So close, yet so far.

Multi-dimensional parallelism! Or time travel...

OR! The Endless are still alive and are continuing their war with each other through the child races (the main factions we play as, that is)!

I am willing to buy into the idea that ES2 comes before ES1, if only because of the UE-Sheredyn connection as stated above. And I like the idea of the Riftborn turning into the Sowers or Automatons (or both, having a split in their ideologies). Riftborn seems to fit that because the story missions can break down into Ecologist, Industrialist, and Pacifist. Sowers cultivate worlds for their own purposes so I'd say they're Ecologists (that's through abstract lore attribution, since "ecologists" don't exist in ES1). Automatons are Pacifists and Industrialists, so that's an easy connection to make. Both races are predominantly machine, which seems to be the external appearance of the Riftborn in the material universe.

Deglingus wrote:

-snip-

I like the part where the Cravers ate the Vodyani.

I think the Vodyani are part of a Virtual Endless plan to "revive" themselves in case they're defeated by the Concrete. The Sowers are also a part of this plan, they just don't activate again until Vodyani events are influenced by the surviving Virtuals who become their Saints.

The Vodyani would go on to create a lot of enemies, and not just because of their affinity for abducting people. As other races learn more about the Endless, they'd want to ensure they wouldn't repeat those mistakes. The Vodyani are physical platforms for what is essentially a digitized race, and as more and more Virtuals are awakened as Saints, the rest of the races would become very strongly opposed to them. But yes, they'll probably be wiped out by the Cravers, mostly because of the Virtuals betraying them so long ago. Either that, or the Riftborn would piece together the Virtuals' plan to "revive" themselves and begin raining havoc on the Vodyani to stop them. Assuming the latter is the case (and they successfully eradicate the Vodyani), the Riftborn then decide to return to their own universe.

The Lumeris are absorbed by the United Empire as the latter begins expanding into controlling a large slice of production in the galaxy. With them would come many hardened mercenaries who will handle most of the security in the Empire. The Sheredyn still remain "loyal" to the Empire, in that it they wouldn't directly declare war on it, but by the time of ES1 they've grown tremendously enough (thanks to Lumeri expertise in so many fields) to become its own faction. The Hissho leave to find a better identity for themselves as the Empire grows increasingly xenophobic in the wake of the Vodyani and Craver wars. The Pilgrims leave because they don't like what the Empire and its Sheredyn is becoming. Cue Sophon contact and the two Wars of Seperation, and now they are their own faction. The Hissho build a unified culture, and also form their own faction.

Of course, this is all just speculation. :)

Doesn't endless space 2 happen after endless space 1?

What I wonder the most was that Hissho ship and the dust explosion we see in one of the ES 2 trailer with the galaxy and the "Flawless Theory" OST playing in the beginning

What is the connection between the Dust explosion in the trailer with the Cravers prologue? Is that the same explosion, or was it the same kind of event happening in the time before the Hissho was even there (in the wars between the Concretes and the Virtuals where the Cravers fought in)?

Is the Hissho ship a sign that the Hissho has advanced like what we have seen in ES1 in the times of ES2? Does that mean ES2 is set after ES1?

I don't know if these are revealed in the questlines I haven't reached yet in-game (Yup haven't advanced that far since the Riftborn update), and I would obviously like someone to correct my wrongs here, but those are my thoughts about the time setting of this game

I'd think the timeline would be

1. Dungeon of the Endless

2. Endless Legends

3. Endless Space 2

4. Endless Space

Maybe, right? Dunno, it's in my head but I can't seem to type it out neatly. At least not without it being a cool three or four paragraphs long.