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Race Mod Reviews - Vanilla MoO3

Okay, let's get to details. First I'll trot out the races the way they are in un-modded, Vanilla MoO3. If you know the races pretty well, this will give you a chance to get used to my formatting.

RACE PTS HARD-WIRED BONUSES GRAVITY
Human: 270 +.5 research; +25% relations; +6% cb Medium
Evon: 410 +.5 research Medium
Psilon: 320 +3 research; +25% relations; +6% cb; -10% growth Medium
Meklar: 410 +4 manufacturing; bio 1/2, mineral 1/2 to feed Low
Cynoid: 410 +4 manufacturing; bio 1/2, mineral 1/2 to feed Low
Sakkra: 340 +10% growth; +50% pollution tolerance Medium
Raas: 330 +10% growth; +50% pollution tolerance Medium
Grendarl: 300 +25% growth; +50% pollution tolerance Medium
Trilarian: 390 High
Nommo: 410 High
Ismaeis: 390 +3 research; +4 manufacturing Extreme
Eoladai: 370 +3 research; +4 manufacturing Extreme
Klackon: 410 +15% growth Low
Tachidi: 350 +35% growth Low
Silicoid: 330 +4 Mine; no food, 3/4 mineral to feed;
-15% growth; bad hab High
Ithkul: 500 awful hab, awful diplomacy Medium

About this table: I'm trying to squeeze in the most important stats about each race. To get my point values, I'm following the same procedures used by AlexFrog and Zed-F: I buy everything down to the minimum to get the number of available points, then I give additional credit for point breaks. The Klackons, for instance, get a 20 point break on the price of Collectivist government. The raw point total can be deceptive: it looks like the Ismaeis have more points than the Eoladi, but they only get that full value if they take Dangerous Cunning, which they get for half price. If you want Slow Cunning the Eoladi are the better value. There are also some significant forbidden picks that don't fit on my chart: neither Klackons nor Evon can take the best Creativity. Also: not all habs are equal, even if their gravity preferences are the same. The poor Ithkul have awful hab, Humanoids get more green planets than Lizards, and all three like Medium gravity.

Terminology: throughout this review, I'll try to list additive bonuses as "+4", and multiplicative bonuses as "+20%". If I screw up occasionally and write "*1.2", then you'll know that's the same as "+20%".

"Species" refers to the super-categories of race, like "Humanoid," which contains the races Human, Psilon, and Evon. When I talk about balance I'll talk about two kinds: comparisons within a species, which are easier to make because the hab is identical, and cross-species comparisons, which are trickier.

Evaluation of Vanilla MoO3 balance: Some races are really hurting. The Humans have the fewest points in the game, and their hard-wired bonuses don't make up for it. The Psilons and the Silicoids are both crippled by slow growth. The Ithkul are crippled by awful hab. The Lizards are weak compared to other races mainly because of their low point total. I'm not saying you can't win with these races, just that experience has shown they're not competitive against the rest. On the other hand, the Gasbags are overpowered, getting the largest, best planets, the best production bonus, and the best research bonus. Lets hope the modders can do better!

Evaluation of Vanilla MoO3 race differentation: There are also a lot of races that aren't very different from each other. The Meklar and Cynoid are practically identical. The Eoladi and the Ismaeis, the Nommo and the Trilarians, the Raas and the Sakkra--these all differ from each other only in minor ways. Let's hope the modders can do better here, too!

The most popular race mod, at least among other modders, seems to be Bard of Prey's, so I'll start with that one.

 

 

 

 
 


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