Hello all!

I recently played my first game of TI at a friends house and absolutely loved it. (I played as l1z1x I enjoyed it but was disappointed in their lack of political and trade power) I plan on purchasing the game myself later on. Anyway I wanted to know what your favourite and least favourite races are to help me choose which one to play next time.

Thanks!

My favs are the Yin Brotherhood, and the Arborec (both of these are in the expansion sets.) The Yin's ram ability terrifies people, and I can usually get a nice and obscene build limit with the Arborec

Oddly enough, the one I always do poorly with is the Yassaril. Part of that might be that everyone knows how broken they are, so you are instantly the boards enemy, but maybe I just stink at em.

The Arborec are definitely my favorite race. They just match my particular play style precisely.

Not sure about a least favorite. Don't care for the artwork for the Xxacha, not fond of the racial ability for the Naalu, the Nekro Virus just seem like the same concept as the L1z1x but dialed up to 11. The Yssaril just have such a powerful ability that they are problematic, but I wouldn't say I don't like them. Really, there isn't a race I "dislike". In order to figure out which one I like least I'd have to go through all 17 and try to put them in order, and I'm probably not going to go to that effort.

As evident by my choice of avatar in these forums, my favourite race is The Emirates of Hacan. Because I like cats and money. Very VERY close second come the Universities of Jol-Nar, since I have always liked climbing technology trees. After that The Arborec and the Nekro Virus share third since they're so thematically different than most other races.

As for least favourite... I actually think that I have never even played the Naalu Collective simply because I've never really liked their initiative special ability. I much prefferr reacting to what others do in strategy games rather than always be reacted to.

I have only played 3 games and I dont have any expansions yet, but I've found the Rylar are good. Their tech advantage helps to build a formidable fleet quickly. Happy for those of you more experienced to give some pointers in this though

I have only played 3 games and I dont have any expansions yet, but I've found the Rylar are good. Their tech advantage helps to build a formidable fleet quickly. Happy for those of you more experienced to give some pointers in this though

I have only played 3 games and I dont have any expansions yet, but I've found the Rylar are good. Their tech advantage helps to build a formidable fleet quickly. Happy for those of you more experienced to give some pointers in this though

If by Rylar you mean Jol-Nar (a.k.a. Hylar), I understand how one might think that they can quickly gain an upper hand with all the tech they can get. However one must take into account the fact that they have a permanent minus one to ALL their combat rolls so they more or less need those "+1 to (insert ship type here)" techs to get up to the same level as everyone else start at.

Yes the Hylar, just as I said before

Being new to the game I thought the Hylar V Assault Laser +1 tech was across all their ships, (not just cruisers and destroyers) thus negating the -1 they are saddled with at the start. Yeah as you say they need all that tech just to get on an even keel, not so great after all.

It's the main reason they didn't make #1 on my list of favourite races.

At first I thought Jol Nar because of the combat penalty requiring the Tech upgrades to make them equal to a regular race without those tech upgrades. That was until I noticed that they could get Nanotech by turn 1 or 2. It allows you to immediately take systems unexhausted which has a compounded effect

During early expansion. By the time your enemies catch up to this head start you are well positioned.

Worst race in my opinion is the Xxcha or the race with just the +1 to combat (don't have game handy). Especially with Diplomacy I in play to make the Xxcha's ability even worse.

Best race is tough to say, Yassaril in experienced hands can be double tough. We have not played Naalu yet but their initiative and fighter swarms should make them a top contender . Jol Nar played with tech II and an experienced player can do wonders.

Don't particularly disagree with your assessments there Wick, but is overall power level the only metric in deciding whether or not you like a race?

Don't particularly disagree with your assessments there Wick, but is overall power level the only metric in deciding whether or not you like a race?

That's true per the topics title, but my point was that Jol Nar was not the garbage race that they at first seem. Previous posters claim they disliked them because of the weakness of the race due to its special abilities, I just pointed out that in fact they can be quite powerful due to their special abilities. Additionally, they became more enjoyable to play when I started to capture my first planets in an unexhausted state.

I am not saying that you have to play the uber race to enjoy playing but most people don't like playing a race that is not competitive or is the loser race. I just point out that that Jol Nar is in fact competitive.

Favorite: Yssarl. They were before I realized how... "broken".... they are. I like sneaky races in most board games. I like the Saar a lot, though they are definitely less competitive. Mindnet is a lot of fun if im in the mood to forego diplomacy for "I'm bringing in this dreadnaught army, you can stay or go" tactics

Least Favorite: While Nekro is entertaining to play, I've yet to have a decent showing with them. The Barony again, can be fun, but given the choice I won't use them as with a crappy planetary lineup they can be really, really screwed. I also find the Yin to be near the bottom of the barrel in terms of fun and competitiveness

my top 3 are

hacan : powerful economic is like the FMI space-bank

letnev: the best HS of the game(actually is like a hiden power)and fleet very resilient

mentak: i love this pirates but they need their race tech to be a power force

the lowest 3 for me

creuss: yeah teleport whereever i want and do nothing

l1z1x: i prefer letnev they have similar rol and dreadnought tactics

nalu: i love this race in vanilla but the expansion buff the destroyers