Horatio Expert Guide - Endless Space 2 - Turns 1-30

First 30 turns of 4XAlchemist playing the Horatio from Endless Space 2 on Endless Difficulty with Hard Pirates. Extensive commentary on multiple Horatio-specific and general strategies.

[@Stiguardable]

The game need people like you. This tutorial is very necessary to undestand the mechanics of ES2.

[@4XAlchemist]

Thanks, mate! Glad you enjoyed!

[@mattbrassfield2291]

Core mechanics to the overall game yes. But to that particular start.. He lost that game because of the choices of his 1st tech and building mechanics.

[@DeathComesQuick666]

watching these guides in 2022 has me loling at a lot of stuff that has been changed since this video was made. Horatio are MVP and i regularly win domination with them, and early harass the unfallen and vodyani all the time.

[@VandaarSO]

Both of you guys made a admirable work to raise the level of knowledge of the players base of this game ! I can't even watch other youtubers video because i see how much mistales they make now ! Keep the good work and i can't wait for your guide for the vodyani !

[@4XAlchemist]

Thanks! We will be sharing our thoughts on the Vodyani soon. We are going to splice together a couple of clips as to why they are so broken and either win or lose at the beginning of the game soon.

[@sedghammer]

Your mic sounds a lot better on this one! Thanks so much for all of your great content.

[@TS-qv1sp]

Horatio is my favorite! I learned a TON about how to play with this video, but the most valuable takeaway was validation that the balance is off and it's not my fault for having difficulty with this faction. Thank you for doing this guide!

[@mattbrassfield2291]

He did an okay job with them, but mid-max critque and mistakes where made... that first planet choosing to colonize was horrendous, tiny ocean... :( that hurt my heart... HOT HOT HOT!. you want those bonuses bc when you have 200 horatio you should be Loyal and Devoted mostly the entire playthrough. As well splicing is not bad, Splicing early is great... once you get to turn 80 horatio your production sky rockets. Late game you can have the BIoFuel Planets at all your systems, all that food from those max planets can be converted to Production, Science or Dust...

[@LeeJohnApeDor]

Love the videos guys! Sad to concur with you over the weakness of Horatio (I put a long race rating post rating them lowest on the forums). I totally agree with that bug making them viable. It was awesome and made you question whether it was really worth colonising that extra planet and losing the industry. I hope Amplitude reconsider! Looking forward to the next vid.

[@stevemorris3746]

My take on Horatio is that they are a jack of all trades master of none faction. Very flexible, but never as strong at any one thing as a faction dedicated to that. Because of that and the dictator ship early game they are not very good at multi tasking. Certain tasks like ship building, building up your empire, expanding pretty much anything is an empire wide affair. These tasks are improved by having your dictator ship help. You need a bit of fore sight and planning but you can preemptively swap out the party in charge to better fit the task your doing. An example of this is using ecologist for expansion, Militarist for war ect... To do this you need to get the influence to pass at least level one party laws. I think Horatio works best when he is dedicated to a single task. Im referring to everything from the sciences your picking, to the things your producing, to what party is in charge. When all of that is working in unison towards a common goal Horatio feels a bit more together if that makes any sense. Im not a fan of food first though. Your never going to have enough food to expand and grow your population at the same time. So to me it feels like a better idea to get the production first. Xeno industrial gives you ten per planet. Pair that with hardship ready and you can easily get 20 or more production from that one building by taking a second planet in your system. You could even double down on production if you start with metals in your system. Im thinking up to the first election is a build up and expansion period where you build your basic infrastructure and expand. The post first election cycle is where you consolidate what you managed to take and build up your infrastructure and ships. From there each election cycle is played by ear as you need to. Atleast thats just what I think. I enjoy problem solving and trying to find the strength is supposedly weak things and this video got me interested in Horatio. I think I know why you can not find an optimum way to run Horatio. On a pure comparison level on best case scenario Horatio is always going to come up short because they are not great at any one thing. The thing is in game rarely are two empires ever in the same position. Earlier today I played a game where I got set next to a rift born and a craver. I managed to steal several systems from the rift born and pin them on two systems. They declared war. I managed to get seven ships, out number the rift born, spliced their population and went toe to toe with a hard craver in terms of ship production. I went all in Military, started spamming ships, passed the lower fleet cost law and managed to invade two craver systems. Got enough pop to splice and once I got better weapons than the cravers it was all over. So I don't think Horatio is as bad as you make them out to be.

