by SWC_Seren
Eclipse is 2D to me. Yes, it's faster, but I only ended up playing it because I couldn't find anyone willing to play TI3.It's like people refusing to sit through Hamlet because it's too long. It's literature on a level that Eclipse can never be, and TI3 ranks supreme as The One Game. Everything else is just a Lite.
Eclipse is also based so much on luck as opposed to an understanding of game mechanics and resource management. Any halfwit can tell that good tiles will make your likelihood for success much better than someone who gets some bum luck. Sure, you have to have one brain cell to think about exploring and make some choices as to where you explore, but in every game of Eclipse I played the game seemed to heavily favor "luck of the draw" over true strategy.
I do like the economic strangulation and increased bureaucratic overhead in Eclipse as you expand, but it's pretty easy to get around this if you get some amazing early-game artifact finds that set you above your neighbors. The game will be over if you monopolize your luck.
In TI3, I've had horrible luck and fought multiple opponents down until I had nothing, built back up, and still came within grasp of victory. I've also had great luck and yet been paralyzed by other factors and come nowhere close to winning. No matter what happens, good or bad, I had fun every minute and felt I could make progress toward the goal.
Not so in Eclipse. When other players get this far ahead in the early game, you're in for a long 4 hours of watching their rise to glory while you helplessly wither and die. Eclipse is too short to make up for those early gains, although I have seen some creative "run away by exploring rimward" strategies help score extra points.
Finally, TI3 offers a rich variation of game play far beyond the races. The galaxy, action cards, political agendas, variant rules, economic opportunities, player make-up, and objectives make it so different every time. Some players may prefer to play 2 or 3 games of Eclipse, but I'd rather hold out for that one amazing TI3 experience.