Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares/Some effective race designs

This page presents a few effective race designs. Try them first, and then start experimenting. Most of these designs, except for "Blitz races", are for the medium to long-term, usually in Medium or larger galaxies with Pre-warp or Average Tech starts. And all are for standard 'MOO II - we can't predict which mods you will use. The race names generally follow the conventions used in most online discussions.

Basic principles
This summarizes the main points in the discussion of race design options.

Population is power
This is a common saying among MOO II players and it's 99% true. More people = more money and some combination of more research and more production.

More precisely, research + production = power. Farming is not an objective, it's a requirement in order to support your workers and scientists. That's why Lithovore races are sometimes good: they maximize production and (especially) research from the start. The cost is often slower population growth or lower maximum in population, which has 2 consequences: reduced cash income, which Lithovores should make up by researching and building Spaceports and Stock Exchanges; and a reduced vote in meetings of the Galactic Council, which can be a factor in single-player games but is very unlikely to be a factor in multi-player (no other player will vote for the one with the largest population).

A later section will tell you how to grow your population fast.

All race designs take a gamble on something
In standard ''MOO II' it's impossible to design a "best in all situations" race.

Production versus research races
MOO II is not perfectly balanced between production-oriented and research-oriented races - in practise production-oriented races have the advantage most of the time. The main reason for this is that Colony Ships are large construction projects for small, low-tech economies (500 production points), so production races colonize faster. This gives them higher populations in the short term; and when the production races construct research buildings on their new colonies they eventually out-research the research races because they have more colonies and therefore more research buildings.

On the other hand many production-oriented races have rather slow early-game research. Since a few high-tech warships almost always beat a larger number or tonnage of low-tech warships, research-oriented races have to be prepared to blitz production races as soon as they (research races) can launch a few ships.

So production races' advantage is usually greatest in fairly large galaxies with a small number of players, so that they do not have to worry so much about blitzes.

UniAquaProd2
A gambler's race: if this race finds a few "wet" planets (Tundra, Ocean, Swamp, Terran) early in the game, it quickly becomes a monster in both production and research. In this case it should research and build Cloning Centers early to maximize population growth.
 * Unification [6]: farming and production advantages; no morale penalty at new colonies.
 * Aquatic [5]: better farming and higher population capacity on wet planets
 * +2 Industry [6]: this race is production-oriented!
 * Large, Rich Homeworld [1, 2]: maximizes homeworld production and increases the maximum production achievable there before pollution starts to hurt. This race colonizes very fast!
 * Repulsive [-6], -10 Ground combat [-2], -20 Ship Defense [-2]: the standard negative picks, to get the total down to / below 10.

UniTol
Works well in most starting positions (good or bad); its gamble is that a nearby aggressor will not take advantage of UniTol's slow early research by blitzing it. UniTol should research and build Soil Enrichment early (1 extra food per farmer), so that it can move some people from farming to research.
 * Unification [6]: farming and production advantages; no morale penalty at new colonies.
 * Tolerant [10]: no pollution so can build flat out when desired; similar maximum populations to UniAqua
 * +1 Industry [3]: this race is even more production-oriented, because it's also Tolerant.
 * Large Homeworld [1]: use that last Pick.
 * Repulsive [-6], -10 Ground combat [-2], -20 Ship Defense [-2]: the standard negative picks, to get the total down to / below 10.

