Is there any reason not to play Yor?

thats exactly why i play the yor =D

I initially started out playing Yor, but I've switched to Thalan (with new colors of course:). The reason why: huge pop growth and starting planet has a rating of 15 instead of 10. Having a very large starting planet and quick population growth supplement my play style very nicely.

They also have +10% miniturization along with any other bonuses I've missed. While it's not as great as the Yor's 25%, its second best.

I'm still play Terrans. For some reason I haven't decided to switch, yet. . .

Don't the Yor start evil? Meaning if you want to be good, it requires a lot of events...

some of the above posters didnt understand the OP.

when you choose yor and reset the racial points so you have 10 points to spend on pop/researc/luck...., you still get the yor's base 8 logistics and 25% minituration..... no other race starts with a base bonus as good as this.

I play as the Terrans - i like it hard.
Seriously, play as the Yor when starting out. The enhanced logistics and miniturization are hard to go past, especially once you add on the secondary bonuses from using civ. points.

Guys, We dont want the dev team to nerf the Yor

Well, Maybe you guys are right..I'll give the Yor a shot tomorrow..

The terrans ARE hard to play as. They don't even get to see the galaxy besides the stars. To top it off it always seems that alien colony ships are zipping everywhere from the very begining.

Are there any "below the hood" advantages/disadvantages to any of the other civs?

I think there are some specific diplomatic penalties for being the Yor

Yor are perfect for ruling the universe with an Iron fist. However, the only way they can keep all those goodie two shoes and even most neutral civs from grouping together against them is to keep a strong military and keep the other civs busy fighting one another.

I love the Yor, but if you focus too much on social at the start you'll quickly find every civ that has a gun - is pointing it directly at you.

Favourite races for me are Terrans, Yor and Thalans.

Terrans because I have so many cool ships built for them and I respecced them just how I want them and feel truly on top of every situation with them.

Yor because they are just awesome in the truest sense of the word. I also love starting out evil as it nets you a lot of bonuses early in the game. Their miniaturisation bonus is fantastic and they just look plain mean.

Thalans because I hate bugs.... well, I find them fascinating in that shuddery type way. So, I make all my Thalan ships based upon insect design and try my best to act in an insect like way throughout the game!!

So noone else has noticed that there are other benefits/disadvantages to using certain races? IE: Thalan's pop growth + class 15 home world? Im surprised noone commented on that when I said that:) I was amazed when I found it out.

I like playing the Thalans a lot. Admitted - you can crank out higher starting bonuses with the Yor (except that little diplomatic malus when dealing with everyone), but the Thalans are second best and start with that nice PQ 15 planet.

Interesting, Thalans always start off with a PQ15 planet? That fact would certainly support that their are subtle "below the hood" advantages to certain civs. I thank everyone for their replies thus far. Would a Stardock rep be able to clear up this voodoo for us all?

Yes, the Thalans have a PQ 15 planet in their home system - but no other habitable planet.

Ah, I see. The terrans always start off with Mars, but with a lower base quality planet. This is very interesting. Now if we can only uncover what subtle advantages all these civs have. For example, is it hard fact that the Thalans have a higher birthrate?

much better to have a PQ15 planet than a PQ10 and a PQ4

Yors are nice to play but like someone said, they're only good for militaristic enterprises. A real challenge would be playing a "Good" Yor civilization that only wants to help and befriend, without using their miniaturization bonuses.

Based on what information we have now, it would actually seem that the Yor are as good as any other civ at helping and befriending, unless information comes out regarding an inherent disadvantage in diplomacy, or if they start off as evil (which I don't believe is the case).

In fact, I would even go so far to say that perhaps the Yor are actually better than any other civ in achieving a peaceful diplomatic victory since their inherent miniturization/logistic bonuses might give them a higher military score, which could help translate to a ++ diplomatic bonus for having a stronger military.

Keep in mind, this is based on what little knowledge we have of the unique bonuses each civilization has.

Hrm, if you read the IGN descriptions there are some hints at these "under the hood" bonuses.

IE for the Torians:


The Torians are largely an aquatic race. Toria is mostly covered in water and they prefer worlds that have more water on them than not. Their ships tend to carry a great deal of water on board which has had its share of benefits -- they always have water to trade with other space faring civilizations who are far from home. The Torians, as a result, tend to be able to travel further from their home planets than other galactic civilizations.

Thalan pop growth:

They are immensely productive and reproduce at a very high rate, far higher than the norm.

Yor start off as chaotic evil AND they have a diplomatic penalty against every other race.

Torians have +-0 in range compared to other races.

If you want to take a look at what the different races solar systems are like, take a look in CustomPlanets.xml

That's good info, I will re-read those articles.

I have re-read those articles and it is interesting that some of the civs seem to have hints at some vaguely-defined bonuses, and others don't. It is curious that this information is not simply readily available. Perhaps it is time for Frogboy to spill the secrets!

Yes, it would be nice to know if there are any hidden bonuses. However, maybe the IGN article was based on early information, and all the stat bonuses are already shown in the game.

I've been playing Terran mainly because I have the ship designs tweaked out for them, but I think I want to try Drath next. They start with big espionage and defense bonuses, an extra trade route, and I think they're neutral alignment, aren't they? That suits my current playing style where I go heavy on diplomacy, trade, and econ development, delaying military action until the endgame. Also they're enemies of the Altarians (got thrown off their home planet), and I hate those snotty Altarians.

I'd play Yor if I wanted an early push for military conquest.

I didn't think any of the civs started as any ethical alignment, you only got one when you researched xeno ethics. Correct me if i'm wrong here though.

I didn't think any of the civs started as any ethical alignment, you only got one when you researched xeno ethics. Correct me if i'm wrong here though.