May i have a race eval please?

What matters most in any choices you'd make is that these need to be "relevant" to whatever context(s) you plan to tackle...

1) In one game, you may wish to go for a quick influence victory which requires a relatively different schema of abilities for your custom race.
2) In another, Total Conquest needs a whole set of some or all military edges.
3) Variables conditions selected at the initialization step can also tilt a number of values towards some AIs; slowing research, abundant planets, tight clusters, etc, etc!
4) Political parties DO make huge differences if their specifics are exploited appropriately.
5) Map size doesn't have to be neglected either, since it may indicate how fast or slow should the many "development stages" happen.

Lemme offer you a race dataset from X-Worlds, the Apocalypsion. With some argumentative notes about the values choosen and how these stack against particular situations...

** Abilities = Eco/30 - SoP/50 - Cou/25 - Def/30 - Wea/20.
(As you may guess, they would enhance their planets very rapidly while having a tight defense edge)

** Super = Isolationist
(Again, this makes their cluster of planets somehow harder to invade.)

** Party = Capitalist with New data; Eco/25 - TrD/5 - Esp/5 - Inf/10
(Since the boost in economy benefits almost every area of development... the compiled effect provides a fair enough balance. Espionage can't be ignored too, but that has to do more about how quick your knowledge of other races is getting.)


There are hundreds of variations which can actually put you in ridiculously high control of the outcome but the most valuable thing any player can have (or do!) is a good tactical plan to strike at the right targets at the right time.

If you compare data between pre-selected customs and default races, you may find that eliminating the threat of tough enemies is a fair price to pay... **IF** you know when and at what cost exactly.

As a general rule, i try not to let anyone interfere with my steady techno growth while spoon-feeding the weakest (Minors, anyone?) for rapid BCs as long as necessary. But that's strategy, it could work in circumstances or fall apart with mega-events (Jagged Knife comes to mind!).

Conclusion? The most useful values may seem quite alright at first glance... but they can prove to be completely wasted when the AIs finds some indirect ways to adapt. Thus, the challenge is in surprising gameplay variations and how you react to anything that's thrown at you.

- Zyxpsilon.

As Zyxpsilon mentioned it is very hard to settle on any one race setup, and perhaps best you don't too. I used to play the canned Torians very early on and got used to their settings. When i did venture out to play my custom and other races, i found that i did not adapt very well as i was very used to the Torian setup.
A rut you may not wish to find yourself in.

Playing one race alot will help you learn that race's characteristic's but may not do you any favor's later. But by all means give it a try, it is as good as a place as any to learn, but if you wish to stick with one race for a while i'd make these suggestions.

Focusing on economics will help you in every area. I very rarely spend any points on any weapons or defensive abilities. The econ boost you will have will provide you the ability to outbuild the AI and out tech him. His +5% in weapons will be of very little use when he is using Lasers V and you have Phasors and Barriers.

Population growth and morale are another important key area that will aid your economy and defenses. A higher morale equals higher taxes equals more BC's. Plus getting your planets populations high as quick as you can helps you when the AI comes to invade you plus you have the troops ready to invade him without suffering the econ drop.

The Super Ability. Super Diplomat is great for anything but conquest victories, IMHO. I use either Super Breeder (fast population growth early in the game = no debt early game) and Super Hive (factories build very fast which builds your planets and ships quicker so this means less time focusing on social and more time focusing on military and research sliders.)

Again the party you choose has to be directly related to the game you are going to play. I like the Industrialists for the social and manufacturing boost. Good for all strategy's. The Federalists too are good for a econ bonus. More money means more of everything.

Try picking one of the Canned races and tweak it to your desire. A favorite of mine is the Thalans with their Super Hive ability and these settings,

Basic settings
Econ +25
Social +33
Military +33
Logistics +6
Miniaturization +10

And i choose,
Econ 20% (3pts)
Morale 15% (2pts)
Pop growth 15% (3pts)

Along with the Technologists (+20 research, +1 sensors) for your political party you have given yourself a good platform to build that should see you stay out of debt early and allow you to build your planets and economy very quickly.

Hope some of that helps.
Neilo

As the others have said, there is no end all formula to answer all situations. And in the long run, these numbers will be overshadowed by the resources and anomalies you have acquired.

I would, however, suggest that you shift some of your soldiering into research. A/ The soldiering techs, with the exception of planetary invasion, are completed relatively fast. Being able to quickly research that line in a time of need will be more beneficial than the immediate 30% bonus. B/ Part of your defense is determined by your overall tech level in the first place, so even if you don't research the soldiering techs, your troops will gradually improve with your heightened tech level anyways.