Preface: Yes, that's a lot of writing, mostly spitballing, and yes the idea gets kinda big, yes I fully support the idea of this stuff potentially being another DLC after the Umbral Choir. Or maybe like a really really big update to Supremacy. ANyways, I hope a dev wil read through it, as I'm sure even if it doesn't get implemented there might be some good ideas in there. Right?

Deathstars are cool. Won't deny it. But they're also completely homogenous, which goes against the great diversity otherwise present among Endless Space 2's factions. Whether you ask the Unfallen, living trees attempting to preserve the universe, the Vodyani, space vampire crusaders, or the upcoming Choir, ethereal spy ghosts, how to defeat the enemy, they will all answer "Build really big red bricks, with nukes on 'em!"

To keep one of the game's main strengths, the vibrant and detailed factions and their respective lore, they should likewise each have their own way of inflicting capital punishment upon their foes, and not necessarily in a destructive way.

I am not a game developper, nor am I a writer, but it takes neither of those to realise that something is missing, a void that the recent Supremacy DLC has uncovered, yet failed to fill. 

I propose that each faction should have a considerable impact on the galaxy, yet in a way that is unique to them and that avoids the trope of big nukes. If you look at other strategy games, even non-4x ones, that have distinct factions, you will see that each has their own crowning achievement, an ability, unit, or technology that is tailored to them and gives them not only an advantage, but also a flavour that is regrettably missing from ES2. On the simpler side, look at something like, say, Supreme Commander FA, where each of the 4 factions has several end-game units AND buildings, which function in a distinct way and fit the 4 factions' traits. Take the Aeon, a tanky, enduring, and very expensive faction which can build the Paragon, a resource generator that, in practical terms, gives them unlimited resources and energy, but explodes with the strength of a nuke should it be destroyed. They also get a literal flying saucer, which has a massive death beam that can fire only directly under it, that can also act as an aircraft carrier, and that destroys everything under it by falling on it once it finally dies. The Seraphim get a super-nuke, that is much harder to block than a normal one AND has a greatly expanded radius, along with a Giant Death Robot™ that spawns an uncontrollable electrical storm on death, which moves in random directions, fitting the rest of the Seraphim's faction traits, which arm them with unique, highly specialised units befitting a wholy alien faction. The other two factions also have tons of cool stuff, and this only the beginning of the endgame stuff in supcom, but this paragraph is getting too long as it is.

ES2 doesn't have that. It should. The examples above are not only interesting gameplay-wise, but also complement their respective factions in lore and in looks. Look me in the eyes and tell me the giant red bricks of Supremacy fit the Horatio. 

>aight aight we get it, uniqueness is cool, but saying so is much easier than making 11(or more?) ways of finishing the game and then balancing all of them (hell y'all cant balance obliterators :P)

Well, on that front, I've some good news. Most of the factions already have a well-defined goal, clear preferred methods, and a character which will make giving them such a thing easier. They even all have a main quest, which highlights their vision of the universe. Now, we just need to give them the tools to make that vision a reality.

Before moving on, I must re-iterate that this is Game Enders that we are talking about, the equivalent of a Game Over screen, maybe literally in some cases, and is obviously going to be grand in scale and seem op at first. The idea itself is to give winning factions, once their victory approaches unquestionnability, something to do beyond spam End Turn until they get there, or torture the poor, dying leftovers of the galaxy like a cruel child messing with an insect.

The factions' main quests represent significant turmoil for each species, yet as rewards give no more than a building or a module. Powerful ones, in some cases, but nothing more than equipment nevertheless. The two concepts can be integrated, or not. I leave this choice to wiser people than me, but this is all a thread about ideas. Here's one. Here's another; have a game ender quest that triggers after the main questline, with a game-wide alert notification about the empire that's undertaking this task, should they choose to do so.

Regardless of whether or not these game-enders are tied to the main quest, they should still be added.

Ok fine enough saying the same thing over and over again, let's get to imagining how this would work.

Thus, each game-ender needs to 

   A) Be important enough to warrant building in most cases, or at least striving towards

   B) Be counterable at first, say when it's building, and be barely-resistible once it's done (but not impossible).

