So I like horatio.  The gene hunter affinity is fun to me.  I've tried more than a few custom faction builds with it.  It's always a struggle getting the pops I want to splice and all that--you know how it goes.  I'm currently NOT playing a gene hunter and am in fact playing a hyper-pop growth slave driving unfallen monstrosity type thing which has no strategic interest in minor pops because they'll either be sacrificed or eaten anyway.

So what do I find right outside my home system of Matarca?

This:

Six minor factions.  SIX OF THEM.  ON MY FRONT LAWN.  AND a unique planet AND the academy.  ARE YOU F(%*ING KIDDING ME?  NOW?  Not any other game when I would have been giddy with glee to see this but NOW, when I couldn't care less about them??

I love ES2...but if it were a person I'd be slapping its teeth out right now because IT KNOWS WHAT IT DID.

Daynen wrote:

So I like horatio.  The gene hunter affinity is fun to me.  I've tried more than a few custom faction builds with it.  It's always a struggle getting the pops I want to splice and all that--you know how it goes.  I'm currently NOT playing a gene hunter and am in fact playing a hyper-pop growth slave driving unfallen monstrosity type thing which has no strategic interest in minor pops because they'll either be sacrificed or eaten anyway.

So what do I find right outside my home system of Matarca?

This:

Six minor factions.  SIX OF THEM.  ON MY FRONT LAWN.  AND a unique planet AND the academy.  ARE YOU F(%*ING KIDDING ME?  NOW?  Not any other game when I would have been giddy with glee to see this but NOW, when I couldn't care less about them??

I love ES2...but if it were a person I'd be slapping its teeth out right now because IT KNOWS WHAT IT DID.

LMAO? Just the luck of the draw I suppose. Even though you can't Gene-Splice them, you can still assimilate them for some sweet perks. Thing is, the whole point behind Slave Drivers is to use them to generate double output(including their population buffs) as opposed to sacrificed for major population enjoyment(even if that might play into your custom faction's lore(particularly if they're Religious)). Judging by the screenshot you have Pulsos, Amblyr, Amoeba, Harmony, Basyrxo(had to look that one up since I don't have Awakening) and Niris. Curious as to what faction trait they rolled with and whether or not you'll try and propagate Niris for their 50 population perk(which is pretty nice imo).

If you were Shipbound... talk about a godly roll for leeching. Seriously I'd kill for that if I was Vanila Vodyani or any custom Shipbound faction.

oohh, what a lucky starting zone. Those minor faction clusters typically appear in the central/neutral area of the map, if it's a galaxy shape that has one (the spiral galaxies almost always have tons of minor factions in the center), but it's always a pleasant surprise to start close enough to them to get there before the AI does.

Normally, you'd be right; this would be an incredible seed.  Thing is, I was trying out a custom faction concept that works on hyper pop growth and being liberal with sacrifices from observances, feeding pits and chain gangs.  I wasn't even concerned about winning; it was literally just a test run to see if/how my build could function...and THIS was the moment the game decided to drop a cornucopia in my lap.  NOW.  During a test drive when it literally did not matter in the slightest.  Not when I actually cared about it or needed it--RIGHT NOW.

It's maddening.