I'd like to see "free movement" from Endless Space 1 make a return. While I prefer games with lanes and no inherent free movement (like Gal Civ), I also like it when they give us the ability to bypass them through tech advancement to open up opportunities for encirclement and outflanking.

Apocalypse wrote:
Actually I really don't mind repeating factions, I just would like some theming in such cases to have actually represent them as sub-factions who did split from each other. Kind like the endless did.

Well, it would take a lot of work to create a backstory and graphics to make a split-off (but very similar) faction look and feel different enough to the player. And then what do you do if the RNG throws more than two identical factions? I'd rather see that much work put into additional interesting factions.



Even the splinter factions in ES felt a little weird to me, especially trying to figure out the timeline. I mean, how long would it have taken for the Horatio and Pilgrims to develop such a different culture from the UE they left? And why wouldn't the UE know where they were? Did the UE go into deep freeze for a few hundred years? Cultural/technological shifts like that don't happen overnight. And if you're playing as any of these three factions, it clashes with the classic space 4X idea that you're heading out into the black for the first time, not knowing what's out there. I guess I just like my aliens to be aliens. And one-of-a-kind.

Zenicetus wrote:
Well, it would take a lot of work to create a backstory and graphics to make a split-off (but very similar) faction look and feel different enough to the player. And then what do you do if the RNG throws more than two identical factions? I'd rather see that much work put into additional interesting factions.



Even the splinter factions in ES felt a little weird to me, especially trying to figure out the timeline. I mean, how long would it have taken for the Horatio and Pilgrims to develop such a different culture from the UE they left? And why wouldn't the UE know where they were? Did the UE go into deep freeze for a few hundred years? Cultural/technological shifts like that don't happen overnight. And if you're playing as any of these three factions, it clashes with the classic space 4X idea that you're heading out into the black for the first time, not knowing what's out there. I guess I just like my aliens to be aliens. And one-of-a-kind.

I think you missunderstood me. I was not aiming to create splinter factions that are as diverse as the UE to the Sheredyn. I was thinking me along the lines of texans and new englanders. Same tech, same ships, same traits, just a different leader with a different AI behavior because of a recent secession. This would be enough for me to not break the suspension of disbelief for me and keep the games atmospheres intact. Unlike that one game in which I ended up with FIVE FREAKING PILGRIM AIs in a 8 player game. I tell you that ruined the mood. ;-)



PS. For the Horatio? About as long as the endless device needed to fill the planet with enough clones to sustain a culture

The Pilgrims at the other hand had a different culture before their secession from the UE in the first place. Put a few million amish into a colony ship, send them to Mars, wait a generation or two and you have something that is not like earth as well. ;-)

Lucky for the gameplay, the Pilgrims are instead geek amish, but in essence they did the same, stole a colony ship and got as far away from the empire as they could to get rid of its influence.

From the lore, the Pilgrims have only been a splinter group for about a century. Their culture evolved from a common mindset as much as the rejection of the United Empire's ideals.

I too would like some sort of cooperative mode.



Even if it still can't be a true cooperative victory it would be nice to have more options for being in an Alliance and in the case of this game it'd be interesting if perhaps alliances could have increasing effects on cooperating political systems. This could be as simple as just have a percent bonus to a certain faction supported by the allied empire or it could even go as far as to allow passes of special laws that can only come from an alliance like signing join plans that would allow for bonuses science, industry, or commercial revenue increase through maybe changes in imported good taxes (this is probably too in depth but you get the idea).



I think there need to be preset teams for this but I just would like an increase of diplomatic foreign affairs which would be especially important if there are to be more none hostile victory agreements as the developers say there will.

Speaking of cooperative. I would like to see a return of the reinforcement mechanics from endless, but with the option for 3-ways and 4-ways in case that allied forces are in range to reinforce your own fleets. Same naturally for opponents allies.

The one and only item you might want to review from beyond earth is the unit upgrade system. Yes, I broke down last weekend and played it for 10$ on steam. Everything mentioned in the beyond earth posts is true. The factions are bland, diplomacy is stale, the UI is worse than CIV5.



