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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   2469 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for October 9, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I do wonder what happened with Amplitude sometimes. I remember loving Endless Space and Endless Legend, although I think the first Endless Legend had some of the issues you describe. I think I remember finishing the tech tree way before it felt like I should have.

I donno, the whole Space 4X genre goes through weird phases. Arguably the best one ever made is Master of Orion 2, and it's just the fact that it's an older DOS/WIN9X game, and the fact that it had terrible sequels, that even gives other games a fighting chance. For the longest time Galactic Civilizations 2 was the MOO2 successor, but then the company got into some political hot water over the CEO's common sense statements, and I don't think GalCiv 3 or 4 were ever as good. Also the Paradoxification of the genre took over and even good Space 4X games became highly variable on which of the dozens of DLC you had installed and active at any one time. Because nobody makes sequels anymore, they just make DLC for the same game for 10 years.

At least Piranha games tried with Mechwarrior 5: Clans. A shame the effort almost killed the company and they went crawling back to Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries expansions. Not that I can complain too much.

Arguably the best one ever made is Master of Orion 2, and it's just the fact that it's an older DOS/WIN9X game, and the fact that it had terrible sequels, that even gives other games a fighting chance.

I've yet to play a 4x space game that kept me coming back the way MOO2 did. By modern standards, it's so unbalanced as to be broken AF, but even so, like the earlier iterations of Civ, it had a level of accessibility and that, "just one more turn," gameplay feedback loop that, IMAO, is far too rare these days.

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