So, I have found some oddities with synthetic ascension, which I don't know if they are intended or not.
The first step, Flesh is Weak, gives a project upon completion of which the pops of your primary species (at least, I think it's only primary, as I hadn't yet found a planet for the species of my neighbours at the time) gets the Cyborg trait, as well as any leaders of that species and renames them, in my case at least, High (species). It also gives an ability to apply that 0 cost trait to other species in your empire. This requires Gene Tailoring, which is the first oddity I've noticed, because I didn't actually research that tech at the time and couldn't give my immigrants the joy of having +20% to habitability and +5% to minerals. I'd thought it would be more appropriate to allow modification even without it, but only allowing to mod the Cyborg trait.
The second step, the Synthetic Ascension proper, gives a project which upon completion turns every Cyborg in the empire into shiny-yet-generic-until-there-are-new-synth-portraits Synths as well as any leader that was a cyborg, or at least, it's supposed to do that. For the second oddity, one that I am sure is a bug, was that my ruler not only didn't turn shiny, but he actually lost his cyborg trait, despite him still being of the cyborg sub-species. This, thankfully, reduced his lifespan significantly, so I didn't have to bear seeing a meatbag at the head of my beatiful robot empire for long.
The third oddity is that I soon found out that apparently turn-everyone-into-robots project is a one-time deal and you can't even add Cyborg to anyone anymore, it literally disappears from the list, without anything to replace it. The addendum to that oddity is that I actually launched modification of one of my immigrant species shortly before the Ascension projects would be completed. Naturally, they didn't turn into synths and are now the only cyborg species in my empire, essentially second-class ciizens to my primary Ascended (those unblessed by any modifications, are, of course, now relegated to third-class citizens). Or, at least, they were the only cyborgs until some pops of my Cyborg species re-immigrated back to my empire after missing the show. They even settled on a world with only 55% habitability, where they can't even get a happiness bonus. Of course, they didn't transform into synths either.
The fourth oddity is that I was lead to believe that any regular synths will adopt a new identity of the ascended species. Didn't happen, and now I have a meaningless choice of building either Synth or Ascended colony ships on my homeworld, which clutters the expansion planner.
The fifth oddity is that once I completed the ascension, the Holy Guardians decided to chastise me on this... despite us never having met. In fact, we still haven't met because their heavily worded letter didn't contain a return address and the galaxy generation apparently decided to place every single FE on the other half of the galaxy to every normal empire, and I've only discovered Keepers of Knowledge and Militant Isolationists yet. I actually am somewhat afraid of discovering them, because I think they might now hate me enough to go to war with me, just from us being materialists and soulless machines. Amusingly, the Keepers of Knowledge pretty much love me, despite us playing with AI.
The sixth oddity is that apparently no one bothered to add any additional species descriptors to the dialogues. Every once and then I see other empires, in particular, my rival-turned-vassal Sakyt Blood Court, not knowing what to call me and what sounds I make. I guess they also won't know what to call my progeny which will surely soon be sold on the streets of their homeworld as snacks, because they love broken teeth. And this is despite one spiritual empire outright telling me that my materialism turned my people into soulless machines (and having appropriately named -40 malus to their relationship with me, alongside with -20 malus of everyone else who isn't spiritualist but isn't materialist either).
I would like to know which of these are bugs and which are intended. I thought that even after ascension it would be possible to turn other species into synths, but that isn't the case. And I don't think that it's appropriate to take away a very useful trait from the player either. Nor is not turning your synths into part of your primary species, especially considering that I guess, other species cyborgs' would join my primary one, if they were included in the ascension. And I think that maybe Holy Guardians should reveal their whereabouts by contacting us first, although I do find amusing the image of them being so angry with us that they don't even want to have anything with my empire (even less than usual, that is) and sent their insult clandestinely and our leaders being dumbfounded and asking "Who even are you?" at the already dark communication screen. And, of course, species descriptors should be added.
The first step, Flesh is Weak, gives a project upon completion of which the pops of your primary species (at least, I think it's only primary, as I hadn't yet found a planet for the species of my neighbours at the time) gets the Cyborg trait, as well as any leaders of that species and renames them, in my case at least, High (species). It also gives an ability to apply that 0 cost trait to other species in your empire. This requires Gene Tailoring, which is the first oddity I've noticed, because I didn't actually research that tech at the time and couldn't give my immigrants the joy of having +20% to habitability and +5% to minerals. I'd thought it would be more appropriate to allow modification even without it, but only allowing to mod the Cyborg trait.
The second step, the Synthetic Ascension proper, gives a project which upon completion turns every Cyborg in the empire into shiny-yet-generic-until-there-are-new-synth-portraits Synths as well as any leader that was a cyborg, or at least, it's supposed to do that. For the second oddity, one that I am sure is a bug, was that my ruler not only didn't turn shiny, but he actually lost his cyborg trait, despite him still being of the cyborg sub-species. This, thankfully, reduced his lifespan significantly, so I didn't have to bear seeing a meatbag at the head of my beatiful robot empire for long.
The third oddity is that I soon found out that apparently turn-everyone-into-robots project is a one-time deal and you can't even add Cyborg to anyone anymore, it literally disappears from the list, without anything to replace it. The addendum to that oddity is that I actually launched modification of one of my immigrant species shortly before the Ascension projects would be completed. Naturally, they didn't turn into synths and are now the only cyborg species in my empire, essentially second-class ciizens to my primary Ascended (those unblessed by any modifications, are, of course, now relegated to third-class citizens). Or, at least, they were the only cyborgs until some pops of my Cyborg species re-immigrated back to my empire after missing the show. They even settled on a world with only 55% habitability, where they can't even get a happiness bonus. Of course, they didn't transform into synths either.
The fourth oddity is that I was lead to believe that any regular synths will adopt a new identity of the ascended species. Didn't happen, and now I have a meaningless choice of building either Synth or Ascended colony ships on my homeworld, which clutters the expansion planner.
The fifth oddity is that once I completed the ascension, the Holy Guardians decided to chastise me on this... despite us never having met. In fact, we still haven't met because their heavily worded letter didn't contain a return address and the galaxy generation apparently decided to place every single FE on the other half of the galaxy to every normal empire, and I've only discovered Keepers of Knowledge and Militant Isolationists yet. I actually am somewhat afraid of discovering them, because I think they might now hate me enough to go to war with me, just from us being materialists and soulless machines. Amusingly, the Keepers of Knowledge pretty much love me, despite us playing with AI.
The sixth oddity is that apparently no one bothered to add any additional species descriptors to the dialogues. Every once and then I see other empires, in particular, my rival-turned-vassal Sakyt Blood Court, not knowing what to call me and what sounds I make. I guess they also won't know what to call my progeny which will surely soon be sold on the streets of their homeworld as snacks, because they love broken teeth. And this is despite one spiritual empire outright telling me that my materialism turned my people into soulless machines (and having appropriately named -40 malus to their relationship with me, alongside with -20 malus of everyone else who isn't spiritualist but isn't materialist either).
I would like to know which of these are bugs and which are intended. I thought that even after ascension it would be possible to turn other species into synths, but that isn't the case. And I don't think that it's appropriate to take away a very useful trait from the player either. Nor is not turning your synths into part of your primary species, especially considering that I guess, other species cyborgs' would join my primary one, if they were included in the ascension. And I think that maybe Holy Guardians should reveal their whereabouts by contacting us first, although I do find amusing the image of them being so angry with us that they don't even want to have anything with my empire (even less than usual, that is) and sent their insult clandestinely and our leaders being dumbfounded and asking "Who even are you?" at the already dark communication screen. And, of course, species descriptors should be added.
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