I think it's something worth discussing There's already a very cool thread in this forum where you can vote for which old factions you want to appear in ES2 again. You can find it here: https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space-2/forum/65-general/thread/18732-new-faction-speculation



But what we want is one thing. What is most likely going to happen is another. So let's delve deep into how likely we are to see old (or new!) factions in ES2. Let's do this!



But before we start, one last thing: the amount of factions we're going to play as. Judging from Amplitude's past games, it'll most likely be 8 so let's assume that this is the case and start investigating!









Already confirmed in the live footage we saw. No big surprise there, both factions have rather big fandoms and they feel very Endless Space-y. Let's move on.













I think it's a very likely candidate for a returning faction. Plenty of ES1 factions' lore reference UE and the same can even be said about one EL and DotE faction! Not to mention that the wallpaper that was released also seems to be representing a classic UE city. This is yet another example of a faction that's very recognizable as an ES1 faction. It belongs to this universe and I bet that many people would be disappointed if it doesn't make a comeback. And I bet that Amplitude is thinking the same way.













As much as I hate to say this (I'm really not a fan of the Vaulters btw), this is another almost-guaranteed faction to reappear in ES2. What makes me say that? Because the devs LOVE the Vaulters. I know that first-hand and I bet they'll do everything to include Vaulters in ES2, no matter what. That would make them the only playable faction to reappear in all 4 of Amplitude's games (if we count OP-bot as a Vaulter and I do). Also, isn't it sort of kanon that the Vaulters escape Auriga?



Why am I not happy about this? Aside from plenty of subjective reasons, I really don't think we need yet another human race in ES2. The more variety, the better. In addition the Vaulter's gameplay mechanics in ES1 felt a bit bland... but I'm getting side-tracked.













While they're far less likely candidates to make a comeback than the above 4 factions, I feel that the Hissho still have a strong chance to make a re-appearance. They were relatively popular in ES1 with a very recognizable ship design and interesting lore. Not to mention, they make a reappearance in EL and a trailer for ES2... or at least one of their old ships does. I might be barking the wrong tree and it's possible that the devs will want to explore the Endless universe beyond what the Hissho could've known about... but if any other ES1 faction is to make a comeback, it's most likely Hissho... I hope!



[HR][/HR]



Now, I'd like to make a break here. I'm pretty sure that with ES2 we will get at least 3 completely new and unique factions... maybe even more. As a result, I doubt that any other factions have a high chance of making it back... but hey, we never know, right? So let's keep discussing!



[HR][/HR]













Not only are the Amoeba very important for the Endless universe lore, they also have recognisable ships. In fact, googling "Endless Space" is enough for you to see those near the top results! More than that, they're also one of the very few non-humanoids in the Endless universe and that's a trump card and a half. People want originality and Amoeba have that in spades. A definite possibility.













Lore-wise perhaps the most important playable race in all of the Amplitude games. Older than the Endless themselves, they are everywhere, eternally focused on their mission. Because of how wide-spread this faction is, I find it very likely that in whatever galaxy ES2's action will take place, the Harmony will be there. It possibly won't be anything like we've seen in ES1 though, since I imagine that the spread of this race caused it to develop a lot of differences between each cluster. As such, I wouldn't be shocked to see the Harmony come back to ES2... with some sort of clever twist on their character. And hopefully some better-looking ships













All things considered, it's not that unlikely. We know that at least one Broken Lord somehow made it off Auriga, why not more of them? Additionally, they're a very recognizable race, loved by the fans and, frankly, very interesting in terms of their story and the internal conflict they face. Having more than one race go from EL to ES2 is a bit of a stretch... but still not very unlikely. I think that Amplitude would be willing to make some adjustments, even if it's just to adhere to everyone who loves Broken Lords.



[HR][/HR]



What do you know, we're at 8 already. At this point, I think that other races are quite unlikely to reappear in ES2 either because we had too many humans already, because they don't fit ES2 or just because they weren't very popular. The above list in no way reflects my actual hopes for what races I want to see in ES2 btw. I only wrote about what I think is likely. But feel free to add your own 2 cents! I think there are still a few possible candidates, like the Automatons, Cultists, the Virus, Ardent Mages or maybe even Horatio. I just doubt they'll return.





Oh, and do you know what I want to see in ES2? Planarians! Um, no wait, that's not an official faction... Well, in that case I'll vote for Hissho, Amoeba and Ardent Mages, in that order. And some new faces as well ofc. But we'll see!

