| Race |
Voter "handle" |
Voter real name |
Comment |
| Arborian Assembly |
Doc Devious |
Paul Honigmann |
The ground units = animals idea is neat. Suggest continuing this theme for
"fighters". Make them enhanced Borg-like pterodactyls, hydrogen blimps from
Jovian planets etc. Fitted with implants so they can "breathe vacuum". What
about a sentient war tree? It could be a carrier called the Low Hanging
Fruit (lots of fractal branches) - Olly would love doing the graphics for
that!!! |
| Arborian Assembly | Lord Owl |
Peter Bartz |
Nice concept! But, ah, too many rules. Everything that's basic in Planets
is turned inside-out in a complicated way, so balance is hard to judge, and playing them is nearly science. Very nice concept though. Plant-ships seem to be mighty tough (mass, damage modifiers), with lots of weapons, and hg boni. Probably have no chance against a Robot with gun zeros (slow huge ships). Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 2, Balance 4, Fun 2, Overall 2 |
| Balancers of Nirvana | Magico |
|
Confession - I didn't make any notes for voting, but I did want to mention the Balancers of Nirvana. A good idea but not yet developed enough to make top 3 for voting. Also with some pitfalls to avoid - eg. morph assault units, fighters & symmetry device in their current form would allow advantage to be gained without cost, which I'm sure would be heavily abused by less scrupulous players. I think Khobrah may have taken on quite a challenge to balance this race idea, but I salute him for doing so. |
| Balancers of Nirvana | Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Showstopper indeed! I really despise the harmony device - drop it. Triodone fantastic swarmer with full cloak, hyp and warp! Primus far too cheap. Nonaton a fully cloaked money tapper? You jest. These Balancers are far from balanced. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 4, Balance 6, Fun 3, Overall 4 |
| Braphat |
Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Nice race idea! I dislike cloaking fields, and jumppoint generator and chunnel possibilities with Braphat Mother - perhaps better immunize her against these effects. Perhaps another 'ship' similar to Brotherbiter, to avoid too much simplicity/boredom in shipchoice. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 2, Balance 2, Fun 2, Overall 2 |
| Ceyarin |
Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Hard to judge. Right now its mostly an unfinished sketch. For a race depending on hd stress it's far too easy for them to increase it though. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 4, Balance 4, Fun 4, Overall 4 |
| Children of the Apocalypse | Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | I don't like the background flavor - it's more Fantasy than SciFi. Harbinger device way too strong (and that on a cheap ship). So's the Judgment day device. Sacrifice device in combination with lots of free T1 fighters from special building is too strong, too. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 5, Balance 5, Fun 5, Overall 5 |
| Crusaders |
Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Change the race pic! Much too good food production with the yeast vats. Hate all the special pods! Cloaking field is really too good, drop it! Grav well ship too cheap. Joshua is superb fighting ship, David too (didn't you say the race didn't have any?). Fast and strong and tricks - overpowered. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 3, Balance 6, Fun 3, Overall 3 |
| Dark Necromarchy |
Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Sorry, I don't want to spacefight against ghoulies. Concept is too
Fantasy instead of SciFi. Also absurdly overpowered! Very strong ships, and most every device in the game. That could be changed - but concept is still too fantasy. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 6, Balance 6, Fun 5, Overall 6 |
| Derelict Project | Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | This isn't a race per se. But since the race creator nominated it, I'll judge
it accordingly. And as a race it is lacking. I don't even put much merit to
the reasoning behind the race idea. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 5, Balance 5, Fun 5, Overall 5 |
| Einheriar |
Doc Devious | Paul Honigmann | The Crystal X Field and Recruiting Centre are unique racial structures which
were introduced to make OTHER races distinctive. Also Hawkins Institute +
Redistribution centre. Would you like other Creators to use your ideas?
Awesome fighter / mech graphics though. |
| Einheriar | Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Race and rules are too single-minded (and unbalanced) to be much fun. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 6, Balance 6, Fun 5, Overall 6 |
| Hinsectoids | Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Fighters are too good for their price, especially considering their
rather absurd specialties. T2 boarding and T3 stealth should be dropped. Complicated prisoner rules unneccessary. That's a general trend of this race- complicated rules to enhance racestile, which ultimately drop gamefun because of overcomplexness. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 3, Balance 2, Fun 3, Overall 3 |
| HIS Divine Protectorate |
Doc Devious | Paul Honigmann | Another vanilla combat race. Exorcist mine launcher too powerful? Religious
theme is neat but has no downsides. Surely a God should be wrathful and
demand occasional sacrifices, send plagues of Worms on his worshippers etc?
