ES2. So the guys at the explorminate picked their awards for the 2018 and ES2 got the most improved game of all. I believe it is spot on; this time Amplitude didn't only bring out new gameplay elements but reworked or balanced out too many items as well. For Endless Legend, I believe they've made this decision to push for content but shy about reworking available mechanics. 

A short summary of 2018: 

-Vaulters

-Pirate minor factions

-Lots of new stuff(Anomalies, Planets, Species, Heroes, etc..)

-Government balance

-Lots of quests and a huge quest

-2 new soundtrack

-New skins for vanilla factions

-Ground combat reworked

-Hissho

-Behemoths!

I think the amount of new content was sufficient for 2018. ES2 will start strong in 2019 with the Umbral Choir DLC and Hacking mechanic but I wonder which mechanics are they going to tackle this year? 

To me reworking current mechanics should be:

-Economy: I think it's now time to introduce different types of upkeep than dust. Different strategic resources or luxury resources could be introduced.

-Minor faction Diplomacy: Assist quests are too powerful. I don't think minor faction relations should be a race with a finish line. They should be present all times and assimilating should be separated from joining. 

-Politics: I think it's time for cutthroat politics or at least a slider where we set the political apathy for harder politics. Where populations could rebel hard.

I wish for another solid year for ES2 and congratulate them again. Their work isn't unnoticed. 

1) I'm hoping for the Amoeba/Harmony/Sowers/Automatons to be added as a main faction.

The Automatons would be a good faction to add along a Mega-Engineering mechanic. Imagine if you could build your own solar system with an Artificial Sun, or  Ring Worlds or even Reworked Dyson Spheres that actually do something other than look pretty.

There is a lot of potential here, especially since we know that, lorewise,  factions like the Sophons, Umbral Choir and Automatons are already capable of building them.

2) More faction ship skins. Like WASP Cravers, Sheredyn United Empire, Pilgrim Vaulters, etc.

3) Improved Diplomacy mechanics.

4) Improved Economic mechanics, the ability to wage economic warfare against other empires, set trade embargos, sanctions, etc.

5) More planet variety and visual anomalies. 

6) A storyline followup on the game's main quest and the Lost. We still don't know much about them, which is weird considering there are at least 4 we know of that are still active in the galaxy.

Those are just some of the things I wish to see implemented in the future.