Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares/Race design options

You need to understand quite a lot of basic material before going on to the more advanced aspects of race design, and this page presents the basics:
 * How the race design screens work.
 * The meanings of the race design options.
 * Which are worth using.
 * Which go well with which.

The screens
Race design starts with the "Select Race" screen. Since this page is about custom race design it assumes you choose the "custom" option.

Then you see a screen which is identical to the "Select Race" screen except that its title is "Select Race Picture". MOO II has only a fixed set of race pictures, which are used in various other screens, and you must choose one of these for your custom race. This has an important side-effect in single-player games: whichever picture you choose, the corresponding pre-defined race will not appear as one of your opponents in the game. We're showing the Race Design screen at a much larger scale than usual because there are so many features you need to understand. Edit the box at the top to show the name of your empire ("SciFi Fan" in this example).

In the standard game you start race design with a budget of 10 "picks" (race design points). Advantageous traits cost points; disadvantageous traits increase your budget, but you can't choose more than 10 picks' worth of disadvantages. Some mods increase your race design budget and / or the maximum negative picks (disadvantages) and / or the costs of specific traits.

The number in square brackets next to the name of each trait represents the number of picks deducted form your budget if you select that option (or added to you, if the number is negative).

Highlighted traits are the ones you've already chosen - you can unselect them by clicking the buttons beside them. Grayed-out (or greened-out) traits are unavailable because you have insufficient Picks left or because they'd take you over the limit on negative Picks or because they're incompatible with traits you've chosen. Traits that are neither highlighted nor grayed-out are available for you to select.

The "Picks" box shows how many picks are left in your budget. The score box shows by how much the game will multiply your score at the end of the game if you use the the current design - the fewer picks you use, the bigger the multiplier.

The "Clear" button (bottom left) resets all selections.

Traits
This section describes the costs and benefits of all traits as defined in the standard game - mods may have different values.

Genetic and empire-based traits
Some of the traits are part of the genetics of a race, and are retained even if another empire (hopefully yours) acquires a colony of another race by conquest, diplomacy or the surrender of another empire. Others depend on the empire, as if they are attributes of the government rather than the population; if a colony changes owner, the new owners' empire-based traits are applied.

Choosing some traits eliminates others
In addition to the budget limitations described above, choosing some traits makes others unavailable. The most obvious example is Lithovore (no food required), which makes all the Farming traits unavailable.

Population (genetic)
It's often said that in MOO II population is power (you'll see more about this on another page).

Makes the populations of all your colonies grow at half speed. Research can nullify this trait in time, but in the beginning, the more people you have in a colony, the better as it improves every facet of your colony - farming, production, research and money. Avoid this pick if possible.
 * -50% Growth [-4]

Makes the populations of all your colonies grow at 150% of normal speed. Whether this is a good choice depends on your other picks and your overall economic strategy; for example there are 3 technologies and 1 management technique that can increase you population growth quite nicely, so you may prefer to spend your Picks budget on other advantages. It's largely wasted if you don't also choose at least one trait that increases the maximum populations of your colonies (Subterranean, Tolerant, Aquatic). There are usually better choices.
 * +50% Growth [3]

Makes the populations of all your coloniesgrow twice as fast as normal. This one costs too many Picks to be worthwhile since: the 3 point difference between +50% and +100% could get you another positive trait elsewhere; there are 3 technologies and 1 management technique that can increase you population growth.
 * +100% Growth [6]

Farming (genetic)
Decreases the production of all farmers by half a unit, i.e. from 2 to 1.5 per farmer, but it cannot make a farmer produce a negative amount of food. If you choose this, you probably need to research Soil Enrichment early, otherwise too much of your population is tied up in farming and not available for research or industrial production. This trait works best with Cybernetic, as Cybernetic races require 50% less food than normal; but Cybernetic is a dubious choice, and that makes -1/2 Food a poor choice.
 * -1/2 Food [-3]

This trait increases the production of all farmers by one unit each. Not recommended, since: Soil Enrichment can be researched early and gives the same benefit; Unification government (+1 food; +1 production; better security against spies / saboteurs; only [6] Picks) is much better value.
 * +1 Food [4]