[@m3ntal_c0re]

reminds me a bit of eldar in dawn of war which need to bring a specialist to every situation...but yet your saying Horatio is jack of all trades I guess my brain cant handle it 😂

[@mattbrassfield2291]

@@m3ntal_c0re Bc sir, in the outset video of the Horatio, where others exposed hatred, i found love, i found genius. ___ bc the things that work on other races don't work on Horatio. This guy believes that Xeno Industrial Infrastructure and Xeno-Biology... ' that is the core to a successful early game' for Horatio if you start on a System with Lux Sources and Anomalies. You can actually make more than those 2 buildings at 6-8 pops takes some turns to get to that point.... Secondly the mid game Food is King.... for horatio a percent of food increase the Influence gain per turn. Bioplant Reactors on the Empire Development page converts all food to production at a max colony 2,000 food can make 2,000 production... but this happens in cycles. Population will die off but it will only take one turn to get the production back. For FIDSI looking Original Empire Population... since we are making a perfect singular race... ohh that race can Be Converted to Horatio if you have Citizen you don't want to Splice bc it takes time to grow the pop or the Resource to mass produce that pop is to expensive... gene Lab tier 4 building converts 1 person to the Original Population... Look for Civs that give production --- science or dust first..... Production would be regarded higher than the others. And finally rule of thumb plan accordingly... you looking to go for the late game...

[@zeroisnine]

Been playing a lot of Horatio on Endless lately, just to figure out a good stable start for them. Here are my comments from my personal experiences: (if something here was mentioned, I apologize, I skim through the videos) 1) The Horatio colonizer has a defense/support slot. Generally useless, but a single module does allow you to hit the 59 defense requirement for the faction quest. 2) If you don't want to assimilate a minor faction, do not even start the quest. Sometimes completing a quest (and subsequently assimilating a faction) is unavoidable due to the nature of the quest goal. 3) I'm not entirely sure about their technology path. It's all really quite awful because it takes forever to research and even longer to build. (I really wish the Hot planetary upgrade was at tier 2 rather than tier 3) I'm almost wondering if an early fleet and early fleet technology would be better in order to complete the next combat objectives for the faction quest faster. I'll have to explore more on this in the future. #MHGA

[@AdlaiNewson]

with this video you have pleased the most perfect

[@dukelornek]

I would love to see updates on these videos as I'm pretty sure their has been some major changes since you posted these. I just started playing the game and greatly appreciate the guides.

[@McSilverbones]

Love your work!

[@VisionsDark]

Choose Horatio, Choose perfection.

[@robertcartledge826]

amazing start for horatio, they are my fav civ :D personally id rush the riftborn to splice them into horatios to make them awesome like riftborn pops are ^^ then once you find a few minor civs that boost food and assimilate them horatios grow super super fast, do it right and their fids becomes so insane so quickly that it more than compensates for their weak ships and poor ship production. Horatios ARE very weak at the start, but the challenge of building them up is super fun + they can become way better than anyone else, the key to good horatio is getting them there soon enough that it compensates for their bad start. because horatio pops tends to get alot of food dust and science it can be worthwhile to focus colonisation on desert, ash, lava then use horatios crazy fids stats to compensate for the negatives so that you have strong prod, or do the opposite, on ice, artic, barren and buyout relevant production buildings to make them viable so you have massive science conquest is the far better option rather than influence assimilation, it massively speeds up how fast you can splice lots of differant pops. make up for their weak ships by focusing military techs to gain advantage, quickly assimilating the starter sci/happy pop helps alot for science if your growing your horatios fast enough, and though food is ideal for fast growth theres a few other sci boosting races, each minor boost helps with the snowball. it helps in mid game to buyout lots of that industry building that adds +20 per planet also their food focus helps generate plenty of manpower for all the invasion you need for invasions. and their small pop bonuses arnt a problem because they all stack - like i mentioned earlier about the food minor civs, they should be 1st priority even if you have to skip other pops because you can get your horatios to earn 10-20 food each, wich makes your horatio pops grow so so fast that pop benifits matter. finnaly when your splicing becomes expensive have a few systems dedicated to growth of new minor pops, have no horatios there and all food improvements and use those systems just to grow new pops you want to splice.

[@Tracks777]

Brilliant work! Keep it up!

[@tomassullivan4422]

you prolly dont give a shit but if you guys are bored like me during the covid times you can watch pretty much all of the latest series on instaflixxer. I've been binge watching with my girlfriend these days :)

[@allenjoaquin7803]

@Tomas Sullivan Yup, I have been watching on InstaFlixxer for years myself :D

[@mattbrassfield2291]

i personally don't think so ... he misrepresents the Race, its sad how he tries to play like the other races.

[@thelheo7763]

I liked the visualisation of the quest lines and and paths they are. I would love to see that for every race.