   C) Fit the faction from a gameplay standpoint, either shoring up a weakness or complementing a strength, and fit the faction from a lore prespective, so no more Unfallen ending the universe in the very fire they did not permit.

   D) Be distinct enough from eachother

Note that a game ender does not necessarily mean a very powerful unit, indeed, that's what we're mostly trying to avoid. A powerful unit is a cool concept, but remember, each concept needs to be distinct, and the Hissho already took that route. Obliterators, or behemoths in general, are a concept heavily present in their faction, and should stay there. As a warrior faction, I think it's fair that they get the nukes, military powerhouses and citadels that behemoths can become, but that's it. The behemoth spot is taken.

Alright, 1 done, 10 more to go. I'll do the lore/story/idea part first, then give a bunch of generic forms that game-enders typically take, and we'll play Match the Concepts™ in the replies.

We know that the Riftborn have control over time, and we also know that they want their universe back. Their end-game goal should be therefore either to stop time for the enemy, accelerate themselves, or to transform their current universe into their old one. For the first two, they already have singularities. Maybe a Constellation-wide one? For the last one, no idea truth be told, but it's safe to say it won't be a unit, a diplomatic event, or some stupid building or module.

Next.. uhh.. Vodyani; space crusaders who's main goal is Virtualisation and main weakness (apart from food) is Manpower. I say we give them a way to eliminate that component of their race entirely, becoming immune to ground invasions and unable to perform ground invasions, and giving all ships the ability to leach, with an increased effect on the leached populace. Or something. Again, we're trying to avoid giving them a big nuke and calling that a game ender, we want it to be unique and a massive change, while being somewhat counterable.

Horatio should literally get the ability to virus-bomb other planets to turn them into Horatios. Like, honestly, I thought of it as a joke at first but an actual Conversion meter over your planets is the most Horatio thing I could think of.

For the United Empire, we're in a tough spot, as the stereotypical Human superweapon is nukes, and thats A) Boring and B) Hissho. Something related to propaganda could work, but remember not to overlap with the Horatio, who also convert others (if in a different way). Perhaps something to do with removing Approval as a potentially-negative meter, instead assuming happiness is set at 100% and any happiness you had over that is instead divided through some formula and applied as a FIDSI or ISI or II or I bonus, but the whole no-happiness thing overlaps with the Hissho again. An acceptable sacrifice?

Lumeris should have something to do with dust, obviously, but exactly what I do not yet know.

The sophons should definetly build megastructures around their star, especially if they're big, overengineered and explodey. I'm thinking a Nicoll-Dyson Beam, basically an actual deathstar, as in you turn your star into a big laser, or something else stellar-related. Again, not totally sure about what it should be since that overlaps with the Hissho's obliterators, but I think it's a good start.

The Cravers definetly need a swarm aspect to them, which I think they already have, maybe with each ship built they instantly get a upkeep-free Attacker built along with it. (they get to select which design of Attacker they want, but we can put some restrictions on it so that maybe it's total industry cost cannot exceed a constant and/or they cannot have any Strategic Resource modules in that design)

The unfallen... likely something to do with their vines, which are a cool and unique mechanic.

The vaulters, I'm even more of a loss at than with the unfallen, their portals are a very unique dynamic as it is, along with the colony ship. Maybe something like getting Strategics and science from all ships destroyed in a fight provided at least one of yours survives, call it Endless Recycling as a nod to an Endless Legend tech with a very cool name and a very cool image, if somewhat generic stats.

I don't know enough about the Umbral Choir to give them anything just yet, but we'll see. may'haps let them force the enemy to research or produce certain things against their will every once in a while? < don't take this seriously im just saying things in case it sparks someone's no doubt more useful mind than mine

Aight, time to throw some random generic game-ender concepts at you and hope you make something useful of them;

- A very strong, unique unit (already have that in behemoths, basically)

- The removal/ignoring of a limiting mechanic, think happiness or overpopulation, overexpansion, maybe dust inflation, etc

- A powerful, single-shot ability, like a riftborn singularity, applied to an area of space, could be damage, could be a permanent effect (note: this one is really broad, a permanent effect could be anything; damage over time, FIDSI increase/decrease, movement speed inc/dec, permanent leaching... make sure to keep it unique though, not just a buff)

