Name
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Pick cost
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Effects
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Evaluation
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Low-G world
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-5
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Your race evolved on a low gravity world and isn't well adapted to worlds with normal and high gravity.
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Extremely poor choice, as low gravity worlds are extremely rare and the flat -25% modifier to farming, industry, and science is crippling. The -10% to ground troops is just the icing on the cake. Just, don't.
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High-G world
|
6
|
Your race hails from a high gravity world, resulting in the following benefits: +1 hit points for ground troops and no penalty for colonizing high gravity worlds.
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Too expensive for too little benefit. By the time you colonize these worlds, the gravity generator and powered armor should be available (1150 RP and 400 RP respectively).
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Aquatic
|
5
|
Your race is semi-aquatic and can thrive in corresponding environments.
- All tundra and swamp planets are considered Terran (2 food units produced per farmer rather than 1),
- Ocean and Terran planets (including the homeworld) are equivalent to Gaia planets (3 food units per farmer instead of 2).
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Planetary population limits are also increased on these "wet" planets, which is always a boon. (Best used if your universe is set to Organic Rich or Average, as otherwise there will be too few aquatic planets available).
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Subterranean
|
6
|
+10% to ground troop performance and increases planetary population capacity by +2 per size factor (i.e. +2 for tiny planets, +10 for huge planets).
|
It's an excellent choice, as there are very few options that increase the population capacity of planets (two, actually: biospheres increase capacity by 2 units, while advanced city planning is a tech that provides a flat +5 bonus across your empire), and the more population you have, the more troops, more farmers, more laborers, and more scientists you can make work for your empire.
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Large homeworld
|
1
|
Increases your homeworld's size from medium to large.
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(Assuming that your homeworld is Terran, this would increase your homeworld's max population by +8). Easy choice if you have one pick remaining, but you can always just leave it be and get a +10% modifier to your score.
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Rich homeworld
|
2
|
Your homeworld will be rich in minerals, greatly improving homeworld production by +2.
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However, it's easy to reroll a rich planet in the starting system to get the same benefit and quickly colonize it with a colony base.
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Poor homeworld
|
-1
|
A poor class homeworld (-1 production) isn't a big penalty if you roll a mineral-rich planet in your start system.
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Mineral class doesn't impact farming and research, so just spec your homeworld that way.
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Artifacts homeworld
|
3
|
Your homeworld was once the colony of an advanced empire and retains artifacts of that age. Adds +2 to the research output of every scientist on your homeworld.
|
Good in the early game, though the +1 Research pick costs the same, affects your entire empire, and is much better in the long term - especially once you start building research labs, gaining the equivalent of artifacts on every world in your empire.
|
Cybernetic
|
4
|
Half-artificial, half-organic, cybernetic races consume half a food unit and half a production unit, fully repair ships after combat and 10% per turn while in combat (armor and structure only, systems are repaired at 5% per turn). Mutually exclusive with lithovore races.
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Overall an excellent choice, halving food needs (reducing the need for farmers), while consuming a small amount of production, easily offset by an automated factory (which supports up to 10 colonists), while the auto-repair coupled with the heavy armor subsystem make maintaining large fleets easy. The pick retains usefulness across the game, as in order to recreate this pick, you would need to research Advanced Damage Control and Automated Repair System both and dedicate valuable ship space to their installation.
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Lithovore
|
10
|
Lithovores have no food requirements, but cannot be Cybernetic.
|
Too expensive to be considered valuable, unless combined with eg. Repulsive.
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Repulsive
|
-6
|
Everyone hates you, you can only declare war or surrender in diplomacy, while assimilation times are increased by half, while leaders and officers are less likely to join and will ask for higher salaries.
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A very, very difficult game is the result, as you can't negotiate treaties, pacts, alliances, and are generally going to be the target of every race in the galaxy. Strike first - or die.
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Charismatic
|
3
|
+50% to diplomacy, halves assimilation times, increases the likelihood of leaders and officers joining and reduces their rates.
|
Average pick, as it's fairly easy to recreate the benefits with xeno psychology and alien management center.
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Uncreative
|
-4
|
Can only research a single item, not a field. Basically decapitates your research efforts and reduces their effectiveness to approximately one third of normal.
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Extremely problematic early on, impact reduced if you manage to close the gap and get to the point where technologies no longer are discovered as entire fields, but singular items.
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Creative
|
8
|
Doubles the effectiveness of research, as you discover every technology in a given field.
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Creative races will snowball into the most powerful empires, as in the late game they continue to get multiple technologies per advancement, rather than just single ones as uncreative or normal races do. Also makes spying on other races redundant.
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Tolerant
|
10
|
Environmentally-tolerant races eliminate pollution as a concern, meaning industry efficiency is maximized (roughly +50% to production) and have a 25% bonus to total population.
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A good pick overall, though expensive.
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Fantastic traders
|
4
|
+25% trade treaty profits, +1 BC for surplus food (100% increase), and a +50% bonus for trade goods production.
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A good pick if you want lots of money - and if you couple it with Democracy, be ready for spending sprees.
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Telepathic
|
6
|
+25% diplomacy, option to mind control planets (conquering them instantly, requires a cruiser-sized ship or larger), +10% to spy efectiveness, immediate use of ships in combat, and any planet you conquer is immediately assimilated regardless of government type.
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A decent, though expensive pick, perfect for aggressive players who don't want to waste money on transport ships, conquer planets instantly, and make your victims like you for conquering them. If combined with Unification, eliminates that government's slow assimilation weakness.
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Lucky
|
3
|
More beneficial random events, lower chance of Antaran attack.
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Pretty useless for its costs, as random events play out every 50-100 turns. If Antarans and random events are disabled, it does precisely squat.
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Omniscient
|
3
|
Omniscience is not omnipotence, but it does reveal all systems to you at the beginning of the game and tracks all enemy ships in real time.
|
Decent pick and relatively inexpensive.
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Stealthy ships
|
4
|
Ships are invisible to other players unless they're in the same system or they're Omniscient.
|
Useless against AI, too expensive against human players.
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Trans-dimensional
|
5
|
Allows for hyperspace travel without FTL (2 parsecs per turn) and increases effectiveness of FTL drives, +4 to combat speed, immune to hyperspace fluxes. Still requires fuel to travel.
|
Rather useless for its cost.
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Warlord
|
4
|
All produced ships automatically level up, unlock the ultra-elite experience level (+1 max for ships), ground defenders are trained twice as fast, mercenary leaders gain one free level, while each colony adds two command points.
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Excellent and inexpensive pick, particularly if you're a warlike race and want to expand as quickly as possible.
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