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For an overview of all factions, see Factions.
AUTOMATONS

The Automaton Leader

The Automatons are one of the playable factions in Endless Space. These clockwork beings formed a strong bond with nature and keep to themselves when possible.

Background[]

The Automatons Illustration

The Automatons were created by a long dead civilization known as the Reyans who perished many millennia ago due to the gradual self-destruction of their world. Decades of uncontrolled industrialization and technologies that relied on a highly toxic underground fuel caused irreversible damage to the ecosystem and atmosphere of their planet. Realizing that they were doomed, the Reyans attempted to build a massive fleet of migration ships to escape their planet, but most of the ships either exploded on launch, or stalled in the atmosphere and fell to the ground. The Reyans despaired… and so they decided to leave a legacy in the form of one of their greatest technological achievements, clockwork beings. Having a very old and proud history of clockwork, the Reyans had achieved the maximum potential of the technology in their creation of massive clockwork men to which they gifted all the traits of a young species. Within a year of the creation of the clockwork men, the Reyans committed mass suicide so as not to suffer through the effects of a dying planet, leaving their greatest creations behind, alone, and lost.

Over time the clockwork creations of the Reyans developed a simple society of their own and began exploiting the technologies left behind by their creators. All was well for the young civilization of machines until one day a large Endless ship crashed into the planet spreading the dust it was transporting all over the surface. The dust modified the machines, gave them enhanced abilities and over time even sentience. The deadly and toxic fuel that used to power the machines was also replaced, but strangely the new fuel became dust. In only a few weeks, the clockwork machines had evolved, become truly sentient, and gained new purpose in existence which was unheard of in even the most advanced AI’s created by the Endless. They came to call themselves the Automatons. Using their newly gained freedom of dust they began learning... and advancing.

The Automaton Civilization stayed on their planet, learning to live in a symbiotic relationship with nature as the planet healed over time. They used the knowledge of their creators and their new dust engines to produce massive floating ships on which they lived in order to protect the healing ecosystem on the planet from their involvement. Over the course of centuries the planet healed and the Automatons learned to live with and love nature while still developing immense industrial capacity and production within the hulls of their floating ships --which had also grown over time. But eventually the Automatons calculated that their dust supply would run out and their civilization would die, so they uncovered the old ruins of the crashed Endless ship and began developing their own vehicles for space flight.[1]

Traits[]

Automatons Affinity

+1 Over Production to Stack Factor on System.

+5% Interest for Stacked 1002industrySmall on System.

Automaton Faction-Specific Technologies

Spendthrifts

-10% 1004moneySmall on Systems. Trait-minus-trans
Merchants

+1 Trade Routes Cap on System.

Trait-plus-trans
Unlucky Colonists Adds a Negative Anomaly. Trait-minus-trans
Optimistic +20 1011approval on System. Trait-2plus-trans
Crowded Planets

+2 1006populationUnitSmall on Small.


+2 1006populationUnitSmall on Tiny.


+1 1006populationUnitSmall on Medium.

Trait-2plus-trans
Diplomats +50% Trade Routes Bonuses on System. Trait-2plus-trans
Anarchists -2 Command Points Cap on Empire. Trait-2minus-trans
Strong Alloys +20% 1020healthPoints on Ships Trait-plus-trans
Symbiosis +30% Trade Routes Bonuses per Cooperation Treaty on System. Trait-2plus-trans
Dust Impaired +50% Abilities 1004moneySmall cost on Hero. Trait-minus-trans
Fearless Warriors +25% Defense per 1006populationUnitSmall on System. Trait-2plus-trans

Automatons Faction-Specific Technologies (in Disharmony)[]

Benefit Wing & Cost Name Effects
Seed Ship n/a n/a Automatons seed Workshop WORKSHOP Ship Class

-50% Support Module Civilian 1009weightSmall on Ship

T0 Ship n/a n/a Automatons T0 Cutter CUTTER Ship Class

-25% Support Module Engine 1009weightSmall on Ship

T2 Ship Exploration and Expansion13016px-science Efficient Shielding Automatons T2 Culler CULLER Ship Class

-25% Support Module Repair 1009weightSmall on Ship

T4 Ship Exploration and Expansion68016px-science Baryonic Shielding Automatons T4 Sickle SICKLE Ship Class

