10 replies to this topic

[Ixitixl]

Just curious on how everyone designed their race. IMHO there is no "right" way to do this, all of them can be equally fun.

I used the Klackons from the Master of Orion games as the inspiration for my race. I pictured them as having the abilities of a cross between a praying mantis and an ant. So I gave them abilities such as excellent sensory ability for the multifaceted eyes, robust strength, superior climbing ability, etc… I did not want to use the name "Klackons" so I used the scientific name of the praying mantis "Mantodea".

[Locklyn]

I used one of the races that I have as antagonist in my own PBM as my GGT Empire and since I had designed that one a bit back I had a complete history and goal for them as well...



/Locklyn

[Krelnett_of_Kraan]

I wanted a space-combat fiend with good research and colonization. Once I knew I was looking at a winged arthropod, I looked at the role-playing opportunities and decided to make them pacifists (until they get attacked)

[ShadowKitsune]

The Q Republic, which is the short form for the Greater Republic of Quetzacoatl, was created because I was reading about the various cultures that resided in the regions we, meaning North Amricans, now call Central and South America. I found that some of the depictions of Kulkulcan or Quetzacoatl were very interesting. So I designed my race around those depictions, plus added a few features that made sense, to me, from an evolutionary perspective. (e.g. How could a race of winged serpents become the dominant lifeform on the planet?)

That being said, my racial design and my actual homeworld parameters seem a bit askew, but that comes with random (or pseudo-random) homeworld assignments being after racial design. There might be a rhyme or reason to why certain races ended up on certain homeworld types, but I sure haven't found it.

[DWillard]

Ixitixil,

I take it the inspiration you got from the Klackons was in look only. Their racial advantages would be very difficult to translate into the SN lifeform setup. However, their racial disadvantage (uncreative) would be very easy to translate into the SN lifeform set up. Taking anything that gave a bonus in research would be out of the question. Since you took excellent sensory, I guess you were just going for the look as your inspiration, and not their racial abilities in MOO.

How are you planning on playing them politically? In MOO, as NPCs anyway, seems they were most always on the hostile/xenophobic side of the scale.

[AKO]

I created them following the Scanners in SN II, but then further evolved. In SN II you could choose from about 25 pre set races and not design your own.
Scanners in SN II were evolved humans, smarter but not as strong physically.
That worked fine for research, but hurt in battle.

Hence, the new scanners are just as smart, but also strong. No tails, fangs, plating, supersizing or whatever, but will still give a good fight.

Kind regards, AKO

[Ixitixl]

DWillard

You are correct in assuming that the inspiration for the Klackons was in look only and yes, the racial advantages were too difficult to translate. That was the main reason for researching the properties of the Praying Mantis and Ants. (I also never enjoyed the Uncreative aspect of the race as well.)

How do I plan to play politically? In as simplest words "friendly". There are exceptions of course, such as having a neighbour who claims to be an evil incarnate, and I am also considering becoming hostile toward other insect life. Insects are a source of food for the Praying Mantis, hence some of the bonuses I took for close combat.

[EternusIV]

Many colonization bonuses

Maximum constitution/long life bonuses

Maximum growth rate bonuses

All at the sacrifice of SEVERAL areas....... :lol: (*cough* almost no SRPs leftover *cough*)

I thought of "Age of Empires"....a popular online strategy game back a few years ago.....where the name of the game was to get as many villagers as you could eraly on and gathering resources before heading off to war.

I'll let you knwo how it turns out in a few years :lol:

[PhaseDragon]

My empire is a cross of many things. First, it is the same empire name I used in SuperNova II. Also, I am a D&D player, obvoiusly, but I didn't really try to model my race after anything. I just tried to give them as many different advantages as possible. I ended up spending all my points and am a little behind in technology now as a result. Still, I like the way my race has evolved and enjoy playing.

Later, I created 2 more empires (Jan 1) after playing for 7 months and getting a feel for the game. I saved points for research and took only the bonuses that I thought were important to my planned game play. They will soon pass my first empire in technology and could probably even destroy it if they were to fight.

My newer empires are all about technology and my old empire is all about the race design. All are excellent to me and I am hoping everyone is happy about their empires as well.

[Krelnett_of_Kraan]

Not happy with my original empire. HW sucks, no research bonuses, no saved points, homeworld sucks...
I'm gonna drop it as soon as I'm done conducting an experiment with it.

[T'Lariss]

My first empire was based on a nightmare I once had and have been working on it for quite some time. It used up all my original startng set-up points but it is exactly what I wanted it to be. My second race was designed on a Badger and I made sure that I had several hundered points left over so I could catch up on research. I am happy with both empires so I can not complian at all
Gary