Fallen Empires are quite a common trope in science fiction, at least from what I know. Ancient and decrepit giants that once dominated the galaxy, but since then have lost the understanding of how their technology works are nothing new, but even for someone with little knowledge of most of the popular science fiction novels or movies, their role in the galaxy is quite clear from the first time you meet them.
Having been here long before your own silly little empire even had the ability to comprehend the vast cosmos, they have amassed technological marvels during their eons of existence, and they are a force to be reckoned with. So advanced is their technology that even when you do manage to shove them fully into their graves, you are unable to replicate their arcane machinery, except for a few select ones.
However, in recent years, Fallen Empires have lost some of their enigmatic status. No longer are they mysteries to be uncovered. Instead they are trivial caches of shallowly-buried technological insignificance. No longer are they imposing guardians of a forgotten age, and though many probably will tell me that Fallen Empires never were anything more than glorified loot pinatas, I think it is undeniable that they have lost a lot of their uniqueness and narrative value during these last few (many) updates and DLC.
So let me start my rant with
First Contact
Or rather, the lack of it.
Having observed you for quite some time, or so they claim, the Fallen Empires are unique among the empires that populate your galaxy in that they are able to speak to you directly from the moment you meet them. Mostly this is fine. After all, they do need to tell you off about colonizing those shining planets that just so happen to have 100% habitability for your species, but as it currently stands they are a bit too eager to contact you. It is not uncommon for one of them to contact you from the other side of the galaxy, sometimes before you even encounter any other species, maybe even before you see any spaceborne fauna. While this isn't really a problem for those who have played the game for a long time, I don't think it is very good for new players, and as mentioned before, this is in direct contradiction with the way they are supposed to behave.
Knowing very little of the inner workings, it is nevertheless my assumption that Fallen Empires contact you the moment you enter their sensor range ... which is quite high. I would suggest that Fallen Empires, in line with their isolationist behavior, contact you only when one of you science ships enter a system neighboring one of their own systems. This way you're less likely to stumble upon them on the doorstep of your own home system. Perhaps to help new and old players alike with identifying the presence of Fallen Empires, systems with tomb worlds, ruined planets and broken megastructures could be scattered about in their vicinity. But I digress. Their problem extend far beyond this singular issue.
Loot Pinata
Is what the Fallen Empires currently are. You unlock dark matter from them, you get some pops, some planets, and maybe even some Fallen Empire buildings, most of which are completely useless due to you picking cosmogenesis or simply because of their lackluster power level. As it currently stands, Fallen Empires technological level is quite unimpressive. Dark Matter components can be acquired in many other, often safer, ways. As mentioned, the buildings likewise can be yours for the low low price of 500 minor artifacts or whatever the local artifact exchange charges for a blueprint, if you haven't already gotten Enigmatic Engineering or Cosmogenesis.
And even if you ignore how easy it is to get your hands on these unmarvels of technology, they aren't even that impressive anymore. The common consensus is that shields are useless, and the reactor isn't all that useful unless you're packing your ships full of shields. The only thing left is the Dark Matter Thrusters and the Dark Matter cloaking device.
Frankly, the value of Fallen Empires have been in freefall ever since the release of this game. Which neatly leads me to the next point:
Their Worlds
Fallen Empires gotta live somewhere, and since they got here early, they vacuumed up all of the good real estate. Fallen Empires boast some pretty good systems, especially the Keepers of Knowledge with their ecumenopoli. At least if you don't have the megacorp DLC. If you have all DLC, then really, there's nothing of value here. You'll have paved over every single inch of natural planet in your quest for even greater amounts of alloys long before you even found the Keepers, and that's saying something with how happy they are to come knocking on your door about your car's extended warranty.
Rumor says they once upon a time had ringworlds, and that these ringworlds where unique to them. How could a new empire such as yours build such marvels of technology when the Fallen Empire probably took millennea to complete such a massive project? Then came along Utopia and now today we're making them in less than twenty years!
Now, in season 9 or whatever battle pass we've reached, they have nothing unique. Most player empires will have superseded them when it comes to living space. Again, what was once unobtainable is now something you do before the midgame.
