Frogsquadron wrote:


The Harmony were a challenge in that they forced you to look at the way you play and flip it on its head, with their absence of Dust but also upkeep and everything. In the end game having no Heroes usually meant military victories were out of their grasp, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they had no merit or interest.

I respectfully disagree. Not being able to use heroes was too much. Heroes add personality, they're powerful in both offence and administration and are a huge part of the gameplay. I most sincerely hope that if the Harmony is back in ES2 then it will have heroes.

Yes, there will be bonuses unlocked by enacting laws in your government, but in my opinion that does not exclude the possibility for a Custom Trait system as we have seen it in Endless Space 1. In fact, given how popular the system was in Endless Space and Endless Legend, I think it would be a mistake to not include a similar option. They just need to make sure not to leave so many factions stuck with traits completely useless to them, and make all traits actually matter (Never met a player who care about Sloppy Sawbones, for example).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you guys are talking about picking certain traits, but I thought everyone choose or make a basic outline of your race like faction/politics/behavior. And stuff like your custom traits will come from laws you enact? If this is the case then amoeba faction trait will be useful trait that will help them not need to explore as rigoursly compared to other factions. Additionally it would be weird to enact a law that have you vision of the map, it doesn't make sense.

The-Cat-o-Nine-Tales wrote:
All the more reason to make the uncovered map a Custom Trait, so you can stick it on your favorite faction.



The uncovered map did fit their background, but it does take away a large chunk of exploration gameplay, with nothing to replace it. Given that they're said to be peace-loving, an affinity that would have interacted with diplomacy might have been interesting (similar to the Drakken in EL, but with less powerful effects.)

That would be potentially really OP though; imagine Pilgrim faction trait and uncovered map combined with some of the trade traits.

Sinnaj63 wrote:
I don't know, as someone shitty at scouting, seeing everything from turn 1 sounds really exciting for me.

All the more reason to make the uncovered map a Custom Trait, so you can stick it on your favorite faction.



The uncovered map did fit their background, but it does take away a large chunk of exploration gameplay, with nothing to replace it. Given that they're said to be peace-loving, an affinity that would have interacted with diplomacy might have been interesting (similar to the Drakken in EL, but with less powerful effects.)

Ashbery76 wrote:
The Amoebas.It is not very fun having the whole map shown from the start.A big part of these games is exploration.



The Harmony.What was interesting about not having heroes.It just made playing them less enjoyable.

Like Cat-O-Nine-Tales, I found the Harmony intensely interesting to play as, because they were so different from the others. There might have been some balance concerns with some affinities (Hissho had a stupendously powerful affinity, and Cravers had a very weak one in larger maps), but I don't think there were any affinities I wanted to see completely removed.

The-Cat-o-Nine-Tales wrote:
I don't agree that the Harmony affinity was boring. While it took away the hero management, approval, and dust, I found that balancing population growth versus scientific growth was quite difficult, the penalties on dust-rich systems made you completely rethink your colonization strategy, and the inability to refit ships could put you in troublesome spots in war.



I do, however, agree that the Amoeba affinity is not terribly exciting. Useful, yes. But not exciting enough to be an Affinity. I would like to see them with a different, more involved affinity, that really affects gameplay, while the uncovered star map becomes a custom trait they start with.

I don't know, as someone shitty at scouting, seeing everything from turn 1 sounds really exciting for me.

I don't agree that the Harmony affinity was boring. While it took away the hero management, approval, and dust, I found that balancing population growth versus scientific growth was quite difficult, the penalties on dust-rich systems made you completely rethink your colonization strategy, and the inability to refit ships could put you in troublesome spots in war.



I do, however, agree that the Amoeba affinity is not terribly exciting. Useful, yes. But not exciting enough to be an Affinity. I would like to see them with a different, more involved affinity, that really affects gameplay, while the uncovered star map becomes a custom trait they start with.

As someone who's taught the game to many, many new players a few years back, I found the Amoeba affinity to be exceedingly better with newbies. They can assess on their own what systems are good around them, and see that there are interesting systems outside their constellation. If you take Amoeba as well you can guide them in their expansion too.



That alone was enough to make them worthwhile for me (I didn't play much of a pacifist gameplay, ever, so the rest of their bonuses didn't speak to me much).



The Harmony were a challenge in that they forced you to look at the way you play and flip it on its head, with their absence of Dust but also upkeep and everything. In the end game having no Heroes usually meant military victories were out of their grasp, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they had no merit or interest.

I liked both races.



The Amoeba trait helps them get a good start, but that's what they need to work with. Their advantage is mostly lost after 20 turns. All it saves them after that is exploring what's behind wormholes.



I like the Harmony. They play differently, and have a fairly unique background, which adds some variety to the game. If you don't like them, why do you play them?