- Permanent buff (careful with this one not to make it too generic, don't just give +X FIDSI or damage or something, make it an interesting and unique buff that's more than just stats)

- A building that generates something, more than just fidsi once again, maybe a unique unit that it builds per turn, maybe a resource, maybe a giant AoE effect over the constellation

- All fleets behave as if they're lead by a chosen Hero, though that hero is not physically present there

- Really really big building, like a megastructure

- Partial control over a player's planets/systems/territories

- Partial contorl over a player's armies/army

- The ability to influence end-game crises (I mean like those in Stellaris, I know they're not a thing YET, but one day...)

- Preventing opponents from building something, or somewhere, or something somewhere

I'm hoping for some community (or maybe dev, wink wink) input on this idea, so give your suggestions for potential designs/flaws with this proposal/undying support for me in the replies.

Yeah so basically a faction quest bonus exactly, 

but more restrictive of your gameplay as in basically forcing you to follow it in order to win.

I guess you could call hissho getting 50% dmg bonus a boring buff, it does seem essentially game winning, but people can play around it.

Every race has a faction affinity specific techs and buildings, which by no means say "game is over" some are even useless but still, they do have them tied to the lore and what not.
Take unfallen with +15% science/dust per ally.

Riftborn with +150% science on empire or CCing entire systems.

Vaulters and portals. It's an endgame ability introduced as default.

Vodyani have 0 hero assignment lock among the quest rewards witch spells "effect of the hero on all fleets" but it is micro intensive and people thus can't really appreciate it.

I guess a halfway solution could be introducing a faction specific behemoth module. I think there should have been some, but can't help missing them.

Before moving on, I must re-iterate that this is Game Enders that we are talking about, the equivalent of a Game Over screen, maybe literally in some cases, and is obviously going to be grand in scale and seem op at first. The idea itself is to give winning factions, once their victory approaches unquestionnability, something to do beyond spam End Turn until they get there, or torture the poor, dying leftovers of the galaxy like a cruel child messing with an insect.

Now, how does building a super duper coolio magic ship that can do stuff stop you from doing exactly what is mentioned above? "Look at me, I have laserz of death, and this pew pew mobile" - I don't care, I have 50 systems utilizing hissho ignorance of expansion dissaproval or running saints and sinner and as long as supremacy victory is disabled, it will take you ton of time and boring clicking to take me out.

And how does "faction specific game ender" differ if it is a game ender? Do you need a prettier victory screen?

Also have you heard about wonder victory?

Thus, each game-ender needs to 

   A) Be important enough to warrant building in most cases, or at least striving towards

   B) Be counterable at first, say when it's building, and be barely-resistible once it's done (but not impossible).

   C) Fit the faction from a gameplay standpoint, either shoring up a weakness or complementing a strength, and fit the faction from a lore prespective, so no more Unfallen ending the universe in the very fire they did not permit.

   D) Be distinct enough from eachother

A) wonder victory or faction quest

B) wonder victory

C) not wonder victory so FACTION quest I guess. Also there is no fire if everyone else is dead since you have a say in permitting it.

D) this accompanied by C) is exactly like "different" but still the "same". 

And then there is the entire thing called balancing, which, year later, is still little behind schedule.

I get that certain faction quest rewards like

Lumeris: "Oh look at me, I can now convert influence into dust and achieve about half of what I would make from industry to dust, HELL YEAH! GG! also my systems with trading companies can have +15 approval if I have ecologists and want to spend influence on it instead of +30 empire wide for free, but let's not forget about the +3 luxuries on nodes, that one will definitelly save me from the oncoming +50% dmg hissho onslaught!"

are less like Vodyani: "Ok, my heroes now have 0 lock times and can be reassigned immidiatelly, also I have this +100% xp on system building and +50% influence on system building, I can't have rebellions and need about 50 approval for ecstatic".
But vodyani questline bonuses are definitelly a way to go imho. They are specific, interesting, I suppose sometimes even worth the effort.

Faction specific additions are fairly intensive, development-wise.