Interstellar Space Genesis

[Martok]

Was struggling a bit with Old World, so I dipped back into IS:G for a bit.  Not gonna lie, I'm having more fun with the latter than the former. 


It's nice to just enjoy a bit of "old school" space 4x, yet manages to not be slavish to the same, tired formula.  I also forgot how much I like looking at a visually "clean" map, that's not too busy.  The UI is relatively simple but functional; everything is generally pretty easy to find. 

I never cease marveling at the brilliant remote exploration system; I still think it might IS:G's single best feature.  I like how Outposts work, and how they can help expand/develop your empire without having to found a colony.  Colony management isn't fancy, but it also means it's not complicated, and keeps down the micromanagement. 

I've always really enjoyed the space culture perks, and I'm digging the new Evolution perks so far -- they're pretty powerful, and they genuinely feel like they're helping guide your empire/species in a certain direction.  The new Minor Civilizations add some nice flavor, though I do wish they functioned a bit more like the minor races in Birth of the Federation.  I'm also not wild about the fact that, currently, when I want to colonize a planet -- typically the only planets I *can* colonize at the time -- I'll automatically destroy any minor civs there, when I have no way of knowing yet whether any exist on said planet.  It sounds like I'm not the only person who's complained about this, however, and the devs are looking at solutions to address it. 

Critiques...  The game's slow pacing in the beginning still bothers me, but it's admittedly not as bad as I remember it.  Even with the tech tree set to Random, you're still probably going to get either Robotic Factories or Space Elevators available as an early technology (or both) -- either one of which provides a decent boost to your homeworld's industrial production, including shipbuilding speed.  I could also really go for a larger map size of 400 stars or so (current largest is 280 stars, with close to half of them needing to be revealed via remote exploration), but it's not a deal-breaker. 


I don't know that IS:G is ever going to be my "ultimate" space 4x game, but I'd certainly say it's a good one.  And from what I've seen so far, the Evolving Empires expansion has only made it better.  The Evolution perks in particular are fun to play with, and I think the Minor Civilizations will be a fun addition as well (or least, more so) once they're balanced properly. 

[Undercovergeek]

Was struggling a bit with Old World, so I dipped back into IS:G for a bit.  Not gonna lie, I'm having more fun with the latter than the latter

Yikes - is it bad or just deep and brain taxing - and n verge of purchase for old world

[Martok]

A minor edit/update to my first impressions on Evolving Empires: 

Minor civilizations are great conceptually, but are rather anemic in their current implementation.  I still like them, and am glad they've (finally!) been added to the game, but I'm realizing they need to be more useful and/or interesting than they currently are. 


Still enjoying IS:G overall.  It's pretty much the only game I've been playing the last few days. 

[Martok]

One of the main developers just posted over on Explorminate that a new patch is coming soon.  Sounds like it will address many of the issues players currently have with the Minor Civilizations introduced in the Evolving Empires DLC. 

[Anguille]

One of the main developers just posted over on Explorminate that a new patch is coming soon.  Sounds like it will address many of the issues players currently have with the Minor Civilizations introduced in the Evolving Empires DLC.

Excellent how reactive they are....

[Martok]

The devs have put out the 1.4.2 update on the beta branch. 


https://steamcommunity.com/games/984680/announcements/detail/3360261485247347513




The patch focuses on the Minor Civilizations, which is good.  There are some important changes to gameplay and balance that are nice to see. 

However, it doesn't appear that minors have been tweaked to actually be more impactful and/or interesting, which was one of the major criticisms regarding them.  I'll hold off on my skepticism for now, though, until I can dive back into the game (which probably won't be until Friday). 

[Anguille]

The patch focuses on the Minor Civilizations, which is good.  There are some important changes to gameplay and balance that are nice to see. 

However, it doesn't appear that minors have been tweaked to actually be more impactful and/or interesting, which was one of the major criticisms regarding them.  I'll hold off on my skepticism for now, though, until I can dive back into the game (which probably won't be until Friday).

Such a change will need more time if they consider it.

[Martok]

Update 1.4.2 is now officially live: 


https://steamcommunity.com/games/984680/announcements/detail/3360261485258300775

Such a change will need more time if they consider it.

Fair point, Anguille.  I do still hope they beef them up in the next update, however (whenever that is). 

[Yskonyn]

Sooo, how are things? Should I buy the expansions and start playing again?

[Martok]

Sooo, how are things? Should I buy the expansions and start playing again?

Short answer?  Yes, you should. 


Longer answer...  If you liked IS:G before, but felt it was still a bit lacking, and/or wasn't *quite* yet where it needed to be, then Evolving Empires is probably the DLC you've been waiting for.  (In all honesty, I wish this one had come out before the Natural Law expansion.)  With Minor Civs and (especially) the Evolution Perks, the game finally feels like it's come into its own, and found its identity. 

The flip side is that if you weren't enthralled with IS:G to begin with, then the Evolving Empires DLC isn't going to do anything to change your mind.  It doesn't radically alter anything, but rather builds on the game's existing design -- a mix of the "tried & true", combined with some interesting twists on the old formula. 


For myself, I've been playing IS:G almost every day for the past 10 days, and it's been with increasing reluctance that I find myself exiting back to the desktop so I can go to bed.  As I've said before, I don't know that I'll ever "love" the game (like i do Stellaris or BOTF), but it has definitely been growing on me.   

[Yskonyn]

Cheers! Sounds like a solid endorsement.
Is Natural Law not required in your opinion?

[Martok]

Yeah, it's definitely got that "one more turn" quality to it.  Like Stellaris, getting past the very early game is key, as I find the pacing improves markedly after that. 


As for the Natural Law DLC, it's certainly not necessary, no; though I do appreciate the additional play-styles the Palacean and Cerixx bring to the game.  My recommendation is to pick it up when it's on sale again. 

[ojsdad]

I've got this with both expansions, but haven't had time to play.  Is there a good tutorial for how to play with the expansions. 

[Steelie]

Heh, fired it up last night and it's been all I've played since! Took me a couple (or five) restarts to get my space legs, but my latest Solarian Union is off to a good start and ready to exploit....

the Martok System!!!

Because of course!!!

[Martok]

I've got this with both expansions, but haven't had time to play.  Is there a good tutorial for how to play with the expansions.

Not that I've come across so far, unfortunately.  Rob from Explorminate and DasTsctic have both started a new Let's Play series, but I don't know that either one is great as a "how-to" for new players. 

Heh, fired it up last night and it's been all I've played since! Took me a couple (or five) restarts to get my space legs, but my latest Solarian Union is off to a good start and ready to exploit....

the Martok System!!!

Because of course!!!

Marvelous!  (It's always fun to come across the occasional system name, and realize it's a shout-out to an early backer like myself.)   

The bit about 4-5 restarts definitely resonates as well; though in my case, that tends to have more to do with how ISG's map generation algorithms can be a bit...unforgiving at times.  (If the devs were to ever add MP -- which is extremely unlikely -- the map generator would need to overhauled for balance first!)    Fortunately, you'll typically know within just a handful of turns whether you have a decent starting position or not, so it's not a big deal to just start over again.