I suggest to make a quick option for playing with a unique set of traits. Simply make an option on the race selection menu that, when the game is launched, generate a random race. If the AI can handle it you could even give the option of generating AI players in the same fashion.



So, couldn't I just create random races with the editor? It turns out that a lot of players have a surprisingly hard time doing that. Once the editor is open the game is on, and abilities are picked for their strength rather than for variety in gameplay. Most custom factions in this way turn out very samey, being constructed only from the subset of abilities that the player deem good.



The mental barrier to clicking a button that implicitly say "You may be screwed" is a lot smaller than the barrier to specifically decide how you want to be screwed. Besides, who doesn't like a lottery?

It's an interesting idea.



Another option is (and I'm not certain something similar isn't already incorporated) to allow some randomness from the basic races, so based on the difficulty level the AI gets a chance at a slightly different set of traits, the higher the difficulty the more points they get access to allowing them to be tougher and more varied.