I Don't consider Myself a vet.
But I do play a lot so...
Culture...
It really depends on what kind of race you envision it to b, but strategically, Neutral is the best
as it has no ups and downs.
But If you did want a culture, Politicians are my first choice as they have +5 to happiness, +2 to Space Combat, and +5 to trade that makes up the Lost -5 to production.
Actually you can kind of save time by saying what cultures you don't want to pick.
Engineers are one.
They have -2 to intel, -5 to trade, -5 to space and ground combat. Even though you can make lots and lots of stuff, eventually they will drain you sooner or later.
Zealots are probably the worst to pick. -2 in production, -5 to research and intel. Even though you have significant combat bonuses, you really don't have a use for an undersupplied, obsolete navy.
(Even though you can equal it out with Racial points, it's better to pick a nice culture and save those points for racial abilities)
If you want to, you should put a plus 5 to every part of the characteristics
but seriously,
Research should be put in 5-10 Plus.
Tolerance really doesnt upset the balance of power same with reproduction and happiness as you go up the tech ladder.
Ground Combat can be afforded to be cut. Same with trade. Not drastically though.
Cunning is so-so, really based on what YOU want, and Aggresiveness and Defensiveness add to your ship's hit-to modifiers.
Add Points to Ag if you want to outshot and kill.
Add Points to Df if you want an another day to live and fight. (This should be considered more than AG since some races will be able to outshoot you better and Building ships after ships are numbing on the mind and resources.)
Vocational Aptitudes are always a welcome to add bonuses.
Production marks will make your mines chug out more, decreasing the number of planets that you have to have. (although it's probably 1-5...)
Repair Aptitude isn't really something that you have to consider as with technology develops, either your ship is dead or it's alive unscathed. And Space Yard Tech will be always better.
Construction Aptitude is a Must but you need to have more than 10%+ to see its affects really IMHO.
Maintenence Aps are really saying do you want to save money or not? Take your pick.
For Advanced Traits,
I would recommend Propulsion Experts as it gives you 1 extra movement. It's more crucial than you think.
Natural Merchants help save that one extra facil space and fast expansion by eliminating the need for spaceports.
Hardy Industrialists are something you want to skip the whole Construction Aptitude altogether. Even though a nice addition, it's really unnecessary compared to other uses that racial points have.
Emotionless is COMPLETE WASTE. Let's just leave it at that.
Racial techs are unique and all give advantages that can't be topped really. But Crystaline tech gives the most decisive advantage because of Crystaline Armour and Shard Cannons.
Money makes the world go round.
Happiness type should be peaceful. You can spend less to keep your people happy and actually get expansion and lots of extra stuff.
Bloodthirsty likes blood. To get blood, you need to research weapons then you need to build the ship with weapons and send it away and away till you ice many, many ships, worlds and races... and by the time you do that, someone else is getting richer by the minute and more advanced than you. And when you meet that race, well your people's happiness isn't the first thing on your mind.
And You'd be lucky if your navy didnt start abandoning ships because of money shortage.
I Hope that helps.
Edit: For Home Planet Preferrences, even though it doesnt make a different which atmosphere you pick, pick Gas Giants as home planet type.
Even though the starting home planet size would all be same for all races in the Gold, you still have an advantange in early game expansion as there are NO SMALL GAS GIANTS. You always get Medium to Huge, which means more room for facilities and more room for mines or research in Early Games.
[ 15 March 2002: Message edited by: TerranC ]
Designing your own Race in New Game.... ???
Hybrid Mode
