Someone said this to me and now I can never unsee this as the blorg. I think it's a really cool faction design though, especially with the new mechanics involved.

I love the idea of a sentient fungus. Passive expansion is an interesting idea, however it may make it difficult for them to secure ideal resources making them rely heavily on trade. In the Gamescon demo, they displayed recon probes to gain vision. Maybe they could have specialized probes that "seed" humid planets as they pass over. They spread blindly. The player can choose to set waypoints to arc their trajectory so that they don't just travel straight. If the probes cross enemy ships they can be captured like an infection.

I love that idea ! Remind me some random events in Steallaris, like it.

You get my wote !

I like the "taking over planets" option, while I'll how they are peacefull, I have the feeling that they are quiet xenophobe :)

Mine are shrooms to: https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space-2/forum/105-major-faction-creation-contest-game-design/thread/19935-mycelius (and the colonization thing is similar ;) )

So you expand like border pressure that I'm sure some people here are already familiar with which is rather interesting in itself.

So much for peaceful expansion though if the planted faction grows over time and you can take my system over... albeit slowly. This is clearly passive aggression! They want to expand and grow but what is it that is so charming about these mushrooms that an entire system would uproot itself from one collective to theirs? Give me a reason to love these mushrooms, a reason for me to change sides.

Otherwise, I like it, you probably will not take systems from allies often... but it presents a problematic option on system for someone else, especially if they cannot "purge the Xenos" out of the system without penalties.

Firstly, thanks for your feedback!

Digitalhawk96 wrote:

So you expand like border pressure that I'm sure some people here are already familiar with which is rather interesting in itself.

So much for peaceful expansion though if the planted faction grows over time and you can take my system over... albeit slowly. This is clearly passive aggression! They want to expand and grow but what is it that is so charming about these mushrooms that an entire system would uproot itself from one collective to theirs? Give me a reason to love these mushrooms, a reason for me to change sides.

Otherwise, I like it, you probably will not take systems from allies often... but it presents a problematic option on system for someone else, especially if they cannot "purge the Xenos" out of the system without penalties.

I've been thinking about that for a while now, the concept right now is, that they either buy a planet (not the whole system) or they just force you with their giant amount of influence. You know, who could say no to mind controlling mushrooms? But maybe I'll find some extra incentives to voluntarily give up a planet to the Koppocco.
I really hope that ES2 features a way to get rid of minorities on your planets, would make them even more interesting to play.

SolarMoth wrote:

I love the idea of a sentient fungus. Passive expansion is an interesting idea, however it may make it difficult for them to secure ideal resources making them rely heavily on trade. In the Gamescon demo, they displayed recon probes to gain vision. Maybe they could have specialized probes that "seed" humid planets as they pass over. They spread blindly. The player can choose to set waypoints to arc their trajectory so that they don't just travel straight. If the probes cross enemy ships they can be captured like an infection.

That's an interesting idea, but real life funguses don't work that way either I think. Of course that wouldn't stop dust infected funguses from spreading wherever the hell they want, but I think that probes with waypoints would just act as colony ships with a different skin. 

And you're right, they would rely on trade to get the resources they want, but I think all the other factions do, too, to a certain extent. I think that's actually a good thing, you know, diplomacy and stuff ^^

I also like the ideas and concepts presented here. I'm unsure about the "First impressions" trait, as it won't have an effect on a human player. And I feel most factions in all previous games are designed such that human and AI players should be identical in theory, which the devs probably want to conserve in ES2. Also, I'm concerned that the Koppocco's ability to take over systems without conflict will lead to unhappy factions that wish to wipe them out. This is in antithesis to the "diplomatic pacifists" our factions should be for this contest. Can you invent some gameplay mechanic that incentivizes other factions to let this happen? For instance, in my submission I try to do this by having diplomatic demands not hurt other factions so strongly. Though it would have to be a very strong incentive. Either that or take another direction?

carolean7 wrote:

I also like the ideas and concepts presented here. I'm unsure about the "First impressions" trait, as it won't have an effect on a human player. And I feel most factions in all previous games are designed such that human and AI players should be identical in theory, which the devs probably want to conserve in ES2. Also, I'm concerned that the Koppocco's ability to take over systems without conflict will lead to unhappy factions that wish to wipe them out. This is in antithesis to the "diplomatic pacifists" our factions should be for this contest. Can you invent some gameplay mechanic that incentivizes other factions to let this happen? For instance, in my submission I try to do this by having diplomatic demands not hurt other factions so strongly. Though it would have to be a very strong incentive. Either that or take another direction?

I think you're right, this trait isn't that necessary anyway I guess. I'm thinking about some good incentives for quite a while now, but I have in mind that the Koppocco force other factions to hand over a planet through diplomatic pressure. I don't want that losing a planet is profitable for the other faction, but I think it should be at least acceptable. Currently there's the bonus to trade routes and science, maybe I could add a FIDS bonus or another type of benefit subject to the condition that they don't declare war? What do you think about that?

Ykara wrote:

carolean7 wrote:

I also like the ideas and concepts presented here. I'm unsure about the "First impressions" trait, as it won't have an effect on a human player. And I feel most factions in all previous games are designed such that human and AI players should be identical in theory, which the devs probably want to conserve in ES2. Also, I'm concerned that the Koppocco's ability to take over systems without conflict will lead to unhappy factions that wish to wipe them out. This is in antithesis to the "diplomatic pacifists" our factions should be for this contest. Can you invent some gameplay mechanic that incentivizes other factions to let this happen? For instance, in my submission I try to do this by having diplomatic demands not hurt other factions so strongly. Though it would have to be a very strong incentive. Either that or take another direction?

I think you're right, this trait isn't that necessary anyway I guess. I'm thinking about some good incentives for quite a while now, but I have in mind that the Koppocco force other factions to hand over a planet through diplomatic pressure. I don't want that losing a planet is profitable for the other faction, but I think it should be at least acceptable. Currently there's the bonus to trade routes and science, maybe I could add a FIDS bonus or another type of benefit subject to the condition that they don't declare war? What do you think about that?

That could work in terms of making it feel fair. But it still makes me feel queasy. Mainly because there is no way to counter an enemy Koppocco faction from stealing your systems. The other two ways to get systems are to diplomatically offer buy them, which can be refused; or through military conquest, which can be fought off. This new option has no counter. I for one would be incredibly frustrated if I just started losing systems with no choice in the matter, even if I was compensated for it. But that's just me.

Well, you can always declare war. And I'm almost certain that ES2 will give you something to manage you minorities, so that would be a counter for sure. If you ask me, I'd even say that the Koppocco would be a very diffcult faction to play as, because of the constant diplomatic tensions and the high expansion cost.