By John Walker on July 5th, 2012 at 11:00 am.
Endless Space, the 4X spacy strategy is now out on Steam, and has a launch trailer with lots of pretty explosions. It also explains that in the end, it’s a game about dust. I am bemused by the role that dust appears to play in fiction. From Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, to CCP’s EVE spin-off, it’s hard to think of a more innocuous object to take such an important role. Where are the stories about fluff? And lint? Where are my games about loose bits of thread? I have been sidetracked. You can see the launch trailer below.
So, are you planning on playing this one? It’s £23, and sadly there’s no demo yet.
05/07/2012 at 11:06 Xzi says:
I’ll wait for a sale, but it definitely interests me. Reminds me of Sins of a Solar Empire. But then, I bought that trilogy some time ago and have yet to play it, so maybe I’m way off on that comparison. Think I’ll start that soon…been a while since I fired up a good RTS.
05/07/2012 at 13:44 James Allen says:
It is 20% off at Green Man Gaming if you use the coupon code SPACE-ISEND-LESSS. Well worth that amount of money.
05/07/2012 at 14:31 RedFaust says:
Thanks for the deal, J.A.
05/07/2012 at 18:54 Gap Gen says:
Spendless Ace.
05/07/2012 at 14:35 DuddBudda says:
I can’t think of a game it is less like
05/07/2012 at 17:25 jjman says:
+1
DuddBudda says:
I can’t think of a game it is less like
05/07/2012 at 20:56 Apolloin says:
Portal? Arma 2? Hello Kitty Island Adventures?
05/07/2012 at 17:27 Koshinator says:
It is most certainly not an RTS game… pure 4x turn based strategy (and bloody awesome to boot)
05/07/2012 at 22:43 Lessing says:
Most definitely awesome. I’ve logged over 50 hours in this beauty over the endless space of the last month or so, which is saying a lot for its 4X addiction and my lack of time for doing much gaming.
05/07/2012 at 11:08 Njordsk says:
If only combats were in STR, and not a card game…
Homeworld 4X and instant buy. SoaSe kind of bored me though, too slow, HW2 was much more nervous.
06/07/2012 at 11:27 BlueTemplar says:
Play Sword of the Stars (1 not 2).
06/07/2012 at 18:21 Ganjatron says:
Homeworld 4X you say.. I’d like to take you out on a date sir.
07/07/2012 at 22:50 Nesetalis says:
I gave the game A try… I regret all the money spent and feel horribly abused by the system.
-.-
no wonder they have no demo, no one is going to want to buy it after playing it.
I ranted on it over on G+
https://plus.google.com/104441386868315873040/posts/DC1TDMsPtfa
05/07/2012 at 11:14 Drake Sigar says:
The dust will flow.
Already preordered a physical copy, John. Don’t you worry your pretty little head.
05/07/2012 at 12:16 Gnoupi says:
In this world, my flat is Fort Knox
05/07/2012 at 11:14 Rowsdower says:
I played a good deal of the beta and all and all its a decent game. It holds heavy under currents of Master of Orion and could be seen as a spiritual (and actually rather concrete) successor to the classic series.
As far as how it plays compared to other 4x titles you can expect a faster more streamlined experience as oposed to say a Civilization title or even its cousin Galactic Civilizations. I found myself at times driven to leave a game half finished and turn to a game of Civ 4 out of a desire for a bit more depth but really the game shines as a rather quick, less intensive 4x alternative.
Its pretty easy to recommend to fans of the genre with the less than typical price tag.
05/07/2012 at 15:35 RegisteredUser says:
..
05/07/2012 at 15:40 x1501 says:
After experiencing a number of “streamlined” titles like, say, vanilla Civ V, I automatically view this word as a PR euphemism for “dumbed down”, “simplified” and “aimed at the lowest common denominator”. Could you please elaborate on the “streamlined” part? Is the game significantly more simplistic and lacking in features compared to MoO, GalCiv, etc?
05/07/2012 at 15:45 RegisteredUser says:
Having read the rest of the comments, it appears combat and ship outfitting is nothing like MOO at all.
05/07/2012 at 15:51 PostieDoc says:
Moooooo!
05/07/2012 at 22:57 Xardas Kane says:
Because bad multiplayer at launch means dumbing down, right? Don’t make me laugh.
