What are the characteristics of your favorite race?

[SamuraiProgrammer]

Well, I think it is acceptable to put the race settings anywhere you like for the simple reason that the points gained by changing something from 51 to 50 are not as many points as are gained by changing something from 100 to 99. There are diminishing returns.

Also, there are limits as to how far some attributes can be reduced.

The hope is that the game designers have balanced things appropriately. Also, there are different opinions as to what 'balance' is.

There are many ways we could rationalize why it is appropriate to drop one attribute to an unbelievably low number and raising others.

For example, lets look at the repair attribute. If my race has big, stocky arms and legs, it might cause them to have to completely dissasemble a piece of equipment in order to repair it. This could easily cause most repairs to take twice as long (more or less) to effect. This would directly correlate to a 50% repair rating. At the same time, this bulk could improve their survivability when they are damaged (plusses to ground combat and defensiveness).

Of course, we can easily rationalize anything. And for every rationalization, there are several counters that make at least as much sense to do it the other way. One of my favorite lines from a movie was from The Big Chill. Jeff Goldblum's character said "Rationalizations are more important than sex. When was the Last time you went an entire week without a juicy rationalization?"

Anyhow, it is safe to assume that there are some things some players will do that will offend the sensibilities of the other players.

Happy Holidays!

[Chronon]

Thanks for the clarification on AST, everyone. It certainly does sound useful.

I do agree with you, SP and CapnQ, about roleplaying races. There are always gamers who will do their share of 'min-maxing' (see the "gamey tactics" thread on this forum), and I don't see this as unfair, or bad. It's just part of the game. But I, like you, think it's more fun to set up the racial characteristics to reflect the type of being(s) that one is playing. I don't think these are mutually exclusive, though. Why not play a race that role plays well, AND is competitive on PBW?

[Atraikius]

capnq - I found I actually like raising the physical strength. Bump physical strength to 105% - 110% and 150 small troops with GC3's have a good chance capturing homeworlds of all those 50% strength races.

[Zarix]

Natural Merchants, intelligence and maintenance. I almost always use a few points on those but everything else depends on game settings.

[Fyron]

Natural Merchants lost some of its punch when planets went from up to 14 facilities in SE3 to 25 in SE4. That 1 Spaceport only takes 3 turns to build (instead of 10 in se3). IMO, Natural Merchants is not worth as much as something like Advanced Storage Techniques.

[Fyron]

I like Psychic and Organic races.

[Chronon]

Fyron, I have played organic, and I understand its advantages. But I have no experience with psychic. What are its main good points?