DemoLithArti
The fastest possible early research (if you ignore Creative's "two for the price of one" deals), and improved cash income with with which to buy items. Its main weakness is having no traits that increase maximum populations. Biospheres (increase maximum population by 2 when built) and later Terraforming will be important to it. This race does best if it can kill a Space Monster that's guarding a planet with a large population capacity early in the game; its research advantages will provide the tools to do this. Later in the mid-game Android Workers / Scientists will boost its population (Androids are Tolerant, so you can add Androids to a colony that has reached its maxiumum biological population). DemoLithArti has no industrial production bonus; but it should be able to research and build Automated Factories and Robo-Miners very quickly; and its cash advantage enables it to buy things when half-built.
 * Democratic [7]: extra research and cash; no morale penalty at new colonies.
 * Lithovore [10]- no farmers needed, allows the player to have more scientists
 * Artifacts Homeworld [3] - +2 research on homeworld; assumes that this race will get Research Labs and Supercomputers by the time other colonies are ready to start researching.
 * Repulsive [-6], -10 Ground combat [-2], -20 Ship Defense [-2] - the standard negative picks, to get the total down to / below 10.

DictLithSubArti
Researches fast and can also build up a large population; but quite weak at early production and expansion. It gets Automated Factories very quickly to compensate for its weaker production. After that it should research either Robo-Miners to boost production or Cloning Centers to take advantage of its high maximum populations.
 * Dictatorship [0]: the best government this race can afford, since its other positive traits are expensive; suffers morale penalty at new colonies.
 * Lithovore [10]: no farmers needed, allows the player to have more scientists
 * Subterranean [6]: gives the largest boost to maximum populations.
 * Artifacts Homeworld [3] - +2 research on homeworld; assumes that this race will get Research Labs and Supercomputers by the time other colonies are ready to start researching.
 * Large Homeworld [1] - use that last Pick; maximizes the number of scientists that get the benefit of Artifacts Homeworld.
 * Repulsive [-6], -10 Ground combat [-2], -20 Ship Defense [-2] - the standard negative picks, to get the total down to / below 10.

UniAquaProdSci
This race gambles on getting early "wet" planets, and becomes a monster if it gets a few. This race is also a very dangerous blitzer if it finds a less advanced empire nearby - it's not the fastest to build ships initially, but speeds up as it researches and builds Robo-miners; then each warship it makes is probably better than the last because it researches fast.
 * Unification [6]: farming and production advantages; no morale penalty at new colonies.
 * Aquatic [5]: better farming and higher population capacity
 * +1 Industry [3]: good but not extreme production.
 * +1 Science [3]: good but not extreme research.
 * Rich Homeworld [2]: maximizes homeworld production and increases the maximum production achievable there before pollution starts to hurt. This race colonizes quite fast!
 * Repulsive [-6], -10 Ground combat [-2], -20 Ship Defense [-2]: the standard negative picks, to get the total down to / below 10.

DemoAquaCash
This unusual race is sometimes described as a research race but it's really more of a balanced race: it sacrifices part of its potential research advantage to generate very serious money, and makes extreme use of the "buy when half-built" technique to get fast production. It can and should get Automated Factories very quickly to increase the rate at which it can "buy when half-built". Maximizing population growth will maximize both the cash advantage (more taxpayers), and its research; so Cloning Centers are important for this race. If its neighborhood contains high-capacity planets guarded by Space Monsters, it must use its research and cash advantages to produce monster-killing fleets quickly. If there are few "wet" planets nearby, Terraforming is important a little later in the game, and this race can afford to buy rapid completion of Terraforming projects; this may make it less of a gamble than Aquatic usually is.
 * Democratic [7]: extra research and cash; no morale penalty at new colonies.
 * Aquatic [5]: better farming and higher population capacity on "wet" planets.
 * +1 BC [8]: usually a poor choice, but this race is designed to make good use of it.
 * Repulsive [-6], -10 Ground combat [-2], -20 Ship Defense [-2] - the standard negative picks, to get the total down to / below 10.

Creative races
Remember that Creative is controversial and 2-edged! Creative races often get crushed early but, if given time to develop, can win hugely - but to do so they must be very aggressive once they have a few decent warships.

Since Creative races usually have no production bonus, they are slow to build warships, so stockpiling production is important for them (covered later).