[@covovker]

Another thing about the quest is putting a defensive module on beautifier. It may be pain to produce 5 fighters in the early game, and you really need 2 or 3 to beat the quest fleet, and getting the quest part done earlier might worth it.

[@wizard380]

good stuff. really sad you will not make a vodyani...was looking forward to it

[@Owlr4ider]

I feel that your analysis on gene slicing in the late game(your 200 horatios hypothetical) is a bit off for the simple reason that population room is limited by slots on your planets so when you get close to filling up all of your planets you can't get additional pops without more expansion(which isn't always possible and in the late game will incur heavy happiness penalties) thus changing the equation of fidsi from pop based buildings vs losing some pops to splicing to better your other pops needs to take population space into account as well as your food output which determines how quickly you'll fill back the pops you lost due to splicing(which isn't all of them by the way, it's typically less than the value required for the splicing itself). Otherwise great guide, extremely helpful to getting a solid idea on what to do with each faction in the early game. I feel that there's something missing, a general direction of where to go after those initial 30 turns, this goes for all your guides not just this 1. While your guides provides a great starting point for every faction it's not really clear on the direction you suggest going in beyond these initial turns. What I mean is that after you get the initial snowball that all your guides provide, do you plan on continuing more peacefully(typically after taking out your closest neighbor) and aiming for 1 of the peaceful victory condition(and which one) or continue down the warpath aiming for either conquest or expansion as well as some pointers or milestones on what to aim for/expect in the mid and late game leading up to the eventual victory condition you're aiming for. Also, now with the 1.1 patch it would be great to hear your thoughts on the Horatio now, as well as all the other factions too.

[@jmbtsang]

Now make the most broken custom race!

[@TheDuckofLaw]

really enjoyed this. just got the game and i'm having fun. still a ton to learn

[@stevemorris3746]

I stumbled upon a fairly safe, at least from my experiences due to being able to hold off a hard craver with it, population based opening for Horatio that allows you to expand quickly while growing your population and allows for some down time to build ships to defend yourself. It is based around stacking a bunch of % food bonuses from buildings, laws, skills and happiness to create a huge surplus of food for new colonies and population. I can give you details if your interested.

[@4XAlchemist]

Definitely interested to hear about it and try it out! I find food snowballs difficult to manage if they require a lot of high IND buildings but would definitely try something if you found out about it!

[@stevemorris3746]

This one only requires two food buildings and spin projects. Namely the sustainable farms and intensive cultivation logistics for the 20%. You also want to use the 20% food from anomaly law if you can. The 10% food from clone wares hero skill and the 25% food from ecstatic. Once you set that up on a system it will slowly begin to snowball as each population boosts the food output which gets boosted even further by the % bonuses. I did the math and boosting your population is going to give you about as much production as early production buildings. Tech wise you want sustainable farms, intensive cultivation logistics, ships and spin projects then you sweep down into the science tree and grab up any colonize tech you need. I set it up so that when your done with your farms you have nothing to build but ships, but because your grabbing colony techs your still boosting your fidsi output without clogging up the build que. Once your done with colony techs you sweep up and grab the two base production techs for a good boost to production, market techs and astrofinances to set up your economy. All of that is going to take about 40 or so turns on normal speed. Give you 300-400 production, 25ish pop in your capitol, 15ish in any other colonies, one to two fleets of ships and a huge population to take advantage of a 4 per person luxury. It gives you a strong spring board into the mid game. The first 20 or so turns are going to feel a bit slow, but by setting up that food foundation you can turn your attention to defense and expansion while your population grows. It isn't perfect. Im sure there is a hole in there some where, but I did use it in a game against a mass expansion craver to great effect. Because this build makes use of some influence for laws on turn 40 if you really need to you can switch to militarists, pass the fleet cost reduction law and almost match a craver ship for ship. Though I do caution against early aggression. Horatio's base hulls for the weapon and tool are better geared towards defense and only once you get an advanced hull or frigates can you mount an effective offense. I hope I explained it well enough and if you have any questions just ask.

[@zitools]

Steve Morris I always try to go pop first on every new race I try. So I can expand (wide over tall). But imagunna try home planet food bldgs first over colony ship. So gain a little tall before I go wide. And I'll try Horatio tonight on normal difficulty. As always thanks for the video 4x.

[@habibainunsyifaf6463]

such a handsome strategy... Horatio... approves!

[@JosephGubbels]

I'd love to hear in these videos what you think the best victory condition is for each race. I think you may have mentioned in one or two of them, but it seems certain races are geared towards certain victory conditions, and it's not always obvious.

