Nope, the custom race gets several points as bonus points for that race, the same as the Drath get Esp & Defense etc.

Oh! Then I guess the bug is, if I select a soldiering bonus, then unselect it, the +25% bonus goes away!

It is not a bug, its working the way it was designed. If u spend points in soldiering, u give up your natural bonus. Effectively handicapping yourself in relation to the other races. The custom race also gets a loyalty bonus which works the same way.

All other races get some form of natural bonus, it would be unfair if custom races did not get them as well. Most players consider the Yor and Drath as having the best starting natural bonuses and techs by the way.

The Iconians and Arceans don't get any bonuses, actually, and the Altarians get very, very close to no bonuses.

They do get bonuses, just not obvious ones, have'nt u noticed how powerful the Arceans r once they get going?

No, I mean, if I put a point into soldiering, to get +10%, the +10% replaces the +25%.

If I then remove the point, I have +0%. I have lost the bonus even though I'm not putting in any points.

I think either they should come back when I uncheck them, or I should be able to trade them in for points that I can spend on something else.

They do get bonuses, just not obvious ones, have'nt u noticed how powerful the Arceans r once they get going?

They get the usual ten points of abilities, as well as a political party. They're the most powerful race in my games, but that's their playstyle and abilities. They don't get racial bonuses. They have Logistics +7 and that's it. As nobody has a low enough logistics to cause problems compared to the other races, and as only the Yor have a high enough Logistics to count it as an actual bonus, the Arceans have no bonus.

xpyre: That's dirty. It wouldn't actually help in my games (since they're so long), but I'm going to have to try that if I ever do a game that I mean to be short.

Everyone: The easiest way to check on a race's racial bonuses is to start a new game, select the race whose bonuses you want to check, hit "Reset" on their "Abilities" tab, verify that you have your full 10 points back (the "Reset" button seems to not work for me sometimes), and look at what's left under the "Overview" tab. I might post a screenshot of what I mean here shortly, but right now I don't have access to my game.

Edit: Here, I got screenies to show what I'm talking about. I consider this much easier than XML diving. The first picture shows the "Reset" button that gets you the "Points Remaining: 10" as shown, thus leaving only racial bonuses. The rest show some base racial bonuses for comparison.
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DreadArchon

Even on big maps it allows an immediate heading for planetary invasion and taking out any near neighbours capitol about 15-20 turns in. This is huge... as it is impossible for a civ to recover from this even on suicidal... and you have the bonus of a developed planet with no cost!!!

It also give you growing room, as your neighbour is transformed into an impotent weakling in one turn. It actually protects you from a early war which would damage your long term growth. They will have spent all their money on colony ships and now have no population to repay the debt.

Before now I've taken 3 capitols before turn 20. (I always put rally points on the what I guess are the nearby capitols on turn one determined by the influence circle). (It is important to have the propulsion techs to get you there... I did create colony ships and upgraded them to transports on route.) This works because of the silly invasion bonus you get for being the attacker... Early on that +25% bonus means you can take out a 5B planet with 500M troups... silly but true. You then have acres of room and loads time to expand into.

DreadArchon the Altarians do get luck and creativity +30, luck hasn't done anything good yet but creativity can get you the ability to research lasers 1,2,3 or more in the time it takes to research just lasers. Usually it works with low level weapons and defenses.

Luck gets you a better spread of random events (more good ones, less bad ones). It also might help you in invasions and fleet battles, but I don't actually KNOW that, whereas I DO know that Luck helps you with random events. Thing is, I'm not impressed by the events enough to really care about Luck.

As for Creativity, nobody seems to be sure what it does. The most credible thing I've heard is that it gives you better anomalies, which I suppose could help. It definitely DOESN'T do what you say, though--that's simply reasearch point carry-over. If you don't believe me, wait until later in the game to research a line of defenses. (I once went from Titanium Armor to Zero Point Armor in 3 turns on Normal tech rate, for example.)

xpyre: Well, I generally don't go to war within the first five years or so. I like to build up. I might start a militaristic game just to try your tactic, though.