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

[@tymoteusztalik70]

Hey, could you give any insight on why you chose Torpedos? Are they RB specific, are they just the best in the game due to the huge damage? I guess opposing ships with Plasma beams are not a concern?

[@4XAlchemist]

That is a pretty complicated question, but I'll do my best to try and answer here: Choosing torpedoes early was a specifically RB decision due to their high number of offensive slots and low defensive slots on their attack ships (4 off, 0 def). This means that having a mixed fleet (attackers and defenders) is absolutely necessary to keep your expensive ships alive, but doing so uses precious early CP. Therefore, I wanted to be maximize the effectiveness of my low number of glass cannon attack ships. A little math: the standard attack ship has 2 offensive slots and the standard defensive has 1, so, in a 50/50 divided fleet, that is a total of 6 offensive slots early in the game (not counting Cravers). For RB, you get 10 (4x2 + 1x2). This means that you can overcome the anti-missile defense of kinetic slugs (assuming a 1-1 relationship, where 1 slug slot can cancel out 1 missile) with the shear number of missiles you equip. After thinking on this more, I would actually change the Attack ships to all 4 missiles and keep the defensive ships with the kinetic slugs.

[@tymoteusztalik70]

Alright. I'm pretty new to this game and 4X in general and your answer seemed reasonable and clear, thanks. A combat\ship design guide for this game would be a godsent (I've already lost fights that the game told me I would win in a landslide, 90% of the circle was my color, lost all ships, did no damage to the enemy, also won the reverse in the same manner, very confusing). Thanks for the answer and you've got my sub.

[@4XAlchemist]

Thanks man! I am putting together a series that talks about the battle system, ship design, fleet composition as we speak :D

[@mrflaquir4]

where is it? I need help with that matter

[@trekminecraft1065]

@@4XAlchemist What kind of people dont defense themselves? Riftborn

[@thenoseplays2488]

Even three years later this short video has a ton of relevant insights that confirm many of my own first impressions with the RB...and give me some new things to think about as well. Really miss your guy's input on the game since you moved on. Glad you channel is still a beacon of good insights into the core game mechanics that help both new and old players alike.

[@nickrowan]

Solid guide, even 3 years later most of this is still relevant.

[@ProSasquatch]

I recently begin to play Endless Space 2 and your videos are really awesome to fully understand specific plays by faction so thanks a lot for this ! It could be nice to update or even try new DLC factions in your videos.

[@expat8460]

You need to come back and let us know what's going on in 2019 with ES2

[@joaogomes9405]

Basically the same as it was in 2017, but the riftborn early game was nerfed into the ground. The probe exploit doesn't work anymore, class tax act hits approval harder so it's not worth it anymore, toys for boys reduces industry instead of science so it's also not worth it anymore, h-field can only be equipped on hero ships, singularities cost 4 times more. Otherwise, everything else is pretty much the same.

[@tjsams2794]

Your videos have been a huge help understanding Endless Space 2, which is the first 4X game I’ve seriously played. With Penumbra out we could use more of your wisdom once again!

[@steeltormentors]

the video made me reinstall Endless Space 2! and I'm going to choose Riftborn as my race for universe domination.

[@Kingneo0053]

you are amazing. thank you for the guide.

[@Matocles]

The game has changed so much since this video was made. Hope you guys start playing again

[@maStiArsenal]

Why have you guys stopped with these awesome Endless Space 2 videos? They are the best on youtube and extremely well done and thought out..

[@Kortul456]

idk why but i as a german person kinda love it everytime u say geist :3

[@tomw4955]

shadow is german? XD

[@DB-sd3cw]

Gay

[@imulSion]

Great great guide. Thank you :) I Hope to see you streaming soon.

[@fra3879]

Very interesting, taught me a lot! Thanks

[@relthmcroth1473]

This video makes my first attempts with the Riftborn look like a car crashes. Thanks for the guide, although it is a bit dated now.

[@rybuds47]

still helping a lot thank you

[@liuliu2425]

4X Alchemist, there are WIDE, TALL, and also Square. It means basically a whole load of rly good colonies.

[@fredEVOIX]

thx for all your guides :D im a newb in 4x so all my 1st games ended up in failures also i kind of broke my right wrist so have lots of time to spend home and es2 is one of the games i can still play with only the mouse :) also a good game to spend lots of stuck at home hours hehe

[@wizard380]

really really good stuff. subscribed

[@4XAlchemist]

Thanks!

