AEIOU wrote:

Ezumiyr wrote:

It would be counter-intuitive to make a religious/science faction.

I think it's just unfashionable. An example of religious science fiction is the Dune series. And not only is it religious, it's basically about a monarchy in a futuristic age. It certainly proves the concept has merit and doesn't feel strange.

IRL there is certainly a line of separation between religion and science, where the line is drawn dependent on which specific religion. Of course I'm not saying science should be as dominant as religion for them, I just find it counter-intuitive that a highly scientific race, pursuing a form of religious enlightenment that is dependent on science (being Dust beings, or data cache beings, or somehow achieving apotheosis beyond that point, all require technology/scientific knowledge), has negative political effects from science related topics. 

If anything I'd either suspect they would have half-ecology (no need to take care of planets when you're an ascended being that lives on a fleet of starships), although I can see an argument for why they've experienced the consequences to that already and won't go down that road again, or half-pacifists, since draining other living organisms seems to be necessary to their infrastructure, and potentially existence.

Ultimately I don't really care that much, since it's a part of the political system, it's not like it is something stopping me from doing major research, but it's just a little off to my intuition, and since religion is often presented as opposite science, I wondered if it had to be so here as well just as a matter of course.

I'm not going to lie, I figured Sophon would be my favorite, since they were my faction of choice in ES1, but so far I have really enjoyed playing the Lumeris, which is funny because they were the ones I was least excited to play s

I will give the Cravers a shot.

Random if the option is available. Rather not know what I'm getting into ;)

I want to try out the Vodyani. They seem like the faction with the most non-traditional gameplay for a space-4X. I love Endless Legend and I am already liking what I see of Endless Space 2. Amplitude has definitely made the best effort in making each faction gameplay as unique as possible. Looking forward to EA!

AEIOU wrote:

The slug boobs lady, of course. They seem like an interesting species and new enough to start a new game with.

Sophons second to see how exactly the game changed since the last time. 

"Slug boobs lady". Could use that as an IGN IMO. 

On second thought, while it's really Lumeris then Sophons for me, I would really want to try the Cravers, IF we could choose color schemes. :(

Always Sophons...

FOR SCIENCE!

Sophons, so I know what tech is good, and then I go vodyani

Cravers. I was origionally going to do the Lumeris but I just want to go and steamroll everyone else in the game.

Lumeris, interested in seeing how the colony buying and trading works. Should be quite fun in MP games, whenever that rolls out.

Sophons. They seem like they'll have the most straight forward game style of the 4 available factions so they'll be good for getting your feet wet.

I'm intrigued by the Lumeris and will probably play them first. With them being centred around trade and business and being run by powerful families etc. they somehow remind me of the Orion Syndicate in ST... Should be fun ;-)

Sophons, for science!

Just out of curiosity.

I guess I don't need to tell you which one I'll be picking [points at avatar], but then when it comes to 4X games, I always like to start with the faction that lets me get my hands on as many new toys as I can.

Relegion isn't always anti-science though, it just is in the eyes of the Vodyani.

Vodyani.

Made of Dust/Data? Check.

Vampirism? Check.

Religious/Zealous? Check.

Fleet based (Repent! For tomorrow you die!)? Check.

Cool ship designs? Check.

Human-like enough to be related to (destroyed own planet, find purpose in goal beyond themselves), but not a purely human faction (Ardent Mages are my favourite EL faction)? Check.

Small numbers, elite individuals trope? Check.

Awesome design (including glowing parts, the Cloth being both clothing and plot point, and naming scheme)? Check.

There are other things, but I think I've made my point, and some of those are reasons I don't want to play the other factions anyway (can't bond with Cravers/Necrophages only-war attitude for example).

Only thing I don't really like is the way religion has been made the opponent of science by the devs, especially since the only religion in-universe we've seen so far involves Dust manipulation, living in advanced science-based suits, and using technology of forebears, which doesn't seem anti-science to me logically, but I don't know if that will ultimately be enough of a problem for me to not bond with them with all the other nice sci-fi elements they have that I'm a fan of.

So far Lumeris for me.

I like the aesthetic. :D

Might change once I see the other races though.

lumeris I think.

 I generally hate the colonization aspect of games and always forget to build the proper amount of colony ships (PS PLEASE MAKE TALL BUILDING VIABLE K THX <3).  I'll eventually adapt and remember how to play wide and handle early game colonization without murdering my own start, but in the meantime the idea of "get dust than god and just buy planets, and flip the ones you don't like" seems like it might mesh well with my ideas.

I already played the game so I voted for the ones that were my first pick - Cravers ^_^

I don't really remember why they were my first pick though, in my first game of ES1 I picked Sophons

I would go first on Sophons, to power through the entire tech tree and better see what can be useful or not. And then I would test the unique gameplay of the Vodyani, which seems really interesting.

I think ill go with the Sophons first, i love their ship designs!

I'd have to say the Cravers. Love their ship design. Probably will try the Sophons or Lumeris next, then the Vodyani

Either the Vodyani or the Lumeris. I don't normally go 'peaceful trader', though.