hmm. Alright thanks. I'll keep watching for now.

I did learn that right now there's no allied victory or coop tools like that. You can ally during the game, but in the end to actually get a victory screen you need to cancel that alliance and try to beat each other. Hopefully they change that.

The only game I've ever seen which had alternative Victory Conditions that actually meant something was Star Chamber. In other games, including Stardock's, achieving an alternative VC is really only possible once you have obtained a dominant position otherwise.

What I'm noticing for the first time is that this might have a "focus on multiplayer". If that's true, that would be a deal-breaker for me, since I already have my MP needs met. I'm STILL looking for a SP TBS with good AI and depth and without late game tedium so prevalent in the iterations of Civilizations, GalCiv, and their want-to-bes.

I don't know if it has diplo victory or any other conditions besides conquest. My point is that it doesn't have *allied* victory, meaning that in a coop game you can't have a situation where your team (ie 2+ players) all win at the same time.

There's some people on the forum for the game trying to get that changed, so we'll see. But right now you can basically play allied, beat everyone else, then just go "yay" and quit since the game won't actually toss you a victory while you're both still around. (It also doesn't look like a game that's overly MP focused, not that such a thing has to be an issue. Civ 4 had good MP support and that also turned out pretty well as an SP game.)

There are currently 7 victory options:

Score

Supremacy (capture all homeworlds)

Wonder (build X# of very expensive Wonder buildings)

Scientific (I think similar to Alpha Centauri where you research the "ultimate" tech)

Diplomatic

Economic

Expansion

@seanw3 - Are you doing a lets play of this game?

I caved and bought it. Warlock, has lost my interest fast (bad AI being the main problem). 

I havent tried it yet, and it takes a while to see the quality of AI in such a game. 

As in multiplayer? I need to learn the game first It does sound cool, if we can manage in VERY different timezones. I am in Norway.

Start with a lets play and then we talk coop.

I saw something on the official forums about that.  If I remember correctly it's if you have the Steam overlay activated it sometimes get's "stuck" on and causes that.  Hit the shift key I believe is the solution.  Or turn off the Steam overlay.

Reviews- IGN    GameRevolution    GamersHideout      HookedGamers

For Steam yes for activation but for online no you can play offline.

Was going to wait, then I bought it on a whim on steam.

Supporting worthy developers and all that. Will wait for more polishing before playing it though, I'm still going through Grimrock (who said 13 hours for that? I must be clocking 50 or something on level 8!)

Purchased the game yesterday. It is very similar to Civ 5, but is a little more fun to play (so far). I am especially fond of the elegant and lean game mechanics: No flimsiness and unnecessary features. Everything in the game has a clear, well-defined purpose. Having said that it's certainly not a "simple" or "primitive" game - there's a lot of depth to it. The game's intuitive and crystal clear UI is a big plus.

Research, improvements, expansion, and empire growth all follow the same 4x/Civ 5/Sins formula. If you've ever played these games, you will pick the game up in a matter of minutes.

The combat system is...interesting. I was initially put off by forum posts from alpha/beta testers complaining that the battle system is lacking. It is to a certain extent, but it is tolerable and IMHO satisfactory for the moment. From what people tell me, this kind of approach has never been attempted before so I am willing to give the game some slack in the combat department.

The developers seem to be putting a lot of effort into post-release development and patching. I don't doubt that the game will receive a lot of love over the coming months (years maybe?).

I purchased the game from Green Man Gaming which has a 25% off of everything sale. I am very happy to have snapped it up at a good price. I am enjoying this game a lot. I give it a solid 8/10 with a potential for 9/10 in the future.

If you like 4x strategy games, you will like Endless Space.

I think I've come up with a bulletproof way of recommending this game:

Ask yourself this question, "If I was forced to choose between either GalCiv or Sins, which do I prefer?"

If you answered GalCiv:  ---->  BUY ENDLESS SPACE, ENJOY BIG SPACE PARTY AWESOMENESS    <----
                                                                                                                                                    |
                                                                                                                                                  Yes
                                                                                                                                                    |
                                                              Ask yourself,                                            Do you like Sins for the eXploring,
If you answered Sins:     ---->  "Do I most love Sins for the tactical combat  ----- No --->    eXpanding, eXploiting parts?
                                             and personal control I have over my ships?"                                        |
                                                                       |                                                                           No
                                                                       |                                                                            |
                                                                       -----------------Yes---------------------> DO NOT BUY ENDLESS SPACE, 
                                                                                                                                   IT WILL MAKE YOU SAD