I thought they could get essence from most of living things, not only advanced species. The growth malus come fromthe fact it's not an optimal process and the unique way they reproduce. 

fdjw88 wrote:

what will happen to the Vodyani, when they suck all the species from the galaxy? i guess they will starv to death. i also wonder, can they get out of that virtual clothe, once they got in? 

not sure, i do know they are capable of eating, since you can grow from food, im not sure, i think their population food debuff is supposed to invoke the thought that they are all stuffed in glorious ark ships, either way the thread has made me more interested in them

I don't think they can go out of that clothe. They are almost like Virtual at this point, having only dust for a body. A not-so virtual version with a clothe but full of essence at least. Their old body are no-more I think.

what will happen to the Vodyani, when they suck all the species from the galaxy? i guess they will starv to death. i also wonder, can they get out of that virtual clothe, once they got in? 

Aitarus wrote:

There's also something to be said for their stature, their pop trait is called Gargantuan Population, which is self evident in a few of the art works:

Even with field of view, it should be clear that she's quite a bit taller than the Lumeris.

The Vodyani lancer only appears larger than the Lumerian man b/c he’s further in the background of the image while she’s in the Foreground. The Vodyani are roughly 2 meters tall. This is seen in a number of images within the game and comics. The suits were designed by the (Virtual) Endless who were also about 2 meters tall. 

Torahel wrote:

The first quest you have at turn 5:

"Brother Ateb was caught gorging on the slaves today. He shall be forbidden sustenance for three days; his suit receptors deactivated. All must obey the Laws". etc..

This punishment reveals a lot on their dependence with essence, how they feed and most important the fact that they need a permanent sustain cause they seem to loose/leak essence naturally. So i think a shot strong enough to pierce their "Cloth" will accelerate this "natural" processus. They probably also convert regular food into essence.

Vodyani heros haven't the same Cloth, they look different from each other. It's obviously an easy way to distinguish a vodyani from another. I'm agree with Suis3i, it doesn't seem very important to them, they just spend their useless time praying false gods and studying useless relics waiting the glorious Horatios to beautify them.

I think this natural process occurs if they choose to not repair the suits. Afterall, the Cloth is in-effect a mech suit designed to house Virtual Endless spirits when they fought the Concrete in the Dust Wars. So it’s only natural that the suits would be repairable and thus alleviate any “leaking” that may occur from a shot penetrating the suit. 

Aitarus wrote:

There's also something to be said for their stature, their pop trait is called Gargantuan Population, which is self evident in a few of the art works:

Even with field of view, it should be clear that she's quite a bit taller than the Lumeris.

In the comic we see the vodyani next to other races and in the charging screen we see a vodyani next to several humans too and they look human sized Maybe 2 meters tall at best

been trying to do some searching but well havent had much luck, especially regarding the questions i  have had welp, i guess ill get started on it and see if anyone else has an idea 

Do vodyani bleed when shot? like do they just leak out essence (or whatever is inside them) are they capable of having battlefield injuries?

Do vodyani actually have distinguishing features? like do other vodyani see a face in their helmets or is it just floating essence in everyones head, if thats the case what is the scale for attractiveness

Are they able to sustain themselves on normal food stuffs, or are they stuck with having to be space vampires to sustain themselves?

i didnt want to make a gigantic list but these are more or less the big questions for me, if anyone has an idea it would be wonderful, as im trying to learn as much as i can about this wonderful game

The first quest you have at turn 5:

"Brother Ateb was caught gorging on the slaves today. He shall be forbidden sustenance for three days; his suit receptors deactivated. All must obey the Laws". etc..

This punishment reveals a lot on their dependence with essence, how they feed and most important the fact that they need a permanent sustain cause they seem to loose/leak essence naturally. So i think a shot strong enough to pierce their "Cloth" will accelerate this "natural" processus. They probably also convert regular food into essence.

Vodyani heros haven't the same Cloth, they look different from each other. It's obviously an easy way to distinguish a vodyani from another. I'm agree with Suis3i, it doesn't seem very important to them, they just spend their useless time praying false gods and studying useless relics waiting the glorious Horatios to beautify them.

brumakk wrote:

been trying to do some searching but well havent had much luck, especially regarding the questions i  have had welp, i guess ill get started on it and see if anyone else has an idea 

Do vodyani bleed when shot? like do they just leak out essence (or whatever is inside them) are they capable of having battlefield injuries?

Do vodyani actually have distinguishing features? like do other vodyani see a face in their helmets or is it just floating essence in everyones head, if thats the case what is the scale for attractiveness

Are they able to sustain themselves on normal food stuffs, or are they stuck with having to be space vampires to sustain themselves?

i didnt want to make a gigantic list but these are more or less the big questions for me, if anyone has an idea it would be wonderful, as im trying to learn as much as i can about this wonderful game

They are filled with escence so they probably bleed, that escence when hurt, BUT i doubt that its something easy to do, their suits are endless technnology and they have a troop bonus even better than cravers and in the comic we saw a craver drone killing 30 armed people with its own hands, and the vodyani based on in game stats are potentially worse !

They probably dont i mean they look fairly similar to each other, maybe some special vodyani have special suits with more special facial features but thats my head canon on the issue.

They can probably sustain theirselves with food, after all unlike the riftborn they can grow conventionally, but maybe is easier for them to drain escence.

As they are powerfull fighters (enough to have a faction bonus for ground battle), they are probably hard to kill.

that certainly fits with the space vampire view i had on them, but the being a shell part makes me wonder how fatal being shot or any other injury from battle would be for them

They eat slave's essence, there is something about this in their quest line, a high ranked priest who ate too much and must be punished

As I understand, they are some sort of "shell" with dust/essence inside, at midway between organic and virtual creatures, so I don't think they bleed, but there armor can probably break and lose essence.

They don't seem to be having different face and haven't mouth, so they probably don't eat food.