But under the steaming pile, the unit development system was smooth balanced and offered unique game play. Players could build certain units if they had unique resources. The units are strong but not game breaking. The upgraded units automatically cost more energy (dust). It was a smart choice that reduce army and empire friction management. The rest of the game could be used to clean your backside. They had a bug two years after release that wouldn't let me fire artillery over flat area... I reported the bug and they told me to report it some where else. I rage quit. I think 2K channeled their inter EA.



All that being said, ES II could review the system. The star ship classes could improve and change in one smooth motion with your empire's access to resources. You wouldn't have to rebuild or overhaul your fleets every single time new tech comes out. The play testing could be balanced easier and you wouldn't have one super fleet with one hero destroy 40 enemy fleets like ES I.

Ship design

In ES1 it was was awful. It's the aspect I want to see completely redone in ES2. from the scratch.

Diplomacy

Never actually touched the screen in my parties of ES1. Was near-useless.

I'd like to see enhanced Battle system with additionally support by allied force if they do have that kind of alliance, have the needed battle plans to allow such combined forces and do have common goals about the battle outcome.



Outlined the idea allready in the battle thread, but like to share here too.



So I'd prefer a pre-battle request for allied players to



A - share command

One commander will get battle authority and does command all allied ships.



B - land lease

Commanders could request additional support from allies at same battle arena.



C - hasty retreat

If you see your allies facing overwhelming enemy or you do not prefer your 'ally' to win too much that early, get the choice to leave battlefield immediatly. ...probably for the price to leave alliance and the cost of some civilian or minor ships.

Actually I really don't mind repeating factions, I just would like some theming in such cases to have actually represent them as sub-factions who did split from each other. Kind like the endless did.

Things i would love to see on ES2



1. I would love to see the horatio back ( most original race i have to say after the hamony) again and the sowers ( favorite race remind me of the geth from mass effect dont know why)-



2. A more dynamic ground combat by more dynamic i mean some sort of cool animations of cravers landing on planets giant sophon mechs fighting harmony mechbots over a burning city of course something simple something to make the ground combat more alive it doesnt have to be a micro demanding activity just some animations :P would be awsome



3. More cosmetic effects on planets like for example its a planet its orbital bombarded make it look like a mess i mean its the future there is space travel and stuff even today humans have weapon capable of turning the planet into a husk im sure the ES factions should have nasty stuff too, or that after having a coruscant lite planet after having a biig population on it, some ships and small space station around it.



4. Last thing please Amplitude do this just this!! make the craver change the aspect of a planet after depleting it something like an "forced transformation" how i like to call it, i mean make non barren worlds look like barren planets after depleting the resources on them it always seem strange to me that even when the craver cinematic shows planets being messed up by the craver they look the same in game, also it could be applied to bombardment to make a terran planet "terraform" to a lava/barren planet or even a frozen planet ( nuclear winter guys) after an invasion or a bombardment or maybe terraform cold planets by throwing comets to them and well thats all i can think now and i have to say that i love your games <3 so even if none of my suggestion appear on ES2 im sure you are going to make an 10/10 game! -

The-Cat-o-Nine-Tales wrote:
Here are a few of the features I would like to see:

• A fully integrated, detailed encyclopedia, with all relevant gameplay information and lore.
• A proper tutorial for new players and those with experience in 4x games.
• A visual representation of systems on the map. It seems we'll be getting that, and it will help a lot against claims of lifelessness.
• Trade routes visible on the strategic map as small ships, with an option to raid trade routes while at (cold) war.
• More balanced ship combat and modules. In vanilla ES, it was all about cheap missile glasscannons, and in disharmony, long range kinetics usually ruled supreme.
• A combat system that relies less on hard counters. I've always prefered having multiple different soft counters of varying effectiveness to a single hard counter.
• More unique heroes. The stat differences were often not really enough to set one Commander/Pilot apart from another, as with increasing level the initial relative difference shrunk.
• More traits (or with the internal politics system, laws) that open up new options and play styles instead of just offering stat bonuses and penalties.
• Unique Random Factions option during game setup
• Preset-teams and victories shared across alliances (or perhaps a new, stronger diplomatic bond, the Federation)
• Drastic Improvements to the siege and blockade systems.
• A marketplace that is properly functional, with frequent transactions by the AI, and prices that are more thoroughly based on supply and demand instead of rising steadily through the game and then being adjusted a bit.
  
