The Sophons, when I played them back in beta, before their voice dialogue addition, I really liked them a lot. For me the early days, I played nothing but the Sophons. I really like Tech civs. The Sophons also had this mystery about them, back then. I kind of created or fill in the blank of story with them, with my imagination. I did the same with other Factions, since there wasn't the voice dialogue to do it for me. For me the Sophons language and voice sounded nothing like they have now. 

Sophons to me were very technological beings, which they are. I found in my imagination the story I created for them, they surpassed the need for words and a simple language. To me they communicated like telepathic in a way, but something more techie, like thought signals traveling wireless to each other. Like a hive mind. Kind of like how today we transfer data from one computer or network wireless. The Sophons to me were part of a hive network, being operated by their combine mind in some sort of core network. 

I also thought if two or more Sophons were near each, an outsider standing near might hear a sort of language between the Sophons, like nothing we know of language. Something on the lines of the Binars from Star Trek Generations (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52_iSQnB6W0). Players would still get that techie vibe even in their strange words, when they would rarely use them. 

I knew the Sophons blew up a planet, and did really bold things and they were the first. But I never go the slap stick humor about it, in the way they are presented now. Now, I get the Keanu Reeves feel of, “we blew up a planet, whowww!” Like those things were mistakes. To me the Sophons did these things, but not out of accident, but because they could and wanted to see what would result from a planet blowing up, all for the scientific experiment, nothing by accident. This gave me, as a player the sense of the darker side of science and a little more mystery about the Sophons. 

I think adding in the voice dialogue they have now, kind of killed that vibe for me and the way I created them in my mind. When I start up a game playing them, I try to remember them the way I imagined them, but when the Sophons talk, it all fades away. Now to me they are the Keanu Reeves or Kerbals, instead of those super advanced, hive like, quiet, Grey Aliens I imagined. 

Keanu Reeves is a little drastic but you get my point. I am not at all trying to be negative with my forum post. I am just trying to have you, as the reader and gamer, maybe imagine the Sophons as I did. I still enjoy them and the other factions in the game, but the Sophons don’t have that impact on me like they did back in Beta. It is funny to note how our imaginations can fill in those blanks and make a story or game that much deeper.