Is political opinion really that strongly tied to the pops? Can't they change their mind? In an earlier video from last year they said that pops can be influenced bye events around them. So for example Sophons becoming militaristic if threatened. Also in the new gameplay videos bye the VIPs you can see that the techs and buildings influence certain political ideas. You can also see that the Vodyani are mostly influenced bye religion and militaristic, which is doubled I think. Science influences less and everything else influences normal. So they will shift in political opinion. Even with a pure Vodyani population you will have different political agendas.

"If pressed to respond, Varb would indicate that his life began as a hydroponic farmer on a space station, a member of the Zolya Clan and a happy husband and father." 

Vaulters confirmed?

Found here

The_Judge wrote:

"If pressed to respond, Varb would indicate that his life began as a hydroponic farmer on a space station, a member of the Zolya Clan and a happy husband and father." 

Vaulters confirmed?

Found here

That only confirms the existence of the Vaulters in the lore of ES2, not that they are a playable faction.

UndeadPuppy wrote:

The_Judge wrote:

"If pressed to respond, Varb would indicate that his life began as a hydroponic farmer on a space station, a member of the Zolya Clan and a happy husband and father." 

Vaulters confirmed?

Found here

That only confirms the existence of the Vaulters in the lore of ES2, not that they are a playable faction.

Yeah, I was thinking probably a Minor Faction, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Vaulters appeared again as playable.

The_Judge wrote:

UndeadPuppy wrote:

The_Judge wrote:

"If pressed to respond, Varb would indicate that his life began as a hydroponic farmer on a space station, a member of the Zolya Clan and a happy husband and father." 

Vaulters confirmed?

Found here

That only confirms the existence of the Vaulters in the lore of ES2, not that they are a playable faction.

Yeah, I was thinking probably a Minor Faction, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Vaulters appeared again as playable.

DLC race maybe. On an Expansion faction. 

If ES1 and EL are anything to go by, we will see more of the classics make a comeback or even more new faces.

UndeadPuppy wrote:

DLC race maybe. On an Expansion faction. 

If ES1 and EL are anything to go by, we will see more of the classics make a comeback or even more new faces.

What do you mean bye that? I don't get it. Do you mean in ES1 and EL there were classic faction from previous games included? Or are you reffering to the Harmony being included in EL and the Vaulters in both games?

No sorry, I meant the fact that ES1 and EL had add-ons that brought new playable factions. Like the Harmony, the Allayi and the Forgotten.

I'm sure ES2 will do the same and bring back some of the old favorite or even more new races with time.

UndeadPuppy wrote:

No sorry, I meant the fact that ES1 and EL had add-ons that brought new playable factions. Like the Harmony, the Allayi and the Forgotten.

I'm sure ES2 will do the same and bring back some of the old favorite or even more new races with time.

Ah OK I see. Thanks for clarification. I guess you are about right. One major faction per add on was the way they went in the past. We will see. Perhaps they will alternate between old and new factions?

MezzoMax wrote:

UndeadPuppy wrote:

No sorry, I meant the fact that ES1 and EL had add-ons that brought new playable factions. Like the Harmony, the Allayi and the Forgotten.

I'm sure ES2 will do the same and bring back some of the old favorite or even more new races with time.

Ah OK I see. Thanks for clarification. I guess you are about right. One major faction per add on was the way they went in the past. We will see. Perhaps they will alternate between old and new factions?

I think it's a healthy balance, just like the base game will have 4 ES1 factions and 4 new ones.

radlawnmower wrote:

UndeadPuppy wrote:

If they're making the Harmony into the big bad late game crisis then that leaves only the Horatio, Horatio and Horatio as potential returning factions.

You made a few errors, but don't worry, I fixed it.

I like it that the two Horatio supporters aren't losing faith. Horatio would be proud.

My guesses are UE for Industrialist, Sowers for Ecologist, and some new Influence-based faction for the last slot. Space Drakken.

UndeadPuppy wrote:

Sinnaj63 wrote:

UnderDarkLord wrote:

lordoflinks wrote:

To be fair the Vodyani do not really use politics either so what stops the Harmony? They have an unique gameplay style so it seems a pity to scrap it.

