TLDR: Add new faction leaders with relevant gameplay modifiers to each of the main factions to greatly multiply the number of playstyles and roleplay opportunities for each faction



 

The idea is essentially something similar to Legendary Lords in Total War: Warhammer. 

 

If you're not familiar, in that game you select a faction/race to play as in each grand campaign. In addition to picking the entire faction, you sub-select a leader for your faction (called a Legendary Lord, or LL from here on). These LL's are combat actors in the game in and of themselves, but they also provide different bonuses and faction-flavored army enhancements. For example, the religious leader of a faction providing bonuses to religious flavored units and letting you recruit special re-skinned elite religious units.

 

Since ES2 isn't just about fighting, the more relevant part of the LL idea is a faction getting different leaders that allow one to look at and play each faction in a different light, and with a different character. 

 

Each faction's play style and flavor becomes multiplied by the number of faction leaders that they receive.

 

Potential Benefits:

-Amplitude only needs to develop faction leaders, instead of whole factions in order to greatly multiply the number of 'factions' in the game

-Allows players to roleplay factions in more dynamic ways then they can currently (for example, actually having Zelevas step down for the UE)

-Allows the depth of each faction to shine further as the nuances of new faction leaders highlight the flexibility of the factions

 

Potential Downsides:

-Each leader is tied into more than just their appearance and benefits. Things like the UE quest would need to change (as well as likely most of the main quests)

-It's tricky to actually design unique leaders, and not just faces with some different stats

-Competitive players may say that this is a redundant feature as custom factions are already in the game.

 

If you made it this far, thanks for reading!