E n d l e s s S pac e 2

Creating a 4X with personality, politics and peril

he Lumeris are Endless Space 2’ s trading faction. They’re masters at generating Dust, the currency of the galaxy’s more primitive inhabitants. An hour into my session with Amplitude’s 4X sequel, I’m generating hundreds of Dust per turn. An aggressive minor faction sends a fleet of ships in my direction. In retaliation, I bribe them into subjugation.

TIf you’ve played EndlessLegend, you’ll be familiar with Amplitude’s asymmetrical approach to factions. The differences go beyond units and bonuses—each has its own specific purpose, ideology and systems. For instance, the Lumeris don’t send big ships filled with millions of people to colonize planets. Instead, they spend Dust to instantly construct an outpost, staking a claim to the world. From there, it’s a case of growing the outpost’s size until the planet is declared fully colonized. If another species starts construction of a colony ship destined for that planet, or another Lumeris faction builds a rival outpost, it’s a race to see who can claim it first.

The Vodyani are the second new faction of EndlessSpace2’ s early access release. Uplifted by the ancient and powerful Endless, they live in giant Ark ships that can leech resources from the planets they orbit. In a way, they’re extreme environmentalists. Their terrestrial home was destroyed by the overexploitation of its resources, and now they’re keen to prevent the same from happening elsewhere. Luckily, planets

“it would be better to have an unbalanced game with crazy factions”