Providence looks too powerful for tech 3. Faithful, tech 8. DJ Carrier has
too many weapons. WC Dreadnought is definitely tech 10 and too slow - can it
be towed faster? The incredibly slow speed of the (non HYP) ships will make
this a very frustrating race to play. |
| HIS Divine Protectorate |
Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Very nice background. Not sure about 'jumpship-transports' (and fuelless, too), but might be ok. X4 attack/evasive for ships with hg! No way!! (even assuming it doesn't work for alien hulls) Minefield-thrower? Better not. Ships don't seem too strong - but hg factor! Will probably get money problems. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 3, Balance 3, Fun 2, Overall 3 |
| Independent Scientists Alliance |
Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Easy money (elite laboratory) (guardian trade/bovinoids), free
food (contraband reformer). Offensive Devices: a kill-a-ship-in-VCR-before-shooting device installed on a cheap ship, plus towable killer-bombs. Really superb fighter as far as I can tell (T1) and lots of carriers, and ships look quite effective. Overpowered. Very nice set of graphics though! Please redo device/ship/fighter balance to put those graphics to use. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 5, Balance 6, Fun 4, Overall 5 |
| Interstellar Master Traders |
Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Really fun! Love the atmosphere part! I mistrust the spindizzi though, and its ablility to tow planets. Well, nothing but testing it out. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 2, Balance 2, Fun 1, Overall 1 |
| Killocat Empire | Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Nice flair. I really don't like the distance mine laying. Must drop the reticulean med lab, economy is very strong without it! Puma is too cheap (grav well). Ship pictures are somewhat simple. Many ships with similar role and stats. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 3, Balance 4, Fun 2, Overall 3 |
| Mishithu Enterity |
Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Somehow lacking. More flavour? Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 4, Balance 3, Fun 4, Overall 4 |
| Moties | Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Concept probably too complex to get it to work. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 5, Balance 6, Fun 3, Overall 4 |
| Networkers | Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Very bad layout, not updated for years - a sign of bad caretaking? Mostly this is only a concept - not many rules at all. Not much present to judge here. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 6, Balance 5, Fun 4, Overall 5 |
| Oni |
Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | I like the style. Caution with the full cloak / full scan possibilities of the bioships / hidden excavations. If hidden excavations hide a base against other bases at the same planet, it's probably too good. Hypbeacon + Morph on same ship too easy. Bioship cycle will be hell to micromanage. Hg breeding/killing too. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 2, Balance 3, Fun 2, Overall 2 |
| Ousters |
Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Zero grav bonus for personnel is too big. Or drop the stats instead
(they aren't Stormers). Contraband propaganda device NOT a good idea! I dislike the reticulean med lab on principle (too effective). Need a moneysource though. Sure Ousters are evil enough to turn natives routinely into protein soup? Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 3, Balance 3, Fun 3, Overall 3 |
| Outsider | Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Nice, a hyp race with gravmine/well immunity and free fuel. A wreckage hacker droid!! Human troops that nearly can take on Lizards. Cute. Back to the drawing board. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 6, Balance 6, Fun 5, Overall 6 |
| Overlords | Doc Devious | Paul Honigmann | Probably need lots of micromanagement. Need an exciting reason to play these instead of an interesting race like, say, Draconians. |
| Overlords | Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Remind me of the Dracs - slow growth, slow ships, somewhat weak, not
really interesting. Nicer ersatz superweapon though, even if I don't want it
in games. No fighter defense at all. A better presentation (standard format) would have helped. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 3, Balance 4, Fun 4, Overall 4 |
| Reticuleans |
Doc Devious | Paul Honigmann | I think the time travel should be limited to 20 turns not 99, otherwise
you'll lose interest / game will be over! Maybe add a little uncertainty
in the arrival date? Unique way of avoiding minefields
though. Subjugation Device - maybe more elegant to utilise the Rogue Colonists feature of VGAP4 - a base stat Tim has not yet coded in(?) - RC's were probably intended as revolutionaries on high Crime worlds. So no new type 3 fighters until they have planet tech 9? Can Reticuleans recruit natives? |
| Reticuleans |
Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Very nice race picture! Nice ctulhuoid race idea, too :)! Cloaking field together with siren harp? Basing economy on reticulean medlab is unwise, makes you too weak/strong, depending on native occurence. More ships, else the few choices might get boring. T1 fighter might be too good. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 2, Balance 3, Fun 1, Overall 1 |
| Wanderers of Jyn | Doc Devious | Paul Honigmann | Solar Orbiter should be tech 10. After stripping out the overcomplex rules,
just seems to be a shoot-em-up race? But why would they fight with anyone?
They don't use planets for minerals, or I think natives... |
| Shadow | Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Exceedingly nice background, and a good attempt to press it in rules.
Saying more would be immodest :). Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 1, Balance 3, Fun 1, Overall 1 |
| Thrinakian Swarm | Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Nice idea! Far too slow for my own taste, though it fits their slowly spreading swarm concept. Don't like the boarding bonus and the T8 Sentinel. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 3, Balance 2, Fun 2, Overall 2 |
| Venshad Superiority | Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Good growth, good money, excellent scan, over-the-top swarmers,
heavy warships, but mainly speed 50 - a slow mega behemoth, if it weren't for the jumppoint generator, the Phalanx assault ship, and speed 150 fighters. Too much? The mechships are a nice idea though, even if hard to balance. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 2, Balance 4, Fun 3, Overall 3 |
| Wanderers of Jyn | Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Very fun concept! I like the idea of multidimensional
dream-addicted jelly-fishs (with pets instead of troops - you could even give them combat stats, think 'Critters'). Rules probably still need a lot of finetuning though. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 2, Balance 3, Fun 2, Overall 2 |
| Whaline | Lord Owl | Peter Bartz | Nice concept in theory. But somehow they're lacking something. Ratings (Key 1 = Really really good, 6= Really really bad) Rules 3, Balance 3, Fun 3, Overall 3 |