-25% Support Module Power 1009weightSmall on Ship

T6 Ship Exploration and Expansion400016px-science Applied Atmospherics Automatons T6 Thresher THRESHER Ship Class

-25% Support Module Armor 1009weightSmall on Ship

T7 Ship Exploration and Expansion750016px-science Non-Baryonic Shielding Automatons T7 Harvester HARVESTER Ship Class

+10% auto-repair per turn when 1020healthPoints under 33%

Unique Diplomacy and Trading13016px-science Dense Orbitals Research-orbital-superstructures Orbital Superstructures
  • +1 Population Capacity on Planets

Cost: 8 Turns (5 in Classic)

Warning: while building, system loses all stacked industry!

Unique Exploration and Expansion180016px-science Short-Range Entanglement Research-limited-teleportation Limited Teleportation
  • 33% Bonus on FIDS minus percentage of already owned Galaxy
Cheaper Exploration and Expansion400016px-science

Replaces: 2500016px-science

Deep Space Habitats

Replaces: Complex Regulated Systems

Research-advanced-warp-fields

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Research-terran-transformation

Default Version: Advanced Warp Fields
  • +12 Warp on Empire

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Default Version: Terran Transformation

  • +4 Food per Population on Planet
  • +2 Industry per Population on Planet
  • +4 Dust per Population on Planet
  • +2 Science per Population on Planet

Cost : 1440 Industry, Requires: Quadrinix Quadrinix

Unique Diplomacy and Trading400016px-science Symbiotic Satellites Research-orbital-platforms Orbital Platforms
  • +1% Food for each of your Ship orbiting on Star System
  • +1% Industry for each of your Ship orbiting on Star System
  • +1% Dust for each of your Ship orbiting on Star System
  • +1% Science for each of your Ship orbiting on Star System
  • -7 Dust on improvement

Cost : 1160 Industry, Requires : Orichalcix Orichalcix

Changed Galctic Warfare562516px-science Personal Shielding Research-shield-generator

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Research-artifact-analysis

Shield Generator[]
  • Stacked Industry Will Be Added to the System Defense
  • -2 Dust on improvement

Cost: 2660 Industry

Replaces: Dark Energy Rifle[]
  • +60 Defense per Population on Star System
  • +5 Control Recovery (Invasion) on Star System
  • -2 Dust on improvement

Cost: 2900 Industry, Requires: Hexaferrum Hexaferrum

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Default Version: Artifact Analysis[]

Unlocks: 7913LuxuryResourceConcreteArtifactsConcrete Artifacts, 7914LuxuryResourceVirtualArtifactsVirtual Artifacts, 7915LuxuryResourcePreSchismArtifactsPre-schism Artifacts, 7916LuxuryResourceNonPrecursorArtifactsMundane Artifacts

Unique Applied Sciences750016px-science Stasis Containment Research-applied-astrofabs Augmented Stacking
  • +2 Stack Capacity Multiplier on System
Changed Applied Sciences750016px-science Infinite Variable Computing Research-predictive-logisitics-automatons

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Research-precision-navigators

Predictive Logistics
  • +15% interests for stacked industry on star system
  • -5 Dust on improvement

Cost: 800 Industry

Replaces: Predictive Logistics

  • +2 Industry per Population on Planets
  • -5 Dust on improvement

Cost: 800 Industry

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Default Version: Precision Navigators

  • +2 Warp on Ship
  • +20 hull weakness on Ship
  • +4 Move on Ship
  • +2 Move on Fleet

Cost: 120 Industry Weight: 20% Tonnage

Improved Exploration and Expansion750016px-science Low-Temp Hydration Research-arctic-transformation

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Research-hydrosequencing-automatons

Default Version: Arctic Transformation
  • -10 Approval on Planet
  • +1 Food per Population on Planet
  • +1 Dust per Population on Planet
  • +9 Science per Population on Planet

Cost: 850 Industry

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Hydrosequencing

  • +1 Food per Population on Terran
  • +1 Food per Population on Planets
  • +1 Industry per Population on Planets
  • +1 Industry per Population on Terran
  • +1 Dust per Population on Terran
  • +1 Dust per Population on Planets
  • +1 Science per Population on Terran
  • +1 Science per Population on Planets
  • -3 Dust on improvement

