Races ranked by 'How Easy to Win' with

[Cygnus]

I want to play each stock race against the AI in order of easiest to hardest to win. That way, when I play the next game with the next stock race, it's a little more difficult to win than the last game. I'm just using the UCP and no other mods.
Thanks in advance.

[Sensei]

I dont think you can get a list that is correct in all cases. it depends on the galaxy, which races have advantages. the silicoids for example should be very good in galaxies with bad biomes and rich planets compared to other races. (imagine the extreme case with only volcanic planets)
Some other factors come in, too. i guess you can say some races prefer shorter games, so in tiny galaxies those races should be better.
there are races, that are generally considered to be better, but you need to look at the galaxy how well you can use their strengths...

[Albinator]

So you have to determine static game settings, and from that settings, such a list could be discussed ;)

[jmsand1]

Some random thoughts of mine:
1) human and bulrathi are fairly easy; their good attributes outweigh their negatives.
2) psilons with their creative bonus can be a game winner, but their low gravity biome makes for a slow start to expand.
3) Gnolem are similar to psilons start. but mid to late game their financial bonus can have a significant impact.
4) Alkari, Darlok. Mrrshan, and Trilarian have decent bonuses but those bonuses arn't really game changers.
5) Terrans are about the same as those four, but nobody likes them so diplomacy isn't much use to them (bye bye trade and research treaties)
6) Silicoid are also unloved, and have expansion challenges that can slow early development, not to mention reduced production capabilities.
7) Sakkra and Elerian have poor research capabilities which makes them harder to play in my eyes.
8) Klackan Ugh! uncreative. I'm all about research, so I hate playing this race.
9) Meklar I've just never had much luck with.

So what this amounts to: human and bulrathi easy. Psilon and Gnolem slightly harder but still easy. Next hardest Alkari, darlok, Mrrshan and Trilarian. Then Terran and Silicoid. Difficult Sakkra and Elerian. Hard Klackan and Meklar.

All of this is just the opinion of an average skilled player, and I've no doubt that more skilled players can find paths to victory that I don't see. Hope it helps, and good luck!

[Threeist]

From my own attempts:

Very Easy:
Elerians: Multiple powerful advantages. They know where the habitable planets are, they know where the pirates spawn, and once they get Battleships they don't even need to bother with ground forces.

Meklar: Having reduced food needs makes the Meklar explode in terms of population. There are few advantages that can not be countered by having a super-fast 4+ population growth curve in colonies.

Easier than Base:
Terrans: Having a large morale boost and faster ship development makes these guys straightforward build large fleets and win. Hiking taxes can turn that morale boost into a strong early game, to say nothing of the uses for buying slow to produce facilities.

Humans: A small morale advantage but the relationship boost with other powers helps you get Non-Aggression Pacts and generally pick a single foe at a time. This also allows you to pick any win condition you want.

Baseline
Sakara: Uncreative but faster to populate comes out roughly equally. Having more pops can mitigate the problems of slower research as well.

Gnolems: Low-G for Money bonuses and generally being passed over for unlucky events. The specific edge is that Gnolems are well suited to trying for an economic victory. Paying for Gravity adaptors is a lot more doable when you have some extra green in your pocket.

Harder than Baseline
Bulrathi: Heavy G would seem like a boon, if Heavy G worlds were a majority or very common. Mid-G worlds penalizing the Bullrathi, when they are the most common, puts the Bulrathi. Advantages with ground combat are very minor details that change little.

Darlok: Morale and Assimiliation advantages are nifty, but espionage is a large cash sink, and going big on it is often subpar. The Darlok, ironically, should ignore the hint and not push espionage until budgets are clearing 1 trillion credits in surplus a turn.

Very Hard:
Psilons: The Psilons are gimped hard. True, they can rush techs to get gravity generators, but all creative does is give all of the techs where there are multiple choices. In early game, you're either taking lower quality Low G worlds or Gravity penalties, in mid game you're paying for all kinds of gravity generators.

