I really like the design of the new Automatons, but I am a bit confused regarding their nature. (As well as that of the Sowers.)



If I understand correctly, the Automatons are basically a non-expansive version of the Sowers? As in, both like nature, are mechanical, etc.

Haven't actually play Automatons yet, but it seems Automaton have some interesting traits when it comes to infrastructure of the systems, and seems really bad at expanding.....I think they have anarchist by default.

Hey! Thanks for asking,



Lore wise the Automatons are much more isolationist than the Sowers as well as being more steampunk rather than the cyberpunk style that influenced the sowers. Also the Sowers inherently like to expand and develop planets to their fullest potential while the Automatons prefer to expand only when absolutely necessary as well as they believe in the peace of nature and harmony with all life, meaning they live in massive orbiting platforms that are constructed around planets which are what provides the FIDS for the Automatons.



Gameplay wise, the Automatons favor more of a diplomatic and defensive stance than the other civilizations. If you get Orbiting Platforms technology as well as Overproduction to Defense conversion, then your systems become Fortresses that take many tens of turns to seize and very difficult to fight over. Also the fact that you can save up overproduction means that even if you are surprised by a declaration of war you can quickly assemble fleets of ships to help stop the enemy. The list goes on as to the various things you can do with the Automatons, but that is the basics.



side note: The Automatons have dust maluses because their technology uses dust as fuel and even Automatons themselves are fueled by dust.



Hope you enjoy the faction!

I'm not sure "isolationist" is the right word for the Automatons Panzer. They're obviously very dependent on trade and keeping the peace with requires quite a bit of diplomacy. Isolationists would participate in as little diplomacy as possible. I see the Sowers as being more isolationist than Automatons based on their traits. As I'm writing this I realize you said "lore wise" which probably explains things but if that is the case then shouldn't their traits reflect that?

M11xStryker wrote:
Long story short, the faction affinity is only useful for banking production and offers a meager production boost.

I've done the math about that some time ago. If used perfectly it's a "meager" production-boost of roundabout 83% (with the building that increases interest from 5% to 20%... But it's really hard to realize that.



Basically when you stack exactly 416.7% of your systems production, your interest will be 83.3% per turn. And if you now build something that costs exactly 183.3% of one turns production, you will always stay at 416.7% for maximum benefit from interest.

Panzer wrote:




they believe in the peace of nature and harmony with all life, meaning they live in massive orbiting platforms that are constructed around planets which are what provides the FIDS for the Automatons.

First of all, I just want to say how honored I feel to have the creator of this faction answer my question. Thank you.



Anyway, I see. They definately look cool, and I am really happy that this isn't another "The endless created [insertracehere] and now they are doing their own thing."



Well, I'm off to go wage war with the new faction. The aliens (most of them. I always make a token ally.) must be subjegated in the name of Emperor Zelevas.

Panzer wrote:
Hey! Thanks for asking,



Lore wise the Automatons are much more isolationist than the Sowers as well as being more steampunk rather than the cyberpunk style that influenced the sowers. Also the Sowers inherently like to expand and develop planets to their fullest potential while the Automatons prefer to expand only when absolutely necessary as well as they believe in the peace of nature and harmony with all life, meaning they live in massive orbiting platforms that are constructed around planets which are what provides the FIDS for the Automatons.



Gameplay wise, the Automatons favor more of a diplomatic and defensive stance than the other civilizations. If you get Orbiting Platforms technology as well as Overproduction to Defense conversion, then your systems become Fortresses that take many tens of turns to seize and very difficult to fight over. Also the fact that you can save up overproduction means that even if you are surprised by a declaration of war you can quickly assemble fleets of ships to help stop the enemy. The list goes on as to the various things you can do with the Automatons, but that is the basics.



side note: The Automatons have dust maluses because their technology uses dust as fuel and even Automatons themselves are fueled by dust.



Hope you enjoy the faction!

Oh yeah, the Automatons are fun!



Well done Panzer!

M11xStryker wrote:
With this tech scheme,I have a massive break in system improvements between getting heavy isotopes and magnetic fields. By the time I get the magnetic fields building, it will take a few turns to actually finish.



With the Automotans affinity however, the magnetic fields finish immediately due to all that banked up production. I will need to play with them more, but I think the Automotans will be amazing for getting system improvements in short spurts.

As i started my first automotans game yesterday i exactly did this. And i felt this gave me a big advantage.

ferretersmith wrote:
I'm not sure "isolationist" is the right word for the Automatons Panzer. They're obviously very dependent on trade and keeping the peace with requires quite a bit of diplomacy. Isolationists would participate in as little diplomacy as possible. I see the Sowers as being more isolationist than Automatons based on their traits. As I'm writing this I realize you said "lore wise" which probably explains things but if that is the case then shouldn't their traits reflect that?

I Understand what you are saying and I agree with it fairly well, but to tell you the truth it was impossible to make the faction in the original way I envisioned. I tried my best to meet at the middle ground with the devs, and I tried to be reasonable with my lore "demands" haha. I understand it may not be exactly what people voted for, but it is the best that could be done under the circumstances.



I am sorry if the faction disappointing you, the devs and I tried our best!

Troodon wrote:
First of all, I just want to say how honored I feel to have the creator of this faction answer my question. Thank you.



Anyway, I see. They definately look cool, and I am really happy that this isn't another "The endless created [insertracehere] and now they are doing their own thing."



Well, I'm off to go wage war with the new faction. The aliens (most of them. I always make a token ally.) must be subjegated in the name of Emperor Zelevas.

Thank you very much I feel honored, but I am still trying to accept the fact that all this is happening.....

Panzer wrote:
Thank you very much I feel honored, but I am still trying to accept the fact that all this is happening.....

Yep, nice job! Maybe they just fit to my playstyle but I found them to be very fun and efficient to play.



Also the lore sounds interesting. Is there more to this that can be found somewhere here on the forums?

The interest rate needs to be higher at the start, the increase rate increase building is more a curse than a blessing, most of the time the original +2 ind per pop would have resulted in a bigger boost than what is realizable with the interest.. The biggest bonus I can see for the fact terran terraforming tech comes ALOT earlier than normal, and combined with a the terran hydrosequencing is incredibly strong. However, even with stacking, terraform to Terran is going to take a long time without already having the hydrosequencer.

The only real difference between the two hippie mechanical races is that Automatons (aka Clockwork Men) are major users and fans of Rolex.

Fresh_Undies wrote:
The only real difference between the two hippie mechanical races is that Automatons (aka Clockwork Men) are major users and fans of Rolex.

A conspiracy? D:

Snerch wrote:
Yep, nice job! Maybe they just fit to my playstyle but I found them to be very fun and efficient to play.



Also the lore sounds interesting. Is there more to this that can be found somewhere here on the forums?

Here you go

/#/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16432-fanfiction-the-automatons-faction-contest-timeline

/#/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16428-fan-art-the-automatons-faction-contest-fleet-base

/#/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16429-fan-art-the-automatons-faction-contest-protection-of-planets

/#/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16430-fan-art-the-automatons-faction-contest-the-end

Tredecim wrote:
A conspiracy? D:

Automatons are also good customers of Seiko