[@4XAlchemist]

Hmmmm.......that is really hard. The victory condition you should play for almost always depends on the game state at ~turn 70. If you are behind, you have to go for a hail mary (usually supremacy) regardless of what your race is best at. If you are ahead (even if you're the Cravers) getting a science or wonder victory is definitely possible. This all assumes economic victory is turned off because that will happen before you have the chance to anything else regardless.

[@mattbrassfield2291]

@@4XAlchemist well said anyone can do anything in this including Horatio, long live perfection of Genius.

[@mattbrassfield2291]

biggest tip from this .. Splice whenever possible.. --- force out pops by tailoring the build to what they prefer. --- Stay w/ Dictatorship the entire game. the bonuses late games are stupid GREAT.

[@jamesrobsonza7752]

Honestly me and my group have come to the conclusion that bordering Horatio is the best neighbour as they are completely unable to defend themselves you can very easily just attack them and take their planets for almost free. Only issue is they become bad neighbours later on when they start looking to assimilate your race and you can expect heavy competition for minors from anyone playing them.

[@LockeVincent]

Great guide, and thank you for shedding light on the poor Horatio. I love these guys and am excited to crack them open as soon as they get patched up. In your eyes, what do you think the Horatio need to be viable? Their mechanic is centered around population, but the game state is centered around planets/industry/trade - maybe there needs to be a bit of a shift towards making population count a little more? Are there any alternative ways to play Horatio at this point, or do we just need to wait on them to get fixed?

[@4XAlchemist]

#1: Give them back their missing ship module (they have 1 less than all others) and reduce the Price of Perfection penalty to +15% #2: Give them a either titanium or hyperium on their starting planet so they can use the +4 ind/pop building #3: Make all Gene splicing cost 2 population (not increasing) and let them splice multiple time (so that late game each Horatio is producing a HUGE amount of FIDS) because that is the only way to make it scale with any relevance. #4: Allow population conversion to be free and not take up a turn of industry (i.e. make a slot like the spaceport that you just move a pop into to convert it. I have made this same mechanic change suggestion for Chain Gang and Feeding pits) #5: Change the dictator government system...just all of it. It's terrible and need to be completely reworked. #6: Change the Ecologist laws so that they are actually relevant and helpful throughout the game (especially early) And no, they are just too weak to be competitive in anything but AI games. I have played more Horatio than any other race trying to figure out how to make them work, but it just cannot be done against any remotely skilled opponent.

[@Drachenfurie]

Thanks for uploading this. I noticed you had hyperium and a luxury ressource on a mediterranian planet in your home system. Why didnt you colonize that one and researched hyperium first? That building gives some bonus industry per population and per strategic ressource along with the fids bonuses from hyperium und luxury ressource you could have moved your entire population over to that planet? Edit oh it was titanium and hyperium not a luxury ressource.

[@4XAlchemist]

That's a really good point and I probably should have. The reason I didn't was that Horatio Prime (your starting Med) gives extra science (which is also crippling us in the early game), but that being said splitting your pop between the two would have grabbed some extra industry and maybe accelerated things just a bit. I'm not sure about the math, but the time it would have taken to research the extra tech and build the extra building might not have been worth it with out a full population commitment. Great comment though :D

[@mikewestbrook1142]

This guide is helpful, but long in the tooth. Sucks that these wonderful guides never get updated past beta.

[@fezzle1154]

Yeah I always get interested in these guides only to find out that almost none of the strategies work anymore :/

[@phenel]

@@fezzle1154 I still play Horatio to this day. By far the only faction worth playing IMO. Do you want to know more?

[@LittleBlueJug]

Damn, toys for boys used to be a minus to science vs industry? What a wild ride early ES2 is.

[@mauromatheus8614]

Great vid ! Congratulations. Can i ask you where did you get the info about the quest paths ? That was amazing and i wish a have that information about the quests for all the factions. Thanks

[@4XAlchemist]

I played through making each choice :P. We are putting together a similar flowchart for each race. It takes a long time, but we'll post it when it's done.

[@ReGarage]

at the end of the video you say that you dont want to capture the mission ship because then you will assimilate the race and lose 40 science and 50 dust BUT you forget that when you assimilate them you get THEIR planet with their whole population giving you more dust and science... so no point in holding back from getting the misison done and assimilating them

[@wizard380]

after a second run of the video to be sure i catch all the details. i am left with a question, if horatio has the worst ships, who owns the best ships ?