  

This guy summed up all that I want in the new ES sequel. Also, give us some way to view the ship models so we can marvel at them (I model in 3D so I greatly appreciate ship designs). Also, multiple faction portraits for custom factions!



And add some more ship designs too. Like, a frigate class, a cruiser class, a dedicated carrier class. It'd be nice to optimize ship designs with the modules we'd lodge into it. And hmmmm, customizable figher/bomber squadrons?

MuhSophonScience wrote:
This guy summed up all that I want in the new ES sequel. Also, give us some way to view the ship models so we can marvel at them (I model in 3D so I greatly appreciate ship designs). Also, multiple faction portraits for custom factions!



And add some more ship designs too. Like, a frigate class, a cruiser class, a dedicated carrier class. It'd be nice to optimize ship designs with the modules we'd lodge into it. And hmmmm, customizable figher/bomber squadrons?

It shouldn't be too restrictive right now. Like right now, you already have what is basically a carrier hull in for example the second sophon medium hull(Or other factions ships with -bomber/fighter weight), but you can still kinda use it for other things.

Scaling of number hero's/leaders based on number of star systems held or size of galaxy. If galaxy size is extra large, the cap on the number of hero's/leaders you gain per #of hero's tech is proportional to the size of the galaxy. If I have an empire of 100 star systems, I would expect to have a lot more leaders to manage my fleets/star systems than an empire of 20 star systems.



What about shipyards, starbase size etc.. Do we repair 100% of all damage on any size fleet in any star system including brand new colonies like in ES1? Can the repair be based on the economy of the star system or the facilities available? Including dedicated repair systems on board ships and/or dedicated repair ships?

Stripe7 wrote:
Scaling of number hero's/leaders based on number of star systems held or size of galaxy. If galaxy size is extra large, the cap on the number of hero's/leaders you gain per #of hero's tech is proportional to the size of the galaxy. If I have an empire of 100 star systems, I would expect to have a lot more leaders to manage my fleets/star systems than an empire of 20 star systems.

I'm sure the large snowballing faction needs more help face rolling their nearest neighbors.



What I'd move to see in ES2:

Land Battles: more then just a single module and result window.

A tutorial for new players. Some players have trouble beating the AI on low difficulty.

Espionage: Sabotage, misinformation, smuggling, spy, corruption, bribes, and more interstellar drugs (luxuries)

Influence Area mattering. Such as: being able to take over systems with influence.

I am more interested in scaling the number of leaders based on Galaxy size. So all empires can end up with the same maximum number of leaders, just that if I am playing with a extra huge galaxy I would expect to have more leaders available to handle the larger empires that will exist in the game.

In the original Endless Space, the United Empire had armor techs that gave +X% HP armor mods extremely early. This allowed the UE exclusive access to HP tanks early, and differentiated them greatly from their peers in combat. This was removed and changed over time (like everything else), and was both a tremendous loss to the faction, and the game as a whole.



The thing I want in ES2 is this: mechanical differences in faction tech' trees that have substantial, noticeable combat implications. I want to struggle to choose between a wealth of interesting factions that field vastly different feeling fleets. Disharmony's efforts to make each faction's ships have differing bonuses didn't really do much to make the factions feel different, save to make certain factions with good bonuses better than others. It was not fun, and a large reason why I stopped playing the game.



For example, giving the Harmony access to a unique fighter/bomber tech at tier one. Make it balanced for being at that tech' level. Find combat niches for each faction (even if their niche is to not have one, which would be fine for a single faction), and make them available early. I want to feel like this is a universe populated by vastly different life forms, especially in combat, as that tends to be what Endless titles favor.

JIntegrity wrote:
In the original Endless Space, the United Empire had armor techs that gave +X% HP armor mods extremely early. This allowed the UE exclusive access to HP tanks early, and differentiated them greatly from their peers in combat. This was removed and changed over time (like everything else), and was both a tremendous loss to the faction, and the game as a whole.



