Favourite factions

[Atbi20lik]

Hey there, I would like to hear out about your favourite faction and what do you like about it. Please do not argue with other people, troll or defend a faction like a fanboy. Lets just hear out what people like and why, smile.

[Bozobub]

Vaulters and Umbral Choir. Both have relatively interesting questlines and (to me) pleasing, unusual mechanics. Although the UC is more difficult to use as a custom faction (you have to give up a lot of traits) =o.

Pros and cons of both ("vanilla") races, in my opinion:

Vaulters
Pros:

• Portals. As OP as any other single OP mechanic in the game (and there are many). Ludicrously useful!
  
• VERY strong and versatile scout hulls, excellent for early "glass cannon" rushes but also quite good as *scouts*.
  
• Very strong troops and fortifications.
  
• Excellent Science economy, if slightly lackluster in Industry.
  
• Excellent colonizer (the Argosy), which a) starts colonies *instantly* (no outpost delay or drag on your economy), and b) is the fastest early ship.
  
• Pleasing (to me) questline, including meaningful interaction with Auriga.
  
• Good base for custom faction designs.

Cons:

• A bit light in Industry, at first.
  
• 2nd-tier (3 CP) attack ships a little weaker, at the same tech level, than many other factions. Note that you'll often be WAY ahead in tech, played properly =).
  
• Slightly slower, more methodical expansion than many factions.

Umbral Choir

• Very different mechanics! Although this could be a "con", for many people, I'm sure.
  
• That's about all I have; they're too new for a more informed opinion. But I DO enjoy playing the faction a good bit, so far ^^'.

[chefcook90]

ooooooh, it's really hard to pick a single favorite, so Instead I'm gonna list the factions I like the most and what I like about them, in no particular order.

Horatio -
* Horatio is awesome. Self-made trillionaire, single-handedly reverse-engineered and MASTERED Endless cloning tech to ridiculous degree, and built his own empire from scratch.
Sure he's a total narcissist, but he actually has the chops to back it up.
Also his diplomacy dialogue is hilarious.
* Loved his faction quest, especially the twist ending route.
* Fun gameplay affinty - not too overpowered, but has lots of potential and adds a lot of replay value.
* Faction also has great scouting and heavy luxury resource output, which is great since trade and exploration are two of my favorite aspects of the game.

Vaulters -
* Loved their faction quest, great continuation of their story from Endless Legend, actually ties into the Academy quest, and gives a whole new meaning to the opening title cutscene of Endless Legend.
* They might not have the strongest ships in terms of raw combat ability, but their privateer / boarding-pod fighting style really appeals to me.
* Also neat having a faction that specializes in ground combat
* Great QoL - Argosy has potentially 5 engines, which is crazy for a colonizer - unique engines double as repair modules - portals are super convenient in general - Carriers have EIGHT freaking utility slots lol - used to have the best exploration ships in the game before the UC came out.

Lumeris -
* Easily my favorite opening cutscene out of all the factions.
* Love the mobster aesthetic, which really comes through in the faction quest and the music
* Big on trade and economy, which again, is a big plus for me.
* Sure the Vaulters might have a colonizer with 5 engines, but these guys don't even NEED colonizers.

Hissho -
* Aztec Samurai Gladiator Bird people. What part of that isn't awesome?
* You get a much better sense of what their culture is actually like compared to the first game.
* Probably my favorite ships in terms of aesthetic design.
* I actually really like their gameplay affinity - it rewards you for playing well and punishes you for playing badly. It also has a lot of synergy with their Dictatorship government type and actually encourages you to swap political parties to adapt to different situations.
* HONOR!!!
* Do You Even PRAISE THE SUN?!

Umbral Choir -
* Not gonna lie, I actually love how silly OP these guys are and how asymmetrical their playstyle is compared to every other faction. Sure, the Vodyani and Riftborn are OP, but the UC takes it to an absolutely LUDICROUS degree, and it's AMAZING.
* I also really like them conceptually - they're easily the most ALIEN race in the series, way beyond even the Unfallen and the Riftborn.
* innate stealth + 4 utility slots = best explorers in the game

Honorable mentions:

United Empire -
DRINK!

