I have only played two games so-far, but there were a few points I would like to offer some feedback on. So far, I have played the Wild Walkers seeking a Wonder Victory and the Vaulters seeking a Scientific Victory.



Wild Walkers

* Their faction abilities were fun, effective and very interesting. Aesthetically I really like them too. Great job here!

* Dekari Rangers are extremely powerful, and obliterate minor factions with no effort. They are potentially vulnerable against a human, but I feel in and of themselves they are fine.

* Agache Shamans were OK, but nothing special. The research and production required to make one did not feel worth the effort. The barkskin buff is OK, but I felt their debuff options were less than useful.

* Tenei Walkers were more interesting and have good synergy with the Rangers, especially against the AI who lets them tarball units.

* Their faction-based hero skills were really useful to a governor and strongly supported their core victory condition. The connections to the general tree were well laid out and also worked extremely well.

* Their quest was fun, fit the story well and was largely beneficial to the victory condition.



Vaulters

* Their faction abilities function well and using strategic resources as a booster proved a lot more interesting than I expected. I also quite liked their aesthetic.

* Marines are effective and seem well balanced. Less powerful than Rangers, but less fragile too --- fits the faction.

* Dawn Officers are terrible! I will not research them again until a massive overhaul. Even with a 6-tile charge into a ranged unit they lacked any real punch, and in less-ideal situations they were almost useless. An extra unit of Marines is far more useful.

* Titans are OK, but perhaps need a little work. Against the AI, they can act as a tarpit, and they were putting out more damage than the Tenei Walkers, but their slow movement made them unreliable. Depending on deployment, they could be either just useful or completely useless, but never fantastic.

* Their faction-unique technologies did not feel like game-changers, but they sure were nice. I would not hesitate in researching them again because they would be good for most strategies.

* The faction-based hero skills were uninspiring. The two science-based ones help with their primary victory condition, but the other three were not terribly useful: too situational, and not a situation you want to focus your strategy towards.

* I did not play their quest very long, as an early objective was to destroy a city on the other side of the map: I would have had to conquer four of the five other factions to get to it, which would clearly support a military victory more than a scientific one. Given the faction is more oriented to defence than offence, this seemed an odd objective, especially given how early in the quest line it came up.



Minor Factions

* The basic concept of these is quite interesting. A new city starting with 1-3 extra pop due to pacified minor factions is a huge boon and well worth the time investment. Assimilation has been less exciting so far.

* Geldirus were unexciting. Their passive boost is potentially useful, particularly later in the game. I cannot see any value in the units, however. Cavalry is poor to begin with, and they were unappealing even compared to their under-powered peers.

* Jotus were terrible. A minor boost to vision was uninteresting as a passive bonus. Their units were useless to me, as both Wild Walkers and Vaulters already have VASTLY superior ranged units. Perhaps a faction lacking ranged units could benefit(?), but they were not in the same class as the major faction ranged units.

* Nidya were surprisingly poor. I am not sure whether or not their passive bonus helped me out; it sounds good, but harder to track than others. I found the unit disappointing: high risk, low reward. Their flying ability and vulnerability make them seem like a hit-and-run unit, but their damage is terrible. If you take advantage of their circle attack and swoop into a cluster of units, they do OK damage (still less than a unit of archers), but will be almost killed by the counter-attacks. I cannot see much value in using them again.

* Sisters of Mercy are a weird bunch. Their passive bonus is flavourful, but does not make a huge difference. Their units are pretty terrible. At present, their support is unintuitive (I had to Google to learn what they did) and often too situational to justify their inclusion. Sure, they make a dramatic difference if you are facing disease, but in the likely event you are NOT they make little contribution.

* Urces are OK, but not great. The passive bonus is solid if you can get a few villages, but I was less impressed with the unit. Perhaps my view is too coloured by the factions I have played so far, but I never felt it added anything.

* The pacification quests are perhaps a little too random. I repeatedly received quests that could not be completed because they required resources not unlocked for another 100 turns, required I invade my ally's territory or some other objective I could not or would not take. Considering you can defeat them in combat so easily, and bribing them off is not too expensive, the potentially interesting quest option just feels overly difficult.



Empire Plan

* Military: each of these is a great option and strongly benefits a military strategy. The tier-one option is good enough for any strategy, while the higher-tier options are skippable for other play-styles. Exactly what I want to see!

