least favorite MOO1 race

[Ljube]

Hmm, Bulrathis have poor computers, Mrrshans have poor construction.

Mrrshans can be lethal early in the game and even later if offered good military techs at low price.

[Shiver]

Originally posted by Ljube-ljcvetko
Hmm, Bulrathis have poor computers, Mrrshans have poor construction.

Mrrshans can be lethal early in the game and even later if offered good military techs at low price.

Wait, they do? Oops, got my facts mixed up. Missing out on construction instead is just as bad, if not worse. Construction boosts your economy, your ground combat abilities, your ship's armor and the amount of stuff you can cram onto a ship. You could argue that it's the best all-around tree in the game since it does so many things at once. My point is that the Alkari take no real hit from their "disadvantage" while the Mrrshans do.

[Darkstar]

Mrrshan and Bulrathi for me.

[Shadowlord]

For me, the Klackon - They're so uber I just can't like them. :P

The Mrrshan don't get hate from me, just pity. Well, except for when they go to war with every other freaking race in the galaxy at the same time...

[Father Beast]

one faq I ran across didn't like "Mrrwhatevers, Bulwhatevers, Alkwhatevers", since all you get is an advantage nullified by 2 tech levels.

it appears that a lot of people agree, judging from the voting.

[Defaultuser]

I dunno why people seleced the Bulrathi as their least favorite.

I would have selected the Psilon, personally, but that's only because I play nothing but huge games.

Think about it.

The Psilons gain a tech advantage for a short window in mid-game, but after that tech is useless. Other races' inherent capabilities stick around, so once everyone has the whole tech tree the Psilons have no advantage (and if you think you can maintain a tech lead long enough to take advantage of it in a game with the Darloks, you have nother thing coming).

The Bulrathi, on the other hand, have one of the best early and late game advantages. Early on, you can take planets without a fleet. Later on in the game, when everyone has the best armor, best suits and best ground weapons, the +25 advantage truely is impressive.

But that's just because I hate the tedium of nuking planets then rebuilding them late in the game, takes too damn long. I'd rather capture them intact without throwing 500 million troops in the fray and possibly gain some tech.

[Tuberski]

I don't like the Mrrshan. Never seem to get going good with them.

ACK!

[Shiver]

Originally posted by Defaultuser
I dunno why people seleced the Bulrathi as their least favorite.

I would have selected the Psilon, personally, but that's only because I play nothing but huge games.

Think about it.

The Psilons gain a tech advantage for a short window in mid-game, but after that tech is useless. Other races' inherent capabilities stick around, so once everyone has the whole tech tree the Psilons have no advantage (and if you think you can maintain a tech lead long enough to take advantage of it in a game with the Darloks, you have nother thing coming).

You do know that every time you research an Advanced Tech, almost everything in that tree improves itself, right? Then again, I don't have the patience to sweep up planets for hours in Huge so you might have a point.

I agree mostly about the Darloks despite having a few very fun games as them and even voted for them here. I kind of regret that vote now - should've picked Mrrshan.

[Zed-F]

The Psilons gain a tech advantage for a short window in mid-game, but after that tech is useless. Other races' inherent capabilities stick around, so once everyone has the whole tech tree the Psilons have no advantage (and if you think you can maintain a tech lead long enough to take advantage of it in a game with the Darloks, you have nother thing coming).

I'm not sure what game you're playing, but I'm pretty sure it's not MOO 1.

I never have a problem maintaining a tech lead over the Darloks, no matter what race I am playing. Their economy just stinks, and they don't have any advantages when it comes to pointy-sticking a better one. Moreover, they almost never get out to a decent start land-grab wise.

As an AI race, the Darloks are nearly as hopeless as the Mrrshan. As a player race, you can do well with them, but they're hardly the bees knees.

And if you have a problem maintaining a tech lead as the Psilons and think their tech advantage eventually disappears... then you must be letting your games drag on forever to TL99. Even in a Huge galaxy that's insane, as far as I'm concerned. Having a game go past TL50 is very unusual for me, even in Huge games (which I rarely play.) More often I'm mopping up before TL30 hits.

IMHO:
Top tier in no particular order
Psilon, Klack: Godlike production/technology bonus with no strings attached that's useful throughout any reasonable length game. Uber.

Human: Purely for early vote win potential and ability to easily utilize all the broken diplo options to pull the AI's teeth if you get stuck with a bad start. Improved trade and great research is a nice bonus on top of that.

Middle tier in no particular order
Meklar, Silicoid, Sakkra: Enhanced production with strings attached.
These guys are usually solid contenders as a player race. Meklars tend to have slow starts but can survive a poor start quite well. Sakkra's planetology bonus is very powerful and decisive for a vote win with a good start. Silicoids are easily screwed by a bad start but usually come out strong.

Bottom tier in no particular order
Alkari, Bulrathi, Darlok, Mrrshan: Warfare-loving races with no production bonuses.
You really have to want to fight with these guys or you're not taking advantage of their racial abilities. If you get off to a good start, these guys can be as strong as anyone else. However they don't have anything to let them expand peacefully faster so you're more often going to have to come from further behind. If it's not too far behind, their racial advantage may counterbalance things enough to do the job. Otherwise, you're vulnerable to getting steamrollered, depending on who you start near. Having +4 gunnery is small consolation when they are packing Ion Beams and Neutron Guns while you're still using lasers and are outnumbered 5 to 1. Darlok are in here because their bonus (spying) pretty much requires them to tick the AI off and so they can expect to get into early wars and they follow a similar come-from-behind mentality.

In summary: I take it as a given that any race, led by a player, can do well, given a good start. So my criterion for how strong a race is is determined by (a) how likely are they to get a good start and (b) how well they can recover from a poor starting position. This is what informs my ranking above.