I've been playing Twilight of Arnor for a couple of months now, and have generally been pleased by the changes Stardock has made to the game. It looks better, it runs faster, and the unique, civ-specific technology trees add depth and flavor to each of the civilizations (whereas before, I hate to say to it, they were pretty much a bunch of indistinguishable science fiction cliches). I'd like to see their backstories expanded further, even, for I've always felt that one of GalCiv 2's greatest flaws was its lack of a truly compelling story.

But enough of my meanderings. The purpose of this post is to address what I feel are some balancing issues among the civs. One gets the feeling, particularly in ToA, that insufficient effort was put into making sure that all of the Civs were competent in relation to each other, or that their inherent ability bonuses made sense in light of their cultures and histories. The Iconians' espionage bonus, for instance, is ridiculous; both useless and illogical. If their main focus is to study the works of the Precursors so as to claim their legacy, wouldn't it make more sense for them to have a research bonus, like they did back in Dread Lords?

I feel it's time for each member of the GalCiv community to come together and discuss how the races can be better balanced. Does the Arceans' mere +10 bonus to soldiering stand to reason given their massive physical stature (12 feet on average)? Is their speed penalty so crippling as to make them nigh-unplayable? I invite each of you to present your ideas about what inherent bonuses each civ should receive, with the aim of creating a general consensus on what would be most balanced and logical. We could then send our requests to Stardock, or at least develop a unified XML-editing front (only to be joined, of course, if you're not into the metaverse).

So, my fellow players, let's "brain storm," as it were. Who pwns, who gets pwned, and why? What, remaining sensitive to tech tree-bonuses and civ cultures, would be the best inherent bonuses to give each civ so that they can all have relative parity of playability?