Foundation

[LordMortis]

I see this just released on GOG and for a reasonable price. I'm a sucker for the idea of city builders but rarely actually like them. Anyone pull the trigger on this? Opinions?

... I see on GOGs page there is a 14 day no questions refund policy... Hmmm... Maybe this weekend....


https://www.polymorph.games/



I also see now this an early access release, which I am trying to stay away from nowadays...

[dbt1949]

It is/was same price on Steam. It looks interesting but the price is a little much for me still.

[MonkeyFinger]

Ah... and here I was thinking it was going to be Asimov related.

[TheMix]

Good to see I'm not the only one.

[noxiousdog]

I have played and quite like it. It's a bit unintuitive (you start with some advanced resources you need for a gateway advancement - but it's not obvious), but I'm a sucker for indirect city builders like Majesty.

I'm trying to remember how much I payed for it, but I put in about 6 hours without blinking.

It was very easy though. Very casual, but it looks good and there's a lot to do.

[LordMortis]

Very casual, but it looks good and there's a lot to do.

I'd say the look doesn't matter but I liked the 3d landscaping in the bit I've seen.

Very casual but a lot to do sounds like the praise I'm looking for. I think my favorite builders and probably the only two I've given the final thumbs up to are are Tropico 2 and Pharoah, though I've played many many builders. Most builders feel like you learn how to get in their groove and then expand via their groove method (be that trade or tax or whatever) and then groove until you get bored. Tropico 2 had fighting and mapping and a population on a micro scale that to keep happy in a way that interest me (and a sound track I liked even on ad nauseum) . Pharoah had the groove unto boredom thing going but for some reason their goals felt right, that each succeeding Pharoah would want to be more grand than those that came before him.

I think landscaping drew my attention to this one and I'm interested to see a build engine that doesn't snap into a grid and then finally I'm curious to know what happens outside of gather three resources and combine them into these buildings, so ...

A lot to do

could potentially be very high praise for my pennies.

[Paingod]

a build engine that doesn't snap into a grid

To be fair, is it really not a grid - or is it just a grid with really tiny squares?

It does look interesting, and I like organic community growth and management games. I'm a little put off by the visuals, but not the gameplay. It's a wait and see for me.

[jztemple2]

Ah... and here I was thinking it was going to be Asimov related.

Me too . I was going to be all excited about some clever gaming interpretation of Psychohistory and the novels but no, it's a city builder <sigh>

The game does kind of remind me of Banished which I played a lot.

[LordMortis]

The game does kind of remind me of Banished which I played a lot.

Heh, Banished comes to mind as the sort of city builder I want to like and then don't. I start out putting a ton of time in to the game to learn it but then it becomes a sort of formula. Specifically for Banished it was learning to how to trade. Once you had trade down, then it was just the motions of scaling up to better take advantage of trade. Having learned the game, it became hollow to me.

I think I spent $9 for Banished, so I don't feel ripped off but it ended up in the city builders I bought, played too much for a week and then meh'd.

I'm finicky because I really do want to love the next builder game.

And now that you've made me think about it. Oddly enough, I loved Factorio, mainly because every time you went through the motions of scaling up you were learning how make it easier to scale up further. I really should return to that game. It's still on my desktop and it's a totally different beast than it was when I played.

[noxiousdog]

If you didn't like Banished, I'm not sure Foundation will do much for you. I get a very similar feeling from the two of them.

[GreenGoo]

Ah... and here I was thinking it was going to be Asimov related.

Clicked link because ditto, although it was more wondering than thinking.

[Paingod]

Ah... and here I was thinking it was going to be Asimov related.

Clicked link because ditto, although it was more wondering than thinking.

I clicked and was very curious how they'd translate that book series into a game as well...

[stimpy]

I clicked thinking this would be a makeup application simulator.

