Race characteristics - what's hot... what's not

[Drake]

Whether or not religious is a good pick depends on the other special tech areas you might take. Religious overlaps in a number of areas.

While the nature shrine is a cheap way to get a nice early boost, since planetary engineering facilities stack, you can compensate by building more per planet.

I used religious tech for the TG contest, but think that ended up being a mistake. I'll have to try some games against other players and reevaluate it then.

-Drake

[Tomgs]

I like the religious tech area because it is not all powerful but does have some good infrastructure effects. The war shrine and death shrine aren't that useful yet but if the AI gets more powerful they might be very useful. The Religious Talisman is very powerful for Beam weapons making them at least considered over missles in the mid to late game especially on the larger ships that can use larger mounts. Its not an offensive powerhouse like Organic (which also has some good infrastructure and armor making it IMO the most powerful of the racial picks). But I don't always want to have the most powerful race in the game sometimes its better to play the race that has to capture aliens to sacrifice to its death shrines (they should make a negative population growth modifier for the death shrine facility).

[Marty Ward]

I have a question about the racial traits and the bonus traits.
If you pick the advanced trait that boosts your shipyard rate by 25% and then boost the shipyard rate on the characteristic screen by 10% what is your net effect, 137% or 135%?
Is it worth doing this?

[Drake]

It'd be +35% for planetary SYs and +10% for ship SYs. I like to boost the construction rate, because the faster I can build, the faster I expand.

You're better off deciding what you will usually build, and tailoring your construction rate to best take advantage of that IMO.

-Drake

[Marty Ward]

Thanks

[DirectorTsaarx]

I definitely agree on Temporal Tech; in my mind, it's more fun than the other racial techs (and the Temporal Space Yard & Vacation Service are indispensible!). I also put lots of points into research; I also generally take the "Scientists" race. This Last game, I put points into Physical Strength (yeah, an unpopular one, but I like invading planets and it was a way to spend some racial points that wouldn't overbalance the game in my favor). I also increased construction and repair rates. I didn't bother reducing any of the traits, since the AI doesn't do that (again, why overbalance?). Oh yeah, I also always take Propulsion Experts; the extra point of movement is frequently a real bonus in combat (and on the strategic scale too - the AI rarely outruns my ships ).

[Nitram Draw]

I bet the most popular choices are increased research and shipyard rates. A lot of the mod races use these two also.