I'd like to promote votes for the Faction Contest while addressing some issues with fairness.

For some reason we can vote early in the contest even before most people have put in their entries.  This is a new feature that wasn't in any other contest before. This has created an unfair slant toward one of the first posts, which has almost 3x the votes and over 3x the views over the second most popular entry.  Newer posts are still coming in and because of the early voting, they don't have a chance at getting recognition.  You can vote as many times as you like, but how will this help when there is already a clear winner from day one?  It is likely that the entry that soaked up the most votes will also win in the finals, just like the previous Quest contest. I challenge the voters to prove that just because you get inequitable attention doesn't mean you are the best idea for a new Quest/Faction in Endless Space 2.  A polling system needs proper balances to ensure everyone gets a fair chance.  Don't let this unjust new voting method ruin the contest.  Don't jump on the bandwagon, give the other entries a chance!

I encourage a vote for a more unique faction.  Remember the Harmony from Endless Space?  How different they were, a race made of crystals, with distinct rules that don't use Dust, aren't effected by approval modifiers, and cant use heroes?  Or how about the Cultists from Endless Legend? How strange they were, with the goal of ending everything, with only one city allowed and the ability to convert pacified villages?  These factions are fan favorites because they broke the mold and put a clever spin on the more traditional factions in the Endless games.

Why not chose a new faction that is even weirder?  A truly alien lifeform?

How likely is it that if we encounter true extraterrestrial life, it will have human traits?  Two eyes, two ears, a nose, a mouth that speaks language we can perceive.  Bipedal with mannerisms we can relate to?  With desires and needs that we understand?  It is more believable that if we ever witness another life form, it will be so incomprehensible

that we will not be able to understand each other.

Challenge the game developers at Amplitude to incorporate something unique.  There are many strange new ideas in the Faction Contest, lots of other great entries to choose from. Don't just give up your vote to the clear winner without reading through the others.  If you agree with me that this new voting system is extremely flawed, let the devs know you want it changed in the main thread.

But I encourage you... please check my idea at

https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space-2/forum/105-major-faction-creation-contest-game-design/thread/19973-the-weatherkin-sentient-clouds

If you do like my idea, which of course I am promoting, please give me a vote!   There is even a recent post that is pretty much a copy of my idea (probably inintentionally), but if you like them more, give em a vote!  

Vote for something original and unique

Vote for something truly alien that will break the mold

Vote for something new to make ES2 different  

And if you like my idea...

Yeah, seems to be an oversight to allow early voting while people are still sending in entries.

Simplest solution would be: one fixed period for sending entries; another fixed period for only voting, no new entries admitted. A solution for the future.

The last Quest contest used that voting method, just like the contests before it.  But the Quest winner was able to use their popularity from the Dilemma contest to get twice as many votes as the other entries.  And now with the early voting, it kinda feels like both contests have been tainted with unfairness.  And since adding a player-made Quest and player-made Faction is probably the biggest addition we can add to the new ES game, it leaves very little we can add in future contests, even if they are adjusted to be more balanced for all entries.