The thing I want in ES2 is this: mechanical differences in faction tech' trees that have substantial, noticeable combat implications. I want to struggle to choose between a wealth of interesting factions that field vastly different feeling fleets. Disharmony's efforts to make each faction's ships have differing bonuses didn't really do much to make the factions feel different, save to make certain factions with good bonuses better than others. It was not fun, and a large reason why I stopped playing the game.



For example, giving the Harmony access to a unique fighter/bomber tech at tier one. Make it balanced for being at that tech' level. Find combat niches for each faction (even if their niche is to not have one, which would be fine for a single faction), and make them available early. I want to feel like this is a universe populated by vastly different life forms, especially in combat, as that tends to be what Endless titles favor.

I can agree to that. Ideally, I'd like the factions to feel different in both empire management (which may be possible through the new "Senate" system and the attached laws, as well as system improvements) and combat. And it is indeed quiet important that the difference should start showing early, as otherwise games might end before the factions begin to differ.

In addition to random factions = non-repeating factions (up to the number of available factions), as mentioned in the other thread, I'd like to see two things regarding Heroes:



* A check box in the Options screen for "Heroes From Your Faction Only." Maybe it's just me, but it never made sense in the Endless games that you'd have Heroes available for hire from a faction you were at odds with, even to the extent of genocide. Why would someone from that faction offer to help destroy their own species? It would help immersion for warlike expansion if we could choose to limit Heroes only to our own faction. If we're playing a more peace-loving faction and going for a diplomacy or science win, we might choose to leave that box unchecked.



* Heroes from other factions shouldn't be available for hire before we have met their faction in space. As a classic 4X space game design, the idea here is that we're expanding into the unknown for the first time. Having an alien show up on our doorstep for hire in the early game, before ever meeting their faction, just doesn't make any sense. It also telegraphs too much information if we've chose "random factions" in the setup options.

Hey exnihil nice to see a post from a true veteran of the Endless Space multiplayer here on the forum.



For all the listed points of you I can vouch for.

exnihil wrote:
Will kick DMT's ass there as well

Good ol' days, good ol' days.

Guys why all the attention to me?



I was always the most peaceful :P Leave me alone

DMT wrote:
Guys why all the attention to me?



I was always the most peaceful :P Leave me alone

Yes yes, your race always seems to be "naive" to its over expansion and territory grabbing into other people's influence! We all know here what happens when you are left to your own devices. *cough science win turn 50 cough*

o0ber wrote:
Yes yes, your race always seems to be "naive" to its over expansion and territory grabbing into other people's influence! We all know here what happens when you are left to your own devices. *cough science win turn 50 cough*

Cant wait to find and create new methods in ES2.0 but this time I will have much better armies!¬! :-)

Hello,



I previously posted this on the Endless Space forum some months back but thought it would be appropriate to restate them here now ES2 is in development, I must say I am so excited to see how it turns out and a pre-order is definitely on the cards!



Suggestions:



Wider range of Galaxy shapes with variation such as perhaps an Ovid with 8 spiral arms in the outer reach.



Go to buttons for all events. This has been partially implemented in ES.



Make it so you can choose AI colours without having to do the annoying swapping thing with your own faction.



Animated solar systems where the planets orbit the star and the moon's orbit them in turn with asteroids in belts at varying distances. The current 2Dish view could be kept as a summery view (from the latest screen shots this looks like it is going to happen) :-D.



Add in freight/trade ships which you can choose what to load u what to trade Food/resources/technology/dust and the profits of a particular kind can be increased through trade agreements. This will also cause these to need to be convoyed making the trading/blockade mechanic more actual and less abstract (trade ships seem to be in but I hope they can be attacked as this will make piracy fun!).



Add in a consular ship to make diplomacy more challenging and less abstract, this could also initiate covert actions such as dropping off agents, gathering intelligence, bribing systems for intelligence/specific trade.



Add in covert agents that can spy, sabotage, assassinate (or injure heroes) and ferment rebellion in marginal systems.



Make the game properly optimised for modding so each update doesn’t break mods needing them to be updated even when they have not produce any new content, ideally also integrated and easy to use modding tools.



Greater custom faction configuration that allows player to add custom portraits, create traits and assign the AI to these. This could potentially create a pool for game lore with the best ones being incorporated in later releases.



