ive been a huge fan of this studio (especially Steph!) since the alpha of endless space and am soooo pumped to see the 2nd iteration of it. I know this is going to be a huge hit!! I dont make video games or anything but i would really like an option to only have same race heroes. Age of wonders 3 has that option and i really appreciate it. I like to play the xenophobic humans when i play space games (thanks warhammer 40k) and that was my main gripe about endless space. So if the devs read this please make a button you can hit when u create a game to have same race heroes and some sort of game mechanics to move your races population to a newly conquered planet... i mean if we can get an exterminate or enslave option that would be nuts too, but then we would need a co-operate or lord over option too..Mayb just wipe all life off the planet like a nuclear bombardment? planetary destruction?? that would be sweet.. just thinking outloud.. anyway i would love to play endless space 2 as xenophobic humans so please help me out!!! and good luck on this project and you guys are awesome!!!!

Well, the United Empire were not exactly xenophobic as much as profit-oriented, and I always thought that came with a healthy helping of "wiping other races out" as it was counter-productive to harbor other species.

From a lore perspective you may be right, but the option could be fantastic for the modding community. Many outside works of fiction have heroes that wouldn't be welcomed with open arms for other groups. On top of that, for groups like Horatio and Cravers, they wouldn't want outside heroes either (Too ugly, or too tasty, respectively).