I highly recommend Mechanicus. While I didn’t get far, the early levels are great.
I’m hoping to have more time this weekend to dig into ES 2. The WOW update has preoccupied me but I’m going to provide an update soon.
^I picked up the mega version of Mechanicus during the sale and have tossed it onto the pile.
Diving in tonight. Playing on Normal difficulty with an Advanced race (The Unfallen). I haven't played an Endless game for at least a couple of years now, so here goes nothing!
Well my attempt with The Unfallen didn't go very well. I ended up with maybe 1 eventually habitable planet and being boxed in by a pirate haven. While I was eventually able to break out, the net result was my being last in points yet the junior partner in a front running alliance, alongside Horatio and the Lumeris. Wasn't very satisfying other than I learned a few things about the faction.
Going to try again with the same settings and a few new lessons learned
Powering through my replay and currently on the side of the winning alliance with the Sophons and Horatio. Also tinkering with some ship designs rather than relying on the AI to auto-design my builds. I somehow managed to let the Militarists take over the canon-Pacifist Unfallen civilization, but I'm just rolling with it for now.
One thing I thought the club might find funny was a recent quest objective
Seeing the Aurigan Reach make an appearance was definitely amusing. Not quite as funny as the frequent appearances of Lando System in Stellaris, but I still chuckled
Edit:
Here's my victory and final score screen.
Definitely came from behind and won on both points and being the senior partner in the winning alliance. Part of the Unfallen's unique attributes is having to 'entwine' adjacent systems, so I was limited on expansion when I was adjacent to my allies. I worked around that by trading for key systems that gave me a route to attack our mutual enemies and keep my root network going.
Alright it's that time to go over the top again! Voting is now open for our first game in 2021! The Steam sale is coming this week so should be a good time to get some games on sale. I'm also open to voting for our second 2021 game to take advantage of the sale.
Please list your top three games for the first round.
Also, I've started a ranking system. If you want a rank, let me know in this thread about which games you've played/beaten so far. You get one rank for each game you played and one for each completed campaign. So if you beat both Battletech and Endless Space 2, you're now a lance corporal.
First time I'm seeing this thread but am interested! What has already been chosen and played, is it just Battletech and Endless Space 2?
I've had Mutant Year Zero sitting on the pile for a while now, so here's a vote for that if it's allowed.
First time I'm seeing this thread but am interested! What has already been chosen and played, is it just Battletech and Endless Space 2?
I've had Mutant Year Zero sitting on the pile for a while now, so here's a vote for that if it's allowed.
Just those 2 so far!
Mutant Year Zero is a very good shout.
I did t get to the end of my Battletech game, but I did complete an Endless Space playthrough
My choices for the next vote would be:
Fort Triumph
Into The Breach
Company of Heroes 2
I only played a few hours of Battletech and skipped Endless Space 2. Hopefully, I'll be more engaged for the next one.
Here are my nominations:
Age of Wonders: Planetfall
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus
Stellaris
I’ve beaten both games we’ve played so far.
For nominations:
Company of Heroes 2
Total War: Shogun 2
Age of Wonders: Planetfall
Console only gaming still so no Battletech or Endless Space 2 for me.
Up for...
Into the Breach (switch)
Northgard (switch)
Mutant Year Zero (PS4)
So, I kind of got through an Endless Space 2 game, but I bounce so hard off of it that I'm not sure if I fully completed it. I played Riftborn and had a strong alliance with two other factions and together we were basically steamrolling the Cravers and another alliance. I don't know what it is about ES2... I want to like it, and I like the idea of it, and I like the thought of playing it... and then I load it up and I can't stick with it. 
As for the next game... I'm mostly up for anything I already own, of which there's only a few games within the last few posts that I don't own, and the only one I've finished is Stellaris.
Yeah, Endless Space 2 did not happen for me, sorry.
I'd be up for Planetfall, TW:3K, or Imperator: Rome. I feel in a long-form mood.
But there are some other great suggestions above, so... Yay!
Total War: Shogun 2
EU4
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus
Edit - Removing Imperator in favor of EU4
Imperator: Rome
Civ 6
AoW: Planetfall
Anyone played Mechanicus or Planetfall on console? They've gone on sale on PSN.
Yeah, Endless Space 2 did not happen for me, sorry.
I failed as well. Failure I am.
Next! My three thoughts...
Europa Universalis IV
I've started a couple of games recently, and would love to dig in more.
AoW: Planetfall
I've gotten back into this one recently, and have played two games so far. The Galactic Empire that links individual games and heroes into a metagame mode is super interesting.
Warhammer 40,000 Gladius: Relics of War
I've been reading really good things about this one, would love to check it out.
----
I was thinking to vote for Imperator: Rome, as this game has changed so much since release and I'd love to revisit it. But... the Update 2.0 Marius is due out in ... February, I think, and that will significantly change the game. It's a huge update, so I wonder if waiting for that might be better?
Yeah.... It might be better to wait for Marius and the subsequent fix-it patch. 
Had not thought about that.
Yeah.... It might be better to wait for Marius and the subsequent fix-it patch.
I'm really excited for the patch. The game is already light years beyond what it was at release, and I liked what i saw when I dipped back in a few months ago. I'm hopeful that 2.0 will really level it up.
So I’m going to give it till tomorrow at midnight EST to finish with initial suggestions. And also I extended the deadline to finish ES 2 to Dec 31 in case like me you pick up some of the dlcs to try.
Here are my votes:
Into the Breach
EU 4
Company of Heroes 2
Europa Universalis IV
AoW: Planetfall
Civ 6
Changing my votes (sorry to make things hard):
EU:4
Civ 6
AoW: Planetfall
(I succumbed to the "wait for Imperator 2.0 Patch fever")
So I'll push Imperator off the list and go with:
Planetfall;
TW:3K;
and Mechanicus.
I stalled out about halfway through my ES2 run, though I may try to give it one last push before the end of the year. For the first game of 2021, I'd vote for:
Civ 6
Into the Breach
Northgard
Voting for Total War: Shogun 2. Great game, great case study in strategy game design principles, still looks beautiful, and very cheap on Steam for folks who don't already have it.
Looking forward to Imperator: Rome in a future edition, once the new patch is out!
It's time for the semi-final round! Thank you all for your votes. Now, please pick your top 3 from the following list by Saturday at 5 pm PST. If we still don't have a clear leader, we'll have a run-off then on Sunday.
Age of Wonders Planetfall: $12.49 on Steam
Civilization 6 $14.99
Europa Universalis 4: $9.99
Into the Breach: $7.49
Northgard $11.99
Total War: Shogun 2: $7.49
Total War: Three Kingdoms: $29.99
Warhammer 40K: Gladius: $13.99
Warhammer 40K: Mechanicus: $9.89
(I removed CoH from my own list and dropped out Imperator since it sounds like the game's in flux. Can add it back if you guys wish).
Total War: Shogun 2
Age of Wonders: Planetfall
Into the Breach
Planetfall
TW3K
Mechanicus
Mechanicus
Planetfall
Into the breach
Into the Breach
AoW Planetfall
TW Three Kingdoms
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