Is Umbral Choir actually any good?

[Lavan]

Past a certain point it just seems like everyone puts defensive programs on every system and there are no paths long enough because theres never two nodes in a row that aren't protected by something. Really seems like I just need to play them like a conquest faction and hacking is just a minor thing rather than a core component. Supposed to be sneaky faction but seems more like its just another bash your face in type.

[utilityguy]

Last time I played as teh Umbral Choir On higher difficulties, which has been about more than a year now, it really did feel like the A.I Recieves enough free Bandwidth to allow them to always have the system I want to access have defense programs.

From my experience, the Umbral Choir is hard pressed to expand wide and fast through rushing the Hacking Technologies, as what makes them powerful are the Technologies that count every sanctuary for combining bonuses on their one system. Once the Early Sanctuary rush is over, the easiest way for the Umbral Choir to expand is through weakening the target player enough through war/Pirate Mercenaries in so much you are left with free systems to turn into sanctuaries... not to mention that the Umbral Choir has a technology that allows them to automatically turn Population of Conquered Systems into Super Umbral Choir pops, or burn them into lots of Dust when the home system is full.

I usually, if not always, play a generally peaceful Choir. So I see the Umbral Choir becoming crazy once you unlock and build the trading technologies, as all Sanctuaries count as Subsidiaries, so you can easily have an extremely profitable trading company from just your own systems--assuming you rushed as many sanctuaries as possible early on. And that's not to mention putting all the economy behemoths in the home system.

[Sloan]

Originally posted by Lavan:

Really seems like I just need to play them like a conquest faction and hacking is just a minor thing rather than a core component.

Umbral Choir relies on hacking as a primary way of playing the game. Does the faction seem incomprehensible? The guide will help you.

[Lavan]

Originally posted by Sloan:

Originally posted by Lavan:

Really seems like I just need to play them like a conquest faction and hacking is just a minor thing rather than a core component.

Umbral Choir relies on hacking as a primary way of playing the game. Does the faction seem incomprehensible? The guide will help you.

None of the guides really address the problem of playing against defenses, they all just talk like hacking auto-succeeds every time. The faction is pretty straightforward it just seems like it doesn't accomplish its goal, you can't stay in the shadows when literally every node has a defense on it. And I do mean literally, I've probed every node in this half of the map and they all started traces. Can't reach other half of the map because its the figure 8 so have to go through the trace to reach the rest.

Really seems like the only way to make hacking work at this point is to blow up enemy systems through war so they can't make defensive programs there but at that point I might as well just go all in on war and forget about this sneaky business.

Sleepers are cute but even the guides say they're basically useless and to just convert them to shadows as soon as you can

[utilityguy]

I just played the Umbral Choir today.

So, the stuff about Trade Subsidiaries per Sanctuary seems to have been changed--well--deleted, so don't count on that.

Also, it really is feast or famine depending on how bad your start is. The main way you expand in the mid to late game and beyond is by rushing all the hacking technologies and getting a few Umbral Choir heroes to the point you can use their Hacking speed Boost Senate abilities, as all those bonuses will net you the best chance at Brute Forcing through the A.I who likes to set up Tracking measures once you set up a sanctuary, backdoor, and/or sleeper. THankfully, having four hacking operations sure helps a lot.

edit:
Nevermind what I said about Trade Subsidiaries per sanctuary not being a thing anymore, it just takes two turns for them to turn on.

[Groo the one]

I better offer some links about hacking and Umbral Choir, for to let check it out on your own:

1) https://community.amplitude-studios.com/amplitude-studios/endless-space-2/blogs/655-penumbra-invisible-hacking-space-wraiths

2) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1636873426

3) https://community.amplitude-studios.com/amplitude-studios/endless-space-2/forums/71-strategy-guides/threads/33236-penumbra-dlc-video-tutorials-hacking-cloaking-and-ubral-choir?page=1

Also the Umbral Choir faction quest chapter 3 rewards you with the independent law "Burning Metal", what offers +5% Hacking Speed per Backdoor on Empire...

To answer your question: Umbral Choir is op, as long as you learn how to play UC faction and how to hack effectively. Also you should hack systems close to other factions home systems early on, for to create backdoors in the heart of their growing empires.

[Ericus1]

I would echo what utilityguy said. You're in a race against time to get those early sanctuaries down, and then hacking defenses become so hardened it basically becomes moot. Late game the AI clears pops faster than you can turn them.

They were a powerful faction given a decent start, and you can get incredibly tall with them so winning wasn't really an issue. I just don't know how much actual "fun" I had playing with them, since I find the entire hacking system fairly tedious. That is obvious a very subjective opinion, of course.

tl;dr: They are "good" if you can lay down a good set of sanctuaries early, but I don't know how "fun" they are.

[Kyutaru]

Idk if the faction is strong or not, but he heroes are absolutely bonkers. I hired a UC guardian for my team and he's untouchable, making a three ship team able to take down behemoths. I think it's due to the evasion boosting, but he's also adding a ton of damage and lvl 3 stealth detection. He's my favorite commander by far even though my primary faction one adds like double the damage to his fleet.