Refreshed Base Game Factions
Welcome to a new Developer Diary and thank you for your interest in Distant Worlds 2.
This diary focuses on the upgrades and updates we’ve been making to the base game factions since the release of the first Distant Worlds 2 Faction DLC. We’ll discuss the key new features for each refreshed faction and what’s coming in the future.

Faction Gameplay
When we released Distant Worlds 2, we had already differentiated our factions from each other more than they ever were in Distant Worlds 1, with far more unique 3D ship sets, faction exclusive storylines and artifacts and gameplay features. However, it quickly became clear that players wanted us to make the faction themes stronger and call out their differences even more. With the first Faction DLC, we set a new benchmark for Faction gameplay and differentiation with the Ikkuro and Dhayut factions. We also promised the community that as time allowed, we would upgrade the base game factions to that same new standard in our free updates.

In most cases, this means that we added new conditional gameplay features, revisited unique techs and tech trees, refreshed ship textures and fixed any model issues, added some new features and abilities and character traits and so on. The design process is very similar to what we go through for the DLC factions, just building on an existing base.
We also periodically tweak factions and make fixes to issues we find with them over time and that will continue going forward.

Humans

The Humans, as the most played faction, were in the first group of two to get a refresh, in April, 2024. Humans are designed to be a faction that is decent at many playstyles, to be friendly to new players who are exploiring all parts of the game. First, we took the old faction events that were just on a timer and turned them into conditional events which are based on gameplay and then we added some new ones.

The Great Art Exposition now gives you a boost to Trade and Tourism and Income when you sign a Free Trade Agreement or build a new Resort Base.
Heightened Security gives you the option to “spend” a spy in exchange for a significant boost to counter intelligence when your enemies complete intelligence missions against you.
Hero of the Hour gives you a free quality Admiral or General if another empire declares war on you.
Perhaps the keystone feature for Human is New Worlds, which helps incentivize early exploration and colonization towards the Human goal of colonizing all Continental worlds, by granting a free Colonization tech advance (once per planet and only up to Tech Level 4) when you colonize or conquer a new Continental world.

The tech tree was also revisited, rationalizing the tech paths for the unique Human Hail Cannons, Bulwark Missiles and Gyrfalcon Interceptors, removing redundant tech in the process.
A new facility, the Foundation for Galactic Cooperation, reinforces more peaceful playstyles, while a boost to the size of Human Carriers emphasizes the theme that they do like to build towards Carrier-centered fleets.

As you can see, however you like to play your Humans and with whatever government, there’s something new there for you.
As a last bonus, we upgraded the textures on all the Human ships and stations.

Mortalen

Unlike the Humans, the Mortalen are much more specialized towards war, but are a more disciplined and honorable faction than many other warlike factions in the game. We also noticed that in general, they were lagging a bit behind the other factions in terms of their actual performance.

Their military theme focuses on having the best military leaders, the best troops and generally being better at actually successfully fighting a war than other factions. As part of this, they gained the following new conditional gameplay features, some new and some converted from older timer-based faction events.

Warrior Wave: When you declare war obtain a 2 year boost to Mortalen Population Growth along with your choice of either a large Troop Recruitment Rate boost or a Troop Attack Strength boost
Patriotic Wave: When war is declared on you obtain a 2 year boost to Mortalen Population Growth along with your choice of either Colony Coruption Reduction or War Weariness Reduction
Know Your Enemy: When you invade and conquer an enemy world choose a 2 year boost to either Espionage and Counter Espionage or Targeting and Countermeasures
Prove Yourself: Periodically choose between 2 characters (from Leader, Admirals, Generals) to undergo a trial by arms. If successful (about 75% likely) the selected character gains a positive trait, otherwise a negative trait.

Mortalen also love armor, so we increased their Armor Research, gave all their ships and spaceports +1 to their Hull Reactive Armor and gave them a new tech tree and armor component called Block Armor which is a bit tougher than standard armor components.
We also rationalized their existing unique techs, which are a unique Pulse torpedo and a better maneuvering thruster, to make sure they were accessible earlier.
Their troop experience gain was also boosted across the board and their ships and stations received a new coat of paint.

Finally, there were a number of issues with the at release Mortalen victory conditions. We fixed all of these issues and made sure they could compete well with other factions when it came to faction-specific victory conditions.