[@4XAlchemist]

/u/The176thPbPGuy on reddit did an analysis of all ES2 ships and in fact the sophons have the strongest carriers in the game: they are a late game military powerhouse - www.reddit.com/r/EndlessSpace/comments/6gpevt/talking_ship_comparing_es2_faction_ships/ My view - it varies by ship class and I don't include the Vodyani: * Scout - Empire (if measuring attack power) or Horatio (if scouting power) * Attacker - Riftborn * Protector - about equal for many * Hunter - Lumeris * Coordinator - Cravers * Carrier - Sophons Given the diversity here at the top of each category the fact that Horatio are at the bottom of battle prowess for every single class and their ships are +25% more expensive, it's a huge deal.

[@wizard380]

oau really helpfull and good stuff. thank you

[@mattbrassfield2291]

lol if you still think that... might need to watch it 5 more times... and think your chasing perfection. 1 ship design to do 3 different task is garbargio... They are mostly played defensive... because you make it late game 8.5/10 times you will win.

[@Zlorfikable]

Do you have a video comparing the ships with modules of the different faction appearances? It would make a big difference for a custom Horatio...

[@thelheo7763]

looking forward to the vodyani video.

[@oworex497]

still new to the game, why did you colonize the 1 planet system first instead of other nearby systems with more planets?

[@Dennis-fs2ng]

What about the gene splicing? I feel like this is the strongest race because of the full blown eugenics, early game is tough but once you terraform your plants and assimilate 4-5 strong races your production, economy, steam roles all other races.

[@mattbrassfield2291]

Per population = .01% increase on Food Consumption but when you Splice another race it goes to .012257% i have done the numbers allot of them. 5 pop = 42.6 consumption so 8.52 per colonist is consuming food... 4pop was 32 consumption 8 food per pop. So we need to find out the increase of .52. 121 food production * .012257% = .52078... So per population u have it increase your rates. that 5% is added to the per pop rates Total Consumption. Because at 32consumption to 42.6 is a jump of 0.32857 % increase in food consume. So you frankly you can be safe with 4 Splices-5splices per game. After that because your food becomes your production, if you splice more your optimal output will be much lower endgame. Early game this guy made it rough for himself___ Toys for Boys is not the way to go for this empire... Your empire is automatically Happy on turn 2. +6 on hot. By selecting toys for boys you loose 4.6 of your production. Then this guy doesn't build Drone. At turn 6 should of been at 53 Production Early scout was a wasted. You need the extra scout to be completed at turn 15, (16) is where the Atmospheric questline starts. That and 10 Curiosities should be a Give Me every game. Sorry been playing Horatio since endless space 1 came out... Took me a year to master. But over 2,000 hours in my Steam Library for it. I don't like when people Say Expert Guide to a Race. But complain about Production and Science 90% of the Video. That first ship really screwed him over. My Personal favor build order. Drone, Xeno -infrastructure, Cerberal, Public Private, Sustainable farms, Ships. Spine, When you have over production moments and waiting on tech to complete... Slip a Blank Ship in there to absorb production values. If a shifters game. but the Goal is have Scout at 15 Completed. NOT SAYING COMPLETE AT TURN 6 or 4 if blank. at this level you will have 400 Dust Saved up to Full equip 3 lower level ships.

[@stevemorris3746]

What is your opinion on stripping some of the modules from Horatio ships to lower the production cost then using dust to retrofit the rest of the modules onto the ships?

[@4XAlchemist]

Steve Morris James has been using that technique recently to accelerate his early production, but I have not played around with it yet. My first reaction is that it won't be as useful for the Horatio as it is for the Unfallen or Lumeris simply because they are not producing as much dust. Try it out and let me know what you think!

[@stevemorris3746]

I have been experimenting with Horatio for the past week or so and have found that on normal speed the first 50 turns are the slowest. Once you get AI labor your industry starts to normalize and you can reliably build full ships albeit still a bit on the slow side. I use an opening similar to Lumeris where you scout for resources with your hero and expand to secure those deposits. Go for a relatively fast market tech and city development while selling everything Im not using. If you do it that way you should have more than enough money to cover the cost of retro fitting especially if you pick up xeno tourism agencies for the 3 dust a person on Luxuries. Horatio is a Luxury dependent race. Like how the Riftborn are dependant on metals for their stuff. That first system development is huge for Horatio. As is getting population bonuses at 20 of a given pop. Horatio's ships are fairly strong once you know how to design them. Like Horatio himself the ships are incredibly versatile, however the more things you try and make them do the worse they become at everything. I have been using a strategy where I design a ship to excell at a given role then use other ships to cover its weaknesses. I can elaborate on specifics if you want. Another thing that helps is to prioritize defenses as the last thing you want is to lose a ship. I have been messing around with building half baked ships early game. you can drop the production cost to two turns if you strip the mods off and have been playing with the idea of just stockpiling bare bones ship hulls for a rainy day. The base scout ship can be used as an effective early attacker as long as you know how to design for it.