For the same reasons their younger colonies are vulnerable. And in the early game Creatives can't afford large defensive fleets because they have very few Starbases (these cost 400 production points, i.e. they're major construction projects for new colonies, especially for non-production races). One way to minimize this vulnerability is:
 * Missile Bases are in the same tech level as Automated Factory (the first production booster) ; most non-Creatives choose Automated Factory, but Creatives get both.
 * New colonies in vulnerable locations should build Automated Factories, and possibly Robo-Miners (2nd-level production boosters); then stockpile enough production (this technique is covered later) for a Missile Base, but don't build it until needed (this saves maintenance costs).
 * Then use these colonies to increase your population at more developed colonies (the techniques are covered later).
 * Research Radiation Shields. These completely block damage from low-tech weapons and reduce damage from mid-tech ones, so they make Missile Bases a lot tougher. They are part of a military tech path that non-Creatives seldom use early in the game, but which has some very useful "bonus" techs for Creatives. It would be nice if you could research Radiation Shields shortly after Missile Bases, but there are higher priorities. Once again, reduce maintenance costs by stockpiling enough production.

After producing colonies, the homeworld must maximize research in order to reach as fast as possible the tech levels at which Creatives start to get really useful "bonus" techs.

Creatives must attack as soon as they can build a couple of decent warships. They can attack with smaller fleets than non-Creatives because of their "bonus" techs:
 * Some are special systems for warships, which enable a well-designed Creative Battleship to beat 2-3 non-Creative Battleships that are apparently 1 or sometimes 2 levels ahead in armor and weapons (shields are a different matter, discussed in the military sections of this guide). Battleships are the smallest warship size that can accommodate 4 special systems without a crippling reduction in the space available for weapons.
 * Others strengthen planetary defenses.

UniAquaCre
This race gambles on getting "wet" planets nearby. If it does not get them, it's weaker than CreLithxxx because on "dry" planets UniAquaCre can't fully exploit its population and and farming advantages until it terraforms (mid-game tech; fairly expensive construction), while CreLithxxx gets a technology lead because it does not need to farm. This race needs to maximize homeworld population and then, if it has "wet" colonies, their population too - a later page will cover population growth techniques. Since it has neither production nor cash bonuses, it should stockpile production in order to build things as soon as possible after the relevant research is completed (another technique that's covered later).
 * Creative [8]: gets all the techs at each level.
 * Unification [6]: farming and production advantages; no morale penalty at new colonies.
 * Aquatic [5]: better farming and higher population capacity, on "wet" planets only.
 * Large Homeworld [1]: use that last Pick.
 * Repulsive [-6], -10 Ground combat [-2], -20 Ship Defense [-2]: the standard negative picks, to get the total down to / below 10.

UniCreLgeRichProd
This avoids the gamble on getting "wet" planets, at the cost of reduced farming efficiency and reduced population capacity on the homeworld (compared with Aquatics). Its industrial advantages help it to colonize faster, but feeding the new colonists without Aquatic's additional farming bonus will reduce its early research. The food problem can be minimized by moving population from the new colonies to the homeworld, but that has lower population capacity than UniAquaCre so UniCreLgeRichProd needs to get a good large planet as early as possible to avoid a slowdown in either research or population growth - getting such a planet often involves killing a Space Monster and the Rich Homeworld helps in building a monster-killing fleet.
 * Creative [8]: gets all the techs at each level.
 * Unification [6]: farming and production advantages; no morale penalty at new colonies.
 * +1 Industry [3]: the homeworld builds Colony Ships and Colony Bases faster, and new colonies get going faster.
 * Rich Homeworld [2]: as well as increasing homeworld production, this increases the production level at which pollution starts to bite into production.
 * Large Homeword [1]: this also increases the production level at which pollution starts to bite into production.
 * Repulsive [-6], -10 Ground combat [-2], -20 Ship Defense [-2]: the standard negative picks, to get the total down to / below 10.

