There were a lot of good ideas, during the first part of "Faction Creation Competition", covering almost all types of gameplay, using each game element.

Espionage centric - was there

Aquatic centric - about a dosen of them

"No Dust" - was there

Flying - yes

Mechanical/Cybernetic - definetly more than one or two

Intelligent lizardmans - check



So, its hard to predict, what could we see in addition to those two hinted factions. There just so many possibilities.



For now, i think i am interested to see a Plantfolk faction . Just, why not lol

A flying faction that could siege cities with it's own would be pretty funny to watch. Maybe having to decide to make your city "anchored" to the ground to get resources, and can't unanchor, or a combat city that can fly around with your armies for high upkeep. Weak but large armies to balance out.

To be honest, aren't the Broken Lords already undead? Sure they are more like vampires than zombies, but they are still no longer what we would consider "living".

KrimsonVagus wrote:
I thought that was sorta the necrophage theme.. even though they're not really undead. They just have "necro" in their name though

Nah Necrophage mean "those who eat the corpse" xD



Im pretty sure that Amplitude could do something with the undead fantasy stereotype

Kingsguard wrote:
Am I the only one to miss undead in EL ?



A zombie faction or something totally new would be great.

I thought that was sorta the necrophage theme.. even though they're not really undead. They just have "necro" in their name though

Am I the only one to miss undead in EL ?



A zombie faction or something totally new would be great.

KrimsonVagus wrote:
I finally managed to brainstorm a major aquatic (water-based) faction that focuses on food and does not rely on industry



My signature below contains the link to the discussion thread about the Naga. Check it out, and give us your feedback!

(the thread also discusses the possibility of adding the Amoeba from Endless Space as a minor aquatic faction!)

Guys check this out, the idea is great

I finally managed to brainstorm a major aquatic (water-based) faction that focuses on food and does not rely on industry



My signature below contains the link to the discussion thread about the Naga. Check it out, and give us your feedback!

(the thread also discusses the possibility of adding the Amoeba from Endless Space as a minor aquatic faction!)

Orks >> Major faction.

I'm brainstorming my idea on the Winter-focused faction, but I have no idea how customization on this game actually works. Guess I'll find out when it comes out.

Trisdino wrote:
- A flying faction, which exclusively has winged units. It would prefer open areas, and its cities would have advantages when built next to cliffs. A bird faction, like the Hissho, would be ideal for this purpose.

Pre-Endless Space Hissho would be an awesome inclusion, with floating cities, or cities built atop floating earthmotes (and an oriental-vibe to them). And, like Trisdino, DOTE has a Hissho hero (seemingly) native to or already on Auriga.



A plant-like species that focuses on , and doesn't use would be pretty cool, too.

KrimsonVagus wrote:
Besides the aquatic-based faction, which is a great idea, here's what I think is one theme that remains untouched in EL:



A Mechanical/Mineral-based faction much like say, the Sowers from Endless Space. They were left behind on Auriga by the Endless as prototype caretakers of the planet in their absence. Their struggle involves understanding their origins and their PURPOSE, and working out the bugs in their programming.



Their citizens feed on industry instead of food. They convert a small percentage of food into industry, and gain no other benefit from food... etc..

This was my main thought on an obvious faction, something mechanical in nature. My first though was akin to the Geth from Mass Effect. Being purely mechanical they could upgrade in different ways that would be rather interesting. Instead of using tools, they simply become the tools of choice.



Also wouldn't mind seeing a flying oriented race. Could take advantage of the mountains in that manner.

What about something similar to Broken Lords... but not using industry. Just everything would be possible with food. Like 50 % of food production is converted to industry. And some food bonuses. They even can be aquatic race. Cause water give lot of food and dust. So that would be their preferred place to settle. And with these they could add naval combat so water cities could be reachable by attack. And on top of that they could add different "water tiles" there are few now, but not very different. I would like to see something what they did with forests.

Lynx_gnt wrote:


For now, i think i am interested to see a Plantfolk faction . Just, why not lol

My first instinct tells me it should have been the wild walkers... but since they are inductry focused, it looks like we are gonna need another PROPER Hippie faction

So, we all know the current 8 factions, and they are very nice, with most of them being, at least relatively speaking, very creative. But this does leave open the question, months down the line, when the game is out, and if it did well, we can assume that there would be at least one expansion. So, in such an expansion, what potential factions could be added?



In my opinion, we should look at what we currently have, and deduce it from there.



The Vaulters are a semi-scifi faction, who are similar to, though still very distinct from, dwarves in most other settings. Visually, they are your typical humans, but with some cool armor.



The Roving clans are a sort of middle-eastern inspired faction, with highly distinct architecture, and some very neat looking mounts. They are, once again, your typical humans, but with lots of flair.



The Ardent mages are, as their name suggests, mages, with the twist that they are essentially powered by masochism. They are also your typical humans, but with lots of pain and stuff that glows.



The Broken lords are ghost knights, more or less, and have some very neat architecture and designs. They all have this sort of sauron look going. Despite this though, they are still very human in appearance, as they are literally just human armor.



The Wild walkers are elves with weird heads, down to the whole nature loving part. They look very similar to elves in other things, though admittedly, those giant tree monsters are pretty cool. Still, they are very similar to humans.



The Cultists are still quite mysterious, as we have not seen much of them, but they are most certainly also a twist on humans.





This leads us with only two non-human(or elf) factions, the Necrophages, and Drakken. These two races are both very cool in my opinion, but they are a definite minority. I personally feel that in a potential future expansion, there should be a focus on distinctly non-human factions. An example of this could be lizardmen, as they are ripe for a setting like this. Give them a sort of crude and primordial architecture(or ruined advanced civilization), make them ride dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, and give them advantages centered around forested combat and guerrilla tactics. As a twist to make them more interesting, instead of just making them your typical mindless brute faction as they often are, make them intelligent, fitting into the "noble savage" category.



