I am one of those 5k hrs guys, and i love those changes. Finally more options for lithoid hives in a competetive environment and some options for spiritual non necrophages :)

I myself have 'just' around 1000 hours in Stellaris but most people who requested this changes have 2000+ some even past 5000 hours. They all are competitive min maxers. I stated in my description that this mod is exactly aimed at balancing out the odds between the about 4 or 5 builds that are currently viable in the Stellaris meta game and the entire rest of the game.

That means if you use your roughly 30 pops in the early game entirely to focus on Research(which is currently one of the best ways of doing stuff probably the best)
Then 10 Technicians for Robots produce 80 EC can upkeep 20 Researchers,
while 18 Miners for Hives produce 72 Minerals and can upkeep 12 Researchers.
This doesn't include pop upkeep pop since Robots have an easier time producing EC than Hives have producing Food it only gets worse for Hives.

I don't mean to be a cunt when I tell you, that you're probably not playing good/optimal. It's no shame to play Stellaris just for fun or casual.
And after all you always got the benefit of the doubt. If you think this mod is garbage or not suited for you, you don't have to add it.

Hives are a huge meme for people who min max the game, so are Lithoids unless you pick them as Ruler Species for Necrophages(if you do so the buffs of my mod don't apply either tho).

I dont know if you know about the ISS Server or who KomradTruck is.(If not and you are interested in competitive stellaris you should look it up) But let me tell you who he is and what his community does. They basically only play the early game first 30-50 years then it's over cuz some1 killed everyone else. They only play optimizied min maxed builds.

16k Fleet by year 2230, Proton Launchers, Cruisers + T4 Tech is what a good played Void Dweller, Necrophage or Robot Empire can field and that consistant every single game.

And btw Hives are worst in the early game because they weren't able to make a lot use of their pop growth in that stage of the game. You literally need 1.5 pops to upkeep 1 Researcher as Hive. 6 Minerals for 1 Researcher with a base of 4 Minerals per job! While Machines need 4 Energy for 1 Researcher and produce 8 base Energy.

It's not about being more optimised in the long run, it's about being able to run a technocracy better in the first 50-odd years of the game. I have never seen a Lithoid Hive Mind fail to be first to Proton Launchers.

Please don't be a cunt and assume just because someone has another experience than you do that they "don't play good". Well you don't mod good buddy.

Pls check the discussion page I did the math there for you.

And I'm really sorry to break it to you but if people in your multiplayer games lose with Ringworld or resource consolidation roboters, techno slaver void dwellers or necrophages vs a hive mind then chances are that you don't play good.

Hive mind literally need more pops to upkeep a single researcher than roboters or organics same is true for lithoids on top of that hive minds don't get access to stuff like technocracy, slavery or the fan materialist ethic which includes the academic privilege living standart all of which increase your research output.

Lulwut. In all the multiplayer games I've played Lithoids have been by far the most powerful empires heading into the midgame. Especially when Hive mind. Not needing to manage food & consumer goods means it is dramatically easier to increase Specialist numbers in the early game when you still don't have enough planets available for specialized Consumer Goods production. This in turn translates to a very real tech advantage and a very real military advantage, even when compared to empires with dozens more planets. If anything Lithoid Hive Minds need to be nerfed not buffed.