UniCreLgeRichArti
This race sacrifices UniCreLgeRichProd's industrial bonus in favor of faster research, in order to reach as quickly as possible the tech levels at which Creative gets really useful bonus techs; the industrial sacrifice mainly affects new colonies, since the homeworld is Rich. Like UniCreLgeRichProd, it avoids the gamble on getting "wet" planets, at the cost of reduced farming efficiency and reduced population capacity on the homeworld (compared with Aquatics). And it also needs get a good large planet as early as possible, if necessary by killing a Space Monster. Spaceport (increases a colony's tax income by 50% when built) is a very useful early tech for this race, enabling it to compensate for colonies' industrial weakness by buying things when half-built.
 * Creative [8]: gets all the techs at each level.
 * Unification [6]: farming and production advantages; no morale penalty at new colonies.
 * Artifacts Homeworld [3]: +2 research per scientist, on the homeworld only. Better than +1 Science [3] for this race, because: the lack of an industrial bonus makes the colonies slow to get into research; being non-Tolerant, this race can't produce flat out on the homeworld, and Artifacts Homeworld maximizes the productivity of the few scientists it has while it's building colonies.
 * Rich Homeworld [2]: as well as increasing homeworld production, this increases the production level at which pollution starts to bite into production.
 * Large Homeword [1]: this also increases the production level at which pollution starts to bite into production.
 * Repulsive [-6], -10 Ground combat [-2], -20 Ship Defense [-2]: the standard negative picks, to get the total down to / below 10.

DemoAquaCreLge
Another gamble on getting "wet" planets to colonize. This one sacrifices production and farming bonuses in favor of research and cash, so it needs to buy things at the right times. And it must beware of enemy spies, since Democracy is weak in defensive spying operations. If it comes through these difficulties in good shape, its power increases rapidly because it soon reaches the tech levels at which Creatives start to get really useful "bonus" technologies. Then its advantages in research and money allow it to cope fairly easily with the financial burdens of a large fleet and it can get aggressive.
 * Creative [8]: gets all the techs at each level.
 * Democracy [7]: research and cash advantages; no morale penalty at new colonies.
 * Aquatic [5]: better farming and higher population capacity, on "wet" planets only.
 * Repulsive [-6], -10 Ground combat [-2], -20 Ship Defense [-2]: the standard negative picks, to get the total down to / below 10.

DictAquaSubCreLge
Yet another gamble on getting "wet" worlds to colonize. It is the riskiest of these gambles, because it sacrifices farming, production, research and cash bonuses for the highest long-term population potential. These trade-offs make it a slower starter, so it really does not want early contact and very much prefers a large or huge galaxy with few players. On the other hand it does not need a huge number of colonies, which enables it to delay contact and to switch from colonization to research fairly early. Population-building techniques (covered later) are very important for this race in order to maximize research on the homeworld once it has finished building Colony Ships and Colony Bases.
 * Creative [8]: gets all the techs at each level.
 * Dictatorship [0]: The best government this race can afford, because Creative, Aquatic and Subterranean are expensive choices. No early advantages; morale penalty at new colonies.
 * Aquatic [5]: better farming and higher population capacity.
 * Subterranean [6]: Can build huge populations; even larger on "wet" planets because of Aquatic.
 * Large Homeworld [1]: use the last Pick; maximize early homeworld research.
 * Repulsive [-6], -10 Ground combat [-2], -20 Ship Defense [-2]: the standard negative picks, to get the total down to / below 10.

CreLithLge
Gets faster early research than non-Lithovores because it needs no farmers. But it has to turn this faster early research into longer-term advantages, usually via Creative's "bonus" techs, and then attack as soon as possible; otherwise the non-Creative races and the non-Lithovore Creatives will grow larger populations and out-research and out-produce it. This race has 1 unused Pick, but this can't be used without sacrificing something that's useful. Use population growth techniques to maximize early homeworld research.
 * Creative [8]: gets all the techs at each level.
 * Lithovore [10]: no farmers means more scientists.
 * Dictatorship [0]: The best government this race can afford, because Lithovore is an expensive choice. No early advantages; morale penalty at new colonies.
 * Large Homeworld [1]: maximize early homeworld research.
 * Repulsive [-6], -10 Ground combat [-2], -20 Ship Defense [-2]: the standard negative picks, to get the total down to / below 10.

