It's an upgrade for Pellaeon which gets unlocked for if/when you have Pellaeon later on in the game

Can I ask for the thought process behind it being set up like that? Locking integration awards behind specifics eras, much less specific characters, just seems...bizarre? Especially locking it to the very last era available?

I mean... its an integration award. Its an award you get for integrating a faction. An event that can happen at literally any time across any era. Why place character/time restrictions on it? I mean, presumably I already need to buy the damn thing in the first place. Is the, what, 30,000 credit cost not already enough? The other integration awards don't do this do they? You get crimson VSDs and stormtroopers right away if you integrate those respective factions, don't you?

And like, what if the player doesn't want to go to era 7? Personally I'm in era 3, with Thrawn, and to be honest, I'm was planning to stick with him for the long haul. Am I just ♥♥♥♥ out of luck? No Reaper for me? Does the Knight Hammer also work like this?

And even if I do decide to advance to Pellaeon... I'm in era 3. And now I got to go all the way to era 7? Win the entire civil war against the warlords, gain all the needed legitimacy to trigger Dark Epire, bumrush right through it, Jax, and Daala, hours upon hours of gameplay and grind, just to use a unit I unlocked all the way back with Thrawn?

And ok, even disregarding all that, what would happen if one of the other warlords triggers Dark Empire rather than the player? Granted, that would be an edge case, but it can happen. Would they just be ♥♥♥♥ out of luck too?

I'm just genuinely confused as to the logic behind this mechanic.

Originally posted by cspa8526:

Can I ask for the thought process behind it being set up like that? Locking integration awards behind specifics eras, much less specific characters, just seems...bizarre? Especially locking it to the very last era available?

I mean... its an integration award. Its an award you get for integrating a faction. An event that can happen at literally any time across any era. Why place character/time restrictions on it? I mean, presumably I already need to buy the damn thing in the first place. Is the, what, 30,000 credit cost not already enough? The other integration awards don't do this do they? You get crimson VSDs and stormtroopers right away if you integrate those respective factions, don't you?

And like, what if the player doesn't want to go to era 7? Personally I'm in era 3, with Thrawn, and to be honest, I'm was planning to stick with him for the long haul. Am I just ♥♥♥♥ out of luck? No Reaper for me? Does the Knight Hammer also work like this?

And even if I do decide to advance to Pellaeon... I'm in era 3. And now I got to go all the way to era 7? Win the entire civil war against the warlords, gain all the needed legitimacy to trigger Dark Epire, bumrush right through it, Jax, and Daala, hours upon hours of gameplay and grind, just to use a unit I unlocked all the way back with Thrawn?

And ok, even disregarding all that, what would happen if one of the other warlords triggers Dark Empire rather than the player? Granted, that would be an edge case, but it can happen. Would they just be ♥♥♥♥ out of luck too?

I'm just genuinely confused as to the logic behind this mechanic.

First off, are you seriously comparing an infantry unit and a frigate to a super star destroyer? When the Empire factions already have access to ludicrous amounts of super star destroyers? lol.

Secondly, have you just not bothered to learn about the new features that came with this update? Are you even aware of how the new era system and how Dark Empire/Later Imperial eras work now? I recommend you watch the videos on Corey's channel. You can keep Thrawn AND have era 7 Pellaeon at the same time provided you integrate 2 other Imperial warlord factions and get Dark Empire. Or you can have Thrawn and Palpatine. Or Thrawn and Carnor. Or Thrawn and Daala. You do not lose your Thrawn era heroes. This isn't 3.2 anymore bro.

If you sit back for a hundred weeks and let the AI get Dark Empire, that's your fault for sitting around and doing nothing all game. Don't expect to be given rewards for doing ♥♥♥♥ all.

1) I am actually. Because a cheap, limitless infantry unit and frigate aren't one-offs that cost 30,000 credits and are locked behind a specific character in a specific era.
2) Not Thrawn's faction. Not until you defeat the other warlords and start Dark Empire.

3) I did actually, and my point stands. I recall quotes such as "our primary goal is to give as many ways for emergent and sensible storytelling within the galactic level of the game as possible with these mechanics", "You're now free to stay in a given regime for as long as you like instead of a timer kicking you out", and even "all of these possibilities allow for many different ways to play through the game as any imperial faction".

Touting all this emergent storytelling and different ways to play, only to lock the Reaper and Knight Hammer behind specific eras and characters makes no sense. Like, If you're NR and you defeat Isard, you can upgrade Wedge to get it right away, with the only constraint being that 30,000 credit cost. Why exactly can't the Reaper work like that?

