There's already been some information on the content of the next expansion.

Jhell wrote:

 More seriously though, we want each expansion to add to the game in a meaningful way, and to emphasize different areas of the gameplay. For example right before the Vaulters, we released the Galactic Statecraft free update. This along with the pirates was meant to liven up diplomacy and bring more dynamism to player interactions. With the Hissho, we had a clear “war” orientation and we wanted to make the map more tactical, give more use to special nodes, and during development we realized it’d be cool to drive war through juicy economic goals (“lemme just destroy the Behemoth driving your science on this black hole”).

Now with the Umbral Choir… clearly we are going for Espionage! It’s a whole new layer for the game. We have to make sure it has a purpose in itself, but also that it ties in nicely and tightly with all the other game systems. It’s an innovative approach that we’re taking, and we’re still very early in development, but it looks promising and we hope you like it!

Belho wrote:

As told by Froggy during the last update stream, there will be a stream this thursday 29 showing the Umbral Choir and espionage for the first time.

Also, if I remember correctly, espionage is *not* the main focus of the next expansion.

So, what do you think is the main addition of this upcoming DLC, apart from the Umbral Choir and espionage?

I really, really would like to see implemented some sort of United Nations/Galactic Counsil mechanics ^^

I did not mention showing the Umbral Choir.

The main feature of this upcoming expansion is, apart from the Umbral Choir, the Espionage. If it was about something else, you'd know by now. :3

Any attempt at including something else would be done to the detriment of the faction or the main feature, since we wouldn't want to half-ass the realization of such a concept.

A Galactic Council is a cool concept, feasability notwithstanding.

When I think of espionage, two main things come to mind: information and disruption.  There is still plenty of information hidden between players and espionage is a great chance for players to swipe details their opponents don't want to reveal.  Tying well into that is the fact that each faction would love to get their hands on different kinds of hidden info.  Horatio, for example, would dearly love to know your population distribution before he tries to take your system so he can get his splice on and the Cravers are dying to know where you've hidden your sowers.  The Sophons would probably like to know who keeps researching the same techs as them and trying to undermine their omniscience bonus.  Obviously the Hissho, the Cravers and any other warmonger would be happy to have vision of your fleet movements and any faction would find it hilarious to know your empire's FIDSI setup is about to crumble because your population voted for the wrong party out of nowhere.

I`d love to get a tool to influence other empires` political situations. Sabotage enemy ships and/or even destroy freighters of trading companies. It would also be great to be able to steal strategic and/or luxury ressources, technologies; assassinate heros, ... I could go on and on. Cannot wait to give espionage a try. :)

What time is the stream?