* Economy: I usually pick up the tier one option, because it is good even without being great. Helps grow cities faster too (invest into production and improvements early without worrying about going into debt). The other options have not appealed to my Wonder or Scientific plans, but would definitely be worth looking at for an Economic victory.

* Science: The base-option is fantastic for any strategy, while the higher-tier options can easily be build towards for both Wonder and Scientific plans. Getting the most out of them requires lots of districts, however, which makes approval more of an issue than it has to be.

* Expansion: This one I find unappealing. The bottom-tier option is dull and does not seem half as useful as the other three. The approval bonus is great at tier two, but I could not foresee myself ever going all the way to the tier four option of increased food. It only indirectly helps advance your victory condition, while the other three sections can directly contribute to a victory.



I need a few more games before I can comment on generic technologies and city improvements, as what was useless in one game could yet prove the difference in another.

In the early game the sisters are useless, however, in the late game when you are trying to curbstomp your opponents is when they shine, not because of their units but because of their passive healing you receive if you have multiple villages under your control. Having your units go from almost dead to fully healed in 2 turns can turn you into a juggernaut. Also the value of minor factions really depends on who you play, Silics are amazing for their .5 gain on strategic resources but both them and Ulcers can hit multiple units at once, Haunts and the Demons can too with their chain lightening attacks

Just a little further feedback:



Vaulters

* Their main quest is just painful. I get stuck at the same point every time, where I have to destroy a city on the other side of the world. I feel like this leg needs a serious rethink.

* Their units definitely need a rebalance. Marines start off good and get fantastic, but Dawn Guard are too weak and fragile to be useful, while Titans are just too slow to be useful. An army of 6-8 Marines is preferable to using any Dawn Guard or Titans.

* The Science Victory condition is likewise painful. The tier-six techs take far too long to research compared to the whole rest of the game, and it is a fairly boring end. Scientific Victory was my favourite condition in Civ5, but I doubt I will do it again in this game.



Broken Lords

* Their faction abilities were just strange enough to make this faction really interesting. It takes a few turns to get used to the change in play-style, but once you do it is highly functional and quite powerful.

* Stalwarts are unimpressive, but do the job. They do not deal much damage, and are not the tankiest infantry in the game, but their faster movement makes them more useful than most others.

* Ryders are fairly poor. Low damage and fragile, they do not even have the fast movement of other cavalry. Life Drain is so weak as to be irrelevant. There was not a single battle where these units felt they carried their weight.

* Dust Bishops are a fantastic support unit. Their attack stat is too low for them to be useful at attackers, but their healing is invaluable.

* Their heroes skills are quite solid, though the introductory skill is a little weak. A bonus on river tiles is nice, if there is a river. In my game, most regions did not have a river, making most cities unable to benefit from this skill. A generic +5 Dust to the city would have been infinitely more valuable in the majority of cities.

* Their faction quest was utterly painful. I started in the center of the map and had to conquer the whole right side (defeated three factions) to access the ruins required for a quest objective, only to lose one of my heroes for story reasons. That was not fun to begin with. The next objective required me to conquer my way across the left side of the map (defeat a fourth faction) to access another set of ruins. The next objective (only 7/10) required me to conquer my way south. By this point, I was within five turns of three different victory conditions, so the quest was utterly irrelevant. I can say I will never attempt this faction's main quest again.



Minor Factions

* I have started basing my selection of minor factions on their passive bonus over their units. For example, Silics are fantastic for their passive, even though their units were useless to the Broken Lords.



Combat

* In general, I love the combat system in this game. There is an issue that has become quite apparent. More often than not, due to the random battlefields, they become too crowded. Even a battle of 6 vs 6 quickly becomes too crowded to maneuver. Add in reinforcements or larger army sizes and most of the units just sit on the sidelines unable to participate. The terrain gives Flying units the advantage their need, but overemphasizes the strengths of Ranged and makes Infantry and Cavalry too weak. Larger battle fields or (somehow) less choke points would make combat a lot more dynamic.

* Militia are useless. I do not expect them to defend a city against an invading army, but they aught to add something if they are going to exist. They are one-hit kills, deal no real damage, have low initiative, are too slow to move into a tactical position. They are just a waste of space in an already over-crowded battlefield.