Add rebellion and culture so that if a systems approval is too low for a long time it will reverts to another faction which is based on its culture score allowing conquest by non-violent means. If there is no other culture then they can go either pirate or rebel. Rebellions could also occur where culture is weak curbing rapid expansion rather than the hard empire wide disapproval handicap.



Introduce manoeuvre to space battles. In ES ships sailed the same direction in parallel lines at gradually narrowing ranges ending in a melee which is reminiscent of 17th century Anglo Dutch naval battles where the tactics were limited by primitive rigging and signalling. Later naval engagements were a bit more tactically complex which I think could be simply implemented without losing the current feel of the game (The pre battle tactics screen shot looks good and I hope there is a variety of closing, broadside and running battle options).



Add movement tactics to create a bit of variety for example increase distance maintain distance and close. How this would work is that if fleets are of the same speed then one could increase range to keep an engagement long range or prepare to flee or one could maintain distance while the other closed similar to the current battles, then you could have both fleets closing resulting in most of the battle being fought as a melee.



This could lead to certain tactic/ship combinations such as fast long range for standing off and pounding at a distance or fast close range for getting in among the enemy and tearing them apart at close quarters but both of these extreme would have inherent risks if the opponent’s ships are faster or they are ambushed (see below).



Fleet ambush: certain systems and/or warp-lanes have magnetic fields, nebula or the like allowing ships to hide and ambush passing vessels and choose the starting range, great for allowing slow close quarter ships to get at powerful long ranged opponents or long ranged ships to stand off a shorter ranged opponent (say shielded by an asteroid field preventing closing). This will also encourage scouting making the smaller ships still useful later in the game.



Add Strategic stealth ship which is slow and poorly armoured but armed with very short range very powerful weapons (torpedoes?) which can prey on trading ships and threaten unescorted capital ships. It is invisible to all but destroyer/corvettes which can hunt and kill it relatively easily with a specialist area effect weapon if it is detected (maybe it gets 1 round of grace if it is in the same system before detection).



Animated and broadly controllable tactical invasions similar to the space battles with possibly three attack cards Blitzkrieg, Hammer blows, Mobile assault and maybe three opposing defence cards Counter attack, Ambush, Flexible defence.



Invasions could also be planet by planet and allow systems to support fighters and bombers for siege and system defence with possible space station assaults as a prelude to system invasion.



Enable fleet engagement in open space rather than just in systems.



More heroes types with a wider range of skills such as diplomat, smuggler, and explorer to increase diversity.



I know there is a lot here, I hope it can stimulate further ideas and debate to make this game even better than the last.



Cheers,



Laz

A good tutorial is what I look forward to.

Here are a few of the features I would like to see:

• A fully integrated, detailed encyclopedia, with all relevant gameplay information and lore.
• A proper tutorial for new players and those with experience in 4x games.
• A visual representation of systems on the map. It seems we'll be getting that, and it will help a lot against claims of lifelessness.
• Trade routes visible on the strategic map as small ships, with an option to raid trade routes while at (cold) war.
• More balanced ship combat and modules. In vanilla ES, it was all about cheap missile glasscannons, and in disharmony, long range kinetics usually ruled supreme.
• A combat system that relies less on hard counters. I've always prefered having multiple different soft counters of varying effectiveness to a single hard counter.
• More unique heroes. The stat differences were often not really enough to set one Commander/Pilot apart from another, as with increasing level the initial relative difference shrunk.
• More traits (or with the internal politics system, laws) that open up new options and play styles instead of just offering stat bonuses and penalties.
• Unique Random Factions option during game setup
• Preset-teams and victories shared across alliances (or perhaps a new, stronger diplomatic bond, the Federation)
• Drastic Improvements to the siege and blockade systems.
• A marketplace that is properly functional, with frequent transactions by the AI, and prices that are more thoroughly based on supply and demand instead of rising steadily through the game and then being adjusted a bit.
  
