What are your most OP custom race traits?

[Maverick Mullah]

Title.

[qualified turtle ship]

I haven't spent enough time yet with the current version of the game, this is rough first pass.
Note game settings affect trait power, e.g. adaptable is much more valuable if you max out extreme planets etc. I don't play maps bigger than 'large', and have an early game bias. Also all of these assume Crusade.

aquatic -- afaik it is a straight upgrade over carbon
+ more planet types
+ buildable anywhere farms (hydroponics)
+ learning center adjacency bonus +1 raw research (insane when paired with xenophobic)

xenophobic: +200% sci and social is really really good. The penalties attached are significant, It is worth at least 1 point for influence & maxing out the military bonus to help reverse the penalties as it does more (relatively) for the xenophobe than normal (e.g. since the xenophobe starts out at -50% military it only take +50% to double that output).


Rough trait power scale:
++ Engineers (w/ neutral ideology)
++ Vigilant
++ Diplomatic
++ Ancient (Intrigue)
++ Wealthy (mercs)
++ Bureaucrats (Intrigue)
+ Certain
+ Inventive

-- Conquerors
-- Sneaky
-- Experienced
-- Paranoid
-- Angry
-- Resourceful
-- Scavengers
-- Unwavering



Generic Traits:
++ Fast
++ Likable
++ Dense
++ Observant
++ Militant
+ Content
+ Productive
+ Clever
+ Influential

-- Brutal
-- Courageous
- Resilient

[jonnin]

Its hard to beat synthetic. Meet the vor from the future who traveled back in time to do it right.

ancient (healing hulls very early)
time travel (large hulls as soon as you can produce them)

--farming (don't eat)
-- morale (100% all the time)
-- fertile (don't reproduce this way)
-- likeable (gonna kill em anyway, who cares)
-- resil (heal, full HP after fight usually)
-- courage (I don't station legions, I station ships)


++production
++ econ
++ handy
++ clever
++fast
++militant
++tourism ** new, for intrigue
++ one more, still working on it with new rules
and I think +1 for that one odd point, also TBD.

Now the kicker. Just get a gov't that lets you use the market. BUY the stuff to make population. OP??


I disagree a little and why (but, I am militaristic in nature)

Xenophobic (required to get extra influence double ticker in the general section now) -- its hard to think of something stronger than teching up every round and filling all your planets out nearly instantly then doing .. you got it .. R&D every 5 rounds on every planet...

Ancient (Intrigue) -- it is simply OP to grab hull heals so early and free. You can hit the
precursor anomalies and win all fights until late game with just that and not much else.

Time travel: soon as you have production, you can make big hulls with big engines. If they also heal, its game over. Even a space rocket, a troop transport, healing hull large ship with 20 moves can sack an entire AI faction on like turn 50.

Devout -- so many butt kicking traits. So good at killing. The most OP AI faction I have made to date uses devout & certain. But I banned xeno from everyone (including myself) for now.

Vigilant -- high health modules and larger starbase, required for tiny hull spam. But not really OP. I have it on my swarm faction which isnt OP.


Certain -- this is nerfed in intrigue. The slower rate of ideology means less free tech. It used to keep up with xenophobic for a while and leave the AI in the dust, but not now.

Inventive --nerfed so bad, you get like 1 free tech. That lets you maybe push democratic govt early for more planets, but is that OP?

[Frogboy]

If there was ONE race trait you think should get some buffing, what would it be?

[FreedomFighter]

Originally posted by Draginol:

If there was ONE race trait you think should get some buffing, what would it be?

I vote for Cybernetic. I picked it once and never look at it again. It just add a new type of citizen that increase your ship speed by percentage. Doesn't seem to worth to use precious citizen where you only get them once every 10 turn.

[Maverick Mullah]

Originally posted by jonnin:

Its hard to beat synthetic. Meet the vor from the future who traveled back in time to do it right.

ancient (healing hulls very early)
time travel (large hulls as soon as you can produce them)

--farming (don't eat)
-- morale (100% all the time)
-- fertile (don't reproduce this way)
-- likeable (gonna kill em anyway, who cares)
-- resil (heal, full HP after fight usually)
-- courage (I don't station legions, I station ships)


++production
++ econ
++ handy
++ clever
++fast
++militant
++tourism ** new, for intrigue
++ one more, still working on it with new rules
and I think +1 for that one odd point, also TBD.