CreLithRich
Another Creative race that does not gamble on "wet" planets. Gets faster production and colonization than CreLithLge because it takes Rich homeworld rather than Large Homeworld. But that means this race needs to get some high capacity planets early to grow its population. If all the good ones are guarded by Space Monsters, it should research monster-killing techs (covered later) as fast as possible then use the Rich Homeworld bonus to crank out the ships (stockpiling production is essential here too). Like other Creative races, it has to attack as soon as it can build decent warships, otherwise races that build larger populations will out-research and out-produce.
 * Creative [8]: gets all the techs at each level.
 * Lithovore [10]: no farmers means more scientists.
 * Dictatorship [0]: The best government this race can afford, because Lithovore is an expensive choice. No early advantages; morale penalty at new colonies.
 * Rich Homeworld [2]: maximize early homeworld production, reduce losses due to pollution.
 * Repulsive [-6], -10 Ground combat [-2], -20 Ship Defense [-2]: the standard negative picks, to get the total down to / below 10.

Blitz races
This section is about the all-out rushing "glory or death" types, not about the later but more sustainable attacking style of some research-oriented or balanced races described above. The blitz races described here are strongest in small galaxies, where all other empires's colonies are fairly close; they are risky in medium galaxies; and they are usually hopeless in larger galaxies because there's usually some race that's out of range and building up a huge industrial and technological lead. They can hardly ever afford to take -10 Ground combat [-2] and -20 Ship Defense [-2] because they need all the early-game military advantages they can get; so they can't use most of the positive Picks that give long-term benefits.

Blitzers' chances are best in Advanced Start games and worst in pre-Warp games:
 * In pre-Warp games they have to research all the basic space travel and combat techs, and most blitz races are weak in research. Advanced Start and Average Tech games give them those techs for free (these are all "general" tech levels, i.e. even Uncreatives get all the techs in these levels)
 * The free Battleship all races get in Advanced Start games is also a big help to blitz races, as they've often sacrificed production as well as research to gain combat bonuses.

Blitz races divide into 2 main groups, Telepathic and non-Telepathic:
 * For Telepathic races, a Cruiser or larger warship can mind control an enemy colony - provided the colony does not have a telepathic population and does not have a telepathic leader. Mind control makes blitzes faster because:
 * There's no need to spend construction effort and Command Points on Troop Transports. Command Points are probably more critical, as early empires have very few Command Points and can be ruined financially if they try to run fleets in excess of their Command Points.
 * The conquered colonists assimilate instantly: they work, farm and research at 100% immedately, so they're an asset; they won't rebel, so the telpathic blitzer can build defenses immediately and let its ships move on to new conquests.
 * Telepathic costs 6 Picks, so a non-Telepathic blitz race should be able to find a good, warlike way of using the 6 Picks saved.

TeleUniWarRichAtt
This race can build a cruiser around turn 15 if managed well, and the cruiser can kill a low-tech starbase. But the ship is slow and has limited range, giving potential victims time to provide some sort of defense. An Outpost Ship can solve the range problem.
 * Telepathic [6]: mind control
 * Unification [6]: farming and production advantages; no morale penalty at new colonies (captured, of course; blitzers don't build colonies!).
 * Warlord [4]: more skillful warship crews; extra command points (probably only 2, as this race probably only has its homeworld before it attacks).
 * +20 Ship Attack [2]: only makes sense if you're using "beam" weapons, which can miss of not given some sort of accuracy booster.
 * Rich Homeworld [2]: build warships faster.