[@jnthnpitts]

it's been 3 years and the developers still haven't fixed the Riftborn population queue bug

[@Yog---Sothoth]

Looking at your videos is so helpful, I always learn something, some tricks I didn't think on my own. And I don't find that quality on a lot of YT channels (Waervyn's World is great too). I have 3 questions, I hope you'll see it : * As the game changed in several ways with patchs, change some datas and add some new things since the release, will you do some new videos to update your advices ? * Is it thinkable to see a combat video tips ? I mostly play on the strenght of my fleet (obviously), but it's like I don't care so much of the opponent, kind of throwing my fleet against his and see what happens. On lower levels of difficulty it's not a problem, but to have fun on higher levels, I know I miss some interesting choices to make. * Also, I would love to see some "late game" tips, I always reach a point in the game where I'm not sure of what I'm doing, I feel like I'm playing randomly. I'm testing a lot of things, researchs, buildings... but I'm sure I'm not really effective as I should be. Thanks, I hope to see new things on that game.

[@mechwarrior5]

Have you ever considered redoing this series since a lot of information is outdated?

[@Guurzak]

Yep. Probe exploit is gone, H-field can only go on hero ships, a lot of detail changes that make the micro on the first few turns very different.

[@trekminecraft1065]

@@Guurzak You can make probe exploit, I tried it with UE

[@trekminecraft1065]

Alchemist: They have a trait that decreases movement speed Me: Then remove the trait!

[@trekminecraft1065]

Also prioritise Efficient shielding and baryonic so you can wreck other empires while zooming across

[@frankmarckusky5630]

Cool guide thanks.

[@laurentiumiu751]

Don' t use dark glitter ever-ever! Cries in Umbral Choir!

[@ankainn]

Love your vids! Any chance for more endless space 2?

[@Firesquatter100]

Thanks for this. The reason I needed this is that my main solo faction is currently banned in my multiplayer games I do with my friends. So what if I always gass light my friends. I may be cloaked all the time but that dose not mean I am hacking you all the time. It could be anyone.

[@MrPhilcas31]

excelent vidéo ! more !! pls

[@spencerconroy9198]

Have you tested upgrading the hero ship with probes and engines instead of your explorer or colonizer? The hero actually has 0 effect on your system until turn 7 when he levels up, so you only miss out on 40 production total from his level 2 skill compared to reassigning him on turn 9. In exchange you get an extra 4 speed ship to scout with for 9 turns and a bunch of extra probes for more extensive scouting/curiosity revealing. The hero might actually be level 3 at that point and more than make up the lost production. Also, can you explain how production overflow works with Riftborn population? If my system has 2000 production, the build order of geist->riftborn->geist will take 3 turns to complete, implying that production won't overflow. But in the early game I see production will overflow from my geist into my riftborn, but not out of my riftborn into my next improvement... The only thing I can think of is that production is able to overflow into a riftborn population and not out of it, but the game won't allow a riftborn to be completed on the same turn as anything else as a hard limit.

[@4XAlchemist]

Re: Hero on ship: we found that using dust to do the probe resets and make a faster scout was more effective than using it to upgrade the hero (which is a necessity since she starts with 3 movespeed). Also the riftborn are much better at early production than other races in the early game and can use singularities to speed up hero xp. So that means that you can ramp your hero up to a high level as a gov much faster than as an admiral. Re: Overflow: You're right here. Pop can't be completed at the same time as something else, but industry does flow over. In your example if you did Pop > Geist > Geist it would probably complete in 2 turns instead of 3.

[@trekminecraft1065]

@@4XAlchemist That not rly efficient

[@joaogomes9405]

Since you can't do the probe exploit anymore, should you place extra engines on your colony ship to help find and colonize that bottleneck as fast as possible, or should you still cut back on the engines and place an extra probe module on your exploration ships to help find beneficial anomalies and resources?

[@covovker]

Pop production and chaining via L2 space ports is one of the more significant parts of successful early game with riftborn I believe. And that makes the systems close to capital a bit more important once you get to the point where you do the L2 system upgrades. However, it feels a bit cheesy, and maybe at some point they change the pop pricing to depend on total pop in the empire rather than in one system, or some kind of a mixed approach. And in the early game I prefer not to launch third singularity but rather keep it in stock to make sure my capital world is always receiving the bonus without 1 turn downtime. 1 turn of capital world production and hero leveling feels more important than lesser worlds fids.

[@4XAlchemist]

I agree, the pop factory is kinda lame, but since those are the rules, that's how we're going to play. For singularities, I'm not sure sacrificing 10 turns of improved XP and FIDS on your 3rd best planet (assuming your other singularities are on your best and 2nd best) is worth avoiding the 1 turn gap on your best. If you have 1000 industry on your capital, the 1 turn gap loses you 250. But if you have say...500 on your 3rd best, the 10 turns of the singularity will net you 1250. Just based on mathematics, I think using that as much is possible unless your capital is ABSURD and every other system you have is crap.

