Race Mod Reviews - Invader Mod

Invader mod is so huge it dwarfs other mod packages like Epic Mod. Still, to apply the race mods you'd only need to transfer three text files.

Major Additions: (hang on to your hat, there's lots)

• An Economics pick is borrowed from Bard of Prey's mod.
  
• So is his Social Order pick. "Utopian" is still under-priced at 40 points.
  
• An extra Ground Combat pick, called Aptitude. 10 points per pick. As far as I know, ground combat picks are all broken, unless you have Bhruic's patcher. I don't know whether the patcher would catch this pick, so it may only be good to give you another 10 free points.
  
• Government series are re-named in an unfortunate way. The Absolutist series is called the Fascist series, and so you might end up with a Fascist Monarchy--two forms of government that in the real world are mutually exclusive.
  
• Invader Mod uses Bard of Prey's habitability ratings.
  

• Ethos Goals. These picks range around from -10 to +30 points, but the prices change drastically from race to race. Each race has at least one at -10, one that costs a bit more, and two that are very expensive or prohibited. The "Knowledge" pick gives a lot of research bonuses, including +50% base research, but lower bioharvest, mining, and manufacturing, at -15% to -20%. The "Honor" pick is fairly neutral, giving -15 Unrest, but also lowering spies and the Oppressometer by 1. "Materialism" increases trade by 50% and other sources of money too, but reduces research -20%. "Equality" is probably the best deal here, giving +25% bioharvest, mining, and money from manufacturing, and +15% Manufacturing; the only negative is +5 Unrest.
  
  
• Ethos Society. The points are the same as Ethos Goals, ranging from -10 to 30, but again vary depending on race. "Individual" gives -15 Unrest at the cost of big diplomatic penalties, like -50% penalty to diplomacy and -20% causus beli. "Clan" gives +25% military efficiency, and reduces fleet maintenance -20% and HFoG -15%, but lowers Government DEA efficiency -25%. "Nation" gives +20% maximum pop, +20% pop growth, +25% Gov Dea efficiency, and -25% HFoG, but raises pollution by +20% and terraforming costs by +25%. "Universal" gives massive diplomacy bonuses, for instance +100% bonus to diplomacy and +50% to cb, but -25% Military efficiency and +20% fleet maintenance.
  
  
• Ethos Divinity. These points only range from -10 to +10, again varying by race. "Monotheism" gives diplomacy bonuses, +50% to diplomacy and +25% to causus beli, and -10% HFoG, but also -15% Gov efficiency. "Polytheism" gives -40% pollution and -30% terraforming costs, but also reduces money from bioharvest, mining, spaceports, and trade by -10% to -20%. "Athiesm" gives research bonuses, including +25% to base research, and +40% money from mining, +12% military efficiency, and some small effects like +1 to mining and +3 Unrest. "Agnostic" is the most neutral, lowering Unrest by -7 but taking -20% to diplomacy and -15% to causus beli.
  
  
• There are two pages of new specials. Each of these is a complicated package. They all cost 10 points unless I otherwise note. "Reckless" increases pop growth +10%, but also pollution +20% and decreases trade -20%, and some other small changes. "Shapechanger" increases spy luck by 5 and ground combat by 2--I don't think this would work--but decreases cb -20%. "Warlord" attempts to increase ground combat by +3, and ups optimum Oppressometer by +2, but adds 6 to Unrest and decreases cb -20%. "Fanatical Idealist" lowers Oppressometer costs -10%, unrest by -5, and increases cb +10%. It also lowers diplomacy -35%. "Curious" reduces money from industry -20%, increases the chance to find Antaran tech +7%, adds +.5 tt per pop, and lowers diplomacy -15%. "Creative" increases the chance of positive tech overruns. "Pacifist" lowers unrest by 3 and raises optimal Oppressometer by 1. For 30 points you can get "Natural Miners", which adds +1 to bioharvest and mining efficiency, and increases money from these two sources by +80%. For 20 points, "Charismatic" gives low-level trade and diplomacy across the board. "Cybernetik" gives +1 ground combat, -10% pollution, and -15% terraform cost for 20 points.
  

Woo. That's some packages!

I don't like the big package picks that this mod loves. For instance, I'd be happier if Vanilla MoO broke the Government pick down into smaller pieces. Big bundles of adjustments are a lot harder to evaluate and balance. They're inflexible. They're also harder to maintain from a modding perspective. These Ethos packages and specials are littered with variables that we now know don't work, such as the ground combat modifiers that only work when they're hard-coded, or modifiers that improve troop experience, which I didn't bother to list. Furthermore, from a player's perspective, it's impossible to tell what's in some of these packages. The documentation for the Invader mod is just about non-existent, and the descriptions in-game are big on rhetoric and slight on specifics. To find out what's in them, you have to go to the spreadsheets.

Another bone I have to pick with this mod is the way it rewards and punishes certain picks depending on race. Vanilla MoO does this somewhat, but nothing the way the Invader Mod does. They're doing this for the purposes of role-playing and creating a story, but I'm perfectly capable of doing that myself. The rewards and benefits for taking certain monolithic packages are a holdover from character classes in Dungeons and Dragons. In a strategy game, I resent them. I want to build my own race and make my own archetypes.

In the case of Invader Mod, these packages aren't balanced against each other. If your race is lucky enough to have a cheap cost for the "Equality" Ethos Goal, then you've got a big plus against a race who pays a steep price for "Equality" but gets cheap a worse pick like "Honor".

For a race to break even relative to Vanilla MoO, it would need about +70 points, though it looks like most races got about +100, so they'll all have extra points to throw around.

Evaluation of Race Balance: I have a feeling these race hard-wire changes were made pre-patch, and never upgraded. The Klackons and Grendarl have their pre-patch growth rates, and the Evon have their pre-patch diplomacy bonuses. Otherwise, this mod makes very few changes to hard-wiring, instead adjusting the point totals. The Cynoids look way over-powered compared to the Meklar, being identical except for +100 points. This is a sign of a sloppy job. This must be another patch where most of the energy went into the changes on the race pick screen. (And a lot of energy that must have taken!) The Humans pick up a huge chunk of points and look competitive with the Evon. The Psilon also picked up some points compared to the Evon, about +40, but I wouldn't think that was enough to make up for their population growth penalty. The Grendarl look weak compared to the other two lizards, and the Tachidi to the Klackon. In fact, the Klackon are right up there with the Cynoids in being overpowered. The gasbags remain overpowered. The Ithkul, Rocks, and Lizards didn't get much help. I'll give it two thumbs:

Evaluation of Race Differentiation and Creativity: Although I don't personally care for the big, complicated packages that this mod uses, I have to recognize that some people might. It would be particularly good for players who would appreciate the atmosphere these picks create, and who want to design their race with role-playing in mind, rather than analysis. This mod exploits the race variables to an extent no other mod does, so even though it's not my cup of tea, I'll give it four thumbs in this category:

Would I play this one? Not for me. Its chief feature turns me off. Other people will love it.