This game continues to hold my interest, despite the bugs, and the latest update fixed almost all the ones that were annoying me most.
One thing that the game manual actually says, and the UI for game setup supports, but that is just not true, is that the various races are interchangeable - that you could apply the traits for one race to another one and get an identical result.
There are two ways in which the underlying racial choice affects play, and they are both significant.
First, each race has three or four unique technologies that only they can research. These generally complement the default settings for that race to some degree (for example the Pollops get a planetary building that reduces food consumption by photosynthetics *only*, by 0.5 food (to zero)), but are of varying utility overall.
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, the number and arrangement of squares in ship hulls is wildly different for each race. A few of the races have an advantage in number of squares, and a couple are totally sc****d. Among the non-sc****d races, the exact layout of the squares generally favors components that fit a meta-pattern. For example, Kulrathi ships have taller, thinner side quadrants that let them pile on the "spinal" format weapons, but make strong broadsides difficult.
I use these URLs for quick reference when choosing which underlying race template to use for a game, based on what I plan to do:
Race unique techs (not really helpful unless you've played the race to see what the tech does):
http://www.stardrivegame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=11330, look at the 6th post in the thread.
Race hull layouts for Corvette, Frigate, and Cruiser:
http://imgur.com/gallery/JaRrPPk
There is a numerical summary of the sizes of the various hulls on the SD2 wiki, but without the shape information it's not as useful.
Overall, the Opteris have excellent hulls and great racial techs. The Bulrathi have excellent small hulls but their BB is only OK and their Titan less so; their racials are all about ground combat. The Pollops have great hulls and good techs, especially if you take Photosynthetic. The Chukk have big hulking ships and nice techs.
Humans are middle of the road, with OK ships and decent techs.
The Ralyeh have really bad ships; they have two nice racials and one meh one. Their ships get worse and worse the later you get in the game; I didn't finish my game with them.
The Vulfar have incredibly crappy ships - so bad that I haven't even played them to see their racials.
One thing that the game manual actually says, and the UI for game setup supports, but that is just not true, is that the various races are interchangeable - that you could apply the traits for one race to another one and get an identical result.
There are two ways in which the underlying racial choice affects play, and they are both significant.
First, each race has three or four unique technologies that only they can research. These generally complement the default settings for that race to some degree (for example the Pollops get a planetary building that reduces food consumption by photosynthetics *only*, by 0.5 food (to zero)), but are of varying utility overall.
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, the number and arrangement of squares in ship hulls is wildly different for each race. A few of the races have an advantage in number of squares, and a couple are totally sc****d. Among the non-sc****d races, the exact layout of the squares generally favors components that fit a meta-pattern. For example, Kulrathi ships have taller, thinner side quadrants that let them pile on the "spinal" format weapons, but make strong broadsides difficult.
I use these URLs for quick reference when choosing which underlying race template to use for a game, based on what I plan to do:
Race unique techs (not really helpful unless you've played the race to see what the tech does):
http://www.stardrivegame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=11330, look at the 6th post in the thread.
Race hull layouts for Corvette, Frigate, and Cruiser:
http://imgur.com/gallery/JaRrPPk
There is a numerical summary of the sizes of the various hulls on the SD2 wiki, but without the shape information it's not as useful.
Overall, the Opteris have excellent hulls and great racial techs. The Bulrathi have excellent small hulls but their BB is only OK and their Titan less so; their racials are all about ground combat. The Pollops have great hulls and good techs, especially if you take Photosynthetic. The Chukk have big hulking ships and nice techs.
Humans are middle of the road, with OK ships and decent techs.
The Ralyeh have really bad ships; they have two nice racials and one meh one. Their ships get worse and worse the later you get in the game; I didn't finish my game with them.
The Vulfar have incredibly crappy ships - so bad that I haven't even played them to see their racials.
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