot lie." - Barthheart

"I drastically overpaid for this existence." - bbmike