Now the kicker. Just get a gov't that lets you use the market. BUY the stuff to make population. OP??


I disagree a little and why (but, I am militaristic in nature)

Xenophobic (required to get extra influence double ticker in the general section now) -- its hard to think of something stronger than teching up every round and filling all your planets out nearly instantly then doing .. you got it .. R&D every 5 rounds on every planet...

Ancient (Intrigue) -- it is simply OP to grab hull heals so early and free. You can hit the
precursor anomalies and win all fights until late game with just that and not much else.

Time travel: soon as you have production, you can make big hulls with big engines. If they also heal, its game over. Even a space rocket, a troop transport, healing hull large ship with 20 moves can sack an entire AI faction on like turn 50.

Devout -- so many butt kicking traits. So good at killing. The most OP AI faction I have made to date uses devout & certain. But I banned xeno from everyone (including myself) for now.

Vigilant -- high health modules and larger starbase, required for tiny hull spam. But not really OP. I have it on my swarm faction which isnt OP.


Certain -- this is nerfed in intrigue. The slower rate of ideology means less free tech. It used to keep up with xenophobic for a while and leave the AI in the dust, but not now.

Inventive --nerfed so bad, you get like 1 free tech. That lets you maybe push democratic govt early for more planets, but is that OP?

Hello! I am also a very militaristic sort of player so this sounds perfect for me, just have an issue...Im not really good at actually making up backstories for civs and stuff so could you upload your custom races on the workshop?

[Maverick Mullah]

Originally posted by tearfang:

I haven't spent enough time yet with the current version of the game, this is rough first pass.
Note game settings affect trait power, e.g. adaptable is much more valuable if you max out extreme planets etc. I don't play maps bigger than 'large', and have an early game bias. Also all of these assume Crusade.

aquatic -- afaik it is a straight upgrade over carbon
+ more planet types
+ buildable anywhere farms (hydroponics)
+ learning center adjacency bonus +1 raw research (insane when paired with xenophobic)

xenophobic: +200% sci and social is really really good. The penalties attached are significant, It is worth at least 1 point for influence & maxing out the military bonus to help reverse the penalties as it does more (relatively) for the xenophobe than normal (e.g. since the xenophobe starts out at -50% military it only take +50% to double that output).


Rough trait power scale:
++ Engineers (w/ neutral ideology)
++ Vigilant
++ Diplomatic
++ Ancient (Intrigue)
++ Wealthy (mercs)
++ Bureaucrats (Intrigue)
+ Certain
+ Inventive

-- Conquerors
-- Sneaky
-- Experienced
-- Paranoid
-- Angry
-- Resourceful
-- Scavengers
-- Unwavering



Generic Traits:
++ Fast
++ Likable
++ Dense
++ Observant
++ Militant
+ Content
+ Productive
+ Clever
+ Influential

-- Brutal
-- Courageous
- Resilient

I'll def try this out as well, thank you very much.

[jonnin]

Originally posted by Kishou Arima:

Hello! I am also a very militaristic sort of player so this sounds perfect for me, just have an issue...Im not really good at actually making up backstories for civs and stuff so could you upload your custom races on the workshop?

My 'races' are just copies of what's in the game. I didnt fool with backstory etc. I have remade all the AI factions to be stronger, but not different in name or story or images, and I have made about 3 for myself to play. One is using the images in game, a race of insects (mostly bees) that exploit the game mechanics to make stupidly OP tiny ships. One is a uber version of the synthetics, as described above. And one is an in progress pirate race that uses a lot of privateers to keep the AI sides weak.

If you are looking for custom images and story, you have the wrong guy. If you want to tweak on the AI or human side factions, we can talk about the ability page and for AI factions, the personality page as well...

[Maverick Mullah]

Originally posted by jonnin:

Originally posted by Kishou Arima:

Hello! I am also a very militaristic sort of player so this sounds perfect for me, just have an issue...Im not really good at actually making up backstories for civs and stuff so could you upload your custom races on the workshop?

