Fix the Vodyani

Looks more like "fix" than "rework"

Yeah, as Vodyani the last thing I want to do is assimilate a minor faction; they're my source of population growth, at least until fairly late in the game (when I already have multiple Arks, and can afford to put one or two on Alms for long stretches of time).

Unless, just MAYBE, assimilating them meant we could still Leech essence from them, in that one single system?  Treat the race's home system like a vegetable garden, and practise sustainable harvesting, you know?  (Balancing pop growth against the loss from leeching).  That would, IMO, fix the problem entirely.

It seems like there is a fix in the works from the Devs for being able to harvest essence from assimilated minor factions, if I'm interpreting Meedoc's comment in this  thread correctly:

https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space-2/forum/65-general/thread/20754-vodyani-mechanics-not-working-as-expected-brainwashing-minor-faction-essence-collection

AquaticSonarKey wrote:

It seems like there is a fix in the works from the Devs for being able to harvest essence from assimilated minor factions, if I'm interpreting Meedoc's comment in this  thread correctly:

https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space-2/forum/65-general/thread/20754-vodyani-mechanics-not-working-as-expected-brainwashing-minor-faction-essence-collection

 

Seems like it! Thanks for the link. I'll be sure to keep my eye out for that next update then

Do you think it would be worth having something like if you brainwash them you get some essence without having to have ships in the vicinity and if you assimilate them this doubles or something?

Additionally a law or tech etc specific to the vodyani where by you can harvest assimilated factions at the cost of population dieing off if you over do it could be interseting as you could use it as a suppliment to temporarily increase your essence income at the cost of possibly losing minor faction populations.  But you could also use this to then replace them with additional vodyani population if you would rather have a "pure" population on a planet :).  You could have this applied like the dust to essence thing which block the construction que or even have it allow you to essence drain yours or allied systems with your own ships.  You could even have this cause population happyness to drop  (if vodyani are there though it would reduce the drop rate) which could cause rebellions unless there is a piece of tech or you could use influence to keep them brainwashed during the essence drain etc.

I found in my most recent Vodyani game that I would basically brainwash to get directly to the evacuate system option, so I could put an Ark there, or just get rid of the minor faction so they would stop producing pirate ships that I would have to worry about.  This doesn't really make sense, as when other empires assimilate a minor faction they take control of the system and get the population.  Other empires are rewarded for the investment of influence, time, and dust, far more than the Vodyani.

I would suggest that if you brainwash the minor faction:  you actually take control of the system, in addition to receiving the faction trait, the resource income from being at 100% diplomatic relations, and the 25 essence per turn.  If you control the system, you cannot leech from it, they stop producing pirates, and you can put special actions in the build queue.  These actions would be the demands of the Vodyani:

"Servants of the Church" +X additional essence per turn

"Abandon all Wealth" +X additional Dust per turn

"You Reap what you Sow" +X Food per turn to the closest friendly Ark system

"Revel in our Wisdom" +X additional Science per turn

"The Great Journey" - Evacuates the minor faction from the system

etc.

These projects or demands would be the only things that could be put in the build queue and would fill the build queue indefinitely, much like propaganda.  You would get to decide what bonus you want from the minor faction, and change it if you need to.  In this way, the Vodyani aren't actually living in the system, nor are any structural improvements being made.  The minor factions are worshipping the Vodyani, and they are providing you with whatever the Church desires.  If the time comes when you want to occupy the system with Vodyani, you can choose to have the minor faction evacuate from the System, and then anchor an Ark to begin the process of really settling the system.

I think this would help make the Brainwash action more rewarding, as it frees up your fleets to go harvest essence in other systems, it stops the minor faction from producing pirates, it gives the Vodyani their choice of what resources they want to focus on, and it gives the player the ability to put an Ark in the system  if and when they are ready.

@AgeofSteam

You hit the nail right on the head. As it stands, minor faction assimilation is more profitable for every other race, while the Vodyani don't get nearly as much from it; Essence, Dust, and Science income, sure, but unless the razing of the system gives you Essence depending on how much population was destroyed, it doesn't really balance out.

But there's also the matter of 'what interface would a brainwashed minor-faction use'; the traditional Star-System interface but with only those construction options you proposed, or the Minor-Faction interface that was used up until that point? Because that could make the difference in terms of coding difficulty for Amplitude Studios.

Not only that, but who's to say that the pirates are completely gone from a brainwashed system? There could be the option for the system to produce a pirate fleet at the cost of Influence, but those pirates would be under your control like a pirate ship you buy from the market.

In any case, it sounds like Vodyani players want the Vodyani to be the spacefaring equivalent of the Cult of the Eternal End. XD