I think if they were an end game threat or mechanic it would be announced by now, and I can't see them as a minor fraction.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. Religious structures often resemble highly political ones, and historically theocracies involve heavy amounts of politics. In fact, the heretical schism in the Vodyani OP kind of reminded me of, minus demons/summoned beings, of the schism between Roman Catholicism and the sects of the Reformation (commonly seperated into Reformists, and Protestants). We have a solid, powerful church that has a monopoly on religion, and a demand that all who live under it obey its laws and strictures, including kings needing their support on marriages/heirs/etc..., that has a vast underclass largely separated from that religion (peasants, and even the merchant class, who lumped together were largely illiterate, and if not illiterate, unable to read Latin, the language the church demanded be used for religious services, and for the recording of many religious texts). In the Vodyani's condition, the native populations of worlds they colonize, whether minor faction or not, resemble that vast underclass. Then it's all politics, all the way, maybe not official in any kind of Senate, but 'priests' of the RC church (and really many churches) have historically traded political favours, worship favours, doing work for their superiors, etc... to rise up in rank, and gain more temporal power. 

Since the Vodyani aren't actually believers in some afterlife, but rather in ultimately becoming pure dust/energy/data beings, temporal power could legitimately be seen as even more important since it could affect their station in their eventual endless existence. Under these conditions I have to assume there's a lot of politicking at work among the Vodyani, and I feel the fact each Vodyani hero is a different political party supports that assumption. Going against the party line of 'we have to expand, convert, find worthwhile people to turn into us, and eventually have the technological might to become Endless ourselves' is probably a huge no-no, but exactly how to do that could be something that is debated, and fought over on political battlefields. In fact, if they aren't allowed to think for themselves to that degree, I'd argue they're a really weak faction, because without a form of competition of ideas, they'll fall quickly to unexpected or particularly stubborn problems that one method can't resolve.

The problem I see with Vodyani politics is that for them to really exist, they'd have to have pops that are not religious ideology wise...meaning they're heretics...meaning they're gonna get dealt with.

The Vodyani "tolerate" (barely) other races in their empire as slaves. Their form of government is a Federation (of what, I've got no clue, maybe all of the species assimilated into their ranks?) and they get some Industrial bonuses along with a ton of religious laws, like "Only the main species is allowed to increase in population, while the rest are China".

With the Vodyani being a 'federation' I always got the impression that each Ark was basically a nomadic nation unto itself.

Frogsquadron wrote:

I like it that the two Horatio supporters aren't losing faith. Horatio would be proud.

Read the hidden code, people. In this rebooted universe the Horatio founder is still lost in space and will never found any kind of ridicoulous, over the top cult of personality. Deal with it. :P

And since we're at it, drop Sowers and Automatons as well. They're not interesting enough and would rob Amplitude of an empty slot for an original addition. They might bring back one of them as a DLC or a minor faction, but that's it.  Same goes for Pilgrims. :P

Let's not forget the Broken Lords, chaps...They rated pretty highly in the poll from months ago asking what factions you'd like returning. More likely to be a minor faction though, I imagine.

Sowers are actually super-interesting (and someone says he found a reference to them having a unique quest technology while datamining, for what that's worth), they just weren't especially well designed in ES1. They're a sentient terraforming engine that settles worlds and builds cities but has no use for them whatsoever. How is that any less cool than "frog mafia" or "elves that are good at industry"? If anything, the only problem is that their backstory is almost identical to the Cravers except with a different mission programmed into them.

Yeah, I love Vodyani, but I'd prefer to have the evolved Broken Lords instead. As it is now, there is no place for Broken Lords, the Vodyani pretty much robbed them of their place in ES2, unless Amplitude manage to give BL a new spin and make them outstanding again.

RageMcGeezaks wrote:

bblanque wrote:

We've got the different political parties.

Industrialists/Pacifists/Scientists/Militarists/Ecologists/Religious.

Current especulation based on pop types & planet types:

Cravers (Militarists Industrialists) Forest planet

Vodyani (Religious Militarists) Terran planet

Sophons (Scientists Pacifists) Veldt planet

Lumeris (Pacifists Ecologists) Atoll planet

Unfallen (Pacifists) Probably Monsoon planet

Maybe each of the remaining factions starts on one of the remaining planet types which are:

• Tropical
• Boreal
• Tundra

What seems reasonable with each planet type?

Until now there are 3 factions unrevealed:

1. Human (Mezari/UE?)
   • Industrialists Starting in a tundra planet? I think they'll be a corporate oriented dictatorship

Sowers are very Tundra oriented in Endless Space 1, there is even Lore suggesting that the Endless came into being on a Tundra planet.

Tor is a Tundra planet. Always was.

Also Tundra is the type of planet the Sowers started on in ES1 as well, so it seems like the perfect fit for them.