It's been a busy few days for Amplitude Studios. They've brought back The United Empire, which we've discussed already in a separate article but we've also got three new minor factions to go along with them. We've also got your standard gameplay changes, such as an open marketplace to hire mercenary leaders of any race or background and exchanging resources ect. ect. and a new technology era, Era 4.
The Pilgrims, Amoeba, and Z'vali are our new minor factions in Endless space 2. Two of them, The Pilgrims and the Z'vali fall under the technologist category, boosting your science in one way or another. The Amoeba fall under the new category introduced in this most recent update. The Amoeba are Eusocial, which means they provide plus 2 food for your empire, a valuable trait in the early game.
New abilities have been added, allowing for you to raze your own systems (not unlike a certain other game I've talked about) for monetary gain. There's a new ownership mechanic, meaning that, it will take turns before gaining ownership of any particular system. But apart from bringing back the United Empire the thing that's gotten the most attention is the list of fixes, ranging from things as small as displaying Dust requirements on the ship design screen to things as important as not receiving rewards for completing a quest.
Keep in mind, this is the first of three major updates planned for Endless Space 2. And already we've gotten one major faction, three minor factions and new technologies and an entirely new tech era. And the game isn't even completed! It's available for Early Access on Steam for $29.99.