[LordMortis]

I watched some let's plays last night and I can definitely see why Banished comes to mind. There is a lot of Banished in the UI. But it does look like a lot more things to play with at first glance. And while the trader looked to be the same dynamic in Banished which gives me pause, the growing city seemed more alive. I might put a pin in this until it is more developed and go back to thinking about RimWorld.

[jztemple2]

I clicked thinking this would be a makeup application simulator.

Womens undergarments. Just saying...

[stimpy]

I clicked thinking this would be a makeup application simulator.

Womens undergarments. Just saying...

I'd buy that game too!!

[noxiousdog]

I watched some let's plays last night and I can definitely see why Banished comes to mind. There is a lot of Banished in the UI. But it does look like a lot more things to play with at first glance. And while the trader looked to be the same dynamic in Banished which gives me pause, the growing city seemed more alive. I might put a pin in this until it is more developed and go back to thinking about RimWorld.

It definitely seems more alive. It's a bit of a pharoah dynamic where the citizens have to shop/go to church, etc, and by doing so make their own paths.

[LordMortis]

Is it weird that watching the paths wearing in was probably one of the things that grabbed me most? It was just such a nice touch. I also noticed some good pulls from other builders that have since left my brain. I'm likely to look for some more current let's play's this weekend and I'll probably pull the trigger on this or RimWorld for something new to play this weekend... Or something shiny will catch my attention.

[noxiousdog]

Is it weird that watching the paths wearing in was probably one of the things that grabbed me most? It was just such a nice touch. I also noticed some good pulls from other builders that have since left my brain. I'm likely to look for some more current let's play's this weekend and I'll probably pull the trigger on this or RimWorld for something new to play this weekend... Or something shiny will catch my attention.

I don't think it's weird at all. It feel so much more organic. While I appreciate the technical detail in Rimworld or Prison Architect, foundation really feels like a village and it is addictive.

[LordMortis]

I get home today and no one has the sale anymore. I guess I'll let it cook and come back to it later.

[jztemple2]

I picked Foundation up today despite my predilection to avoid early access games and despite being a bit saturated on builders right now. However...

• I've been following this game for more than three and a half years and it looks pretty decent
• There has just been a major update (1.9) and a hotfix (1.9.1) and the devs are off for the holidays, so no unexpected changes
• Reviews are overall pretty positive and I see a lot of mentions of things I like and...
• It is on sale right now and the sale ends tomorrow

I've played all of a whopping 37 minutes so far and I'm liking what I've seen so far. The tutorial assistance is excellent, not only telling you what to do, but also why you are doing it. And I like how my village grows sort of organically, not defined by a gridiron layout like in the Anno series or Banished.

[naednek]

I picked Foundation up today despite my predilection to avoid early access games and despite being a bit saturated on builders right now. However...

• I've been following this game for more than three and a half years and it looks pretty decent
• There has just been a major update (1.9) and a hotfix (1.9.1) and the devs are off for the holidays, so no unexpected changes
• Reviews are overall pretty positive and I see a lot of mentions of things I like and...
• It is on sale right now and the sale ends tomorrow

I've played all of a whopping 37 minutes so far and I'm liking what I've seen so far. The tutorial assistance is excellent, not only telling you what to do, but also why you are doing it. And I like how my village grows sort of organically, not defined by a gridiron layout like in the Anno series or Banished.

I have it on my wish list, i see it go on sale often but it's always 25%. I keep waiting

[jztemple2]

I've put in just over five hours on the game, although probably an hour of that was in pause mode while I alt-tabbed over to Discord to ask questions . There are a lot of things not obvious in the game, even though it's been in work for three years. However, so far none of my issues have been unresolved bugs, rather just a lack of understanding on some nuance of the game. Certainly it hasn't taken away from my enjoyment of the game.