This trait increases the production of all farmers by two units each. It is a very poor choice since you can get better value for the 7 Picks elsewhere, especially as there are many research options that increase food production.
 * +2 Food [7]

Production (genetic)
Decreases industrial production by 1 unit per worker. As usual: a worker cannot produce a negative amount; some technologies can negate this disadvantage. But in pre-warp starts you have to research even the most basic production-boosting technology (Automated Factories), and running at redcued production while you do this is a significant disadvantage. The main exception is if you have 1 or more traits that boost your money income (Democracy government, or +n Money). Avoid unless you have a money-boosting trait.
 * -1 Production [-3]

Increases industrial production by 1 unit per worker. Its value very much depends on the other traits you choose; for example in at least the early game pollution limits your industrial production quite severely, so Tolerant (no pollution penalty) fits very well with increased production. If you're considering the +1 production trait, you should consider whether Unification government (+1 production, +1 food, improved security against spies / saboteurs) should be used either an alternative or as a further booster. If you take Unification and the +1 production trait, you potentially have +2 production per worker but you really need Tolerant to avoid wasting it all on pollution; but Unification with Tolerant and +1 production is 19 picks, so you'd have to choose 9 or 10 Picks worth of disadvantages. Think carefully about this one.
 * +1 Production [3]

Increases industrial production by 2 unit pers worker. The high Picks cost and the array of production-boosting techologies you can research mean this choice isn't worth it.
 * +2 Production [6]

Research (genetic)
Decreases research by 1 unit per scientist. Technology is crucial in MOO II because a high-tech warship slaughters whole fleets of low-tech ships and high-tech colonies can out-everything against lower-tech empires with specific racial advantages in production / farming / research. Choose this only if you find the highest difficulty too easy; never choose this against a human opponent (unless you've agreed some unusual start-up conditions for the sheer fun of it).
 * -1 Research [-3]

Increases research by 1 unit per scientist. As with the other "+1" traits, you need to consider the alternative and complementary traits. Artifacts world [3] increases research by 2 per scientist, but only on your home world; it can be very powerful if you use it to get key technologies early, for example if you get Planetary Supercomputer (a significant research booster) 10 turns before the opposition you probably have a permanent lead in technology. Democracy government (+ 1 research, + 1 money; [7 Picks]) provides fast research and the money to buy things quickly after you discover how to make them.
 * +1 Research [3]

Increases research by 2 units per scientist. Despite its high cost, this may be better than +2 farming and +2 production because it enables you to research quickly the technologies to counter the disadvantages you will have to choose in order to balance your Picks budget. Even so, think carefully about this one; in particular, Artifacts world ([3] Picks) is a powerful and cheaper alternative.
 * +2 Research [6]

Taxation (empire-based)
Decreases every 1 BC your empire receives through taxes or trade good production by 0.5 BC, halving the money you get from those sources. Surprisingly this can be useful as a disadvantage to boost your Picks budget, provided you balance it with good choices in other areas - for example Democracy government (+1 research;  + 0.5 money; decent productivity at new-born colonies) compensates for the money disadvantage and enables you to research Spaceport faster (+ 0.5 money per taxpayer, when built) and, if you want, Stock Exchange (+1 money per taxpayer, when built); so your money worries vanish quickly and you still have the research boost. The downside of this combination (Democracy -0.5 money) is that before you've built Spaceport(s) you have to be careful not to built too many buildings or ships or spies, otherwise the maintenance costs may criple you.
 * -0.5 BC [-4]

Increases every 1 BC your empire receives through taxes or trade good production by 0.5 BC, i.e. boosts your income by 50% before Spaceports etc. Too expensive - Democracy government (+1 research; + 0.5 money; decent productivity at new-born colonies) is much better value.
 * +0.5 BC [5]

Increases every 1 BC your empire receives through taxes or trade good production by 1 BC, i.e. doubles your income before Spaceports etc. Far too expensive. Democracy government (+1 research; + 0.5 money; decent productivity at new-born colonies) is much better value becuase it's cheaper, gives you +0.5 money and enables you to research money-boosting technologies faster (and every other tech, including military).
 * +1 BC [8]

