I play the Yor more often than not, just because theyre "robots" (cybernetic beings if you want to get hoighty toighty), and thats *kewl*. However, I am aware that on paper, theyre (arguably) the best race in the game, far above any of the others. Theyve got probably the best spread of the most useful abilities of all the races, two of which cant be replicated in any other manner( short of modding), near immunity to one of the games victory types (culture conquest), one of the best spreads of starting techs, a decent superability, and ten bonus points to dump on top of everything else.


Now, I dont recall Stardock ever making any claims as to the races being balanced, but the Yor in relation to most other races in particular, and all the canned races in relation to a "custom"(from scratch) race, feel far over the top, like theyre missing a balancing factor. It seems like it would be more balancing ( and more interesting) if some of the more powerful races were more powerful because they actually had uniques penalties as well.
In the Yor's case, it could be say, -20 Population growth (cybernetic brains are time consuming to replicate).


Furthermore, it could be part of the custom race creation process, allowing players to "purchase" penalties in exchange for an additional bonus point to spend( in an imbalanced fashion of course, so you lose more than you gain, to prevent the most severe min/maxing).


Ideally, you end up with a situation where the canned races are still desireable because their theoretical maxes in specific abilities are going to be higher than you could achieve with a custom race. Being able to "buy" an additional point in custom race creation only increases the "scope" or variety of your bonuses...the magnitude cannot exceed the maximum bonus in the bonus point tiers...whereas a custom race could have say an inherent of +30, and a +30 purchased bonus on top.



So players looking to maximize a certain stat to capitalize on a specific strategy will still find canned races the way to go, albeit with a penalty or penalties in other places... wheras custom races are desireable for their flexibility ( complete freedom of choice ), balance, and lack of mandatory penalties. To make an analogy, this is not unlike the principle involved in DnD d20 race non-human vs human race selection.


In any event I was just thinking outloud. I just wish I didnt feel so guilty about playing with the Yor (even though I have no intention of not doing so...robots are kewl).