Heres another Pirate Faction concept as a possiblity to fit into ES:



Home Planet: Huge Asteroid

Diplomatic: Neutral

Gameplay: Pirate and Enslave

Main Victory Type: Economic/Population



The Esper Tyranny are the most hunted Pirate Faction in the known galaxy. Their dark, slick and brutal ships prowl the space lanes to predate on any unprotected shipping, searching for opportunities to sneak under the system defences of worlds to strip them of their populations and possessions; all of which is traded for a tidy profit on the Esper Slave Worlds that sit among the pockets of mostly ignored free space left in the galaxy. Led by a Code laid down by the Transmorphygant Tyrant; the chaotic nature of these pirates of mixed race, creed and religon have been held in check for eons, turning them into a ruthless and organised criminal cartel of intergalactic proportions. No authority in the galaxy has ever discovered the true Esper Capital, some whisper that it exists between the reality of life and death, an ancient starport created by the Endless, the last of its kind among all of the relics left by them. Some even dare to suggest that the Tyrant itself is an Endless being, a being who for some dark or uncomprehensible purpose feeds upon the souls of the living deep within a vast chamber the size of a small moon filled entirely with the Dust tributes of a thousand worlds!



Esper Traits

Slavers = After the successful invasion of a populated system; for each turn thereafter until it is either interrupted through a successful enemy invasion or the entire system is depleted of Pop (reverting back to a neutral system) one unit of population will be converted into 100 Dust. The invaded system provides no additional Dust from the Pop in the system other than through depletion via slavery.



Underground Tech Trading = All Research is conducted by purchasing Tech using Dust, all Science Points are converted to Dust instead on any Esper colonies at the ratio of 2 SP to 1 Dust.



Scavengers = All Industry is converted into Dust instead on any Esper colonies at the ratio of 2 IP to 1 Dust.



The Nether Market = All Star System improvements and Ships are built using the total Dust production of the system they are being built at. As a result every product that the Espers can build has a Dust price. You can use your Dust treasury to speed up the build like any other Faction.



Poor Colonists = -1 Pop on all worlds to a minimim of 1 Pop.



Fast, Furious and Reckless = +3 movement on Ships, +20% Max and Min Ship Weapon Damage, -15% HP on Ships.



Pirates! = For every Trade Route established in the Galaxy gain +50 Dust.



Thick as Thieves = -20% Research Points on system.



The Code = +5 Ship Experience on Empire, +5% on Military Power on all Fleets when invading.

Kingherod wrote:
No, I don't like it. Interesting idea and you have put a lot of thought into it. Perhaps you could make a gameplay mod or an adventure mode that incorporated this idea.

Making a Mod is a possibility and seeing them get alot more attention and love from the Devs is alot more desirable.



Too many games have this Quasi-Wild Card Faction element that somehow seems more like a nuisance to be switched off in the options screen than actually adding anything useful to the gameplay experience of the player.



The CIV series gradually cottoned on to the idea of doing more with the Barbarians including building up Neutral City State Factions as a kind of spin off to the concept.



I'm not necessarily advocating that path for Pirates in Endless Space, what I am advocating is that if Endless Space is going to have this sort of mechanic, more thought definitely needs to be put into it.



Given how much of a Dark Future background this game has, it would be a ripe development point to bring a Faction of Pirates into the story rather than sit around in the background and be for the most part ignored into speculation.



There is a ton of potential and a ton of fun in making something out of them. Its been great seeing a fair few threads commenting on the possibilities they could present to enrich the gameplay experience.



Just imagine the Heroes you could get from a faction like this... what interesting and colouful backgrounds they'd have at the very least...

No, I don't like it. Interesting idea and you have put a lot of thought into it. Perhaps you could make a gameplay mod or an adventure mode that incorporated this idea.