  

The-Cat-o-Nine-Tales wrote:
Here are a few of the features I would like to see:

• A fully integrated, detailed encyclopedia, with all relevant gameplay information and lore.
• A proper tutorial for new players and those with experience in 4x games.
• A visual representation of systems on the map. It seems we'll be getting that, and it will help a lot against claims of lifelessness.
• Trade routes visible on the strategic map as small ships, with an option to raid trade routes while at (cold) war.
• More balanced ship combat and modules. In vanilla ES, it was all about cheap missile glasscannons, and in disharmony, long range kinetics usually ruled supreme.
• A combat system that relies less on hard counters. I've always prefered having multiple different soft counters of varying effectiveness to a single hard counter.
• More unique heroes. The stat differences were often not really enough to set one Commander/Pilot apart from another, as with increasing level the initial relative difference shrunk.
• More traits (or with the internal politics system, laws) that open up new options and play styles instead of just offering stat bonuses and penalties.
• Unique Random Factions option during game setup
• Preset-teams and victories shared across alliances (or perhaps a new, stronger diplomatic bond, the Federation)
• Drastic Improvements to the siege and blockade systems.
• A marketplace that is properly functional, with frequent transactions by the AI, and prices that are more thoroughly based on supply and demand instead of rising steadily through the game and then being adjusted a bit.
  
  

I like all the suggestions, hope the devs see this!

Hi Guys,



Terrific news about ES2 being in the works, i'm excited! Will kick DMT's ass there as well



Anyhow,



What I really loved about ES was the way you could costumize your race, the point system was ingenious and although some elements of it were imbalanced the combination with affinities was amazing.



The first thing I would like to ask - for MP/SP players like myself who like to tweak builds endlessly, is an extended pool of abilities/skills that exceeds the pre-existing races. What do I mean? In ES all abilities appear on one or another race as part of its scheme, what I would like is to have more skills, some of which don't appear on the vanilla races, to allow further customization.



Now, affinities are probably the most impressive element of ES, since they introduce a unique kind of mechanic around which you can build your race, or for the vanilla race, a core playstyle. But what I always found annoying was that you couldn't pick graphics that weren't those of the vanilla races - I would like to ask for more flexibility here - to be able to choose the race skin separately from the affinity, and to have some additional graphics around - possible open to modding.



As for the affinities themselves, it would be very good if these could - to some degree - be themselves customizable. This is tricky and difficult because of the balance issues that will arise, I understand this, but after several hundred hours it becomes rather boring to repeat the same kind of affinities.



OK, some other stuff.



ES is a game in which clear optimal strategies appear and can be used, top players usually have a certain rate of progression, and the combat system favors certain combinations that can be spammed. I'd like to ask for more random elements and more luck introduced into the game, also some maluses and constraints would be good.



The game I enjoy the most at present is AoW3, OFC it has very little to do with ES and is very different in scope, but the sheer amount of optimal paths and strategies you can pursue makes it into a very versatile and inexhaustible game.



And... Modding tools support for MP, this was very very missing IMO.



Final thing,



The main issue with ES was the entire time the aweful stability of MP- games would DC, crash and couldn't be restored. This was resolved only after the MP community pretty much died out, and that is a great shame. What ever happens, I think MP stability should be a top priority from the onset.

- Visual representation of planetary specializations.



- Different music sets for each race.



- Government types, rather than just a senate system, and every empire has a preset government type (that can be changed as the game goes on), the Sophons, for example, would be some sort of technocratic triumvirate, the United Empire an autocracy, the Cravers a hive mind etc.



- More in depth planetary invasions that take more than a single turn, possibly with a way of showing the player what is happening on the surface, such as a map of the planet with icons representing your troops and borders representing the areas that have already been occupied by the invaders.



- Economic warfare, or anything to give some power to empires that are extravagantly wealthy but that don't have a strong military.

A narrative.



I've played only 2 4x games that can be said to have a narrative, with the setting, factions, themes, and ambiance of the game progressing and evolving as you play. These games are Alpha Centauri and Endless Legend.

I strongly hope that Endless Space 2 will also focus on that, not just through faction quests, but through a dynamic and reactive setting, galactic events, side quests and exploration.



I am in fact quite relieved that the Endless Space 2 reveal trailer was exclusively story driven, and I am eager to see how they proceed from now on.