06/07/2012 at 00:26 x1501 says:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You thought that Civ 4 was needlessly complex in many regards and “streamlining” most of the stuff down was a great idea. I thought that it was still overly simplistic for a game of such ambition and scale, and that the dumbed down sequel, with its horrendous AI and non-existent multiplayer, was downright unplayable. Unable to comprehend the gist of my argument (hey, Civ 4 was too complex for you, remember?) you decided that my key problem with the game was its “laggy” multiplayer. Unable to continue the discussion in any meaningful or productive manner, I kindly asked you to stop stalking my posts. Feeling victorious, yet somehow still slightly annoyed, you complied. We both lived happily ever after. Now, shush.
06/07/2012 at 10:35 Universal Quitter says:
Your views are hardly new and I, for one, am tired of hearing them. Go join MENSA, become theoretical physicist, and stop wasting time with games if you are THAT smart. We NEED you out there designing Cold Fusion Reactors and a better mousetrap. Seriously, though, don’t buy the game and keep trite expressions to yourself.
Cynicism and wisdom may seem like the same thing to an immature person, but there is an important distinction to be made that you’ll have to learn for yourself.
06/07/2012 at 14:33 x1501 says:
Another one with reading comprehension problems, eh? I may have mentioned Civ 5 in brief as one of the most recent and well-known cases of developer “streamlining”, but I’m not the one who keeps bringing that month old discussion back from the dead. As for the fact that you’re tired of hearing about it being dumbed down, lacking in features and so on, it should tell you more about the quality of the game—or at least the public’s perception of it—than about my intellectual ability. But as much as I like wasting my time going after ad hominems and non sequiturs, this is supposed to be a thread about Endless Space, not Civilization 5. Let’s keep it this way.
06/07/2012 at 17:27 Joshua Northey says:
I have played every 4X game since 1991, and loved the Civ series more or less, including Civ 5 (I still think 2 was the best when you adjust for date of release). I think Endless Space is excellent as the new top dog in 4x. Distant Worlds is pretty decent, and if Kerberos survives long enough to make an expansion for SotS2 that might become playable, but right now I think this is the best one. The AI needs some love, but that is always really hard to pull off.
I don’t mind the “simplified combat” at all because in most of these games the combat actually is very simplified from a decision making point of view. Sure you have the illusion of complexity because you have control, but in many games the right moves are just charging ahead, or some single pat maneuver the AI cannot handle. That isn’t complexity, it is just an illusion. The cards, while maybe not my favorite part of the game, at least have the possibility of having the AI competent at combat (unlike every other strategy game ever released more complicated than chess pretty much).
06/07/2012 at 17:31 x1501 says:
I’m also a big 4X fan, so I’m guess I know what I’ll be playing this weekend. Thanks.
05/07/2012 at 11:15 Metonymy says:
Describing the universe and all it’s interactions in terms of “dust” is fairly common, it’s an idea that’s been circulating in casual scientific thought for a while.
Of course, the exact phrasing in this particular trailer, and it’s vague connotations of ‘the spice’ of a more auspicious setting, is pretty terrible.
05/07/2012 at 11:47 Gap Gen says:
Eh? I mean, in an astrophysical sense, dust is clumps of particles in space, but its significance is pretty secondary to other structures and processes out there.
05/07/2012 at 11:56 Lilliput King says:
What are you on about Metonymy? Dust is a resource in the game; thematically, nanomachines left behind by the precursor race.
06/07/2012 at 10:36 Universal Quitter says:
What do you want them to call it? GP? Gil? Ducats?
06/07/2012 at 11:32 BlueTemplar says:
I loved “fluff”.
05/07/2012 at 11:17 BobbyDylan says:
This game is pretty good. The only downfall is the unisnpired card game combat.
After a few hours of playing, the combat becomes a chore, and watching the same animations is outright bland.
Good game, but the lack of propper combat will see it fall short of classic status. Maybe Legends of Pegasus will do better.
05/07/2012 at 13:35 Sic says:
Isn’t the point of the card-game multiplayer?
You don’t have to do it, you know. You can just skip it.
06/07/2012 at 14:59 Grape says:
Yeah, let’s skip the combat! Because then we’re left with the high-adrenaline thrill of bulding shit and delegating taxes.
Fun! Fun! Fun!
06/07/2012 at 18:07 Joshua Northey says:
A lot of people actually like the element of these games, that is sort of what the genre is about. If you just want combat plays SoaSE.
05/07/2012 at 11:19 RPSRSVP says:
I’m done with Space RTS for a while via SOSE: Rebellion. Bad timing, right after SOSE and no demo will hurt any game going for a niche market, especially as niche as Space RTS.