Ship Defense (empire-based)
Reduces by 20% your warships' ability to avoid being hit by "beam" weapons (including the "machine-gun" weapons Mass Driver and Gauss Cannon). A very common negative pick to balance the Picks budget since research can quickly provide means to: improve your ship defence; shoot with greater power and accuracy (if you destroy enemy ships fast, a defensive weakness becomes much less important).
 * -20 Ship Defense [-2]

Increases by 25% your warships' ability to avoid being hit by "beam" weapons. Poor value because of the technologies desribed above. For the 3 Picks you could have +1 Science or Artifacts Homeworld, both of which get you these military techs faster. Most likely to be useful in small or crowded galaxies where early, low-tech combat is probable.
 * +25 Ship Defense [+3]

Increases by 25% your warships' ability to avoid being hit by "beam" weapons. Very poor value - it costs as many Picks as Democracy government, which gives you advantages in both civilian and military areas and that last much longer (+1 research, +.05 money, etc.) - even in small or crowded galaxies where early, low-tech combat is probable.
 * +50 Ship Defense [+7]

Ship Attack (empire-based)
Reduces by 20% your warships' ability to hit enemy ships with "beam" weapons (including the "machine-gun" weapons Mass Driver and Gauss Cannon). Avoid if at all possible - in MOO II research makes the power of warships' attacks increase faster than the strength of their defenses, so you need to kill enemy ships as fast as possible; and if you get into a low-tech fight in a small or crowded galaxy, your ships' inaccurate firing may be fatal.
 * -20 Ship Attack [-2]

Increases by 20% your warships' ability to hit with "beam" weapons. Can be good value if a blitz strategy is viable, in other words if your other race design choices support blitzing and the galaxy is small and / or crowded - otherwise your opponents probably use other traits to pull ahead in production and technology and you're losing. is probable.
 * +20 Ship Attack [+2]

Increases by 50% your warships' ability to hit with "beam" weapons. Poor value unless you're very confident about winning by a blitz - and probably fatal if the the blitz fails or is never started because there's no-one you can attack quickly.
 * +50 Ship Attack [+4]

Ground Combat (empire-based)
Decreases your ground troops' effectiveness by 10%. A very common negative choice to balance your Picks budget since: ground combat skill is useless if you lose space battles; it's easily compensated for by research.
 * -10 Ground Combat [-2]

Increases your ground troops' effectiveness by 10%. Usually poor value since: ground combat skill is useless if you lose space battles; it's easily countered by research. It's best used if you aim to capture rather than destroy enemy ships - captured ships cannot be upgraded but if you scrap them there's chance of gaining space combat technologies from them. The best freebie techs you can get this way are from scrapping captured Antaran ships, but: it's incredibly difficult to capture Antaran ships; many multi-player games as played with the "Antarans attack" game option off, so you never get the opportunity.
 * +10 Ground Combat [+2]

Increases your ground troops' effectiveness by 20%. Poor value for the reasons stated above. There are many better ways to spend 4 Picks.
 * +20 Ground Combat [+4]

Spying (empire-based)
Decreases by 10% your spies' effectiveness both in espionage / sabotage missions against opponents and in defending you empire against opponents' attempts at espionage / sabotage. A fairly common negative choice to balance your Picks budget but must be used carefully. Not a severe disadvantage if you research espionage technologies quickly. Do not use if you choose Democracy government, as Democracy has a built-in -10 disadvantage in defensive spy operations; Democracy with the -10 Spying trait is at a 20% disadvantage and its opponents can steal its technologies as fast as it discovers them.
 * -10 Spying [-3]

Increases by 10% your spies' effectiveness both in espionage / sabotage missions against opponents and in defending your empire against opponents' attempts at espionage / sabotage. Seldom a good choice: technologies that boost spies' effectiveness (especially in defense) appear at several levels of the tech tree; espionage and sabotage make enemies quickly, and those enemies probalby have advantages in production and / or research, so when they come knocking at your door, you're in real danger. To look at it another way, several 3 Pick choices boost research so you can quickly get technologies that boost spies' effectiveness, and these other traits have other civilian and / or military benefits.
 * +10 Spying [3]

