Endless Space 2, Great Game!

What am I playing these days?
Endless Space 2 from Amplitude Studios is a 4x turned based strategy game that has been consuming my time in the past two months.. Originally released in 2017, it's had a number of expansion packs and mini releases since. The game is reminescent of Masters of Orion 2 even down to having troop invasions of planets. It has a similar feel to civ6 and there have been a few nights I've stayed up for just one more turn.

It is a typical "explore, expand, exploit and exterminate" game. Space combat has a cool battle video sequence, however, I found myself skipping these after the first battle. After destroying a fleet that orbits a system, you then do a ground invasion. The twist from earlier games is this has improvements in gear for your ground assault including better use of technology, tanks and airplanes. This actually does make it more fun.

The game has several victory conditions including science, economy, conquest, wonders and total score,  Generally, I just play until the game ends on its own. It does a good job of ending earlier rather than having tedium once it's obvious that you've won.

AI seems better on alliances and teams than Civ6
The game has a political system. I remember joining with a computer player on my alliance in Civ6 and my own computer ally had declared peace right as I was about to make major gains. This AI seems smarter in letting you obtain your gains and will send ships to your aid as well. The computer opponents seem to have their own personalities from the condescending Horatio to my favorites being the Sophons.

Heroes and questline make it fun
Heroes can be obtained from "the academy" every so often or purchased outright from the galactic store. They have their own talent trees and can level up to be combat specialists that lead fleets or planetary/star system specialists.

They also have their own unique set of graphics and story which make them more interesting. There are a bunch of mini-quests to complete in the game depending on which path you would like to pursue as a leader which adds its own flavor to the game.

 
Empire management seems to be enjoyable, not tedious
There are your similar food, productivity, strategic and luxury resources that are in every game. The twist on this is that the luxury resources and politics in the game can make use of luxury resources to encourage certain population growths that can affect elections.

Empire happiness is a mechanic that is annoying
I understand that it is supposed to be annoying. So I give it some leeway on this. There are times I just enjoy ripping through the enemy's territory taking system after system which will throw your empire into anarchy if you do not have the infrastruct

 Overall, I am very happy with Endless Space 3 and foresee it taking a good spot of my playtime in the future. I can not wait until Endless Space 3. I will leave you with some battle scene screenshots.