05/07/2012 at 11:25 timmyvos says:
Fortunately it’s a turn-based game and not actually an RTS.
05/07/2012 at 12:01 Tiax says:
It’s not a RTS.
05/07/2012 at 20:14 huw says:
Sadly, it’s more RTS than it pretends to be. From the combat (if you do it manually, which you often have to if you want to win) to the fact that the enemy can still move around during your turn, to the PC just arbitrarily deciding which battles you get to take part in if you don’t select quickly enough.
Very disappointing in that respect, really.
06/07/2012 at 10:38 Universal Quitter says:
I almost want to buy it just to see what the hell you guys are complaining about? Complain in a way that makes sense to those that haven’t played the game.
Card-based combat? Simultaneous movement? Elaborate on why that stuff sucks.
05/07/2012 at 22:01 Cam says:
After playing so much Sins of a Solar Empire, a card-based combat system just won’t work for me. I’d rather just have Sins adopt more traditional 4x game features, while maintaining the RTS combat.(and adding customization)
05/07/2012 at 11:22 Toberoth says:
I’m kind of interested in this, but the trailer gave me no idea of how the combat works. Is it real-time, Total War style, turn-based, or what?
05/07/2012 at 11:33 Fuzzball says:
It’s sort of like simultaneous, turn-based card strategy. There are three phases to each battle, and for each one you select a card to play. They basically come down to a game of…rock paper scissors, with each card countering a different type of card as well as providing its benefit. It’s an admittedly mediocre style of combat to be in such an otherwise awesome game, but it does look fantastic graphically.
EDIT: Oops, this was meant to be a reply to Toberoth!
05/07/2012 at 11:45 Toberoth says:
Hmmmm ok, that sounds a little odd! Thanks for the reply :-)
05/07/2012 at 11:52 Gap Gen says:
I dunno, it works, given that balancing a more RTS-like battle would be more difficult. Sure, your role in battle is fairly limited, but it is crucial to the survival of your ships in evenly-matched encounters. The trick is realising that there are 3 types of weapon and 3 types of armour that counter each weapon; in my most recent game, for example, I was fighting empires mostly using kinetic weapons, and then an enemy shows up using lasers, so all of a sudden I have to research shields and retrofit all of my ships, or they’re just blown out of the sky. Then the question is whether you specialise your ships to fight a certain foe, or generalise to work against anything. Then there are heroes, who when upgraded make your fleets much more powerful.
I agree that RTS battles might be fun, but as it is, this system works pretty well.
05/07/2012 at 12:20 neems says:
I basically like the battles as they are – I’m the kind of person who always auto resolves fights in Total War so I can get on with the important stuff – but they could maybe do with a little bit of tweaking, just to make them a bit more exciting. From what I can gather, in the release version you can move the camera around during battles, which might help. They certainly look pretty cool if you have a couple of sufficiently big fleets duking it out (doesn’t happen much for me unfortunately as I tend to field a few big ships rather than a fleet of little ones).
I generally specialise my fleets, especially early on when most of your enemies will be using kinetic weapons – get in early with missiles / beams and reap the benefits. It can lead to some hurried research / redesigning when you come up against more competent foes though.
05/07/2012 at 12:33 Jimbo says:
The problem for me was that the battles didn’t really scale up as the game went on. The actual ship types and the composition of your fleet seemed largely irrelevant – the weapons and shields were all that mattered.
05/07/2012 at 21:02 Apolloin says:
Personally speaking I hated the fact that smaller ship fleets had more firepower than fleets fielding larger ships. The only advantage to the larger ships was that the damage taken in a winning battle was less likely to add up to a whole ship and thus result in a ship loss.
05/07/2012 at 12:50 Gap Gen says:
Yes, things like ship placement, targetting and maneuver aren’t really included in the game, which is a shame. Then again, like I said, the system works OK and it’s not trying to be anything it’s not. I think the system works well for a game that’s going to have a lot of battles – in Rome I spent forever whack-a-moling every last enemy army (I must have fought around 10 armies while marching across the Libyan coast alone one time), whereas here battles are over in 30 seconds no matter what you do. If you have a complex RTS system, you really want to limit the repetitiveness of the thing.
05/07/2012 at 11:39 shrodinger says:
Dust = Spice ???? just sayin..
05/07/2012 at 14:38 jrpatton says:
The dust must accumulate!
05/07/2012 at 15:14 BubbaNZ says:
My mum says it needs a vacuum.