Increases by 20% your spies' effectiveness both in espionage / sabotage missions against opponents and in defending your empire against opponents' attempts at espionage / sabotage. A really bad choice, for the reasons stated above but more strongly.
 * +20 Spying [6]

Government (empire-based)
This is the most important group of traits, as each government type is a package of advantages and disadvantages. Each government type also has an advanced version that can be researched; these advanced versions generally increase the basic version's advantages but do not mitigate its disadvantages. Although the advanced versions cannot be chosen in the Race Desing screen, this page describes them because you should understand the advanced version (your medium- to long-term future) before choosing your initial government type.

Advantages: spaceship production costs are ⅔ (67%) of normal. Disadvantages: 50% less research per scientist; colonies without a Marine Barracks or Armor Barracks produce 20% less per farmer / worker / scientist / taxpayer (yes, your income suffers too), in other words colonies don't get going properly until they have a Barracks and the actual building of the Barracks is slowed by the poor productivity; if the empires' capital is captured or destroyed, the whole empire suffers a 50% reduction in output per per farmer / worker / scientist until a new Capitol is built. Notes: the manual says that populations captured from a Feudal empire assimilate instantly, but the base version of MOO II does not behave this way and no patch (official or user-developed) has fixed this.
 * Feudal [-4]

Advanced version: Confederation. Advantages: spaceship production costs are reduced to ⅓ (33%) of normal; populations captured from a Confederation empire do not assimilate instantly (an imaginary advantage, since Feudal populations do not actually assimilate instantly); assimilates populations captured from other empires at twice the normal rate. Remaining disadvantages: 50% reduction in research per scientist; 20% penalty for colonies with no Barracks; 50% penalty after loss of capital, until a new Capitol is built.

Feudal's 50% reduction in research per scientist is usually crippling. Feudal only stands a chance as a blitz race in a small galaxy - in a large galaxy, however crowded with juicy targets, some race on the far side will build up an insuperable technological advantage before the Feudal empire's ships get there.

Advantages: spies get a 10% advantage in defensive operations. Disadvantages: colonies without a Marine Barracks or Armor Barracks produce 20% less per farmer / worker / scientist / taxpayer (yes, your income suffers too), in other words colonies don't get going properly until they have a Barracks and the actual building of the Barracks is slowed by the poor productivity; if the empires' capital is captured or destroyed, the whole empire suffers a 35% reduction in output per per farmer / worker / scientist until a new Capitol is built.
 * Dictatorship [0]

Advanced version: Imperium. Advantages: no penalty for lack of a Barracks; assimilates conquered populations twice as fast as normal; defensive spying bonus increased to 20%; 50% more command points per starbase or battlestation, i.e. you can immediatly increase your fleet by 50% without increasing maintenance costs. Note on the Barracks issue: the 2 paragraphs above summarize the manual but observation suggests the manual is wrong. When a colony of an Imperium builds its first Barracks, it gets a 20% increase in food / production / research / money per "person". So the truth appears to be that: the base "morale" (productivity) for Dictatorship is -20%, and Imperium eliminates this penalty; a Colony's first Barracks raises "morale" by 20% of the normal level for both Dictatorship and Imperium.

Much better than Feudal, but most players prefer Democracy or Unification.

Alkari
Race Traits - +40 Ship Defense, Artifacts Homeworld Government - Dictatorship

In the very beginning, the Alkari have the easiest time because their homeworld puts them on a research level greater than all the other races except the Psilons, and they should be able to hold on to this advantage to some degree. The best strategy for them is to put everything you can into research in the beginning, then start producing ships en masse; the quicker you can get into combat with a race, the better. The Alkari are one of the easiest races to use because their traits are nice and simple, presenting clear strengths.

Bulrathi
Race Traits - High-Gravity World, +10 Ground Combat, +20 Ship Attack Government - Dictatorship

Good at ground combat, and entering other ships.

Psilons
Good scientists, physically weak.

Humans
Average everywhere, good diplomats.