Boskara

The Boskara were already a fairly strong faction before their refresh and they are also typically the chief allies of the Shakturi and the most aggressive faction in the galaxy. We decided to give players more of that aggressive warlike theme, so that if you want to thrive in a near-constant state of ruthless war, the Boskara would be for you. Unlike the Mortalen, they care little for honor or discipline, but they excel at driving themselves into an aggressive frenzy.

Along with the bonuses in the direction of war, there are some limitations. The Boskara build quickly and aggressively, with little focus on Damage Control – pretty much all of their focus is on Damage Output. As a result, once their ships start taking damage they are not as sturdy as those of most other factions. If they are at peace, they also run the risk of turning on themselves in a bout of Crazed Cannibalism which will cause a 10% population loss at the affected world.

They also gained a small economic advantage due to their nature, revealing an additional resource on the Volcanic colonies they love best as a result of their extensive tunneling and getting a mining-focused leader trait. Similarly, they can build a unique Weapons Lab that is linked to the planetary core, boosting their Weapon Research further than most factions, but at the cost of damaging the planet (not something the Boskara typically care much about).

Their main advantages relate to the ability to obtain a “Warspawn” admiral or general when declaring war. Though this also effectively puts other empires on guard against you, it lets you very rapidly trigger a War Spawning, which immediately converts some of your population to troops, a unique advantage no other faction has. The Total War ability also speeds both ship construction and troop recruitment, though again at a cost to the planet itself due to unchecked military industry.

Finally, if they Boskara succeed in conquering an enemy homeworld, they gain a massive 20% boost to their happiness for 10 years, helping fuel their next war.
Along with all this, we did give the Boskara ships a texture refresh to both fix texture issues and make them a bit more menacing.

Zenox

The Zenox are a very unique faction in the galactic lore and we had previously called out those aspects in their faction story and some bonuses, but never as much as we really would have liked or as much as players wanted. In addition, their ships and stations were nice to look at up close, but at the zoom level most players uses, they looked bland and uninspiring. We decided from the start that the Zenox would get a major effort on the art side to improve the look of their ships and stations, inspired by the Zenox mega-ship that released in the Return of the Shakturi expansion. We also wanted to really bring out their efforts as galactic lore keepers along with their cunning nature.
All Zenox ships and stations now begin with +10 Stealth built-in, which reduces the range at which they can be identified and detected and stacks with Stealth components, such that they can be the most sensor-evading faction in the game should you choose to play to that strength.
They also gain faster exploration and better hyperdrive jump accuracy as a result of their ancient star charts.

When they investigate an ancient ruin, a bunch of things can happen now, which can boost happiness, research, diplomacy or intelligence depending on the player’s choices. If you establish a colony on a planet with ancient ruins, you can now choose to Preserve the Ruins, either converting them to a free Governance facilty or gaining a boost to the existing Ruin bonuses.

Zenox also now have the ability to mount an expedition to search through their ancient archives to see what new information they can find when they have money to spare. This can give a variety of benefits, including revealingn previously unknown important galactic locations. We recommend doing this as often as your budget allows, especially in the early and middle parts of the game.
The Zenox unique techs were also rationalized and made accessible earlier in the tech trees, as well as adding in a new improved Megatron Planetary Shield facility and a much extended Crystal Sensors tree that now includes both short and long range sensors.

New possible character traits such as Archivist, which gives a boost to research and can be gained from investigating major ruins, round things out. If you want to focus on galactic lore, exploration of ruins, stealth and the manipulation of your enemies, the Zenox may be the right faction for you.

What’s Next?
Next up we have the Teekans and the Haakonish, coming by the end of this year. The Teekans are due for a significant ship and station texture refresh, the Haakonish more just some fixes to texture issues. Both are trade-oriented factions, with the Teekans being much more nomadic and the Haakonish more xenophobic and mercantilist. These elements will be features in their refreshed gameplay.

The last to be refreshed will be the Ackdarians who don’t need much help in terms of their ships and stations but their skills as the galaxy’s master architects (especially of ships and stations) will get much more attention. When they arrive in 2026, that will complete our tour of the Base Game Factions, though we’ll continue to revisit all factions all as time goes on for tweaks, fixes and improvements based on player feedback.
If you read through all of this, thank you again for your interest and let us know if you have any questions regarding the factions in Distant Worlds 2.

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