05/07/2012 at 15:37 Gap Gen says:
There is infinite vacuum in space that is endless.
05/07/2012 at 19:07 SkittleDiddler says:
Then why all the damn dust? Did someone forget to plug the vacuum in?
05/07/2012 at 20:27 Koozer says:
But we remove dust with the vacuum, therefore it is now full of dust!
05/07/2012 at 11:41 The First Door says:
I’m really quite interested in this, been a while since I played any pretty looking space 4X games. Hopefully it will drag me away from being repeatedly killed in FTL for a bit! Shame about the lack of a demo, though.
05/07/2012 at 11:53 Mistabashi says:
I’ll definitely be picking this one up some time soon, it looks pretty perfect aside from perhaps the combat (I’ll have to wait and see how I feel about that).
05/07/2012 at 14:41 jrpatton says:
The battles can get repetitive. You usually pick three cards to play over and over again. So far, though, it hasn’t put me off the game. I’m really enjoying it.
My current complaint is that there doesn’t seem to be a way to conquer through conversion. You get influence spheres, but they don’t seem to affect enemy planets. They just act as no-fly-zones for unfriendly units. It makes the diplomacy tech tree less valuable.
05/07/2012 at 17:32 Koshinator says:
Expanded diplomacy and sabotage/spying systems are on the list to be implemented after release.. no time frame, but should be good when they arrive.
05/07/2012 at 11:54 Gap Gen says:
To what extent is the background story expanded from the beta? I liked the story, but I didn’t get the sense of it going anywhere other than hints of a background story in the flavour text.
05/07/2012 at 11:59 razgon says:
Sadly, what started as the most promising TBS game for a long time has turned out a bit sad, in that it was released early, and according to the developer because they didn’t want to become bankrupt.
It clearly shows, in a lot of optimization and some features that were planned, but didn’t make it to the release.
Still – the core game is pretty great – I just wish they had given it a month or two more in the oven before release!
05/07/2012 at 12:05 Jimbo says:
I played a couple games of this through a while back. It wasn’t great, unfortunately. It was close though, so I guess I should give it another go in release state before being too hard on it.
05/07/2012 at 12:07 jkz says:
Mud is quite well represented, use it a lot in war I hear, apparently mixes well with blood.
05/07/2012 at 12:08 Spatvark says:
The old Infocom Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy text adventure was all about bits of fluff and lint. Just sayin’.
05/07/2012 at 12:12 HexagonalBolts says:
I bought it earlier, I’m actually really enjoying it, it’s got just the right balance of stuff going on. It took me a little while to figure it all out (important: remember you can pay cash to instantly build buildings, the AI might be getting ahead of you because it’s doing this).
05/07/2012 at 12:19 Gnoupi says:
I’m quite interested, but I would really prefer to try a demo of it, before buying. Unfortunately, devs said that they can’t possibly make a demo because of their technical choices.
So I guess I’ll wait for a sale.
05/07/2012 at 12:20 Dirk says:
If I remember correctly, thread is a main antagonist in Anne McCaffrey’ Dragonriders series, so it might be relatively underrated yet not completely unrepresented in fiction.
05/07/2012 at 12:23 neems says:
In the absence of a demo, if you’re on the fence it might be worth checking out some youtube vids. It really is a great game.
05/07/2012 at 12:32 mcwill says:
I’m working on a 4X(ish) game about weird wriggly stuff. Will that do?
05/07/2012 at 12:42 Skydancer says:
I would point everybody interested in multiplayer that we have a thread over in the forums to arrange matches:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/showthread.php?5139-Endless-Rabble-RPS-Endless-Space-Multiplayer-antics
05/07/2012 at 12:51 Hoaxfish says:
I want to like this, but then I feel that I wouldn’t get enough play out of it for my ~£20. Will certainly pick it up if it’s on sale.
I say that as someone who only played through MOO2 once, and then put it down.
05/07/2012 at 12:54 Easy says:
I’m having loads of fun, it’s very addictive, that submit turn button keeps on looking at me saying “cliiiick me”. If you’re a 4x fan, and a space opera fan, I can’t see how you wouldn’t really enjoy it.
05/07/2012 at 13:00 caddyB says:
I like it, but it’s a little on the light side of things. Definitely worth a buy if you like 4x games though.
05/07/2012 at 13:00 pakoito says:
Celeron 1.2 GHz, Intel GMA4500, it works (haven’t gotten to the endgame yet, tho). Game is just genious.