Silicoids: Silicoids generally need what the game does not provide much: Volcanic planets. With a very slow growth rate and a serious problem getting along with other factions, Silicoids only major advantage is that their pops suck for other nations to occupy. The Silicoid faction can acquire other racial pops and use them more normally, but this obviously puts them well behind.


Best guess is that the Klackons are probably very easy. Like the Meklar, mechanics that allow for faster growth mean you landgrab more of the galaxy and that pretty much translates into a won game.

The Alkari. Suspect somewhat easier: They fly faster and their beam weapons hit harder. The Alkari may break even if their home region of space is connected with short hypertrails, but going faster could gain time.

The Trilarians. Break Even? They're a debuffed version of the Alkari, as they don't have the advantages and just have a world gimmick instead.

The Mrrshan. Suspect Somewhat harder: Another race that bulks ground forces, but your ground forces do such a little role in force projection.

[grobblewobble]

I prefer to rank races on style. ;-)

1. Sakkra. "Boss! The brainers are over and done with this new.. *blink* .. thing." This still makes me laugh after hearing it 100 times.
One of the least aggressive races when you play against them. I actually believe this turtle when he says he wants to be friends.

2. Terran. Supposed to be the bad guys, but I like them. The research girl is hot and cute. When you play against them they at least sound honest. I say these are the real humans.

3. Silicoids.
Ugliest race in the galaxy. Don't let that fool you. Burning down gaea planets and turning them into smoking ruins because that's an improvement? Wow, these guys are no joke.

4. Mrrshan. I like the ancient Egypt theme. I like being called Your Highness by a cute research cat. I like the sight of a grassy paradise planet.
I don't like the overdone cat memes when you negotiate with them. Hiss, purr.. yes I know you are a feline, get on with it.

5. Klackons.
Hearing "ohhh I am so sorry for not being finished, it must be my fault" whenever you check your research tree gets old quick. Otherwise they're a surprisingly tolerable bunch.

6. Bulrathi. In diplomacy I find they come across as practical and sympathetic, tough guys without being jerks.
When playing as the bulrathi the research bear makes me cringe a little with his new tricks.

7. Gnolams.
Suffering from overdone memes, like a lot of other races. Somehow I still like them

8. Alkari.
Supposed to be a peaceful race. Super aggressive bunch of arrogant egg poopers in reality.

9. Elerians.
Nice if you are into bondage and that kind of thing.

10. Darlok.
Supposed to be mysterious, but really just bland.

11. Psilon.
Look at me being a nerd. I do research, I am a nerd. Did I tell you that I am a nerd? Oooooh, a new discovery.

12. Meklar.
Look at me being a robot and not passing the turing test.. Well ok, the research bot is cute.

13. Trilarians.
Hey, I live below the surface. Did you notice?? I will remind you with a lame joke about the tides in every sentence.

14. Human.
Hello, FRIEND. Please trade with me, FRIEND. Stop spying on me, FRIEND. Do not complain about my spies, FRIEND. Please trade me all of your tech, FRIEND. I bet you would do the same for a FRIEND.

[Bubs]

14 is spot on. i hate it. extra bad because i used him as a character in my scifi D&D (i actually put all these races and leaders in it. Stego was a fun one, but the Khan was certainly the best ever).

[dtt.scanner]

I think few people have actually played every race. I have played Klackon and found them to be very strong.

Being uncreative does not seem to be as bad in this game as it was in earlier versions. You can still acquire technologies from other races, and if it is a valuable one, it is more likely that someone has it. In the previous versions, it seemed like if you played uncreative, the other races purposefully didn't choose some very valuable technologies (like the auto repair unit or the planet buster) if you didn't get it yourself. That made being uncreative VERY dicey. In this game, all of the technologies seem to be represented somewhere, so having to acquire them from someone else's research still makes them possible to acquire. That makes being uncreative challenging, but not debilitating.

EDIT: It also means you may not want to kill everyone until you clear the tech tree...