Altarians are losers

and so it seems are the Drath

Now first I have to admit I've only played 8 games total now, and all on Gigantic galaxy. I've played on Beginner to Tough and in each game I've played the Altarians always end up getting their butts kicked. They don't seem to expand quickly and while they are nice and friendly this certainly does not help them when the Yor or the Drath or generally anybody else decides to attack. Their racial stats are not that bad; can they be so disadvantaged somehow on Gigantic?

As well, I've read a few posts talking of how the Drath should be militarily quite powerful. Maybe so, and again this advantage may be more apparent in smaller galaxies, but whenever I've run across them they are at best a middle power, almost always paying tribute to the Iconians or the Arceans (whom have also shown up as the strongest AI player in 6 out of my 8 games).

The Altarians have funky clothing, but are they somehow nonetheless doomed to be forever the whipping boys?

pnich of the hapless Terrans, distant cousins to the Altarians
6,880 views 12 replies
Reply #1 Top
strange - on many of the games I play the altarians are among the strongest races - I find that most often the yor and the drengin get whipped.
I play on large/huge mostly, and admittedly they sometimes dont expand so well so maybe thats why they are doing so badly on your gigantic maps.

of couse, they all get whipped in the end
Reply #2 Top
I almost always have to pity the Drath and iconians, in my games they are usually the first major races wiped out.

My personal enmity always goes to the Altairians, Arceans and Torians, especially the Torians, because they breed like rabbits and somehow manage to be situated in a dense cloud of stars with good planets, while I usually get maybe 2 or 3 decent planets within 2-3 sectors of my homeworld.

The Drengin put up a good face, but they usually turn out to be weak and easy to take out, once I have steamrollered over the Drath and Iconians.

I never play with the Terrans, because their only strength (diplomacy) is invariably weaker than my own. They never put up even a shadow of a good fight.

Reply #3 Top
In my games, the Arceans are almost always in the top three, as are the Altarians. The Torians usually do well also. The Yor usually get hosed, and the Drengin usually do well until the Happy Super Justice Friends (the good races, and most of the neutral ones) join forces and stomp them into the dirt.
Reply #4 Top
Altarians are usually the strongest race in my games, then Arceans. Rarely do the Drengin have any power at all.
Reply #5 Top
I find that the Terrans are the worst race. (Because they are the slowest to expand.) The Altarians are weak as well though. I guess it depends on the settings and the situation.
Reply #6 Top
strange - on many of the games I play the altarians are among the strongest races


Altarians are usually the strongest race in my games


This is true of all the games I have played, they always crusade against the evil races and usually win.

The evil races seem too always do well at the start but then get involved in too many wars and get destroyed by the evil/neutral races.

The Iconians always end up weak/small.

The Arceans/Thalans tend to be the easiest races to get on with, no matter what your alignment, always end up friendly/close with those.

The terrans seem to just sit there, never getting involved in any wars and becoming friendly with everyone as well.

In fact all the neutral races seem very passive, u don't upset them, they leave u alone.


Play on suicidal level all the time, large or smaller maps, with all 9 other races.
Reply #7 Top
Double check their AI, even if you click tough, that doesn't mean they're all set to the same AI strength. Double check it. (I know I was always kicking the Thalan's butt because of this.
Reply #8 Top
Altarians are usually the strongest race in my games, then Arceans. Rarely do the Drengin have any power at all.


Really surprised to hear that. In my Masochistic games the Drengin always have double the height on every graph that anyone else has. I was beginning to think the game was coded to be "Human vs Drengin."
Reply #9 Top
My observations playing on Suicidal with Large or Smaller maps as a good/neutral race, tech trading enabled.

Some races are certainly better than others. But at one time or another I've seen every race making a serious bid for galactic domination (Except for the Terrans).

Dregin: Very dangerous. They pick a fight early on. Often they lose the first war and its game over, but usually they win at which point they have double the power of anyone else on the map and keep expanding. Fortunately, as one person put it, the "Super Happy Justice League", myself included generally band together to take them out when things get ugly. If allowed to grow large they are serious trouble as they are more effective than any other AI at actually conquering planets.

Yor: Much like the Drengin early on. They always have top notch tech and nasty fleets, but they seem less capable at executing a ground war than the Drengin so they don't expand quickly enough and are eventually overcome or marginalized by the Super Happy Justice League.

Korx: Pathetic. Once the Drengin and Yor are out of the picture most races nibble away at their empire without much fear.

Thalian: Small, friendly neighbors generally. Stab me in the back less frequently than most races. That's why they're often the only ones left alive >.

Drath: Not usually strong in and of themselves, but not weak either. Usually have friends that they can bring in if attacked. Their unusually strong influence is often more of a pain for me than their military.

Iconian: Don't usually amount to much, but for reasons I don't fully understand will be very dominant on some maps. No glaring weaknesses, but no obvious strengths either.

Torians: Another middle of the road race, but can exploit a lucky planet break like no other. Frickin rabbits these fellas.

Arceans: One of the best races long term. They rarely get steam-rolled and they don't pick so many fights at once that they can't possible win. They're trouble if they are bigger than me and close by, but they're usually my best ally if our sizes are roughly equal.

Altarians: Usually much more powerful than the size of their empire would seem to indicate. And a bit zealous at times. Despite their good alignment I often find myself at war with them for various reasons like "genocide" of other races.

Terrans: I'm generally playing as the terrans, but the few times I actually see them play...... well...... I suppose some race has to be worse than the Korx. Their game plan seems to consist of being eaten early and surrendering to the Altarians.
Reply #10 Top
In my games altarians are always powerfull, same for drengin and korx. Arcean always medium and torians often kick ass too.


I noticed in my games, that the drath and yor are really poor and wear, specially the yor.


Iconians seem to able to be really strong or really weak depending on their start position.

I never tried another race so I dont know how the terran play as AI...
Reply #11 Top
Nice to see that the Altarians have only been unlucky in my games. To put an end to this thread, last night I started another game (again Tough, Gigantic, playing as the Terrans) and found myself next to the Yor almost immediately. Soon after the Arceans, Korx, and Thalans arrived to hem me in. Finally, who does appear but the Altarians, this time, according to the stats, the strongest of all the races.

From all the comments above, however, I think I'll try at least a few games as a non-Terran.

pnich of the hapless Terrans, beaten by the Snafi
Reply #12 Top
In my games, they tend to stick around until the end, although they rarely dominate. The biggest threat from them is their influence, which can swamp me if I'm not careful.