Race Set up

[luke_slovakian]

Hey i'm wondering what set up you guys currently use for traits. I really like ancient race and natural merchants. Which guys do you use and when? Is it really worth it to have natural merchants, it takes 3 turns to build one of those things that connects to the system...i forget the name b/c i never use them:-d. But what do you use and why? Thanks guys.

[Fyron]

Natural Merchants was king in SE3, but ever since SE4, it has been worth very little in stock. 3 turns to build and a tiny fraction of system facility space is a trivial gain for the points that could have gone towards Advanced Storage Techniques, Hardy Industrialists, tech traits, etc.

This was for SE4, but the same principles remain (other than experience-related stuff, which is now possibly worth less than Natural Merchants due to the low cap of bonuses from experience).

[capnq]

I like variety; I almost never play the same race in two consecutive games.

I have a slight preference for Organic Manipulation. I dislike Ancient Race because eXploration is my favorite part of 4X; playing an Ancient Race sucks a significant percentage of the fun out of the game for me.