If I defeat Kaine's faction, why shouldn't I be able to get his ship right away? Again, there's already a restriction of it being 30,000 credits (plus you know, having to defeat an entire faction). If Thrawn defeats and integrates the PA, why would he wait until he's already won the civil war against the other warlords and then some to finally use the Reaper?

Seriously, the Reaper already has entirely sufficient restrictions in the cost and faction defeat requirement. This extra era/character lock is a pointlessly extreme restriction that's there for, as far as I can tell, absolutely no reason. Worse, it directly goes against their stated goal of emergent storytelling and varied ways to play.

4) But you didn't do ♥♥♥♥ all. That's exactly my point. You defeated an entire faction, but if the AI beats you to the punch you get jack all. Also, things like challenge runs, cruel AI, or just simple roleplaying can result in the AI getting Dark Empire. For example, if you want to play as GM, integrate the PA, then let the Empire take Zsinj and the EA so you can challenge yourself/roleplay as an Imperial faction fighting against the Dark Empire, you can do that. That's a thing they let you do. Its you literally creating an emergent storyline, of which they very much encourage players doing stuff like this.

But unintentional or not, with Reaper and Knight Hammer set up like this, they're punishing you for it.

Because they *are* specific ships for specific people which come in specific ways. They probably won't stay in the integration reward list because while that was the simplest way for us to set up the backend for having the upgrades unlock for those characters under the right circumstances (since it's a necessary though not sufficient condition for getting them), it can lead to confusion like this even with other documentation showing it's not what happens. The overall conditions still wouldn't be changing though.

It's not "punishing you" for anything, though. Not being able to build a massive amount of SSDs without restrictions (especially at reduced prices) is the furthest thing from a punishment. These are things which were never available to other factions before in the first place and I'm not sure where you'd get the idea that the default position should be you get to build the flagship of any other heroes you beat regardless. The character/regime locks (eras are not regimes, which you seem to be getting confused) are the *primary* intended restriction- they're additional upgrades for two specific characters, rather than a secondary additional thing. If not for those characters having that option to upgrade, they would not be available in the first place any more than any other ship from other factions. Even the Wedge upgrade example isn't analogous because Wedge is actually there, Pellaeon and Daala as leaders of the fleet aren't (Daala isn't at all, and Pellaeon is situationally available for 1-2 of the factions, some of the time). The integration mechanic was just the simplest backend to make sure the other criteria for those ships (the PA/Eriadu being taken over) was *also* satisfied.

We're not the first game, including emergent story-driven mechanic games, to have conditions for events which are necessary but not sufficient on their own.

Mild necroposting but came across this post with the same question, it absolutely makes sense balance wise now that I understand but the tooltip IS pretty unclear, maybe that could be addressed in a future patch (if the system stays this way anyway)?

I don't mind the tooltip, it's not all that confusing. However it is a little strange, because Pellaeon can already upgrade into the Megador, even if you don't unlock the Reaper. And if you choose to upgrade him to either one, you lose access to the other. And on top of this, you could even argue that either upgrade is just a sidegrade at best - If you were to instead pair Pellaeon in his Chimera with a normal generic SSD, or with Rogriss' Dominion, it would actually be a more powerful combination because then Pellaeon's buff would affect the larger ship, whereas it wouldn't if it was him alone.

So in a strange way, getting the reward can make you feel like you're losing out. I think this would be greatly mitigated by giving Pellaeon the Ackbar-like ability to swap out his flagship in the government tab, so he could then switch between the Chimera/Megador/Reaper as appropriate. While this doesn't help the self-buffing problem, it would at least allow the player to feel as though they have access to the tools they've unlocked.

Though I think there probably is more to be said about the system as a whole, specifically about how it works out in practice considering era starts, the regime progression, and how it would work going forward. For example Daala upgrading to the Knight Hammer seems like a cool reward until you realize that in one more regime shift you can get two more SSDs. Which may lead the player to just rush through Daala's era - This could maybe be fixed by unlocking Rogriss' and Pellaeon's upgrades early, or maybe by just unlocking the potential Reaper upgrade for Pellaeon at the same time. Alternatively the Knight Hammer could have some kind of special ability to make the player want to prioritize it, like some kind of stealth function fitting with it's lore.

Aside from all that, the question is what the player will even be doing with their toys. Personally I've found that the factions rarely, if ever, ramp up their power at an equitable rate. If you get DE for example, chances are you've already scoured the map of challengers. If you progress to the late Imperial regimes from an early start, by the time you get KH or Reaper or Megador/Dominion, you're already in a position of strength, especially since getting KH or Reaper requires you to be winning.

This may be where crisis events come in in the future? Frankly I wish the Black Fleet had some kind of unlocked popcap so they could actually deploy their SSDs all together, because half the time I invade N'Zoth they don't bother reinforcing so suddenly half their forces disappear from reality when I win the battle.