[@artexgrey6266]

About those quest lines docs, are they avaliable and could you do a quest line video with recomendations for every faction?

[@4XAlchemist]

Currently not available because we are still putting them together. It actually takes a ton of time to play through each race making a different choice every time. We will definitely post them when it's done though :D. I find it really helpful in dictating early decisions to have the whole thing mapped out.

[@Trifler500]

Great video. Not trying to nitpick, but if you want to use accurate language, you shouldn't use the term "race" because by definition, different races can mate and produce fertile offspring with one another, while different species cannot. I generally prefer the term "faction" anyway, since that's more about what matters anyway (they're political entitities) and that's the term the devs use.

[@roguedrones]

Lol '' the guide says....we suck and are basically narcissists that can't fight but have good star-maps...''

[@siZeDcuBe]

The Horatio are the funnest and coolest faction, I don't mind that they aren't competitive cuz I'm just a casul

[@mattbrassfield2291]

i play them competitive... Just need to turtle and slowly build up late game i turn to a nightmare...

[@lolasdm6959]

@@mattbrassfield2291yeah they should just have the most powerful pops late game

[@ParanoidTheMarvin]

If Horatio is so under powered does anyone have suggestion for customizing them without breaking the game? Someone recommended getting rid of price of perfection, but I'm wondering if that is enough without changing their concepts too much.

[@mattbrassfield2291]

there are 2 technology's that get rid of 20% on the Industry side of the tech tree. It really isn't a problem You can get around the Cost of the Ships by Removing all the Components and Produce it bare and Refit it out when its done in Production w/ Dust. . Late game you convert all your Food to Production, makes you a sleeper Power. But you have to play defensive to get to that point. They are amazing at generation of Manpower.

[@thomasloney612]

I started playing a few weeks ago, and Horatio are still weak. I get stomped on sandbox difficulty, despite winning most of the quests.

[@mattbrassfield2291]

sigh.. whats your strategy... do tell.. i might have a couple of tips to take you from Zero to Competitive.

[@AltereggoLol1]

Shame you guys never came back to this game

[@neprostoman1112]

What you can actually do is you can explore for luxuries and strategics, rush markets, queue 5 or 6 empty colonizers and upgrade them with dust gained from trade. Then colonize 5-6 planets SIMULTANEOUSLY because of your ecological law. This strat totally strips your starting planet, but you can have up to 7 systems by turn 25-30. Not viable on tight maps thoug.

[@mattbrassfield2291]

hard pass.. bc your going to lack production from all the heat you'll draw to yourself... Won't have much time for defensive... at most i am looking for 3 systems w/ Hot planets... Hot = Production midgame. If you go hardcore food base--- i forgot the percentage per food but some of the food is actually converted to influence slightly more-so than most races only Empire over trumps but they do that with production... at turn 80 give or take BIO plant should be completed... all that food turns to hardcore Production since you took HOT planets... sky rockets.

[@TheReaper569]

Do you guys ever make turn 30-60?

[@alifant1944]

You said that Unfallen was broken before last patch. What was broken about them and why are they the best now?

[@4XAlchemist]

They couldn't entwine systems captured from enemy major civs, so you would siege a system, invade it, and win, and then wouldn't be able to do anything with it and it would just sit there as an uncolonized system forever. They fixed that bug and now they are the best because of their ABSURD food production early (+7F on fertile). This means that their capital is going to grow faster than anything (I mentioned in the video a Endless difficulty AI had ~21 pop at turn 26) which gives them a massive early game advantage. That combined with not really having any weaknesses (except the vulnerability of vineships) makes them very hard to challenge with anyone (except maybe Cravers) early. Late game they become pretty neutral and have a hard time competing militarily with the Sophons, but by that time have built up an insane infrastructure with their super terraforming quest that they will still be quite strong.

[@Drachenfurie]

I never bothered much with terraforming. I know we had a littlebit of a terraforming discussion already when comparing lava planets to terraforming them back to be able to have more population slots vs having more industry per population slot. But disregarding all of that, is the "forest" type something unique to the Unfallen? Maybe I just never noticed it, but apparently it has extra population slots so it might be pretty good to just terraform everything you can to forest. I think the last quest gives you the ability to choose between terraforming hot or cold planets to forest right? So what would be the best option in your opinion? I would think its better to terraform lava once you build enough infrastructure. Then you can just focus on food production and turn that into industry with the T5 research. I wouldn't want to give up that science production from cold planets.

[@lolasdm6959]

@@Drachenfurie terraforming changes a good system into an ideal system.

[@SourceCodeDeleted]

Is this still this way? Has this improved in anyway?

[@rebelape4257]

You find out?

