So what is up with the relative balance of the new races as the game now stands? Before we get started, everyone should bear in mind that this is a single player game and that game settings can be tweaked to give every race a challenging game. I already read one rant where a fellow was flaming that his race was "ruined." With the new expansion still in beta, the author of one thread was already threatening to throw in the towel...sheesh! The devs are all over these threads, so...stay cool and make some valid points and, who knows? We might be able to hash a few things out that actually influence the final product as far as race balance goes.

I have only played three races in games all the way to completion. My games for TA beta have all tended to be larger galaxy sizes, minimum number of stars, max number of habitable planets. My findings thus far:

Humans- My overall impression is that this race is vastly overpowered, especially with intelligent use of customization points. Taking the federalist government, maxing out econonomics and research with custom points and putting the rest into morale have yielded results where the main dilema is not IF I am going to win, but HOW, and this all fairly early in the game. Typically as soon as I find a larger world (14 plus) and get it completely built up as my research capital, I have such a commanding lead that victory becomes a forgone conclusion. To top this off, I usually dont have to build anything I really want, because cash is all over the place. And this on crippling difficulty level. My opinion is that cash comes way too easily, and not just from the way I spend my points (which I have planned for), but rather, the cash comes way too easily from the tech tree. My opinion is, that with humans possessing so much innate versatility as to how victory is going to be achieved, the income improvements in the tech tree need to be slowed down. Of course, we cant take away banks or stock exchanges from humans, but we can and probably should, increase their research costs. Another possibility is removal (sorry monkeys) of beginning bonuses +10 morale and + 10 research. I don't want to bag on anyone's favorite race; Im just looking for some good gaming, and I think humans could stand to be powered down a bit.

Krynn- These folks have a very nice set up. Kudos to the dev teams for really bringing some unique individuality to this race. My overall impression, however, is that they are currently also vastly overpowered. Why? Again, cash all over the place. (And this with pacifist political party, not federalist). The moral bonuses and moral boosting tech make these folks so fanatical they dont blink an eye when you tax the bejesus out of them. The result is hordes of cash all over the place. Why? Conceptually, I am fairly certain that the cash is justified by the exorbitant costs of espionage. The problem, it seems to me, is that the excess of cash generated by all the moral boosts does not HAVE TO BE allocated to espionage, which buys this race all kinds of versatility to use the cash any way that it wants. One possible solution is to slightly nerf the morale bonuses and techs and in return reduce the espionage costs for this race, or find some other way to see that the excess of money is allocated to espionage automatically... And remember, before you flame, I like these guys too, I just found it way too easy to win (for me, a mediocre strategy gamer) on crippling difficulty level. I think the key to balancing these guys lies in examination and adjustment of the relationship between the cash (cult tithes) and espionage.

The Yor- The most problematic of all the races I have used extensively thus far because my overall impression is that these folks are vastly underpowered. Why? Lack of, you guessed it, cash. On crippling difficulty, I took Federalist political party,max economic custom points, max moral boost, and put any leftovers in social and military production. I micro managed a colony rush very efficiently (with a bit of luck...at no time going below 96 percent production capacity) and my economy still tanks 18-20 weeks after researching the final efficiency center upgrade. And this with doing EVERYTHING I can for my economy (harmony crystals, survey ships, nabbing morale and econ starbases, trade, etc. etc.). To balance things out, often half of my planets are charging stalks...which does help somewhat, but...my main point is...I have done EVERYTHING from start to finish to baby the economy and it STILL CRASHES. My only recourse or hope of victory is to trade for technology not native to the Yor, which makes it suicide to ever consider turning off the tech trading. The result is a race that, while very unique and well-concieved, has completely lost the versatility to splurge some customization points on anything that doesn't serve economy or do anything that doesn't directly serve economy the second the option becomes available. With no hope for the Yor of ever getting a cultural victory, not much more hope for achieving a diplimatic victory, and handicaps in research prolonging a technological victory, my opinion is that this race needs and deserves to have its war machine funded. The solution? Very simple- Add two or three more efficiency center upgrades to keep them going mid-late game.

Thats all I have for now. I have initial impressions on other races, some good and some not so good, but I feel it would be unfair to comment on them until I have played them more. I hope the Korx fared well, as they are one of my faves. I am VERY interested to know others thoughts/opinions on how the new races play so please post. Anyone play the Korx much yet?

Yors Truly,
Boogly