Neat idea. I like their adaptability theme, and how it feeds into them being pacifist and diplomatic. I'm curious how their Adaptive Evolution affinity is applied, on the empire scale or for each population of Jaskan? And is it obvious which trait is being mimicked when choosing a faction to mimic? Also, you say they get a positive standing with other factions they mimic, but diplomatic pressure is a mechanic that allows you to make demands from other factions, which does the opposite. Could you clarify this a bit?

Also, are there any traits that penalize them going to war and forces them to have a strong diplomatic presence? For instance, in my submission, they gain War exhaustion quicker.

carolean7 wrote:

Neat idea. I like their adaptability theme, and how it feeds into them being pacifist and diplomatic. I'm curious how their Adaptive Evolution affinity is applied, on the empire scale or for each population of Jaskan? And is it obvious which trait is being mimicked when choosing a faction to mimic? Also, you say they get a positive standing with other factions they mimic, but diplomatic pressure is a mechanic that allows you to make demands from other factions, which does the opposite. Could you clarify this a bit?

Also, are there any traits that penalize them going to war and forces them to have a strong diplomatic presence? For instance, in my submission, they gain War exhaustion quicker.

Hey thanks for taking interest in my proposition. It's obviously less fleshed out than yours (which I like a lot), so I'll try to do my best to adress your questions :

- It's an interesting question concerning the obviousness of the trait, as effectively "the biggest trait" can be vague. Copying race affinity is less so however. It'd be an interesting idea though to have a random element to the trait being copied, chosing one among the major traits from the faction (and by major I mean "most expensive" from the trait catalog). It'd also legitimize befriending several different empires from the same faction to potentially benefit from several different bonuses.

- Adaptive Evolution would be applied on an empire scale, as you're basically copying empire scale traits/boons. The idea being that the Jaskans are copying skills and behavioral procedures, impacting their whole society (including potential non Jaskans assimilated populations).

- My bad for being unclear about diplomatic pressure. What I meant is to get a bonus to influence generation, therefore giving you an edge at diplomatic manipulation through diplomatic pressure (among other benefits).

As per the penalties, there obviously need to be some, especially to deter them from turning to fighting, using the potential military traits they could inherit from their allies. Your War Exhaustion idea seems like a very sensible one, so would be a solid additional malus on approval for each ongoing war. I didn't want to put too much emphasis on balance, not knowing the exact reach of the positives in numerical terms. But there are obviously a lot of very good thematic options to balance the Jaskan faction.