Hi !

So during that free weekend (which was really helpful for me to find wether or not I want this game, and I really want it), I noticed something through my short playthrough : I don't see anyone speaking of the Harmony faction or even mentioning it, to my greatest regrets because it was a really fun faction to play in the first game. It'd be a shame if the whole concept would be thrown out, since I personally loved it, the fact that you can pump out a lot of fleets simply because no upkeep was really fun (and broken to be entirely honest), or the purifying of systems and even the strategical rock "building" which helped reduce the ship costs even more. 

The whole concept was very appealing (Yes I loved my yoga practicing rocks, almost as much as my hungry insects with flashlights on their heads !) and I wonder if the devs are going to do something about them or not.

I think it'd be a great opportunity for at the very least a quesline, and/or (but I know it's not the priority) a faction on its own.

I guess it could come out greatly with a rework of the strategical ressources system which I found lacking (I can't seem to put my finger on what's wrong with it, but I feel something is odd with it).

It's an Excellent (capital E deserved) Game (same for that G) and bringing back those rocks would be cool. I'm also very curious about the ship designs that would come with it.

Thanks for reading, and sorry for any mistakes I could've made in the presentations, i post rarely on forums, though since the devs really listen to the community I might dig a bit more into that part.

If I recall correctly there is a small event you can discover on a certain planet which references the harmony.

Autocthon wrote:

The Pulsos are listed in flavor text as being a harmony offshoot I believe.

They are indeed described as dust-infected Harmony, who decided to stay in the galaxy, instead of trying to leave it in search of the Core.

Judging from this I would either argue that the true Harmony actually succeeded in leaving the "Endless"-Galaxy. If that is not the case, I guess there could actually be a chance for their appearance, as there so far is no real anti-Dust faction in the game.

As for me I agree with Autocthon, that it would be nice to see some more of the old factions in the game again. I personally will always wait for the Vaulters to reappear, even though they might not be as unique or special as the Harmony, they have always been one of my favorites.

There is a short post abot the Harmony as a faction in ES2. Just an idea though...

https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space-2/forums/76-creations/threads/27692-faction-implementation-the-harmony?page=1#post-246303

Well, I did notice the Pulsos and their relation to the Harmony, but that's not enough imho.

I really want to play as the Harmony, because it was a very unique experience (just look at their diplomacy and economic [basically the left one] tech tree in ES 1) and to me that feeling of purging worlds and moving as a constant threat to enemies to wipe out sources of dust was great.

And the fact that the devs would have to redisign their "ships" intrigues me.

To me it's either the Harmony or the Automatons but I'd prefer the Harmony tbh. (though Automatons would be my next "want!" faction, same level as Vaulters and Sowers...Honestly if they could add them all that'd be great but I know it will not happen, sadly).

They would need a huge nerf i guess, all people i talked about endless space 1 said they're broken op.

natanstarke wrote:

They would need a huge nerf i guess, all people i talked about endless space 1 said they're broken op.

They also broke the game mechanic. They were bascially a cheat race with no dust need whatsoever and no approval rating, meaning the core economics of ES1 were simply taken out. All they were is just get industry and build ships kill your opponents, while other factions had to satisfy their people and see that they're not getting broke.

I'm totally against them in they're ES1 form, coz they ain't fun, they just take out the game mechanics and would also in ES 2 be broken. 

Think about this, Mixed and bad anomalies usually affect the happiness, rocks don't care about happiness, which means they can colonize every system, and simple ignore the anomalies, worse mixed anomalies are actually good for them. So no tactical decision on planet taking anymore. Second, tyranny is without penalties for them, because again, no approval rating. Third, no dust need makes the whole economy research section useless. So they simply go for ships industry and military research, ignore everything else, and like in ES1 become better fighters than the cravers and kill you with their mass fleets.

No fun and totally broke

thiasss wrote:

natanstarke wrote:

They would need a huge nerf i guess, all people i talked about endless space 1 said they're broken op.

They also broke the game mechanic. They were bascially a cheat race with no dust need whatsoever and no approval rating, meaning the core economics of ES1 were simply taken out. All they were is just get industry and build ships kill your opponents, while other factions had to satisfy their people and see that they're not getting broke.

I'm totally against them in they're ES1 form, coz they ain't fun, they just take out the game mechanics and would also in ES 2 be broken. 

Think about this, Mixed and bad anomalies usually affect the happiness, rocks don't care about happiness, which means they can colonize every system, and simple ignore the anomalies, worse mixed anomalies are actually good for them. So no tactical decision on planet taking anymore. Second, tyranny is without penalties for them, because again, no approval rating. Third, no dust need makes the whole economy research section useless. So they simply go for ships industry and military research, ignore everything else, and like in ES1 become better fighters than the cravers and kill you with their mass fleets.

No fun and totally broke

That is correct (probably why I absolutely loved them)

Though if they ever come back, I wonder what kind of huge nerf will they apply without breaking their gameplay totally.. I mean, we know they can't use dust, so no dust (thus no buyout) and don't need approval, which is broken as hell... Maybe instead of having a dust upkeep on their fleet they'd need a strategic ressource upkeep, since they're rocks... Or a special ressource like idk, core crystals which could be harvested as a Kx turn tech (K varying according to the quantity of crystals you own/ system developement) and the quantity you'd get would vary from the size of the planet/avg size of planets in the system you use it in ?

Anyways, I firmly believe they still can bring the Harmony without breaking ES 2 mechanics and still make them as original as they were in ES1, without the OP part.