Hi, I'm a long-time lurker but I seldom post at all, this is probably close to my first if not the first post on this forum, so, a big hello to everyone here. Hi! 
Anyway, let's get down to the message topic. Basically, I'm asking you guys what you think your favourite official canon civilisation is, and why. However, there are two things of note, which I hope I've made clear in the title and subtitle -but again, I clarify for a race to be eligible for the purposes of this open poll, it:
- Must be canon in the actual game storylike (that is, stock races only)
- Must be a major race
- Excludes the Terran Alliance (I am asking about the aliens, not the in-game humans).
Basically, a reply should be first telling which out of those parameters is your favourite major race; listing a second race is optional. Also, a least favourite race should be listed, and why. Again, the Terran Alliance, being humans, are excluded from this poll.
Anyway, I'll start the ball rolling:
Crion87's Favourite Galciv II Aliens: Thalan Empire
Why: A species not only alien to the humans, but from another place altogether - in their case, a very distant future period in time, or perhaps a universe older than ours. Regardless, they have teleported here like the cybernetic sphere-shaped cyborgs called the Toclafane from Doctor Who (except the Thalans do one better than the Toclafane by arriving through their own means and methods, not relying on some psychopath from an eerily humanlike elder race pretending to be a British politician to get to the main setting (sorry Russell T Davies, but it's true). References to British TV shows aside, the Thalans get really nifty tech...but the bad news is, apart from three very powerful machines they brought with them, they have to start building their empire from scratch, thus balancing them out. And once said machines are gone, the Thalans will wish they stayed home and watched holographic TV. It is a pain in the rectum to set their colonies up initially (those meditation halls you can tech for early are your friend), and from personal experience they can be hard, but rewarding.
In summary: One of the most 'alien' aliens in the game. Besides, anything surviving toward the dying times of its universe ought to be tough.
Crion87's Least Favourite Galciv II Aliens: Dominion of Korx
Why: It was a tie between these guys and the Krynn, but I'm not particularly impressed by the Korx (sort-of like a mashup between the Ferengi of Star Trek with all the business ethics practices of the Druuge from Ur-Quan Masters) is not exactly my cup of tea. I would think they may have some Drengin-esque slave pits, no, they're just Terrans with a economic focus. Still, I might try and play 'em sometime. Just because I don't like a race flavour-wise doesn't mean I hate them. Even the Krynn have allegedly better reasons for doing what they do - but the Korx come off as just money-grubbing "greedy capitalist stereotypes" - like palm oil plantation companies in Borneo and Indonesia, British Petroleum, and Electronic Arts...
In summary: Money money money...and not much else...
Anyway, that's my $0.02. I would have given some info on the Iconian Refuge, my #2 favourites, but I just didn't feel like it. I might make mention of them somewhere else. I was thinking more flavour and less gameplay. I'd imagine the Korx would be easier to play for instance, being similar to the Terrans.
Now over to you (the collective membership of this forum...)
EDIT: Please note that the spelling may seem inconsistent by standardised American English. I am an Australian, and though as a culture we speak English, oftentimes with a very distinctive accent, we generally write English somewhere between UK and US norms and thus some spellings may seem like those from British English.
