Completed playing couple times with each race finally, although still chasing some elusive race specific achievements.



Thought I'd comment on the Vaulters - love them, and seems really powerful affinity. Ability to vault your fleets around is just amazing for defensive warfare. It makes going back to any other faction painful.



The early game movement penalty you take (move points stop entering a system even if your engines could go further) is more than made up for with the super powerful long distance teleport to any system you built a portal. Plus the fast expansion ability this allows. Plus the movement tech upgrade you can research later to allow 25% movement after exiting a portal.



I send at least one colony ship very early game not to the best planet. But one far away so my next wave of colony ships saves all that travel time.



I'd say they are easily my top fav affinity. Cravers probably my least favorite, not because i think they are bad or anything but just doesnt fit my playstyle - take my time vs the constant ticking clock of the cravers. UE comes in



minor wish they had unique ship models instead of reskinned UE/sheradyn ships but that's pretty small potatoes. Excellent faction.

My favorites are Horatio and Sheredyn. Actually, the affinities are what I like since I always play a custom race. United Empire is also powerful, but I don't enjoy them as much as the other two.



Horatio: Being able to clone heroes and get faster access to more heroes is very powerful. With any race, I can get a pilot to level 20+ with no problem. With Horatio, you can have as many level 20+ pilots as you could possibly want by mid-game.



Sheredyn: The enemy retreat option let's you choose any weapon system you want. (Other races need to have at least a good chunk in long-range kinetics to deal with enemy retreat spam.) Also, the bonus weapon space you get in the starting frigate class is powerful for the early game. And finally, you can be swimming in dust with this race thanks to a couple of its race-specific techs.



I know you're going for achievements, so you need to play stock races. However, one of the best parts of the game (IMHO) is designing your own race.



I have played Vaulters, and I agree with you that they are fun and powerful.