Racial Tech Advantages

[Socialist]

i like Temporal..they dont look as snazzy as organics or crystaline..but its bonus is that
it gives shield buster tech on its main fireing weapons..decent/mid/long range, and par to above damage..is 2 turn firing weapons are excellent in damage..6 - or better range on it too. also happiness bonus components for planets..handy dandy.
great with PDF against missle (ie organic)
seekers. run them down! fire your big boys and burn through any armour..be done with them heheh

i like finding best ways of dealing with Organics lovers

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Waves his Red flag

Socialist

[Sinapus]

I suppose it would depend on your style. I prefer Advanced Storage Techniques myself.

I did try Organic Tech in one game. I prefer the standard weapons, but the population growth modifier facilities seem useful. That Medical Lab facility seems useful, too, but I wish the happiness modifier would increase with level as well. I ended up building an Urban Pacification Center III in all my systems as well, since that will get every planet to "Jubilant" levels, while the Medical Lab would only raise them to "Happy".

[Snap Spelljammer]

I play with Temporal, Psychic, Religious, and Crystal.

Temporal because of the fast construction, plus the Vacation facility has a happiness modifier of 6. The urban and fate shrine only give 3. I don't think the temporal weapons and such are all that great, except for the seeker parasite.

Psychic for the Allegiance Subverter. The psy scanner facility is nice too.

Religous because the shrines and talisman rock. =)

It's a toss up between organic and crystal, I'm playing with organic in my current game, but I like crystal more. I like the facility that cuts your maint costs down.

Most 4x games come down to economy. If I can get a bigger economy than you I will probably win. I go in for all the production and construction speed bonuses that I can.

To get all 4 of the traits I cut my strength to -50% and my politics to -50%.

With my ability to wipe a planet clean with my normal ships I don't need troops. I can always subvert one of thier colony ships to get access to thier population.

And with the computer ALWAYS turning on you when you get a certain % bigger than them I hardly ever go in for treaties so I could care less about the trade penalty.

[General Hawkwing]

I use the speed bonus racial modifier. I helps in ship combat and exploration.

[Kimball]

I wasn't aware that the propulsion racial advantage gives an additional combat movement too. Thank you.

[Triumvir Emphy]

going down to -50% doesn't give you the bang for your buck, after going down by 20% points gained are very low. Everybody has radiation and green stuff coming out your ears, so reduce those by 20% and gain more points to play with else where.

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[Commander G]

What you pick for racial traits will vary somewhat if you are playing AI's or people. As someone earlier noted, you can afford trade at 50% because once the mega evil AI triggers, trade will do you no good, Playing against human, research and resources from trade are crucial until you can a huge lead. Another factor is how many starting points. With 2000 it is hard to sacrifice enough to get more than two advanced traits without seriously hurting your economy.

I myself, like to take two traits in a 2000 point game. If I'm playing Rock, I like Natural Merchants since a space port really cuts into the facilities if there is only one colonizable planet in a system. It also speeds up the startup of a new solar system. If I am playing Gas Giant, I pass on the natural merchants since you get all huge and large worlds and can spare one slot for a space port.

I usually like to take the extra movement trait because you can either move your ships one faster or you can remove one engine and save the metal/minerals for something else. In the early game, the biggest cost factor of ships is the engines and their affect on metal. Getting to planets faster, is a good way to optimize growth, a key factor in any 4X game.

I tend to disfavor increasing the shipyard rate since you can quickly produce a fleet that consumes all your resource for maintenance. Resources are more of a limiting factor in my mind than Shipyard capacity.

Also consider taking 50 to 80% for repair rates to get the points somewhere else. Repair does not help you much in the game if you can build a new ship as fast as you can repair it.

Combinations that I like include Extra Movement + Temporal, Extra Movement + Organic, Extra Movement + Crystal.

Another thing to consider when looking at advanced traits for economy bonus is how do they cost verus gaining 20 by picking 120% on the nonadvanced screen. Usually, you only want to pick the advanced trait if you take 120% plus the advanced bonus. Otherwise, it is not cost effective.

50% to 80% on Strength is a good choice since Troops are a ways down the tech tree and it is much easier to clear a planet than to take one over.

You may be able to go 80% on intelligence and just play it defensively with counter-intelligence to gain points as well. I am a little leary of doing this myself.

Trade at 80% is still useful, even in a multi-player game. At 50% you may be helping the other person to much for what you are getting.