Which Lifeform-design is best?

[Tokmok]

There seems to be a lot of different options bonuses/penalties for the lifeform design.

 

I thinking about making a ground combat monster. Is ground combat a big part of the game or would you advice me to spread the points more?

 

In the intelligence option select it suggest that the lifeform wont suffer if you choose a SLOW intellingence option.Is that also your opinion?

 

Also does it mean anything that the lifeform is Flying or an unterwater creature or is it just for diplomatict issues?

 

What bonuses seems to have the biggest impact on the game?

 

thanks

[MadMartinB]

No one really has done much fighting on the ground. Each unit has a tactical rating for different catagories. Say a medical unit has 100% in Medical etc...When you fight it takes sum of all units in each tactical rating * current techs * racial Modifier. So a ground combat person would be vicisious in Close Combat.

 

There is speculation that Subterranean or Aquatic bonuses will transfer over to the appropriate tactical ratings (there is a sub and a Aquatic tactical rating) but without appropriate tech you get a *0 which means it does nothing....

 

Now how to get those specialized tactical ratings...well that's a secret :-)

[President Guztov]

The jury is still out on all your questions, but it would be safe to say that hedging your bets for colony development is a very good idea. I think most on the board would agree.

 

Ground Combat while a part of the game hasnt really materialized yet. Even the advanced nuetrals

which are really remnants of a once great galactic civilization forgot to build troops to defend themselves.

 

Slow intelligence will hurt you in practically every category including CCM and GCM but Im sure it can be mitigated to a large extent by things such as Titanic size(Sure youve got rocks in the head but who cares if your 100 feet tall!) or Titanic strength etc etc.

 

Having a lifeform that can fly will give you some advantages in combat especially if you also choose

superior flying. As an added bonus it seems that adding those superior abilities like leaping climbing etc

may add to your exploration abilites.

 

As for what bonuses seem to have the biggest impact?? Well right about now I would have to say that any atrtibute that allows to easily colonize planets and Reproduction of your lifeform. These 2 abilities do indeed determine how easy or difficult it will be to colonize. At the present time this option seem to be the best and only way to actually expand your empire.

 

Im sure that in the future those of Us that decided to make the uber ground pounders will come out to play but in the mean time its colonize colonize colonize!!!!!

[hobknob]

By and large most ground combat stuff is roleplay eyecandy and the least beneficial way to spend points. Without a good space capability you won't ever get the chance to use that ground combat stuff. And if you are too nasty your opponenets may just decide you arent worththe effort and then nuke you till you glow, again avoiding your ground superiority. I hope I am wrong about this, but you asked for opinions.

 

I think your points are better spent on intelligence, mental powers, and colonization. Don't forget to save some for global research points.

[President Guztov]

I suspect that in SN III Nuking a planet from orbit while an option is not the ultimate solution. It seems to me that there are just too many defenses against such a tactic which will force a ground invasion should the object be the industry of the target world. In this case having decent ground forces will certainly not hurt. And if you dont have em so what ... perhaps your buddy does

[ShadowKitsune]

Tokmok,

 

First, I must do the Tazmanian Ritual of Spirit Summoning to channel the Will of Pete ... ... Klaatu ... Barada ... Nikto ...

 

Okay, I think I am ready to answer your questions:

 

1. What are good lifeform choices? Pretty much anything that gives you a colonization bonus is a good thing. :lol:

 

2. What are bad lifeform choices? Anything that gives you a colonization penalty and Shapeshifting. I'm not seeing a whole lot of use for Shapeshifting right now, at least not in a cost-versus-benefit paradigm.

 

3. Being dumb as a box-of-rocks isn't all that bad, especially if you leave yourself a lot of leftover Racial Build Points. The trade off is that your long term research will suffer, but you can get a lot of tech quickly in the beginning like Domed Cities, Improved Construction Materials and Mk II Jump Survey Sensors.

 

4. The biggest piece of advice I can give you is that there is no min-max combo amongst the assorted lieform options. Pick things that you would like to play that fits in with your style of play strengths.

 

FWIW

[lugal]

I made a reply to your other post in forum when I should have done it here. Reproduction is also important to have.

[Tokmok]

1) Does the Long life abillity actually affect growth rate of your entire Population?

Or just gives a general Colonization bonus(CB)?

Does it allow for Legendary chars to reach a higher level?

 

2) Heat resistance abillity gives +2 CB and Natural Chemical Exchanger gives +4 CB. Do the abillities give additional benefits from a pure Colonization perspective? Or will you get better colonization bonuses by taking for instance Full Photosyntesis and superior Constitution (+8 CB in all)?