This is of course only one example, but I personally feel that the game, and the genre as a whole, could benefit from more extreme diversity in the factions, and come on, which of you does not want to play as the Ursan, a race of bear people who ride even bigger bears?

There is also a strong lore background for hissho being in the game, as there is a hissho character in DOTE, which would of course imply their presence.



Honestly, I would just love to see the hissho there, they are by far my favorite ES race, even if their ships look a bit silly, and I can just imagine what kind of cool designs and mounts they might have(hisshos riding dinosaur-esque creatures for example).

Plenty of potential indeed. I'm hoping for a proper aquatic race that also introduced ship to ship combat and other sea creatures as a 1st or 2nd full size expansion.

I know that having the silics and the harmony would probably be very confusing, but logically, there is nothing preventing amplitude from just retconning it in an expansion, taking the silics model, and making it a harmony unit, as they hardly play a large role in the lore, if any.



The thing with the harmony that would make them interesting, aside from their dust-less playstyle, is that in endless space, the harmony had all sorts of crystal spaceships and fighters, which was pretty cool, so here, we would see the exact same style, namely blue crystals, but with cavalry and infantry and such, which I just think would be neat. Having at least one race from endless space would also help tying the two together(yes I know that the vaulters are in ES, but that is only if you buy something special, so I don't count it).



Alternatively, the Hissho could also be part of endless legend, as the winged, air-based race. That would play very nicely in with their backstory, as it was intentionally left vague in ES, and also be a very cool touch, as their architecture, as seen in the intro cinematic, would still very much fit into endless legend.



Generally, I just think that there is a lot of potential in future races, especially those that are related to the ES ones.

The Harmony has been suggested, but the Silics are a minor race, so who knows.

Trisdino wrote:


- A faction that does not use dust, like the harmony in endless space. The Broken lords and roving clans are completely focused on it, with the others also using it, but not a single faction does NOT use it. Perhaps an example could be the aforementioned lizardmen, and their culture could be wholly independent of it. Or maybe you could literally add the harmony, as that would be possible within the lore, and lead to some interesting concepts.

Lately, I've been thinking that the Silics minor faction may be a precursor to The Harmony cuz they are pretty much the same race. If we add something like them, we might have to modify/replace the Silics maybe?

While those are certainly untapped niches, I think you folks are being a bit too conservative, there are many other ways a new faction could be added, including twists on old ones:



- A faction that does not use dust, like the harmony in endless space. The Broken lords and roving clans are completely focused on it, with the others also using it, but not a single faction does NOT use it. Perhaps an example could be the aforementioned lizardmen, and their culture could be wholly independent of it. Or maybe you could literally add the harmony, as that would be possible within the lore, and lead to some interesting concepts.



- A faction which is focused on manipulation, with the ability to fake contracts and peace agreements, disguise units as those of others, and generally just mess with the other factions. A shape shifting faction would be ideal for this.



- A flying faction, which exclusively has winged units. It would prefer open areas, and its cities would have advantages when built next to cliffs. A bird faction, like the Hissho, would be ideal for this purpose.

Larcent wrote:
I was actually fully expecting a faction that bucks the seasonal concept and was stronger during the winter than during the summer. I thought that would be the case with the Drakkens.



Given that didn't happen, there's definitely a gap. I had an idea of a faction that believes winter is the "true" natural state of Auriga and can summon a powerful military unit that only lasts during the winter and then dies, even if it isn't killed.

That could be interesting. They have to survive the early game, and by late game, they are the force that needs to be reckoned with.

I was actually fully expecting a faction that bucks the seasonal concept and was stronger during the winter than during the summer. I thought that would be the case with the Drakkens.



Given that didn't happen, there's definitely a gap. I had an idea of a faction that believes winter is the "true" natural state of Auriga and can summon a powerful military unit that only lasts during the winter and then dies, even if it isn't killed.

Besides the aquatic-based faction, which is a great idea, here's what I think is one theme that remains untouched in EL:



A Mechanical/Mineral-based faction much like say, the Sowers from Endless Space. They were left behind on Auriga by the Endless as prototype caretakers of the planet in their absence. Their struggle involves understanding their origins and their PURPOSE, and working out the bugs in their programming.



Their citizens feed on industry instead of food. They convert a small percentage of food into industry, and gain no other benefit from food... etc..

Mechanically, there is room for:

-A faction that cares about water beyond trade routes and dust yield. And yeah, you could fold espionage into this.

-A faction of alchemists/brewers. Vaulters designate one holy resource, these guys could combine resources to form mega boosters. If you want to go dark with this one, their product can be addictive and have various side effects.

-A faction that specializes in stealing/siphoning FIDSI, sabotage, bribery, etc. I'd throw espionage in here.

-A faction that rewards linking cities across territory lines. Build your own arcology!



Maybe more after coffee.

Trisdino wrote:
The Cultists are still quite mysterious, as we have not seen much of them, but they are most certainly also a twist on humans.

Humanoid? Maybe. Just look at Telum's art concepts. Human? Not really. Mysterious? For now, certainly. I'm curious to see how Amplitude introduces them, myself.

If we get an aquatic espionage faction, can I vote for a creeping, long-term genetic infitration? The Endless still lie dreaming, and it's beginning to look a lot like fishmen in here.



Sorry, couldn't help myself there. I do hope espionage will be a feature of the first expansion, though.

First expansion will be a espionage-centric faction.... which could/might be a naval faction too... perhaps an aquatic one with shape shifters and the like... ooooh, I like it.