05/07/2012 at 13:34 UncleLou says:
Why has noone since Homeworld (with the exception of EVE, as far as that counts) managed to capture the majesty of space combat? It all looks so boring and static in SoaSE or in this trailer, even with lots of explosions.
Just thinking about how bigger ships in HW1/2 “die”, tilting to the side and down, and the scale between tiny fighters and the biggers ships, sill gives me goosebumps.
That aside, it looks interesting. Need a demo though I think.
05/07/2012 at 14:18 Tiax says:
You my friend never played Nexus : The Jupiter Incident
05/07/2012 at 15:22 UncleLou says:
Wrong I am afraid. I have played Nexus. Never completed it though because I never quite got the hang of the combat system. I don’t remember that it was anyway near the scale of HW though, but maybe I didn’t play it far enough – but it did indeed look nice. I remember mostly the beginning with a somewhat confusing storyline, derelict ships, an ambush… maybe I should give it another chance!
05/07/2012 at 15:12 Gap Gen says:
Nexus’s combat was indeed awesome, although several of the missions were quite frustrating. I think I preferred its kind of combat to Homeworld; in HW it was mostly a case of getting a whole bunch of ships together and clicking on the enemy blob, whereas in Nexus you had to think more tactically about what you targetted, whether you’d blow a ship up or take down its subsystems, etc.
05/07/2012 at 17:11 RegisteredUser says:
And both have nothing on the original MOO, whose ship building and turn based combat had far, far more depth and levels of awesome.
Now that’s a sad state of affairs indeed.
05/07/2012 at 13:57 dmastri says:
Played the beta for awhile. Streamlined and polished, but maybe a little simple. I eventually ended up being driven back to Space Empire IV to quench my thirst for more depth, but I could see this game really shining in multiplayer and thusly have been egging all my friends on to buy it.
05/07/2012 at 15:35 RegisteredUser says:
I really wish that darn thing would run on Win7 x64.
No amount of file editing, VMWare and other trying got it going properly for me.
05/07/2012 at 17:31 jjman says:
Working fine for me on W7 x64. 3.5 year old laptop. Installed via Steam.
05/07/2012 at 20:18 huw says:
SE 4 works fine for me on Win7-64. It’s SE 5 that doesn’t work on the same PC, but I don’t mind. SE 4 is still good enough. :)
05/07/2012 at 14:47 povu says:
How’s the learning curve? I’m always a bit intimidated by 4X space games.
05/07/2012 at 15:03 Nebular says:
I’m finding it pretty damn steep. There’s are tutorials that highlight what UI elements do and using the UI afterwards is a breeze, but I’ve found it just isn’t enough to help you understand the game as a whole. I’ve found that I’m WAAAAAAY behind on the score and can never figure out why… along with how the A.I. expands so fast without happiness/production issues, and so on. If there was an in-game help system like Civilization’s Civilopedia it would probably do wonders to help out new players. As it stands, I’ve found that I’m more frustrated by the game because it’s not very new-player friendly.
05/07/2012 at 15:22 Gap Gen says:
Things like race attributes and techs can dramatically transform your dust income, happiness, etc. I tend to focus production on a few planets, which become my fleet factories, and focus science and dust on other planets (although in practice certain systems will be awesome at everything and certain systems will contain one tiny ball of ice).
05/07/2012 at 23:57 pakoito says:
Automatize the production and focus on who send where.
06/07/2012 at 05:10 Fhoenix says:
Actually it’s not because you are bad and the AI is good. It’s because the AI is bad, but it cheats and has massive bonuses.
05/07/2012 at 15:20 Gap Gen says:
After a few games I think I have the hang of it, but overall the interface is clean and helpful. A few pointers:
1) Combat is a case of balancing 3 types of weapon (kinetics, beams and torpedos) and making sure that you defend against the right one while firing the one that your enemy doesn’t protect against (so if he has a lot of flak, don’t use missiles).
2) With the techs, it depends on the situation, but in general you want to research what’s quick so that you get a good range of techs, unless you *need* that next beam upgrade, say. It takes time to figure out what’s important in the tree. If you zoom into the highest zoom level you can see what each tech gives you (I missed this the first time and it’s crucial).
3) The races matter. The Sophons tend to be weak militarily, so I had a problem in my first 2 games where I was always fighting an uphill struggle initially, before my tech advantage kicked in.
4) Put one hero in charge of your main fleet and 2 heroes on planets. Move around the planet heroes as planets become more or less productive in different areas.
