I made the mistake of upgrading ALL of my ships at once, which put me in the hole by 100,000 credits. Even though I was making almost 1000 credits a turn, I couldn't produce ANYTHING, nor would I be able to for quite awhile. But it all turned out well in the end.

That's a little deep, but I won't hesitate to go 20k or so in the hole upgrading a fleet workhorse.

I think the +70 is a very good trait to pick, especially for newer players. First off, thier planets will develope quickly, and being that a newer player might not know what aphrodisiac is, or how to get it, +70 becomes more important. Also since the ecomy grows quickly a newer player will be able to hang with the AI in teh begining and still learn the game, without nesecarily losing the game.

Also, it it allows them to essentially ignore the farming tree (so thier morale won't go down), nor do they have to worry about building transports and sucking their tax base dry. It lets newer players explore some of the larger parts of teh game with out being crippled with pop level problems and moral issues.

I don't think there is any "must have" bonus picks - it all depends on the strategy being used by the individual player. You can win with any of them if you play it right. Some choices might be easier or more effective than others, but again it all depends on the strategies you adopt and your style of play.

Be assured, you may have found a good personal strategy for achieving victory, but that doesn't mean you have found the ONLY winning strategy

I usually go with a 20 or 30 percent population growth bonus, but I've played without any pop. growth bonus and did fine.

Incidentally, a good quick fix for lowered morale due to high population is to build some transports and launch a few thousand legions of troops into space, even if you aren't at war currently. Just put them into a fleet or in guard mode and save them for later - when you need them as soldiers or when you've researched enough morale tech or whatever to land them back on a planet again.

I only see Espionage, Loyalty, Range, Repair, and Sensors as almost useless picks.

I like repair. It works well with my "all labs" strategy at lower AI levels (up to masochistic). I get a huge tech lead which means I can build ships which take very little damage in each fight, but I can't build them very quickly so a small number of ships have to service a large area. Repair allows this without resorting to "fake upgrade" cheese. It also seems to be pretty non-linear...40% bonus seems to give repairs much quicker than twice as fast as 20% bonus.

Maybe I was wrong to say that there was anything that needed work... It would indeed seem that every pick has its uses... although maybe not as "obviously" strong, it can be used in a way that makes it well worth its points.

I am still a very new player so I have to say that this has been a very enjoyable thread to read the responses of Thanks all... I'm looking forward to trying out some new strategies using the abilities that I previously under-valued.

The only loss you'll notice is the 25% Soldiering bonus. Just make sure you pick up the Tir-Quan training to compensate

Yeah, I gave them a second look. Not willing to give up 25% soldiering even though I always get the Tir-Quan training as well. I like having as high a soldiering as I can get, because then I hardly ever need more then one transport per planet I invade. The 25% morale is not that much better then the 20% I do take. Looking over them again I am inpressed again with the Yor even though they don't have the soldier bonus. I like that 25% miniaturization. I might try them again the next time I play gigantic map, since I will be able to build much faster colony ships quicker, and put more weapons on my warships then the AI, but like I said, I hate to give up that 25% soldiering.

You do know that with custom race, spending 3 points in soldiering only gives you a 5% bonus since you start out with 25%?

You do know that with custom race, spending 3 points in soldiering only gives you a 5% bonus since you start out with 25%?

Yes, thats one of the reasons I like custom race. I can use those points for economy and morale instead, don't need to use up any points for soldiering with custom race. What I meant was if I use the Yor, for instance, I miss out on that 25%.

Well, the fact that we can debate this much about where to put bonus points is a testament to the well balanced nature in which they apply. Kudos to the game designers.

I'm one of those people who gets stuck in a rut when playing these games. I pretty much stick to the first strategy that works. You can look at the profiles for my game characters and see that right off. I played the same strategy all through 1.2 and only changed when the game changed in 1.3. In 1.3, I really like the Yor so that's what I'm playing. I'm also happy with my bonus picks. I think I just go for what seems cool and stick to it, like the miniaturization bonus the Yor gets. I just love that one.

I think the main thing is to find what enhances the strategy you're playing. That can be a lot of different things which makes it one of the more complicated parts of the game. Personally, it took me a long time to figure it out.