[@SourceCodeDeleted]

@@rebelape4257 it doesn't appear so. Horatio is a late game civ which if they absorb cravers they become unstoppable.

[@rebelape4257]

@@SourceCodeDeleted got any ideas to buff them through custom races

[@SourceCodeDeleted]

@@rebelape4257 just absorb cravers and there is a tech to convert all people to horatio..I had that and couldn't be stopped.

[@AmbroReality]

Start has become worse i think ... I start with 2 probes, less speed

[@Gokudo01]

who else watched it in x1.25 speed :p

[@liamh9019]

Thank you!

[@therandomheretek5403]

Amateur. Watch in ×2.

[@mattbrassfield2291]

@@therandomheretek5403 yup train your brain for perfection :D

[@TorSmawbs]

Why didn't he get drone networks early game?

[@mattbrassfield2291]

i was wondering that as well.. instead we had to hear him complain about industry and science 90% of the video. If he took into consideration that Horatio start on hot and +3 on hot to happiness he could started 1 turn of toys for boys then Immediately Switch to cram... problem solved as well could of gotten his first citizen 2 turns earlier. 'We want to populate this fast as possible.' Builds 2 ships.. lol Expert guide :( RIP complaining the entire time.

[@lolasdm6959]

his right it's not as good as the xenoindustry complex if you are on temperate fertile but Horatio don't have that so just start with the drone network could be good.

[@Adoffka]

Can't agree with some things. Horatio is for breeding. Max out food, colonize everything, hope no one attacks. Secondly, dictatorship is most viable government for horatio. It allows to keep ecologists leadership to continue colonizing. Otherwise when you start to grow science or industry output, government will switch and you won't be able to grow/colonize so fast. So if you got lucky and were not conquered by neighbors early game (and have systems with lots of planets) you just snowball due to HUGE population.

[@espositogregory]

Why does no one play against the AI Vodyani?

[@lolasdm6959]

What? AI Vodyani is too easy, half of their system ships are poorly armed.

[@phenel]

Fuck what people say, Horatio is the best. Step 1. Custom faction. step 2. First wonder at turn 6, second wonder at turn 11, Denark University at turn 14. step 3. Win. If you fuck it up at this point, you deserve to lose.

[@covovker]

The real horatio experts guide for endless difficulty. Step1: Start in a system with 2+ jadonix sources and have another 2+ sources of other level 1 fids lux. Also starting system should have at least 3 of temperate + fertile to sum up to 60 industry and science from xeno-industrial and public-private things. Alternative for the luxes in the starting system are 3 sources of strategic resources for miners law that gives +10% industry per each of them. If you are lux heavy, go into pacifism, if strategics, go into industrialism. If none, go into masochism. Or restart the game for a better starting spot. Step2: Have a not too lucky riftborn neighbor and do not have vodyani or cravers in neighborhood Step3: Find at least 4 minor nations in first 20 turns, and three of them should have development grants or at least migration with the resources you are able to get naturally or through market Step4: Around turn 70 enjoy your horatios each having 9+ food, 7+ science, 4+ industry, 4+ dust, 4+ happiness Missing any of those steps leads to a terrible loss because of their horrible start. Riftborn are a must, because gene splicing them gives +3 IDS and +1 ID from remnants. Not having reasonable resources available at the start prevents you from building L2 systems and having easy dust from markets in the early game, or makes that system development useless in a later game and that leads to a terrible loss. Not having development grants minor nations screws your science, dust and manpower production that is horrible otherwise, and that leads terrible loss. Having vodyani or cravers nearby guarantees a war way too early, long before you are ready to fight (around turn 40-50) which prevents you from building economics which leads to a terrible loss. If you manage to survive that war at all, which is not guaranteed in case of cravers. Vodyani can be withstanded though, but you lose too much production time. Yeah. Horatio are the weakest of them all. Perfect start + reasonable play or bust. Maybe it is possible to do well missing one of the first three "steps", but I just can't see a way to make it if two of those three go wrong.

[@covovker]

@@mattbrassfield2291 Things changed a bit in four years, but the joke still works: you need a perfect start and perfect surroundings to win with horatio on endless. Lots of things can screw you over in the early game because of their terrible government, terrible starting planet, terrible ships and no way to consistently compensate for it with dust or industry. Another thing that sucks about them is that they basically specialize in food, the only FIDSI in the game that effectively has a cap of its usefulness due to a limit of growth of one pop per turn. There is no difference in having 600 or 6000 food per turn on the planet, it is still 1 pop per turn. Up till a late game tech that converts it to industry, but if you made it to that tech, you've already won. I guess a slower game speed actually benefits horatio because of it.