But hey, at least they had their ships for themselves until
Cosmogenesis
Came along.
Unsurprising to all, I will now rant a little about cosmogenesis. This near-mandatory non-crisis ascension perk is really just a build-a-fallen-empire, and while I acknowledge that as the purpose of it, I nevertheless must complain. I won't go into detail, because Cosmogenesis deserves thrice as many discussions than Fallen Empires do, if not more, but when Cosmogesis was released as part of The Machien Age, I don't think I am wrong to believe that most players was expecting the Fallen Empires to react to anyone trying to replicate their ancient technology. Except they never seem to do. Maybe sometimes, but that is a rare occassion. I for one has never had a Fallen Empire declare war on me, or try to rally the galaxy against me for trying to perform experiments that probably break the geneva convention three-hundred times over. Instead they are content to let you catch up, and even start making dragon-scale armor without ever having seen a dragon before.
Really, they don't have much going for them
It isn't just Cosmogenesis. They never really do anything at all. This is especially noticeable with how often the new Fallen Hive interact with you compared to the rest of the loot pinatas (Even if their last three requests all were to fight the same 1k fleet power experimental fleet, all before year 2204 because of their isolationist agenda, that apparently includes top-of-the-line sensors and a first-contact-at-all-costs protocol.
What I am trying to say is that Fallen Empires have truly fallen from grace. No longer do they have a single shred of unreplicateable technology, and they don't even do much for us narratively. If anything, their only purpose seem to be to provide a constant stream of confused new players coming to reddit or these forums to ask how the ai empire has 200k fleet power in year 2210, and why they are so angry, which just so happened when they colonized a little glowing planet with 100% habitability for their species.
Now, don't get me wrong. We shouldn't remove Ringworlds from the Galactic Wonders ascension perk, nor should dark matter technologies be unobtainable. But Fallen Empires desperately needs something going for them. Maybe just some unique worlds, or unobtainable Dark Matter armor. Or perhaps they should have more and better loot, but more power so they can actually do something about these new empires trying to replicate their class 4 singularities with a brain-hotel and a bunch of researchers some 25 years into the game.
But please, can the Fallen Empires get something going for them?
Having been here long before your own silly little empire even had the ability to comprehend the vast cosmos, they have amassed technological marvels during their eons of existence, and they are a force to be reckoned with. So advanced is their technology that even when you do manage to shove them fully into their graves, you are unable to replicate their arcane machinery, except for a few select ones.
However, in recent years, Fallen Empires have lost some of their enigmatic status. No longer are they mysteries to be uncovered. Instead they are trivial caches of shallowly-buried technological insignificance. No longer are they imposing guardians of a forgotten age, and though many probably will tell me that Fallen Empires never were anything more than glorified loot pinatas, I think it is undeniable that they have lost a lot of their uniqueness and narrative value during these last few (many) updates and DLC.
So let me start my rant with
First Contact
Or rather, the lack of it.
Having observed you for quite some time, or so they claim, the Fallen Empires are unique among the empires that populate your galaxy in that they are able to speak to you directly from the moment you meet them. Mostly this is fine. After all, they do need to tell you off about colonizing those shining planets that just so happen to have 100% habitability for your species, but as it currently stands they are a bit too eager to contact you. It is not uncommon for one of them to contact you from the other side of the galaxy, sometimes before you even encounter any other species, maybe even before you see any spaceborne fauna. While this isn't really a problem for those who have played the game for a long time, I don't think it is very good for new players, and as mentioned before, this is in direct contradiction with the way they are supposed to behave.
Knowing very little of the inner workings, it is nevertheless my assumption that Fallen Empires contact you the moment you enter their sensor range ... which is quite high. I would suggest that Fallen Empires, in line with their isolationist behavior, contact you only when one of you science ships enter a system neighboring one of their own systems. This way you're less likely to stumble upon them on the doorstep of your own home system. Perhaps to help new and old players alike with identifying the presence of Fallen Empires, systems with tomb worlds, ruined planets and broken megastructures could be scattered about in their vicinity. But I digress. Their problem extend far beyond this singular issue.
