Newbie Question: Culture Modifiers

[Fyron]

Traits get more expensive per 1% past 120 (though it is 110 for some, like Maintenance). Look in Settings.txt for the specific changes to costs. For example, it costs 500 points to get Maintenance to 110. To then raise it to 115 costs 1000 points. However, of you take Merchants, you can get 115 maintenance trait and save that 1000 points.

Berzerkers can be a very deadly culture. Take it and 125 aggressiveness and defensiveness, and you get a base bonus of 35% to hit enemies and to your ECM rating. This stacks with training, Combat Sensors and ECM, Stealth and Scattering Armor, and ship hull bonuses. With equal levels of technology, your ships will still have those 35% bonuses, and will be hit far less often than you will hit the enemy.

[ August 20, 2002, 05:39: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[Purna]

Berserkers, huh? :-)

I guess that answers my question. Not only do berserkers have the highest racial point bonus, but they also allow the highest Space Combat Ratings if you max out the attributes. You get to have your cake and eat it too.

I can see how merchants easily work off their mere 50 point deficit if you cross that 110 boundary on maintenance, but engineers are harder to justify.

I'm also still really curious as to why anyone would pick a xenophobe over a schemer.

[Fyron]

Roleplay purposes maybe.

[Puke]

Xenophobes are mainly there for the AI. normally, the computer will capitulate when you reach 10x (i think) its score. If the computer is xenophobic, it wont give up until you have 60x its score (if i remember correctly).

but to answer the question of if people pick traits for the point value given, or to get high ranking attributes: a little of column A, a little of column B.

if you truely dont care about combat bonuses, because you dont like shooting things or you're confident in your superior technology and numbers, then taking Berzerker wont help you. you are going to minimize your combat scores anyway, and you might as well pick a trait that gives you some points in something you do care about. On the other hand, you might pick some tree-hugger trait with further penalties to combat, because it gives you points in another place (that you can in turn lower and respend elsewhere).

[capnq]

For solo games, I always pick culture purely for roleplaying reasons; I only hit Display Values to remind myself what I'm getting into.