Regarding decoupling pirates from minor factions, I think that amplitude does plan on doing that eventually - one of the devs wrote about it in a forum post somewhere - for both the gameplay reasons listed in this thread, and because it doesn't make much sense, thematically, for aggressive pirates to spawn from minor factions that have good relationships with their neighbors.

I agree that there is a need for some third option regarding interaction with minor factions, because as others here have discussed, the current ones do not cover all of the bases. Perhaps something like the Vodyani 'brainwash' action could be repurposed to a general 'alliance' - but not 'assimilation' - meaning that your empire will maintain a preferential relationship with the minor faction, gaining access to their faction trait, resources from good relationships, and unique diplomatic options (like 'train foreign corps' and 'development grants'). Also, if the quests provided different rewards along with a relationship boost (like the minor faction quests in EL) so that you could do them multiple times and they didn't instantaneously result in assimilation - that would be cool.

Maybe this could be a permanent action; once you've entered into alliance with a minor faction, nobody else ever can, and declaring war on them would be considered an act of aggression against you (or perhaps just hurt relationships).

Honestly, the idea that I like the most is using a system like that in Civ 5. Relationships with City-States aren't permanent, and in the late game maintaining hegemony over city-states becomes an ongoing economic war with other civs, but it is well designed, fun, and better than what we have in ES2. That said, I doubt Amplitude will use the same system, but hopefully they can take inspiration from it.

I would like to note that as the "Unfallen", finding 2 Minors in your immediate system is both Great, quick Pops, Resources, Systems etc. etc., and Terrible as you have to spend 95% of all available resources dealing with, in this case, a Dual Pirate threat. (I did interact with both of the Minors quickly before thinking about the consequnces though)

Now, I find myself scrambling to defend my own space, as well as that of 2 other minors, a mere +/- 40 turns in (having entwined only 2 systems completely). And this is trynig to play as the default "Pacifist" Unfallen.

I have never had so much "military" resources on the go this early in any game ES2 to date, even when I played through as the Cravers fcol... LOL! :)

Voidstar wrote:

Thanks for the reply, good to know what the devs are thinking so I know what to expect going forwards.  If it helps feedback wise I've been giving a bit more thought into why I'm having an issue with minor civs.

Voidstar, I have to add a thought to yours.

If you choose the second path (non-assimilation), the risk is not the pirates. It is not too difficult to provide police services to the minor civilization in exchange for its resources. The problem is that other major factions can assimilate it if you don't. If it is a system on your boarders, this will negatively affect relations; other negative consequences are also possible. Therefore, it is crutial that we could lock the status of a subject for a minor civilization instead of assimilating it. I personally don't care if it goes on generating pirates, but if many people are concerned with this phenomenon, there could also be an option to prevent piracy or even taking direct/indirect control over them.

Hey guys,

So far Minor Factions are mostly working as intended (with a few quirks here and there, still) but as always this is called Games2Gether with a reason! If enough people believe something should be changed in a way that makes sense,  then we will consider the changes.

Feedback and discussions are always welcome anyway!

Cheers,

Fair point, but I don't think there's any harm in asking for clarification.  I do appreciate the suggestions offered, and there is one that sounds like it might aleviate the issue which I haven't tried yet (farming the pirates), but I've also explained why other suggestions don't feel like desirable options to me when I play.  At the end of the day the devs are perfectly entitled to state that the minor civs are currently working as per their vision and they've no intent on changing them, I'll except that.  All I'm doing is expressing feedback and asking if other players have workarounds for the issue I'm experiencing and I'd like some clarification on whether the devs agree an issue exists or not since one has kindly been replying to the thread.

I'm not trying to be rude either, but after reading through this thread,  I think you are coming across as being pushy.  Many options on dealing with them have been discussed now and the good and bad that come with each method.  A dev has already responded saying how things are and helping to point out the options within the game.  You simply aren't getting to hear what you want to hear.

I'm talking Minor Factions traits in general: depending on your situation you will find different levels of usefulness to different traits, although some of them can be quite interesting at all times.

I'm often finding myself in situations where I have unwanted minor civilizations in my region of space and am unsure of the best way to deal with the situation.  This scenario often develops because in the early game I feel it's always beneficial to build relationships with any minor civs I come across since:

• I have little else use for the influence at that point
• The positive relationship bonuses (dust, science, etc) are a significant boon in the early game
• If they have an easy assimilation quest, getting the extra system and pops early game can leap your empire forward even if the system isn't a great one

However what then happens as I'm transitioning into the mid game is that I'll have some of these unassimilated minor civs left over in my region of space.  I don't feel I want to assimilate them since their faction trait isn't useful to me and their system is poor and I don't want to waste one of my system limit points on it.  I also don't feel like it would be beneficial to destroy them since I don't want to divert military resources to the task and I've already invested influence into them for the relationship bonuses which are still useful.  Lastly nor do I really just want to leave them be since the pirates they continually spawn become a nuisance if left unchecked or I have to invest in a fleet to babysit the system.  So out of my three options non of them feel like good ones.

Just wondering how other people deal with this situation, any advice?

You forgot you also get a faction trait from assimilating Minor Factions, regardless of what you do with the System!

Yeh I suppose if it comes down to it and I'm not happy with any of the other options I might turn pirates off until a better solution comes along.  Generally though I prefer to play these games 'as inteded' and I think that pirates do add some interest to the early game and can be exploited to help with certain quest lines.

You could always turn pirates off. (I'm not convinced they really add much to the game.)

I'd like to see them stop spawning by default once they are 'friendly' with a major empire.

Voidstar, I would add that the Devs wrote somewhere that they are considering a possibility to lock the control over a minor faction.

As for your item 2), you may regard it as a source of xp for your admiral or even resources if you have respective modules/tactics.

If you are playing as Lumeris, you can sell your systems to your ally. It is very useful because the AI seems to cheat with approval. I fed 8 systems to the Riftborn that way (you don't need ownership for this) and they did not collapsed under that burder.

Hey :)

When you assimilate a Minor Faction, you should have 100% System Ownership, which means you can Raze/Evacuate the System.

So if you want the trait but don't have room within your Overcolonization threshold, you can assimilate the Minor Faction, queue Raze/Evacuate and end your turn.

I hope this helps!

Cheers,

In mid to late game, I usually evacuate systems I don't need anymore. I send the population where I need it or don't care at all. 

On a couple of occasions I evacuated a minor the turn I got it. Then I relocated them on a nearby, much better system. It worked out nicely.