Torians: First Impressions

First, lets talk about all the good stuff. I really like the new graphical tweaks, the game, already beautiful, looks great. I also like the individual technology trees and the wellness centers are great. In fact the new technology tree is much better than in the previous build. I also appreciate that if I take over a 'Aquatic World' but don't have the technology, I get zero production until I research it.

Here are some suggestions for the next build and the Torians specifically,

1) The game has become much easier, both economically and research wise. I normally play at 'Painful' with extremely slow technology rate and I find this a consistent challenge. I've now played three games on the Beta 2 and the economy is too good and the research is way too easy. I think the 'costs' are too low for research technologies because I'm often reaching the end of the 'trees' with little effort.
2) Please allow us to make certain planet improvements 'obsolete'. For example, I traded for Research Academies from the Terrains and in my planet screen I could still build 'Xeno Lab'.
3) The AI needs some help with the new technologies. The other races are being a bit silly, trading away their unique technologies.
4) For the technology tree 'mouse over', would it be possible to see what an improvement does rather than just its name?
5) There may also be a bug because the 'technology capital' did not actually increase research on the planet it was built on.
6) Could planetary improvements be colour coded?

I also did not feel like the Torian's were uniquely represented in the technology trees. Are they not supposed to be this super-fast breeding race that threw off the Drengin? It seems to me that the Torian's could have:
a) unique morale boosters (the wellness centres are a perfect match)

gorilla type planetary defense so that taking over a Torian planet would be very tough
c) automatic diplomacy modifiers to reflect their past as a subjected race.
d) perhaps some sort of cool ship component that would 'hide' their ships from other races .
e) bonuses when fighting the Drengin.

Finally, I'm not sure if the Torian's are supposed to be the 'traders' of the universe but if so, they will need some unique trading technologies.

Overall, the game looks great and the new technology tree really reduces the feeling of being swamped by the technologies. I especially like the colour coding and mouse over in the technology tree.

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gorilla type planetary defense so that taking over a Torian planet would be very tough

What do primates have to do with this? (SCNR

)

e) bonuses when fighting the Drengin.

That would be indeed a good addition. They already have diplomacy modifiers according to their history as far as I know, but boni like this would make for a more interesting and diverse gameplay.

Finally, I'm not sure if the Torian's are supposed to be the 'traders' of the universe but if so, they will need some unique trading technologies.

That would be the Korx, if I'm not mistaken.

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That would be the Korx, if I'm not mistaken

Unless the Korx civilization has been destroyed in the DA campaign. I don't remember which are the 2 civilizations that are definitively gone.

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I agree with the original post that research costs need to be increased. I researched the entire tree in one game with little effort despite the dificulty setting being on "painful" and the research setting being on "very slow." Perhaps there needs to be a "painfully slow" research setting to really slow things down. It takes a great deal from the game when I don't even bother using the earlier weapon types and instead go straight for the doom ray or demon torpedo.

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I found the Torians to be pretty easy as well. With their amazing morale bonuses, it was easy to run my economy at 100% for practically the entire game. The 'crash' set me back to 53%, the highest ever. They were pretty good at research, but I did have a planet with a 700% bonus, so... They even had a much better soldiering rating than the Korath.

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As I understand it, their technology is supposed to be focusing on quantity over quality (such as ship components that are less effective, but far cheaper). I'm not really seeing a whole lot of that. Maybe they could have a line of techs specifically for decreasing ship cost (something along the lines of "mass fabrication" would do wonders).

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Yes, as the Torians, the only unique techs I've seen are the Healing Pool things.

I agree that they should have some unique planetary defenses, and decreasing ship costs.

I seem to remember the Torians being aquatic, their ships held lots and lots of water. Maybe this need for water space allows increased ship size? (so you get larger, cheaper ships) But they have less hitpoints.

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Definitely this. Unless I'm missing something major, they seem to have generally the same sort of military techs as the general tech tree. Maybe something like a bonus on producing ships of certain classes, specifically the smaller ones, or decreasing the costs for weapons of a power a certain amount below the highest level you have available?

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As a largely Aquatic People, shouldn't they start with Aquatic World Colonization? And them maybe have some unique terraforming techs where they can make better use of the aquatic worlds than other races?

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