In spite of some comments I've seen, this is definitely not Banished once again. It's been a while since I seriously played that game, but I remember it was more of a survival builder where a bad winter with some lack of planning could devastate your village. Not so in Foundation, as there are no seasons. Also different is lessened focus on what you grow; I seem to recall in Banished there were a bunch of different crops to manage, which is not true in Foundation. And in Foundation the population never grows old and dies, or even is born and grows up. Instead your population grows as immigrants decide to move to your village, depending on how attractive it is in a variety of different areas.

Another for me welcome change is a move away from the grid building system of Banished or the Anno series. This is what my current village looks like:

The buildings towards the left are the businesses and production buildings I positioned, while the houses are built by the villagers as they are needed, although I can specify where they can build their houses. The whole village has a nice, sort of organic sprawl to it. Even the paths that connect buildings are created by villagers walking from place to place, not something I laid out.

The game itself is focused as much of activities you undertake as it is on village/city building. You will be getting quests to fulfill which are sort of a guiding hand to point you along on the way to expand. You also need to establish trade with other towns to get goods you can't make yourself and to generate gold. And there are activities tied to your own village, like creating a bailiff who will assist you will upgrading your people from serfs to commoners and on up.

One nice idea is Estates. These are different sources of goals, new buildings, activities and the like. The three estates are the kingdom, the clergy and labor. However, if you, say, build a church to make a good impression on the clergy, it will cause a negative effect on the other two estates. You have to balance whether to focus on one estate to gain quicker advantage there, or to spread you activities among two or all three, taking longer to generate influence with them but getting a more well rounded village.

Aside from the new items you gain through the estates are the ones you get with the common path, as shown below. These are new sources of food, like a fishing pier, or a new business like a stonemason's hut. You achieve the ability to unlock them when your village reaches certain levels of prosperity and then actually unlock them with gold.


The main pacing mechanisms are gold and villagers. New immigrants will show up as your village prospers and become villagers, but your village needs to be attractive to them for them to want to come. And gold is made by trade and by taxes. Trade is limited to what you can produce and what you need to import that costs you gold. And you can tax your people to some degree, but higher taxes makes your village less attractive and that turns away the immigrants. It's a clever idea.

So I'm going to continue playing for awhile unless I run into some bugs or other issues. And for those wondering, the game continues on sale at 25% off on the Steam Winter Sale.

[naednek]

every sale they have is 25% for this game. So don't be like me and hold out

[jztemple2]

So, no one being tempted by the OO Effect™?

[Daehawk]

I am but I remember wanting Banished and when I got it I never could get anywhere with it with many tries.

I want Farthest Frontier too but I didn't wishlist it due to worry it'd be so tough again and Id fail and not enjoy it.

[Rumpy]

Ah... and here I was thinking it was going to be Asimov related.

Clicked link because ditto, although it was more wondering than thinking.

Same here, and I think the books would make for an interesting 4X series. There was actually an old web-based game that more or less did this. Instead of directly taking over territory, you'd have a zone of influence that would grow depending on your actions, whether it be diplomacy or war among other factions, and whatever was in the zone was what you controlled.

[LordMortis]

I haven't played in a long time. It still had some cooking to do when last I played. It was castle building sandbox that pretended to have military and economic facets and really didn't, and didn't hold much appeal for me. I think that was 1.8.?

[jztemple2]

I haven't played in a long time. It still had some cooking to do when last I played. It was castle building sandbox that pretended to have military and economic facets and really didn't, and didn't hold much appeal for me. I think that was 1.8.?

It is at 1.9.1 now and I've put in about sixteen hours. It isn't a bad game. I did end up going to Discord or the Steam forum about a dozen times for things I couldn't figure out, but each time it turns out not to be a bug but just something a bit too obscure for me to figure out on my own . However, while I felt like I got my money's worth, it is like so many of the city builders I play, once I get to a certain point it feels too repetitive to continue. I'll follow the development and maybe there will be some new features sometime that will bring me back.

[Daehawk]

Got this gifted to me now so guess Ill be finding out how it is after the new years.