Zenicetus wrote:
In addition to random factions = non-repeating factions (up to the number of available factions), as mentioned in the other thread, I'd like to see two things regarding Heroes:



* A check box in the Options screen for "Heroes From Your Faction Only." Maybe it's just me, but it never made sense in the Endless games that you'd have Heroes available for hire from a faction you were at odds with, even to the extent of genocide. Why would someone from that faction offer to help destroy their own species? It would help immersion for warlike expansion if we could choose to limit Heroes only to our own faction. If we're playing a more peace-loving faction and going for a diplomacy or science win, we might choose to leave that box unchecked.



* Heroes from other factions shouldn't be available for hire before we have met their faction in space. As a classic 4X space game design, the idea here is that we're expanding into the unknown for the first time. Having an alien show up on our doorstep for hire in the early game, before ever meeting their faction, just doesn't make any sense. It also telegraphs too much information if we've chose "random factions" in the setup options.

You're definitely not alone in this. It at least made some sense in Endless Legend (I still would have prefered more options within your chosen race) since the Heroes were drastically different in function but, it served no purpose and felt really out of place in ES. It would take a lot to convince me that as an example the Cravers would allow an Ameoba to lead their fleets especially while they're destroying an Ameoba system. So yeah, I fully support at least having the ability to restrict them be an option.



I'd also like to add that I would enjoy seeing more diplomat options along with reworking the diplomatic victory. It just feels very uninspired in ES and EL. A galactic UN would be an interesting addition and would feel oddly left out with the addition of the internal politics.

Baywatch wrote:
A galactic UN would be an interesting addition and would feel oddly left out with the addition of the internal politics.

This was/is one of my favourite gimmicks of the Galactic Civ Series. Sadly in those games those events and elections are not game changing and very repetitive. One could easly pick up that concept and do it the right way.



It would fit ES 2 imho cause it seems that we will get one of the most advanced 4X games in terms of democratic mechanics.

I'd like to see if something can only be built once and it's already being built it DOES NOT SHOW UP IN YOUR QUEUE IN OTHER SYSTEMS.



It DOES NOT TAKE RESOURCES AND PRODUCTION AND THEN ONLY AT THE LAST TURN SAYS 'CAN'T BE BUILT'.

As long as there's an easy way to monitor victory progress I'll be happy. Larger galaxies with more factions and new types of planet would be awesome too though. Also more lore for the races that didn't get a lot in the first game (particularly the initial eight).

Sovereign wrote:
This was/is one of my favourite gimmicks of the Galactic Civ Series. Sadly in those games those events and elections are not game changing and very repetitive. One could easly pick up that concept and do it the right way.



It would fit ES 2 imho cause it seems that we will get one of the most advanced 4X games in terms of democratic mechanics.

Yeah, it was presented well but it ended up being really shallow and pointless in Gal Civ. I thought Civ V did it fairly well. Acquiring votes was something you needed to commit to instead of just getting votes for having more population and you could severely cripple someone with politics. But, I do like that you can defy a vote in Gal Civ. I think you could also do that in older Civ games if I remember right? Anyway, if they're going to do it I'd prefer more Civ and less Gal Civ as an inspiration.

Baywatch wrote:
Yeah, it was presented well but it ended up being really shallow and pointless in Gal Civ. I thought Civ V did it fairly well. Acquiring votes was something you needed to commit to instead of just getting votes for having more population and you could severely cripple someone with politics. But, I do like that you can defy a vote in Gal Civ. I think you could also do that in older Civ games if I remember right? Anyway, if they're going to do it I'd prefer more Civ and less Gal Civ as an inspiration.

Actually, your voting power in Galactic Civ 2 was not based entirely on population. It was a big component, yes, but you could get "IP" (influence points) diplomatically, from both major and minor factions. In doing so, you increase your voting power. Many times did I have a comparatively small empire that still dominated the council because I got influence points from diplomatic arrangements.



The weakness of its United Planet system was that you could not discuss with factions regarding a specific vote and try to persuade them to vote in your favor, something which you could do in Alpha Centauri.



I do hope that if such a united council mechanic would feature in Endless Space 2, that it would serve some narrative point. To have the issues and subjects it discusses be actually related to the state of the galaxy, if it's peaceful or violent, or in response to some galactic calamities (which I hope will be there).