Unfallen -
* Solid and interesting take on what a race of tree people would actually behave like.
* Faction quest ties in with both the Academy Quest AND indirectly with Endless Legend.
Koyasil is actually a sentient Lost planet just like Auriga was (except almost perfectly healthy instead of dying) and the Unfallen are to Koyasil as the Allayi were to Auriga. Even the Guardians are, well, GUARDIANS

Sophons -
* was my favorite faction in the original ES
* maybe not the most interesting faction to play as, but definitely a well-balanced one.
* Their Carriers are ACTUALLY carriers!
* Ties with Riftborn for my second-favorite diplomacy dialogue behind Horatio.

Vodyani -
* strong ships, even stronger heroes
* Arks a are cool gameplay mechanic, even if the constant refits are kinda annoying.

[RED /(Weber)\]

The ones I like.

[Spacesuit Spiff]

They're all different enough to be enjoyable in their own way imo. Except perhaps the Lumeris. Favorites would be Vodyani, UC, and Riftborn for their varying types of explosive growth.

[utilityguy]

Unfallen was my go to faction in this game due to their presentation and creature design. Speaking of creature design, I adore the Umbral Choir for looking so cool!

...don't really have much to add outside of that.

[harperhendee]

I would say my favorite factions are the Umbral Choir, the Riftborn, and the Sophons.

Umbral Choir:
Love the design and art of this faction. They're easily the most alien out of all the races. Also, there gameplay of staying hidden until you ambush and abduct an entire system is super fun. In addition, they have the least amount micromanagement.

Riftborn:
I love being the baron of industry in 4X games so it is probably not surprising that I love the riftborn. Also, once again, I love thier art.

Sophons:
"Make a better world. Then blow it up. With Science!"
The personality of the Sophons is just so amazing. Every time I just fall in love with these guys.

[Exarch_Alpha]

Which one has the easiest early game? Any tips for the Hissho? When it´s practical to conquer minors (regarding turns - by turn 30?) Or it still is better to just integrate?

[MajinSoul]

I'd say the Cravers have a rather easy early game due to the huge FIDSI output on undepleted planets. That will hurt you though if you cannot make use of that momentum.

I'd say my favourite are the Hissho. What's not to like about japanese bird samurai people that seek honorful intergalactic warfare

[ChiliOil]

Hissho! I LOVE the samurai space chickens! They remind me too much of myself and thier playstyle fits mine well. You can afford to completely ignore the happiness system, so they can tough it out on those barren planets and gas giants for the glory of the Hissho Empire, and you can afford to conquer every last spec of dust you come across -- once again, in the name, and for the glory of, the hissho empire.

Who needs colonization and approval when you have Juggernauts?

[McGeeZac]

Vodyani faction

Vodyani mechanic turns the game into real estate tycoon and HR management... Unlike other factions you will be filled to brim to dusts early and late game! Then you get to hire your muscles (big ships) to steam roll your sacrifices and basically win the game at around 200 turn in endless duration / endless pirate / impossible mode. which is ridiculous. My vodyani almost always the first to get the first few wonders, even though AIs get huge amount of bonus in that mode. My Vodyani has so much science and industry once i properly expanded. I think Vodyani is overpowered.

[MerlinCross]

Originally posted by McGeeZac:

Vodyani faction

Vodyani mechanic turns the game into real estate tycoon and HR management... Unlike other factions you will be filled to brim to dusts early and late game! Then you get to hire your muscles (big ships) to steam roll your sacrifices and basically win the game at around 200 turn in endless duration / endless pirate / impossible mode. which is ridiculous. My vodyani almost always the first to get the first few wonders, even though AIs get huge amount of bonus in that mode. My Vodyani has so much science and industry once i properly expanded. I think Vodyani is overpowered.

I'm fairly scrub to the game but how? Their starting turns seem very make or break espically with the pirates you have to fight in the first 10 turns usually. You almost always seem behind given population and Arks work. Sure you can cash up but that doesn't turn into Science which seems to be the faction's weak point of just keeping up with tech.

They seem to want everything but feel so starved for everything they can't help but burn out. You need ships to feed you need industry to power that, and then manpower to staff the ships but you can't make them fast enough either, and if you rush money.... gah it's a confusing spiraling mess.

Thus far, I like the Unfallen and the Riftborn. I rarely have to worry about food, happyness and fighting as the Unfallen while the Riftborn have an easier population mechanic than the Vodyani.

[Atbi20lik]

Originally posted by 5d6fireball:

Please do not argue with other people, troll or defend a faction like a fanboy. Lets just hear out what people like and why, smile.