iPhone Eclipse 4X space strategy (by Big Daddy's Creations)

Discussion in 'iPhone and iPad Games' started by BigDaddysCreations, Apr 30, 2013.

  1. Havelcek

    Havelcek Well-Known Member
    Patreon Bronze

    Apr 30, 2013
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    Am I missing something with the 9 round cap? Is there a way to have the game be longer? I am struggling to develop anything close to a strategy in the time allotted...it feels like a big rush to min-max your score.
     
  2. Parkingtigers

    Parkingtigers Well-Known Member

    Apr 6, 2010
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    I bought this, and it looks very polished and well made so far. Looking forward to learning it. I did feel the tutorial wasn't quite as user-friendly as it could have been. Took me a moment to realise some of those dialogue windows were scrollable. I got to the first research section in the tutorial and clicked the continue button by mistake before reading the full message. Couldn't work out what it wanted me to do, and there was no way to open the tutorial message again. I hit the menu button, which took me out of the tutorial, and the "resume game" button doesn't resume the tutorial ...

    Small things, but as the very first thing new players will do is go through the tutorial it may be an idea to make it less easy to "fall off" the path. As previously noted, a bunch of little grammatical errors, about one for every two tutorial messages. A bit of tidying there wouldn't go amiss. This is all small stuff though, easily polished, the core presentation and layout feels really, really good.

    The game really does look it could be a ton of fun though, and I'm looking forward to delving into it.
     
  3. sapphire_neo

    sapphire_neo Well-Known Member

    Jan 20, 2011
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    For people coming from other resource-management euros who find the theme and its terminology to be too opaque, try to think of the basic items in this manner:

    * Influence can be compared to workers in other games - these are placed either on the board to control sectors or on action locations (buildings in a way), and at the end of the round they must be "fed" with money

    * Money is how you feed your "workers"

    * Science is a way to "construct buildings" which benefit you with new actions and utilities

    * Materials are used to build ships, like you... build ships in Le Havre. The additional similarity being that ships in both games are integral to any strategy.

    * Resources are generated for each player by the control they exert over randomly drawn tiles in terms of colonized planets

    The major addition here is combat, and a lot of technology items also compliment this feature. Combat is resolved through d6 rolls, where you need a 6 or more to score a hit, however you can add modifiers to your rolls through technology to make sure that your weapons have good targeting and rarely miss. Similarly shields can reduce points from dice rolls to make hits less likely. Combat is simple, and very easily resolved. You need to get to 6 to hit, and a 1 is always a miss regardless of the modifier.

    So like any resource-management game, you spend turns in a round preparing for the next one in terms of keeping up with upkeep requirements and making sure you can afford the upcoming "buildings" and "ships", with science and materials. While there are only 3 basic resources, you can transmute one type to another by "trading", where you pay a certain ratio of one resource and gain the other. For example, you could pay 20 materials and gain 10 science if you really need to research a technology to prevent someone else from gaining it. In every round, new research items become available to scale them game along in terms of complexity and options.

    There are many paths to victory in Eclipse, and you usually cannot master in only one to get the win. Winning battles give you VP via reputation, but you can only gain so many points. The more you win, the better chances of drawing better tokens, but you can only hold a certain number. You also gain VP from controlling sectors, building structures, exercising diplomacy and by researching technology. Like any resource-management game, you have to keep up in all facets to have a good chance of winning.

    I'm sure this post hasn't been too clear, but I suggest that all resource-management euro game fans try to understand this game like they would any other euro board-game, rather than as a 4X game.
     
  4. Aventador

    Aventador Well-Known Member

    Jan 16, 2013
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    Student
    Croatia
    Uhhh game is so hard , I have been economically destroyed every time before round 9 , my management skills suck.
    Looks like I need to expand slower, not colonize all planets when I have enough resources, science tab is still science fiction to me, too many stuff to potentialy research and battles are often quite punishing if you don't fully upgrade , I lost dreadnought to 2 fighters lol; as tempting as it is, rushing doesn't seem like a viable option here, upgrading, expanding and planning an attack needs to be done slowly so you don't go bankrupt after first few rounds.
    And I played only with peacefull AI ...
     