Cost: 900 Industry, Requires: Titanium-70 Titanium-70

Replaces: Hydrosequencing

  • +1 Food per Population on Planets
  • +1 Industry per Population on Planets
  • +1 Dust per Population on Planets
  • +1 Science per Population on Planets
  • -3 Dust on improvement

Cost: 900 Industry, Requires: Titanium-70 Titanium-70

More

Expensive

Exploration and Expansion2500016px-science

Replaces: 400016px-science

Deuyivan Construction Research-gas-giant-transformation Default Version: Gas Giant Transformation
  • +FIDS Vary Depending on the Gas Composition

Cost: 3200 Industry

Steam Achievements[]

Dangerous Shepherds
Dangerous Shepherds
Win with the Automatons
Silent Running
Silent Running
As Automatons, have 10 systems with the max FIDS bonus from Orbital Platforms

Hint: Build Orbital Platforms in 10 systems and have 15 ships on each of those systems.

Notes[]

Affinity[]

The in-game effect description for Automatons Affinity is less than helpful. Here is an explanation:

Unused Industry is stored, or "stacked" (e.g. when production queue is empty). Stacked industry earns 5% interest per turn. Up to 5 turns worth of Industry can be stacked (overage is lost). System improvements can increase the interest earned to 20% per turn, and give a defense bonus based on stacked industry and increase the Stacks to 7 Turns.

To see the benefit of this, imagine that your system produces 100 Industry each turn. If you are actively building something (or converting Industry to Dust or Science), you will produce 300 Industry in three turns. However, if you keep an empty build queue, the 5% interest will mean that after three turns, your system has 331 stacked Industry. With the unique system improvement that gives +15% interest on stacked Industry, the same system would have 436 stacked Industry after three turns. Thus, you could build an improvement costing 500 Industry in only four turns (three turns with an empty production queue, and building the improvement at the end of the fourth turn), instead of working on it constantly for five turns.

Its shows you the amount of Stackable Industry for the 5 / 7 Turns.

Above Example would be 500 Industry. But this hint is wrong. It would givr you 700+ the accumulated Interest. Therefore =700+1107=1807 Industry after 8 Turns with all relevant Technologies.

One more possible application of the Automatons affinity is colony ship building. Normally during this process the population growth is suspended on the system, however, Automatons can stack industry for 5 turns and then build a ship in one turn, thus saving up to 5 turns of the system growth, which is a significant advantage during the initial expansion stage.

Details from the dev team:

  1. At the end of the turn, if there is an overproduction, it's stacked instead of being reported.
  2. At the beginning of a turn, an interest is applied to the stacked industry, allowing it to increase a bit.
  3. The stacked industry is capped at 5 * system's industry.
  4. If the overproduction cannot be stacked, it's conserved for the next turn like the current mechanism.
  5. When the automatons build improvements & ships, the industry is used in the following order:
    1. system's industry
    2. overproduction
    3. stacked industry
  6. When a system from the Automatons is invaded, the stacked industry is destroyed, reset to 0 even if the invader is an Automaton.

Behind the Scenes[]

The Automatons were the brainchild of Panzer, an Endless Space player. Ahead of Amplitude's first expansion, the company called for a contest of user-created factions. The winner would be incorporated into the game as a full, canonical faction. [2]

Panzer's Automatons, which were designed to be competitive without needing to expand rapidly, eventually prevailed over dozens of other nominees. The new faction was introduced with the first addon to Endless Space, Rise of the Automatons.

Miscellaneous[]

  • When first added to the game, the Automatons did not have their own ship models, and instead used the ship models of the Cravers. A community poll to select unique Automaton ship models for Amplitude Studios to create for the game occurred in March 2013,[3] and the finalized designs were revealed on June 24, 2013.[4] Following the release of the expansion pack Endless Space: Disharmony, the Automaton ship models were added to the game in a free update.
  • When referring to themselves, the Automatons almost always avoid using "we" or "us" but instead speak in the third person - "The Automaton..."
  • According to Panzer, the Automaton government is run by the original Automatons, the ones originally built by the Reyans.[5]

References[]

Factions
Playable Factions AmoebaAutomatonsCraversHarmonyHisshoHoratio
PilgrimsSheredynSophonsSowersUnited EmpireVaulters
Non-Playable Factions DeuyivanDust CollectiveEndlessOros Gec
PiratesPlocynosUnknownVirus
Other Information Custom factions
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