TeleUniTransRich
Trans-Dimensional races' ships are faster both in deep space and in combat. But this race loses the combat bonuses of TeleUniWarRichAtt. So it uses a strategy that plays to its strengths: research Fighter Bays (a bad choice in most situations); research Fusion Beams; build a Cruiser armed only with fighters (a mini-carrier) - fighters fire only at close range so accuracy is less of an issue; and Trans-Dimensional fighters move very fast in combat. The Cruiser gets to the target pretty fast too - and can get back in time to defend something if necessary.
 * Telepathic [6]: mind control
 * Unification [7]: farming and production advantages; no morale penalty at new colonies (captured, of course; blitzers don't build colonies!).
 * Trans-Dimensional [5]: ships faster both in deep space and in combat.
 * Rich Homeworld [2]: build warships faster.

TeleLithRichLge
Being Lithovore gives this race a lot of options, as it does not farm and has increased research and / or construction capacity. For example by turn 40 it can research and build a Cruiser with MIRVed nuclear missiles, which provides impressive firepower for this early in the game.
 * Telepathic [6]: mind control
 * Lithovore [10]: no farmers means more scientists / workers.
 * Rich Homeworld [2]: build warships faster.
 * Large Homeworld [1]: use the last Pick.

TeleFeuTransOmniArtiEtc
This race had better win fast, because it has 2 handicaps each of which will be fatal on the not-so-long term: Feudal (50% research) and 50% reduction in population growth.
 * Telepathic [6]: mind control.
 * Feudal [-4]: ship construction costs 67%; research per scientist 50%.
 * Trans-Dimensional [5]: ships faster both in deep space and in combat.
 * Omniscient [3]: can see enemy colonies and ships.
 * Artifacts World [3]: almost compensates for Feudal's 50% research penalty.
 * Rich Homeworld [2]: build those cheap ships even faster.
 * -10 Ground Combat [-2]: we don't fight, we mind-control!
 * -50 Population Growth [-4]: a negative that doesn't harm combat performance.

Starship Troopers
This race's "warships" carry nothing but marines - made tough by growing up on a High-G World. 4 empty Frigates (no weapons, just grunts; the frigates close in faster that way) board a star base and capture it. The Troop Transports carry more High-G tough guys who capture the enemy colony; Troop Transports are essential as the Frigates can't damage the colony. This ceases to work when the enemy gets any of: shields (boarding parties can't pass through operational shields); anti-boarding technology; techs to shoot down the Frigates; ground-based defenses that can't be boarded
 * High-G World [6]: tougher marines
 * Warlord [4]: more skillful warship crews; extra command points (probably only 2 extra, as this race probably only has its homeworld before it attacks).
 * Unification [7]: farming and production advantages; no morale penalty at new colonies (captured, of course; blitzers don't build colonies!).
 * Rich Homeworld [2]: build warships faster.
 * Large Homeworld [1]: use the last Pick.

Warlord races
The Warlord trait [4 Picks] was made for blitzing: the Ship Attack and Ship Defense bonuses alone would cost 5 Picks if chosen separately; and the extra command points enable Warlord races to use the fastest way of getting firepower into space, which is a lot of small ships.

Feudal + Warlord can produce a fleet very fast, and replace destroyed ships very fast; but it needs to win quickly, otherwise Feudal's poor research (50% of normal) will be fatal. For example:
 * Feudal [-4]: ship construction costs 67%; research per scientist 50%.
 * Warlord [4]: more skilful warship crews; extra command points (probably only 2 extra, as this race probably only has its homeworld before it attacks).
 * Tolerant [10]: can build flat out because no pollution.
 * Lithovore: [10]: no farmers needed. Helps in researching the basic warship technologies, which come quickly enough despite Feudal's inefficient research But it will wait a long time for 2nd-level techologies, so it must attack as soon as possible.

Note: Impossible race to create without the 14 race picks command line switch (aka cheating) as it requires 14 negative picks.