My 'races' are just copies of what's in the game. I didnt fool with backstory etc. I have remade all the AI factions to be stronger, but not different in name or story or images, and I have made about 3 for myself to play. One is using the images in game, a race of insects (mostly bees) that exploit the game mechanics to make stupidly OP tiny ships. One is a uber version of the synthetics, as described above. And one is an in progress pirate race that uses a lot of privateers to keep the AI sides weak.

If you are looking for custom images and story, you have the wrong guy. If you want to tweak on the AI or human side factions, we can talk about the ability page and for AI factions, the personality page as well...

Alright understood, I'll probably just use the Yor template then and mess around with it with your settings then, what type of goverment should I pick with this sort of a civ early on? Im thinking imperalism.

[Maverick Mullah]

Originally posted by jonnin:

Originally posted by Kishou Arima:

Hello! I am also a very militaristic sort of player so this sounds perfect for me, just have an issue...Im not really good at actually making up backstories for civs and stuff so could you upload your custom races on the workshop?

My 'races' are just copies of what's in the game. I didnt fool with backstory etc. I have remade all the AI factions to be stronger, but not different in name or story or images, and I have made about 3 for myself to play. One is using the images in game, a race of insects (mostly bees) that exploit the game mechanics to make stupidly OP tiny ships. One is a uber version of the synthetics, as described above. And one is an in progress pirate race that uses a lot of privateers to keep the AI sides weak.

If you are looking for custom images and story, you have the wrong guy. If you want to tweak on the AI or human side factions, we can talk about the ability page and for AI factions, the personality page as well...

Also I am thinking of going with a xenophobic and time traveller combo, contemplating on ancient as well...

[jonnin]

Originally posted by Kishou Arima:

Originally posted by jonnin:

My 'races' are just copies of what's in the game. I didnt fool with backstory etc. I have remade all the AI factions to be stronger, but not different in name or story or images, and I have made about 3 for myself to play. One is using the images in game, a race of insects (mostly bees) that exploit the game mechanics to make stupidly OP tiny ships. One is a uber version of the synthetics, as described above. And one is an in progress pirate race that uses a lot of privateers to keep the AI sides weak.

If you are looking for custom images and story, you have the wrong guy. If you want to tweak on the AI or human side factions, we can talk about the ability page and for AI factions, the personality page as well...

Alright understood, I'll probably just use the Yor template then and mess around with it with your settings then, what type of goverment should I pick with this sort of a civ early on? Im thinking imperalism.

I highly advise holding out for republic so you can get the market and buy the stuff to build population. If you have plenty of mining, then you can try something else.

Ultimate goal is to beeline for owner aristocracy and sit there until you have something significantly better and know where the game is going for the ending.

I don't use xeno, its too strong, but if you play above gifted OR want to be even better swap time traveler for xeno and just grab the techs it would have given naturally.

Government is one of the biggest variables in your game. Depending on what happens, you can pick one that helps you deal with the problems you face in THIS game. Don't try to have a rigid goal on it going in, but adapt it as needed. If its going well, you can stick to your general purpose best plan one, but don't feel forced to do that.

[qualified turtle ship]

Originally posted by Draginol:

If there was ONE race trait you think should get some buffing, what would it be?

Hard question, probably determined bc it's current bonus is boring as well as weak so it could be completely replaced.

Scavengers, is a runner up bc I like the concept but it isn't very practical as it only helps once you are winning battles, which you are already doing decisively if you are doing it right... and I think it should interact with the salvage missions. Of course, that may be mixing DLC concepts :(

[qualified turtle ship]

Originally posted by jonnin:

Now the kicker. Just get a gov't that lets you use the market. BUY the stuff to make population. OP??

I'll have to try that, my previous issue was their lack of early game growth, so they were good but took too long to get rolling.

Originally posted by jonnin:

Ancient (Intrigue) -- it is simply OP to grab hull heals so early and free.

Don't forget their +5 construction special gov type ship they can pick up on turn two if they rush a colony :D

Originally posted by jonnin:

Time travel: ...Even a space rocket, a troop transport, healing hull large ship with 20 moves can sack an entire AI faction on like turn 50.

