I played around with this a bit, but I just spent far too many turns hitting the ‘next turn’ button having done nothing much of consequence each turn.

But yeah, it’s definitely a big improvement over Endless Space. The devs have clearly tried to account for that game’s deficiencies, which is why I wasn’t *that* harsh on Endless Legend – it has its problems, but it’s not a bad 4X. I’ve played a lot of bad 4Xes, and it wasn’t one of them. It just wasn’t for me; I don’t feel bad for not getting on with it, but I also don’t think other people are crazy for saying they do.

First, I think you’re overly harsh on the game for being “bland.” Some of the factions are very different from each other, with the Cultists being the standout for me. Part of the flavor of the game does come from the narratives. You’re right that they eventually force you into war, but this serves as a way to ensure that even the most passive player has incentive to rattle some sabers. It also helps bring some factions’ unique qualities into sharp relief. The Drakken can force peace on anyone, but the storyline alternates between two leaders with very different worldviews, so seeing it through to the end is an intentionally schizophrenic experience that makes being able to immediately stop hostilities a critical strategy. I was a little surprised that you called the Broken Lords, well, broken, because I found that expanding with them was ultimately difficult, as the expense of managing multiple cities (and unlike the Cult they don’t get crazy bonuses to make one city a viable strategy) eventually brings their population growth to a screeching halt.

Second, the combat is pretty straightforward. You issue commands to units and, when it is their turn (as marked at the top of the screen) they attempt to carry them out. There are only three commands: attack, move, or use a support ability on a friendly unit. Countering actually removes all ability for a unit to act, so initiative is very important for controlling a battle. Battles end when one side is wiped out or after six rounds.

Third, while I don’t think you can rename units, you can name them when first creating them. You aren’t limited to just modifying the default units.

I agree that some magic (or magic-like) abilities would be fun, but it’s worth noting that the Ardent Mages actually get spells (both global and in-battle) as unique technologies.

I also think the AI–especially it’s diplomacy–is pretty weak, though I like the way you have to accrue Influence to do anything.

Anyway, I’m sorry you didn’t care for it, because I thought it was both a big step up over Endless Space (which I liked) and a really interesting title taken on its own.

Endless Space became famous cause first several hours (learning phase) are great. It just feels good. Later you get a grasp on mechanics and see that AI is not that good and there are not many interesting choices there. Amplitude has fixed it for free and added some features in DLC but soon you realize again there are optimal strategies there, you figure out mostly right choices, you try all the different factions.

This game feels very different but I feel it will be the same. It’s a bane of “not deep enough 4X” (which, I think, is all of them): you expect StarCraft merged with Diplomacy plus very complex mechanics and you get C&C merged with I Spy plus very complex mechanics. Warlock 1/2 is like that too, as well as Legendary Heroes. But not AoW3. AoW3 is just boring.

BTW, the combat is a nice innovation just like in Endless Space and just like there you can’t understand what has just happened and why. This is the only case of objectively problematic design choice with the game. Everything else feels like a good idea that just hasn’t been implemented well enough.