Loot Pinata
Is what the Fallen Empires currently are. You unlock dark matter from them, you get some pops, some planets, and maybe even some Fallen Empire buildings, most of which are completely useless due to you picking cosmogenesis or simply because of their lackluster power level. As it currently stands, Fallen Empires technological level is quite unimpressive. Dark Matter components can be acquired in many other, often safer, ways. As mentioned, the buildings likewise can be yours for the low low price of 500 minor artifacts or whatever the local artifact exchange charges for a blueprint, if you haven't already gotten Enigmatic Engineering or Cosmogenesis.
And even if you ignore how easy it is to get your hands on these unmarvels of technology, they aren't even that impressive anymore. The common consensus is that shields are useless, and the reactor isn't all that useful unless you're packing your ships full of shields. The only thing left is the Dark Matter Thrusters and the Dark Matter cloaking device.
Frankly, the value of Fallen Empires have been in freefall ever since the release of this game. Which neatly leads me to the next point:
Their Worlds
Fallen Empires gotta live somewhere, and since they got here early, they vacuumed up all of the good real estate. Fallen Empires boast some pretty good systems, especially the Keepers of Knowledge with their ecumenopoli. At least if you don't have the megacorp DLC. If you have all DLC, then really, there's nothing of value here. You'll have paved over every single inch of natural planet in your quest for even greater amounts of alloys long before you even found the Keepers, and that's saying something with how happy they are to come knocking on your door about your car's extended warranty.
Rumor says they once upon a time had ringworlds, and that these ringworlds where unique to them. How could a new empire such as yours build such marvels of technology when the Fallen Empire probably took millennea to complete such a massive project? Then came along Utopia and now today we're making them in less than twenty years!
Now, in season 9 or whatever battle pass we've reached, they have nothing unique. Most player empires will have superseded them when it comes to living space. Again, what was once unobtainable is now something you do before the midgame.
But hey, at least they had their ships for themselves until
Cosmogenesis
Came along.
Unsurprising to all, I will now rant a little about cosmogenesis. This near-mandatory non-crisis ascension perk is really just a build-a-fallen-empire, and while I acknowledge that as the purpose of it, I nevertheless must complain. I won't go into detail, because Cosmogenesis deserves thrice as many discussions than Fallen Empires do, if not more, but when Cosmogesis was released as part of The Machien Age, I don't think I am wrong to believe that most players was expecting the Fallen Empires to react to anyone trying to replicate their ancient technology. Except they never seem to do. Maybe sometimes, but that is a rare occassion. I for one has never had a Fallen Empire declare war on me, or try to rally the galaxy against me for trying to perform experiments that probably break the geneva convention three-hundred times over. Instead they are content to let you catch up, and even start making dragon-scale armor without ever having seen a dragon before.
Really, they don't have much going for them
It isn't just Cosmogenesis. They never really do anything at all. This is especially noticeable with how often the new Fallen Hive interact with you compared to the rest of the loot pinatas (Even if their last three requests all were to fight the same 1k fleet power experimental fleet, all before year 2204 because of their isolationist agenda, that apparently includes top-of-the-line sensors and a first-contact-at-all-costs protocol.
What I am trying to say is that Fallen Empires have truly fallen from grace. No longer do they have a single shred of unreplicateable technology, and they don't even do much for us narratively. If anything, their only purpose seem to be to provide a constant stream of confused new players coming to reddit or these forums to ask how the ai empire has 200k fleet power in year 2210, and why they are so angry, which just so happened when they colonized a little glowing planet with 100% habitability for their species.
Now, don't get me wrong. We shouldn't remove Ringworlds from the Galactic Wonders ascension perk, nor should dark matter technologies be unobtainable. But Fallen Empires desperately needs something going for them. Maybe just some unique worlds, or unobtainable Dark Matter armor. Or perhaps they should have more and better loot, but more power so they can actually do something about these new empires trying to replicate their class 4 singularities with a brain-hotel and a bunch of researchers some 25 years into the game.
But please, can the Fallen Empires get something going for them?
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