 

3) Does Very high and very low Gravitation resistance seem to be of importance I am thinking about colonization of Asteroids and Gas giants?

 

4) Can I assume that the Special bonuses from the above abillities goes to exploration bonuses or do the special bonus categories show the additional Colonization bonuses?

 

5) Is it correctly assumed that the Administrator, business and religious Legendary Characters and maybe even diplomats have the same effects on

production or do they seem to work in a different way?

 

thanks

[1st Belisarius]

If you want to be able to colonize planets well, the more +'s you have the better. I suggest 10 be a min # of COL for a colonizer and that is probably not high enough.

Some advantages give other bonuses beside colony bonus.

Choose the bonus you want.

 

IE. Constitution = COL & DEF

Long Life = COL & RES

Natural Chemical Exchanger = COL, Space, ground, EXPL etc.

But it is very expensive if you really want COL only

Omni Plus = COL

 

So if you want COL and Ground cmbt you could take Const and Natural Chem instead of Long Life for example.

 

If you only want COL take things like Omni Plus, Sup. Repro., etc.

 

Note: Any COL race should take a Repro bonus it gives a large pop increase which you will need to colonize many worlds.

 

Also if you are focusing on COL do not take any minus abilities for COL.

 

Special Bonus is usually for EXPL, sometimes for DIP.

 

And save some SRP for Researching the COL tech, like Terraform, Subter cities, Domed Cities, etc.

[WKE235]

The best lifeforms will end up

 

1) Not using all the allowed points, saving from 300-500 for fast tech growth.

 

2) Not having ANY penalties. The penalty percentages always seem to be higher than postive percentages (each - is larger in size than each +). The exchange rate is not worth it.

 

3) Have a good selection of characteristics to help Colonization (which usually helps with pop growth as well).

 

4) Toss in a few traits to help with SPACE combat (hey, the enemy can't invade your worlds if they can't get past your ships).

 

 

More colonies + higher pop growth = stronger economy. Your saved SRP keeps you even or ahead of others in the tech game. The colonies make it easier for you to build close to allies and trade. And the colonization traits also usually boost your combat traits here and there.

 

Note -- taking any research modifiers (unless by luck due to other factors) seems to provide little value. The bonuses are so small that along with the tight restrictions on research in the game to prevent any potential for rapid growth tech wise, the skill point costs are WAY to high. Especially the bonuses for intelligence. You get the same bonuses for the same trait level in Sensory Perception at near 1/2 the cost. Good lifeforms avoid the overpriced intelligence bonuses.

[Kurassier]

To answer the question, "Which lifefom-design is best?"

 

The answer is simple, MINE!

 

Seriously, over the past year I've debated whether is was best to save points, or use them to improve the race. I used most of my points and only received one free tech. Even though I knew little about the game, I put a lot of thought and effort into my design. I won't reveal all my details, but I've come to the conclusion that in this LLLLOOOOONNNNNNGGGG game, the points were better spent on Race design.

Sabeli

[Ur Lord Tedric]

Well, I hope you're right!

 

I keep being patient and, in turn, a little frustrated, but I spent ALL my points exactly and didn't get any 'free' tech.

 

However, I noticed from your other post that you'd got 43 techs in 23 turns. So I'm not bad with 45 in 20! I guess they're different ones though!

 

So, I plan to be here for the long one - unless there's an aggressive player whose 'bought' his way to super tech that I can't stand against......

 

Collaborative effort between Chief Planner and Chief Warmaster to Ur-Lord Tedric

[Kurassier]

I hope I'm right too.

Most of my tech advances have also been the Horizon techs, which, from all that I hear, seems to take a little longer. Only recently have I been acquiring more of the 'Item techs' if you will.

so here's to the long haul Tedric and may you not find what you fear.

 

Alcorn the Honored One

[Tokmok]

What is the fastest growth rate?

 

 

Does the long life ability affect growth rate?

 

Does taking a insect lifeform improve growth rate?

 

thanks

[President Guztov]

A few answers to your questions.

 

#1. the best growth rate is the superior rating which cost a whopping 400 points but probably well worth it if your into colonization.

 

#2 Long life ability doesnt affect growthrate but it does affect your research bonus to a small degree and it helps your colonization as well.

 

#3 being an Arthropod dosent give you added growrate but here again you get a colonization bonus. cockroaches can live almost anywhere. can even live for a bit with htier heads cut off.