Seem there are no *real* differences between the races?

[Handel]

From whoa I read it seems there are no *real* differences between the races - like better research, better productivity and such; and there are no different preffered planetes for each races - each race likes the planete 1 most atc. Please someone who has the game to tell if it is true?

[Andrew Ewanchyna]

That's correct, all races are only placeholders for each of the players. Note that you can give each a special ability in the New Game popup, but all will still vie for type-1 planets.

[madmax88]

What if..(i love those)
...you had different abilities assigned to the different races. Races of explorers, scientists, fighters, traders, etc. Each would have a slight advantage over others, and also a downside to keep things balanced (yeah, that's the fun part!).
Ex.: A race of scientists would have a faster and greater research capability while they'd suck at producing it.
Plus you could team that up with different ships characteristics. Ships would have advantages and disadvantages.
So by picking your race AND your ship style, you'd create a unique race. Every single game would be different.

Enough fantasy and on a more realistic level... will it be possible to create mods for the game? Eg change the graphics for the ships and races...

[Andrew Ewanchyna]

Well, you already have that ability by selecting the "give computer opponents some advantages". The advantages are the same as the one's you can get, but randomly selected for each player. Some of these advantages are for speedier research (for a race of scientists) and speedier production (race of engineers) ... It's just not as obvious as what you're proposing.

As far as starship advantages, what would be fair?

No plans for mods yet.

[Handel]

The starship advantages is a must. There can not be any fairness in the war - it is no a fair play competition. You either win using your available advantages and enemy weeknesses or give up. Comparing to the Navy Fleets (earth, of course:-)- there weren't two absolutelly identical ship even from the same serie in the same Navy, and of course there were no identical ships in different Navies - say no identical Japan / USA ships in the WWII. There are some ideads wich can be implemeted easyly without losing game balance - and they are quite logical:
1. Lesser upkeep cost OR greater upkeep cost
2. One slot more OR less then other ships
3. More OR less crew compared to other ships from the same class
4. Green crews start with some experience
and there are more - wich will make the game more interesting, but still will no break the game balance

[madmax88]

Actually, all of those things affect game balance, and will do so unless each of them is counter balanced with an equally powerful disadvantage.

I still haven't received my copy of Stun2 so therefore am still referring to the way stun1 was built. It might be convenient for advanced players to choose the options they want before starting a game, but i always found it more user friendly to simply choose a race (with predefined abilities) and ship type for yourself and let the game randomly assign a race and a ship type for the AIs.

Having that, also choosing your ship type (with different abilities) would bring an extra crunch to the game. with ship types like: Light hull(+1 slot,+10%speed, -15%armor), Organic hull(2%autorepair/ turn, 20%defense against wave weapons), Crytal hull(25%defense against beam weapons, 10% weakness against wave weapons) Strong hull(+20% armor, -10% speed,+5%def against concussion weapons, -20% computer range) ...etc etc etc.

<img src="wink.gif" border="0">

[Handel]

Of course they will effect the game balance - but they will not BREAK it - and there is a difference between effecting and breaking.