Overview and Other Thoughts


The Horatio are widely considered to be among the weakest, if not the weakest, factions in the game. This saddens me greatly, because I absolutely adore their lore and mechanics, and have since ES1. I love packing my planets with pops, and splicing is just so cool!

Their problems are numerous and endemic, and no single fix will patch everything. They may to some extent even require a restructuring of some of the base game mechanics if they are to remain as they are--a signifcant change to the value of pops, splicing and food-based strategies over simply establishing more ind/sci buildings, for instance, possibly alongside greater tall-building advantages.


The Buff


The simplest, cleanest buff I have come up with to ameliorate Horatio's early game production woes is for them to make like the Sophons and get a faction-specific Xeno-Indy Complex which enhances Hot planets as well as Temperate and Fertile ones. This not only makes their much-maligned homeworld more effective, but also lets them leverage the ecologist bonus to greater effect, since they can settle on Deserts and such and get a solid flat bonus that the half-FIDS penalty doesn't affect. I've noticed that they also seem to start with a high likelihood of having other Hot planets in their home system, presumably due to the color of their star.


One possible lore explanation for this improvement is that the Horatio put a high premium on production because it's the best way for them to keep up with the constant trends and changing standards of beauty on a grand, planetary and architectural scale. This is not by any means the only explanation, of course--perhaps they are simply more skilled than most at leveraging the unique properties of Hot planets, or maybe these plants are used in large part to create the many consumer goods which the Horatio adore, inspiring them to greater levels of productivity on all scales.


A good name for this improvement could be "Consumer-Indy Complex", or "Aesthetic-Indy Complex".