5) Start on Normal. You’ll be fighting an uphill struggle but you learn more than if you play on Easy and win battles without trying or understanding why.
05/07/2012 at 17:32 Vinraith says:
Is the AI still having the problems it was 2 weeks ago? That is, is it still not able to design ships well and still not able to handle the colony upgrade system?
06/07/2012 at 19:54 Joshua Northey says:
Remind me again of a 4x game where the AI does design units well and build cities/colonies well. because that will be the first. The AI is weak, but it is not wildly weaker than most other 4X AIs. A lot of them just paper that over with bonuses and call it an AI, even ones people love (looking at you GalCiv).
05/07/2012 at 17:34 Mr-Link says:
Watching gameplay videos of this. It looked very lovely and nicely polished and streamlined. However, it also looked kinda bland in features and the combat is simply uninspiring to me. So instead, for my first official 4X game I picked up the highly ambitious but monstrously unpolished Sword of the Stars 2.
I know, I know….yes..bugs…unfinished..etc………..I accept condolences below.
05/07/2012 at 17:40 Vinraith says:
For your first 4X game? Bad choice, honestly, you’d do better to pick up SotS 1 or Gal Civ 2. SotS 2 is going to be great, I think, and god knows Kerberos is putting in the work, but even once it’s fully functional it’s a bit of an odd duck and the mechanics are quite different from most 4X games.
05/07/2012 at 18:33 Mr-Link says:
Well I only played SoaSE before, but that doesn’t count, does it?
I wanted something new, and I really liked the way they treat fleets and missions, that’s probably a bit different from other 4X games. Plus SPACE WHALES and its so shiny….I couldn’t resist.
05/07/2012 at 18:41 Vinraith says:
Yeah, the fleet/mission system is a fairly radical departure. I’m not sure I’m a fan, but if you like it then you’ve definitely got the right game.
05/07/2012 at 19:37 n1Cola says:
Preorder it and it just didn’t get to me..
Now waiting to see how pegasus will be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OE8k3nWkbY
05/07/2012 at 19:49 MythArcana says:
*Looks under the hood*
Yup, it’s a Steam game alright.
05/07/2012 at 19:56 Brun says:
Surprised it took you this long to deliver your trademark anti-Steam comment. Pushed all the way back to Page 2? You’re slipping.
05/07/2012 at 19:53 LintMan says:
“Where are the stories about fluff? And lint?”
+1
Hear Hear!
That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout!
We demand more stories about lint!
05/07/2012 at 20:01 niussd says:
http://is.gd/PFQQs4
05/07/2012 at 21:04 Borklund says:
If you want to play multiplayer with fellow RPS readers, head over here: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/showthread.php?5139-Endless-Rabble-RPS-Endless-Space-Multiplayer-antics
05/07/2012 at 23:09 Dances to Podcasts says:
Endless space becomes a lot less daunting if you just think of it as a circle.
05/07/2012 at 23:41 Sidewinder says:
That wouldn’t be endless, just cornerless. But the game isn’t about endless space, but Endless space- it’s an adjectivized proper noun.
06/07/2012 at 02:45 Updoppler says:
I have to say the races are fascinating, but one of them, the Cravers, are borderline plagiarized from the Replicators of Stargate: Atlantis. The Cravers were created as weapons by an ancient civilization in a fight against some other race. When the ancient civilization deemed they weren’t worth it, they cast them off to some planet and tried to eliminate them. Unfortunately, because they were distracted by their war, they left some Cravers alive. This is exactly like the Replicators of Stargate: Atlantis. In fact, the Cravers are even cyborgs, like the Replicators are technological beings. The Cravers consume resource-rich worlds they come across, the replicators do the same.
06/07/2012 at 04:02 wodin says:
Really thats typical sci fi stuff to be honest. Stargate would have got the idea from somewhere else and so on.
06/07/2012 at 04:06 Dominic White says:
Yeah, an all-consuming artificial swarm has been a cornerstone of sci-fi for at least the past 50 years. The fact that the Cravers are a sentient, biological race make it a bit more interesting. I also find it hilarious to invest in tourism when playing as them.
06/07/2012 at 19:52 Joshua Northey says:
I am going to save you some trouble in the future and give you a big spoiler about art.
SPOLIER ALERT
Everything is ripped off of everything else, there is almost no “truly original art”. It is almost all building on past things in tiny tiny increments.
11/07/2012 at 07:19 FeepingCreature says:
Permutation City too.