Cool thread PANCZASU !

If I were to make blind guess with absolutely no information or research on my own at this juncture ---



I would also credit Sophons and Cravers factions as the most likely! Basically you are spot on about all of the factions you mentioned!



Sophons are iconic, and are also in a lot of the art in the first game.



Cravers have a unique playstyle we that see a rendition of in EL by way of Necrophages.



Empire has it's hands in a lot of lore, and Vaulters have appeared in every game so far! (Granted, late to the party in ES 1)



I was mostly a Horatio and Sowers player, but I'm not certain they will come back. Population and/or industry for the win!



I would absolutely love to see the Broken Lords. But I don't see it happening. I really feel that hero was more of an easteregg. They are my second favorite faction, after all. >.> Right after the Cult. I wouldn't say no to them, by any means.



The only departure from your predictions are this... I enjoy espionage gameplay, and I'm hoping since EL: Shadows will feature espionage that ES2 might launch with it. If that's the case a potential archetype for a new faction we see might be that of an espionage-centric one. I'd kill for a race of shape-shifters! KILL!



I'm hoping to see all the vanilla factions return, myself.

Well..Except for the Pilgrims. No one likes the Pilgrims, right? :x

I never played EL so don't exactly know if they are gonna bring some factions from that game but I honestly expect all existing ES factions to be available in ES2 too. Don't see any reason to not include them.



Most existing factions have a pretty unique feel to them, except Sheredyn, and I think that uniqueness will be much more noticeable in ES2 with the introduction of new mechanics, factions and such.

I'm expecting 4 brand new factions, and some of the others from ES and EL to serve as minors..

But the 8/16 (Maj/Min) I'm not happy about. I think i should be 10/20. Space is massive, no, Endless and to have so few species...

I'd actually be quite disappointed if some of the factions of Endless Space 1 did not make a return, with the possible exception of the Sheredyn being folded into the United Empire. I wouldn't mind a few new factions, but I did like all of the original factions and wouldn't like losing any of them.

Sheredyn didnt were lorewise very unique but their affinity and the *buyout everything" style was imo quite a different playstyle and funny (though terribly overpowered due their mid game flat +250 Dust on System improvment in Disharmony)



Maybe they got folded into the United Empire and the broken Lords will take their place .

i could live with that.



Even if i rly liked their shiny golden armors.

I think my biggest concern with the UE is simply that by virtue of its name it sounds like it should be vastly more expansive to merit such an appellation. Yet, despite that, the starting position for all factions is exactly the same--a scripted home planet plus a colony ship and some scouts. By extension, the Sheredyn are even more objectionable.



It would make much more sense to me to see the Broken Lords evolve into the UE (perhaps with a better name or some good lore explaining the name--maybe that can be accomplished through the faction quest system). They actually fit together very nicely given the BL's dust production capacity in EL and the UE's dust production advantages.



It'd even be great to the see the BL show up again as merely a minor race.

As Nasarog said 8 are too few. 10 should be the number of races.



On topic now, 5 human races were simply too much (including Sheredyn). I liked their style and lore but ES2 needs fewer humans. I was Pilgrim fun and really like their lore and with the new exploring system i think they fit perfectly in ES2 but i wouldnt mind if they keep just UE from humans and turn the Horatio and Pilgims into minor races or not included at all. Hissho should remain and i believe we need another warrior race too. Amoeba must remain and probably they will be the political race. I've read somewere that pacifist gameplay would be an option so Amoeba will be here and play more with the senate.

I wasnt a fun of Harmony but i liked their gameplay cause it was unique. I dont really care if they make a reappearance in ES2.



EL races were nice but except Vaulters i dont think any other race fit the ES2 lore, with the exception of Necrophage to act like the Zerg or Aliens



I believe we should get a few new races. If its just the same old ones with better graphs people will be really disappointed.



P.S. I believe we'll get a new one that affects the new market system or turn the UE into that.

Nomas wrote:
As Nasarog said 8 are too few. 10 should be the number of races.



On topic now, 5 human races were simply too much (including Sheredyn). I liked their style and lore but ES2 needs fewer humans. I was Pilgrim fun and really like their lore and with the new exploring system i think they fit perfectly in ES2 but i wouldnt mind if they keep just UE from humans and turn the Horatio and Pilgims into minor races or not included at all. Hissho should remain and i believe we need another warrior race too. Amoeba must remain and probably they will be the political race. I've read somewere that pacifist gameplay would be an option so Amoeba will be here and play more with the senate.