Hrm, I'm surprised a single rocket is enough :p Some tier 1 mercs are pretty powerful. I really do think that home worlds should all start out with a single legion already garrisoned to prevent the kill the galaxy with a single transport thing.

Originally posted by jonnin:

Devout -- so many butt kicking traits. So good at killing. The most OP AI faction I have made to date uses devout & certain.

I haven't tried devout. I discounted it bc IMHO influence while really good mid game influence takes too long to get going to be top tier, but maybe Devout is enough of a boost to make it significant early game. (Note, while influence has seen a huge boost, I believe they toned influence down from the 3.0 beta where it was a significant early game factor. I liked it, but a number of ppl were complaining.)

Originally posted by jonnin:

Vigilant -- I have it on my swarm faction which isn’t OP.

Agreed, not the best trait, but its among the top, and has so many uses the AI doesn't know how to use. Also note this wasn't intended to be a list of OP traits as much as a list of powerful and weaker ones. Though, xeno is OP, and there should be some reason to pick carbon over aquatic.

Originally posted by jonnin:

Certain -- this is nerfed in intrigue. The slower rate of ideology means less free tech. It used to keep up with xenophobic for a while and leave the AI in the dust, but not now.

It also gives +2 influence which is pretty good.

Originally posted by jonnin:

Inventive --nerfed so bad, you get like 1 free tech. That lets you maybe push democratic govt early for more planets, but is that OP?

Just took another look. Yeah, I think I missed the nerf, so not that powerful.

[Maverick Mullah]

Originally posted by jonnin:

Originally posted by Kishou Arima:

Alright understood, I'll probably just use the Yor template then and mess around with it with your settings then, what type of goverment should I pick with this sort of a civ early on? Im thinking imperalism.

I highly advise holding out for republic so you can get the market and buy the stuff to build population. If you have plenty of mining, then you can try something else.

Ultimate goal is to beeline for owner aristocracy and sit there until you have something significantly better and know where the game is going for the ending.

I don't use xeno, its too strong, but if you play above gifted OR want to be even better swap time traveler for xeno and just grab the techs it would have given naturally.

Government is one of the biggest variables in your game. Depending on what happens, you can pick one that helps you deal with the problems you face in THIS game. Don't try to have a rigid goal on it going in, but adapt it as needed. If its going well, you can stick to your general purpose best plan one, but don't feel forced to do that.

Will keep that in mind, also eh a bit off topic but I don't see any place more than once wealth improvement? how am I to make wealth worlds now?

[jonnin]

Ah. I forgot to say!! Synthetic are 100% happy, right? Taxes make people mad. Except when they don't. Kick the tax rate to 100%, build a metal extractor (its a 2nd or 3rd tier research building) to grab your money bonus squares on planets, and let it ride. See why I am pulling for synthetic here?? Its unbalanced, but everyone (me too) likes to just smash everyone once in a while. Too much will get boring. The AI does not seem to know how to do this stuff -- my uber vor barely registers as a faction as AI played.

Tear: I hit stuff :) I really don't care about influence much. I do offset the new xeno penalty with ++influential because culture flip, but honestly, if the AI has a base or planet that is annoying me, I just smash/take it. For anything other than a conquest win, my picks are not going to be ideal.

[Maverick Mullah]

Originally posted by jonnin:

Ah. I forgot to say!! Synthetic are 100% happy, right? Taxes make people mad. Except when they don't. Kick the tax rate to 100%, build a metal extractor (its a 2nd or 3rd tier research building) to grab your money bonus squares on planets, and let it ride. See why I am pulling for synthetic here?? Its unbalanced, but everyone (me too) likes to just smash everyone once in a while. Too much will get boring. The AI does not seem to know how to do this stuff -- my uber vor barely registers as a faction as AI played.

Tear: I hit stuff :) I really don't care about influence much. I do offset the new xeno penalty with ++influential because culture flip, but honestly, if the AI has a base or planet that is annoying me, I just smash/take it. For anything other than a conquest win, my picks are not going to be ideal.

I also play the same as you basically, nothing beats taking over the galaxy.