[@covovker]

I mean the early game, when your cap is always much better and the others are lame having like 2 or 3 pop and just finishing their second system improvement. Later in the game one turn of the cap does not worth 10 turns of the other one for sure. Also it is quite important to level up your first hero as fast as possible, and that is the governor of your home system. So in first 30-50 turns I just keep a spare one to make sure I dont lose the xp on my hero finishing that wonder if the singularity is done at the worst possible moment.

[@JamesBond-xi2xx]

Choose the llamas every time.

[@sdauz]

Hey you should do a vid on the target locked patch and your thoughts

[@veyb3mofqtwzx9gp]

I've lost most games where Cravers were next to me... How does the colony far from home "blocks" the Cravers? I'd think they come and take that system with warships, and it will be hard to defend being so far from the starting system? To me it looks like rabbit settling next to a wolfs den??

[@JosephGubbels]

How would you go about getting only non-riftborn population on your "rift born factory" system? And once you've done that how would you keep the non-riftborn population from expanding to take up all the population slots through natural growth, while still ensuring you have enough to get 50 industry?

[@4XAlchemist]

Once you get to Level 2 System Modernization, you can move populations between planets. Simply drag some non-riftborn into those slots and ship them off to your factory. Riftborn don't grow naturally. You can only get new RB pop by actively building them, so if you are building one per turn and shipping it away, there will never be a build-up and thus cost 50 industry forever.

[@bluecarbon]

Another great video! The Riftborn are my favorite civ, but they seem to be cursed with an absolutely terrible quest line. Do you even bother advancing it?

[@4XAlchemist]

Not actively. The hero they get is mediocre at best, and the other possible benefits are also unimpressive. That being said, none of them are very hard, so actually completing the quests can be an afterthought

[@4XAlchemist]

After playing the RB a bit more, their early quest is pretty terribad, but the later stages are AMAZING. One reduces the industry cost of new RB pop by 50% (obviously amazing) and another one causes each RB to produce 2 influence (might be 3, can't remember). I think that after finding that out, I might focus the quest a little be more :D

[@cmp6291]

Close enough to the sowers

[@raglanheuser1162]

i still dont understand the logic of endless ship types. "admiral, the enemy is closing!" "all right men, let's focus all guns on those heavily armored ships with no attack power first, don't fire at the fragile poorly armored attack ships until every one of them is down."

[@arnogrand]

I am not a huge expert but I was wondering about the "gating" strategy - does it not become redundant once the AI discovers Barryonic shielding ? Unless this is only a strategy to cover the first part of the game and colonise before they have discovered this tech?

[@Captaincodeine]

The AI usually doesn't travel around the bottlenecks you establish. I can leave many systems undefended as long as I have ships in the border systems.

[@fdjw88]

you stated that the Rift Born should build a wide empire, how do you deal with the approval rating in the late game? with so many planets, wouldn't you be having mutiny on every single turn? the way i deal with it, is to get the religious party into the senate, so i get access to the sinner bill, and force all my systems in the empire to be at 70% happiness. how do you deal with approval with industrialist and scientist party??

[@brandonotto3031]

can you do endless legend

[@highstricker]

whats your opinion on the Tower of Temporal Paradox?

[@MistrzStalkier]

Wouldn't hindering craver capital be of more value than boosting one of your fresh colonies, given you're bound to wage war in near future?

[@wolloify]

Interesting! So the AI won't forward settle past your choke points? I find cravers expansion rate really hard to tackle early so that seems very helpful.

[@4XAlchemist]

It's not a hard rule, but it definitely seems like they don't like it. Similar to human players, you don't want your empire split in half, forcing your to defend multiple fronts, defend supply lines, etc.

[@merc9nine]

Yeah, if you hold a choke and someone settles past it, its a free colony for you unless you had no defendering fleet or the resources to ever make one.

[@erykczajkowski8226]

I need to stop watching these tutorials. As informative as they are, they usually showcase a strategy so far away from what I would consider a satisfactory gameplay and how I would like to play (or imagined how I would play) a certain faction that they can simply ruin the experience. :( BTW, it's a bit weird that machines have a trait 'Weary travellers'. Machines should rather be 'Restless travellers'?

[@peterconerly]

What's the anomaly you're saying? "Jaydonics"? I haven't been able to find it on this anomaly list: endless-space-2.wikia.com/wiki/Anomalies

[@adri-6658]

Not an anomaly per se, but 'Jadonyx', a luxury resource that gives +industry and +approval.

[@nickthebest411]

Traitor of the human race! :p