I wasnt a fun of Harmony but i liked their gameplay cause it was unique. I dont really care if they make a reappearance in ES2.



EL races were nice but except Vaulters i dont think any other race fit the ES2 lore, with the exception of Necrophage to act like the Zerg or Aliens



I believe we should get a few new races. If its just the same old ones with better graphs people will be really disappointed.



P.S. I believe we'll get a new one that affects the new market system or turn the UE into that.

The Necrophages always seemed like proto-Cravers to me and I wouldn't at all be surprised if some lore is written to link the two. The were very close stylistically and in terms of gameplay.

Here are some of non-playable races heroes from ES1 that could probably be at least minor factions, but I'm wondering if they are likely to be major factions. Wouldn't mind seeing some of them, how about you guys?









Plocynos - "Going by the name of his calling rather than his totally unpronounceable family name, Techseeker is part of a race of intelligent amphibian omnivores (Plocynos) inhabiting a swamp world, Codylus III."



Stubby little guys that likes to eat whatever, they could fill Horatio role with population and food focus, minus the beauty part of course.









Deuyivan - "As beings that evolved on a Dust-rich gas giant, the culture and society of the Deuyivan are either incomprehensible or inexplicable. Therefore, to simplify communication they tend to adopt the names of other sentients that they meet."



Being the most xeno of all biological races they could have some interesting mechanics, from outlandish ship designs to diplomacy difficulties, preferring gas planets, leeching dust...









Oros Gec - "Erram was best known for squeezing every last bit of value out of his operations -- and his employees. Generally hated for his management style if respected for his wealth, over a 24-hour period Erram underwent a stunning, 180-degree personality change."



With some higher focus on economic parts of gameplay, they could be a race of unlikable accountants, bureaucrats and managers (at least judging from Erram's bio), dedicated to accumulation of wealth, resources, artifacts and everything shinny that galaxy offers.

I would prefer to see those as minor factions than major ones.

Since i dont want to open a new thread i think it would be nice if each race get a specific interface. In SC/SC2 this little feature added a lot of atmosphere.

So in terms of what new factions design may look like (rather than playstyle mechanics)– I am hoping Amplitude will do its usual ‘classic with a twist’ or mashup of familiar of existing design concepts to create something new and beautiful.



So given that we could expect some really cool new faction concepts from Amplitude, I thought I'd create a simple faction concept generator. So grab your '20' and '12' sided dice (assuming you have them) or use this dice roller. Then roll for each of the columns below!







I am hoping for Bureaucratic Mind-reading Crab People.

Devs should check Twilight Imperium 3 the board game which had a lot unique artistic and gameplay races for ideas

If I remember correctly the Necrophage are the ancestors of the Cravers by lore or at least cousins.(Meaning the Endless took some of the ancestors of the Necrophage for experiments away from Auriga thousands of years ago)



I think the Cravers will get some nice abilities the Necrophage had in Endless legend as addition to their affinity.

Devs should check Twilight Imperium 3 the board game which had a lot unique artistic and gameplay races for ideas

Oh I am pretty sure they are well aware of it already ^_^

KareemTheDream wrote:
Since i dont want to open a new thread i think it would be nice if each race get a specific interface. In SC/SC2 this little feature added a lot of atmosphere.

While this is true, the interface takes up a lot more real estate on the screen in SC/SC2. SC also only has three factions, so the UI only needed three skins. Furthermore, there was really only one UI that needed different skins--the main play screen.



By contrast, ES2 would need 8 UI skins and counting, and they'd have to be made for each different screen the player interacts with (main play screen on the galaxy map, menus for system management, screens and menus for empire-level management, the politics screen, etc.). That's a lot of art assets to ask for by comparison.



At any rate, it would all have to be fairly simple given ES's minimalist approach. Perhaps if they just replaced some of the filler "cyan blue" color used in a lot of screens with the player color and faction symbol that would be enough.

I like the main UI and I don't really think they need to change UI for different factions. But I would actually prefer different soundtracks for different factions, like in Civ. That adds much more immersion than a simple UI retexture imo.

rockmassif wrote:
I like the main UI and I don't really think they need to change UI for different factions. But I would actually prefer different soundtracks for different factions, like in Civ. That adds much more immersion than a simple UI retexture imo.

This. Many times over.