Race Mod Reviews - BudMod

Budee wrote this mod specifically to balance races for multi-player games on GameSpy. Before this mod, Gasbags were outlawed for being overpowered, and no one played Psilon, Human, Silicoid, Ithkul, or Lizards because they were too weak. The only competitive races were Bugs, 'Bots, Fish, and Evon. After he made this mod, it became the de facto standard on GameSpy. As such, it's somewhat different from other mods because it received extensive testing and immediate feedback. Sound promising? Let's take a look.

Major Additions: None. His goal was to rock the boat as little as possible because he wanted this mod to be accepted as a standard product.

Race point totals should be directly comparable to Vanilla MoO.

Evaluation of Race Balance: The races that were competitive in multi-player, the Bugs, 'Bots, Fish, and Evon, didn't change at all, on the principle that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." This is indicative of Budee's attitude. Most race modders are trying to explore the game; Budee is just trying to repair it. He has balanced point values more evenly across the board. Some races are adjusted in simple ways: the Silicoids lose their growth penalty, and the Gasbags lose their manu & research bonuses so that their only advantage is their great planets. Experience seems to show that both are now competitive.

I'm wondering how the lizards balance against each other. The Raas seem underpowered compared to the Sakkra. The problem isn't the point totals; the Sakkra have a few more, but the Raas are more flexible, since the Sakkra have to take Superior Bioharvest and Collective Government to get that full value. But throw in the great spy bonuses, and the Sakkra seems stronger. The Grendarl's bonus to military effiency really DOES work. At the very beginning of the game, a Military DEA under a Monarchy starts at -24 unrest, but the Budee Grendarl's Military DEA starts at -184 unrest. I don't know if that balances them, but it does sound fascinating to play with. I'm equally curious to try the Human's money bonuses; I'll bet they're worth every one of the 40 points they're giving away to the Evon.

In the first draft of this mod the Psilons didn't start with the +20% bonus to money from industry, but play testing--yes! play testing! That's not a phrase you see too often in race mod readmes!--play testing showed that they didn't have enough money to fund their fancy research. So, the addition. It's this kind of feedback that gives me confidence in the balance of this mod. In fact, it's everything I could ask for as far as balance goes, except that the Ithkul don't get any love. Why not? If it weren't for the poor Ithkul I'd give this mod a perfect score, but as is I'll shave off half a thumb: 1/2

Evaluation of Race Differentiation and Creativity: Differentiating the races wasn't even on Budee's radar as a problem. Still, where he does make extensive changes, he does a good job of making the races distinct from each other. His solution for the Humans is more original than many. The Sakkra and Grendarl have unusual hard-coding that I haven't seen in any other race mods. Strange that no one else has made a super-spying race, especially since MoO2 had the Darloks. Dangerous Cunning Sakkra spies will have 50+ luck in this mod! In other cases, though, Budee made no attempt at all to distinguish similar races, since they were balanced. Three thumbs:

Would I play this one? Absolutely. My favorite so far. I love the balance, and I'd particularly like to try great spies, amazing Military DEAs, and vast amounts of money. This is the one I'll be installing on my machine.