[@mattbrassfield2291]

Food = production late game food = influence growth, food= science. I believe this video was a misrepentation of the race. Yes you have switch to Democracy early in the game... But I actually will never never another Representative other than Ecologist. Reason for this that 6,000 food with a Full cap System combine it propanda for a 25% food boost... your production turns from 6000 a turn to 7250 production. I personally enjoy playing Competitive with Horatio. The guy that did the video only Hurt himself with being unprepared.... constant Complaint about Production and Science...____ when he toys for boys i laugh my ass off. CRAM act is the way to go. Your second ship need to be complete by turn 11 or 16 Pirates or Atmospherics quest. If you clog up production of ships early puts puts you 40points behind on the Scorecard Early. Makes you a prime target for every race.

[@covovker]

@@mattbrassfield2291 the problem is surviving up to the late game when food=production. Late game Horatio are very strong, no doubts, the trick is to make it to late game which is really hard on endless difficulty.

[@mattbrassfield2291]

@@covovker one of the biggest things i do if i start with strategics for Horatio... But i love using my strategics to boost my Horatio but.. Early game that Zevali' you start out with is not bad in turns for early splice. Boosted horatio gets 6food 10 happiness and 2 science and you are only loosing 2 science. The joy of horatio being food based with splicing is that you repopulated your colonized planets much quicker that 90% of the other races except Unfallen. But be warned I don't splice until 2things have happen my Hero has returned to base. 4f 3 production 15% food 15 Happy buffs on him and farms have been completed this is with Senate 1.5x bonus. Looking at the reproductive rates of food the 5% added splice mechanic doesn't hurt us that bad. It just a minor set back. When u get 1 extra population for your planet its Consumption x 25-35% (35% is the cap at 10 splice) = new consumption rating. (you can splice more but i have tested in Competitive play. Later in the game once you get to the Hero academy stages Horatio Overseers are crucial to every system you have. Just for the Reasoning of the raw Fidsi output is crucial. All there production is 1.5x the normal rating of what is shown. Now real question Toys for boys_ or Cram for early game? U will be happy at turn 2. 15% bonuses from Happy System and Global Happy. Personally i think Cram is more bang for out buck. 4.6 Production loss Kinda hurts with toys 10% drop. the 15% to food, dust, influence, and Science at turn 2 is much more efficient. ___ I aim for above 60 production before i start making other ships Blanks=60 production. In the Craft menu for ships its 50 for Beautifier and Revealer but in Reality its 60production for the Ships.. Early game scouting this can be fix up a bit. Pull all the Defensive models and Guns off the Hero ship 2 Movement and 1 set of probes. 30dust to upgrade. ___ Same for Revealer should only cost 30dust to upgrade. The one ship you do want to no forget about is the Beautifier___ bc taking a second scout or Colonizer would hurt us for 2-5 turns early in play. I want my Beautifier to scout a second lane at better movement rate. At turn 16 Atmospherics quest will pop this is when u want your second ship to be completed. If you do Drone Networks and Tech for Xeno Infrastructure, you will 63 Production at turn 12-13 xeno would be done building. Based on how far the Scouting Colonizer Atmospherics are is how many turns you need to plan to have it early. Aim for 3 atmospherics. This quest and the quest for 10 anomalies 9/10 games should be ours. What quest line do you like to take....? What is your Defensive Strategy....? When do u like to Switch to Democracy? or Do stay a Dictorship for 1.5bonus to Senate Power. People don't Realize when playing them. Because of the Dictatorship. 150% boost on all the Skills the Hero gets as long remains in Power. I wish there was a way to show that. Failure by developers to go and do minor details like that for all the Bonuses for each race. But back to Topic. Rank 1-4 is actually 3 Production 4 food per Pop. 10% is 15% on Clone Wars. 15 Additional Happy instead of 10. This is just to name a few. Anyhue i am enjoying this Conversation we have going on. Hopefully some other Fans will join in.

[@danielbakergill]

You had really nice hair 5 years ago.

[@venkatchait007]

gene hunter is OP OP for custom races tho..

[@289math]

Great videos but please, work on your ahhhs and ehhhs. its ahhhh... Very Annoying...

[@Perseus775]

So Vodyani and Unfallen are ridiculously good, and Horatio are ridiculously bad. This game is very badly balanced. Doesn't speak well for the devs.

[@mattbrassfield2291]

ummmm if you say so...Playing defensive as horatio is never a bad thing... A person saying they need Xeno and Privates to have a successful early is pretty dumb down. Horatio is overpowered if you get late game. if i hit late game on Competitive style of play 8.5/10 times i am the winner. Bc whatever races are left are YUM YUMS gene pool.