I always play Neutral with a heavy econ bonus.

Free bonus tiles, and the NLC's make getting to ultimate techs an easy matter.

The good and evil techs are mid-line at best. Once you get top-of-the-line in anything, the game is over.

And I'll put Doom Ray against Psyonic Beam any day.

[Weapon]
[Name]PsyonicBeam[/Name]
[DisplayName]Psyonic Beam[/DisplayName]
[Class]B[/Class]
[Type]4[/Type]
[Size]8[/Size]
[SizeMod]4[/SizeMod]
[Cost]150[/Cost]
[Damage]12[/Damage]
[Model]PsyonicBeam01[/Model]
[Category]Beam[/Category]
[Tech_Requirement]Psyonic Beam[/Tech_Requirement]
[Animation]WFX_PsyonicBeam01.X[/Animation]
[Explosion]explosion01.png[/Explosion]
[AttackSound]battle_psyonic_attack[/AttackSound]
[ExplosionSound0]battle_explosion_small[/ExplosionSound0]
[ExplosionSound1]battle_explosion_small_2[/ExplosionSound1]
[ExplosionSound2]battle_explosion_small[/ExplosionSound2]
[DeflectSound]battle_shield_deflect[/DeflectSound]
[ScaleWidthPercent]100[/ScaleWidthPercent]
[/Weapon]

[Name]DoomRay[/Name]
[DisplayName]Doom Ray[/DisplayName]
[Class]B[/Class]
[Type]5[/Type]
[Size]10[/Size]
[SizeMod]4[/SizeMod]
[Cost]150[/Cost]
[Damage]22[/Damage]
[Model]Plasma2[/Model]
[Thumbnail]Plasma2[/Thumbnail]
[Category]Beam[/Category]
[Tech_Requirement]Doom Ray[/Tech_Requirement]
[Animation]WFX_DoomRay01.x[/Animation]
[Explosion]explosion01.png[/Explosion]
[AttackSound]battle_doomray_attack[/AttackSound]
[ExplosionSound0]battle_explosion_small[/ExplosionSound0]
[ExplosionSound1]battle_explosion_small_2[/ExplosionSound1]
[ExplosionSound2]battle_explosion_small[/ExplosionSound2]
[DeflectSound]battle_shield_deflect_3[/DeflectSound]
[ScaleWidthPercent]100[/ScaleWidthPercent]
[FrameCount]63[/FrameCount]
[LaunchFrame]3[/LaunchFrame]
[ImpactFrame]59[/ImpactFrame]
[/Weapon]


Notice the difference?

12 vs. 22
Doom Ray is 20% larger, but 80% more powerfull.


The faster you can research - the faster you can gain the advantage.
Period.

Surely you realize i know the difference between Doom Ray and Psonics.

My point is that Psonics are evil only and the fact by the time someone playing good/neutral has Phasors II, the evil player has Psonics. They are a huge advantage. And since Doom Rays are for all alignment i cant see your point. We're talking alignment specific here are we not.



Well thats not entirely true. If you do not have the economic power with which to turn that research into a reality then it does no good for you. Granted on evil your research suffers compared to neutral, but the economic advantage far outweighs that and nullifies your statement. A research advantage does not automatically mean the advantage in the game. The AI has the advantage over me in research in nearly every game i play, yet i can still beat them. The MCC is a huge boost plus the inherit econ boost for being evil can allow the player to attack early and overwhelm the AI.

Anytime you have a medium hull with two Psonics on it inside the first 6 months and are not in debt...you have the game won.

All that being said, i did play neutral right up till DA was released, the auto granting of the extra tiles was a huge deal in DL and coupled with NLC's made neutral, in DL at least, very viable.

I have never seriously played on good alignment though....never seems worth it.

true...... do you stick with the moral ethic though? you know if you were a good civ you wouldn't randomly attack other races... or being an evil civ you wouldn't give stuff away (unless its money to bribe, or 'use' the race)

I play good. Not only because I'm a nice guy, but also because the bonuses you get playing as good are good (no pun intended). The bonuses to defense you get from good only techs doesn't become obsolete when the modules you get with the tech does, unlike the evil weapons which becomes useless once you get better techs.

You get +5% extra hitpoints, and +15% to defense from the good defense techs alone. If you also build the Empathic Tactical Command Center you can build with the good techs, you get +35% bonus to defense.

I've beaten ships that relied on psionic weapons with ships that used strong defenses. At some point, I get Doom Rays, and then my enemies can't compete against the quality of my ships.

Hmm, I've always been more of an Eisenhorn guy myself.

Anyway, the middle path is the way to go. Instant terraforming is REALLY useful, neutrality learning centers are da bomb, and the ground invasion bonus actually makes a difference.

http://celerisdrive.com/zarel/alignments.jpg <----My man Machiavelli agrees.

The ethics are not for personal enjoyment so much as, personal fulfillment.

I have never played anything but Neutral.
I am not good nor evil at heart, I suppose.

Evil is simply too wrong, and good is simply too self-righteous.

So, I have to play the middle ground.

Interesting discussion. I hope more people will join this debate.

The high score also comes from the fact that when you are evil, your Starbase upgrades are free. When you are making a huge SB array of 20 or 24 Starbases and adding 20 or 30 modules to each of them, that makes a HUGE difference, which reflects in your score.

And yes, the MCC helps score, also. And the more planets the better, since it seems to grant the bonus to your overall econ, not just the planet it is on.

Since the MCC grants its bonus to all planets, it is the single one best structure around. It easily beats every other bonus of the good or neutral alignment.

Having said that, I stell prefer Neutral because that is my personal mindset.

Well, I ususally get a diplomacy victory before I research Xeno Ethics, but I always go neutral.

"Anyway, the middle path is the way to go. Instant terraforming is REALLY useful, neutrality learning centers are da bomb, and the ground invasion bonus actually makes a difference."

Agreed.