  5. andsoitgoes

    andsoitgoes Well-Known Member

    Hey, add me and we can suck at playing together!! ;)

    The same thing happened to me. I lost, 22 - 44 :(
     
  6. andsoitgoes

    andsoitgoes Well-Known Member

    This yes. I would love that. And while I'm absolutely terrible and I can't do a single freaking thing, I don't care. The game is so pretty. It's so hard and pretty and I want to hug it and squeeze it and call it George!

    So I'm trying 2 player games using Planta for me, and the boring humans for the AI. Maybe I can get a win ;).
     
  7. sizzlakalonji

    sizzlakalonji Moderator
    Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold Patreon Bronze

    Apr 16, 2009
    5,712
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    Indiana, USA
    I'm loving this. I figured that the chances of me playing the physical game were pretty slim since it retails at $99, and quite honestly I've never really considered myself a fan of 4x games. I was completely unfamiliar with how the game played and have basically no experience in this style of game, but I knew I was going to try it.

    Awesome. That's all I can say. I finally won my first game (2 player, both Terran factions) after my 6th attempt. The thing is, I was slowly improving every game. Early on, I was being FAR too aggressive with combat vs the AI. In my last couple of games, I ONLY attacked the Ancients, and then, only when necessary. I won by a decent margin by being able to research a lot, and especially by unlocking the colonization of the advanced planets.

    I really, really am impressed with this game. On a PC, this game is $50 easy.
     
  8. andsoitgoes

    andsoitgoes Well-Known Member

    Argh. Okay so weird issue. I was in the middle of playing a 2 player game against the AI. I was taking influence and the game crashed. I hard quit the app, started it again and the game crashed.

    Restated my iPad and retried, turn started and the game crashed.

    I'm really. Really. Really. Really bummed. I didn't do anything fancy, so as it stands the game is lost. I know these things can happen, but I'm so frustrated :(

    Also, why can't I log in trying to go online? What's the deal?
     
  9. andsoitgoes

    andsoitgoes Well-Known Member

    What the fart, why does it say no gsmecenter friends are registered?
     
  10. Aventador

    Aventador Well-Known Member

    Jan 16, 2013
    933
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    Student
    Croatia

    I have you on my GC invite list when creating private game .Have you gotten email from Eclipse that your account has been created ?
     
  11. andsoitgoes

    andsoitgoes Well-Known Member

    Yeah I did, which is why it's weird.

    I'll just have to give it a try a little bit later.
     
  12. heavensblade23

    heavensblade23 Active Member

    Jan 23, 2010
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    It's an iOS conversion of a board game that's meant to be played in 2 hours or so.
     
  13. RussianBear

    RussianBear Member

    Feb 19, 2013
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    $7 for a game? Are you serious? WOWza. I don't pay that much for PC games.
     
  14. ojtitus

    ojtitus Well-Known Member

    Jul 7, 2010
    3,228
    5
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    Male
    Canton, Ohio
    OK, that was worth while.
    :rolleyes:
     
  15. Mene

    Mene <b>ACCOUNT CLOSED</b>: <em>Officially</em> Quit iO

    Mar 18, 2012
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    I love 4X games.

    Was on the verge of buying this when I read about the 9 round cap. :(

    That's a deal breaker for me.
     
  16. ojtitus

    ojtitus Well-Known Member

    Jul 7, 2010
    3,228
    5
    38
    Male
    Canton, Ohio
    It's a boardgame with 4x gameplay, not a 4x like what we are used to on computers. If you like boardgames at all then I think you would be surprised by how good the game is once you wrap your head around the rules.
     
  17. drdreh

    drdreh Well-Known Member

    Jul 17, 2012
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    Wait for price drops!
     
  18. wicro

    wicro Well-Known Member

    Oct 2, 2011
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    Scotland
    Good luck supporting complex board games on this platform, really compared to the board game it's a steal.
     
  19. CoreyB

    CoreyB Well-Known Member

    Aug 25, 2011
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    Aircraft Mechanic
    Chicago, IL
    I wouldn't put much effort in responding to clowns, compared to the cost of the physical game, the quality of production, and the greatness of the game itself, I wouldn't think twice abou paying $20 or more for this.
     
  20. MidianGTX

    MidianGTX Well-Known Member

    Jun 16, 2009
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    I get the feeling most of his PC games were a steal too, if you know what I mean.
     

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