Faction Diversity/Custom Factions

     I love the variations between factions.  Such as the very straight forward colonization of most species vs the Ark method of the Vodyani.  I would like to see more unique play styles associated between varying species as well.  It's one of the things I love about certain strategy games such as Sins of a Solar Empire and Star Craft where playing a different faction represents a very different style of play.  And it's something I very rarely see in a turn based strategy game.  If the Vodyani are anything to go by,  this game has the potential to add that very element missing from almost every turn based strategy game I've seen.  (I've only ever seen one turn based strategy game come close and that was the original Sword of the Stars, but it still missed the mark in several key areas.)  And I can't tell you simply just how excited this prospect makes me at the thought that this game could very well accomplish this rare feat in a turn based strategy game.  

     I would very much like to see more unique traits/technologies/gameplay styles that further differentiate species and I would also like to see this in custom faction creations.  Where when you create a faction, you can choose a unique trait/technology or 2 that would even give the custom factions a unique feel from a gameplay aspect.  Also from the custom factions point of view, such as when your picking the look of your ships, I don't think you should be shoe horned into using Arks simply because you chose the Vodyani ship appearance.  At the same time, I don't think you should be shoe horned into using the traditional colonisation method simply because you chose the appearance of one of the other ship designs.  This would be an example of a unique trait/technology I was referring to earlier for custom factions (which I know custom factions will be implemented later).  Where you not only choose your factions standard traits/techs, but then choose a unique trait/tech or 2.  Adding a lot of freedom and variation when creating new custom factions.  I know for this Ark example you would have to create special Ark ship designs for each of the other factions ship styles to make this possible with custom factions, but I do think it would be worth it in the end.

Other peoples "unique" ideas that I like, that are relatable to this idea that I'd recommend people to also upvote:

This guys idea would considerably increase custom factions appearance options with very little work required from the devs.

https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space-2/ideas/16-all-old-factions-present-in-some-way