Given how Alignment actually works in-game, I consider it a bit of a misnomer. Replace "Good / Evil" with "Peaceful / Aggressive" and maybe even rename "Alignment" as "Disposition" to get rid of D&D-esque connotations to the term.

Those thoughts literally go through my head when I'm playing a faction in any game which I haven't read the backstory on

Well evil is just a commonly accepted definition of our own and I would suggest that if other species were evolved similar to the theory of how humans evolved then I would guess their morals would be very similar to our own.

What is important really is how our own morality would care about other species, many humans hold little regard for other species on earth, whereas some people have the other extreme of having almost the same moral code towards all species. It would be interesting to see what we would consider moral if/when we encounter an extraterrestrial species, I suspect it would largely be based on how intelligent we consider them to be and how physically appealing they are.

I would imagine if they were very ugly to look upon and have very different, to us grotesque ways of life we would very likely not have the same morals in the way we treated them. Not like if they looked like the aliens depicted in Avatar anyway.



What we are saying in this game really is that we as humans treat other species with less of a moral code than we do amongst our own, which I'm more than willing to believe.



Personally I think this game would be better to have different relationship modifiers, such that humans treated very human like races better than very alien races, rather than a hard evil/good/neutral alignment which is very subjective to the observer.



You could also remove the alignment and have species traits such as

Aggressiveness

Assimilation/Enslavement/Extermination likeliness.

Tolerance for aggression towards own kind or other kinds (by own kind I mean humans are less likely to tolerate aggression towards a human like species than towards say a race of cannibalistic bugs).

Hunger for resources/power

Likeliness to trade

Likeliness to enter military pacts



Perhaps all this is going on in the background and alignment is just a short fluff description, I'm new to his game and others may know better.

Haree78 wrote:
Personally I think this game would be better to have different relationship modifiers, such that humans treated very human like races better than very alien races, rather than a hard evil/good/neutral alignment which is very subjective to the observer.

That's an interesting shout, depends what you mean by 'human like' races. To me, all races are humanoid

If this trend keeps up I'll have to don a felt goatee every time I play, who's with me?

I like to think of the United Empire as Chaotic Neutral. They do what they want, and they don't really care what happens as a result :P

The agony booth made me laugh, what a name!

felldian wrote:
They do what they want, and they don't really care what happens as a result

To me, that just means they're being selfish with little regards for the consequences, which could be pretty evil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alignment_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)



This is what I was basing it off :P

Alignment in the game chiefly seems to affect how much the AI cares about your military strength, and how eager the AI is to build their own. Evil AIs produce fewer domestic improvements and more warships, and they judge you harshly if you don't keep up. Good AIs are the inverse, and even if you have no military at all, they'll take a long time if ever to decide they hate you for it.



All AIs presently turn aggressive if they ever have a warp link with you. Good AIs take longer to freak out about this, but a touching border still means war is inevitable.

Hahaha! Yes! That Mitchell And Webb Look, I love that sketch!

Perhaps the next three races will be different (IE good, neutral, ect...)

Jashbeast wrote:
I know we only have access to 5 factions right now but I can't believe that only the Sophons have the 'good' diplomatic alignment. I don't know about the rest of you but I don't like being the bad guys, I just can't bring myself to be evil. And I know it's only a game or whatever but I just love being the good guys and winning, makes victory all the more sweeter for me.



What do you guys think?

I usually think like yourself. But cravers are just so much joy to play with (and not as cheated as one may think). Moreover diplomatic play is really awkward at the moment (AI has a lot of room for improvement), so factions that would relly on it are at a disadvantage.

Come to the dark (evil) side, we have cookies!

Hilarious, made my day!

White_Mage wrote:
If this trend keeps up I'll have to don a felt goatee every time I play, who's with me?

Antulamatsch wrote:
Come to the dark (evil) side, we have cookies!

They would taste of shame

Antulamatsch wrote:
Come to the dark (evil) side, we have cookies!

Chocolate Chip!?

White_Mage wrote:
Chocolate Chip!?

Hahaa, stay your hand with your temptations evildoer!!

It's all a matter of perspective: One man's, or alien's, "good" could be another's "evil", and vice versa.

Just put a piece of tape over the "evil" at race selection

Someone has to be the good guy, I guess...