Because this forum hasn't seen much activity in a while and because I want to get some discussion going on strategy, I've created this (mini) guide to faction traits and how they stack up when you're making a custom faction or even if you're playing vanilla factions. (This is going to take some time and a lot of typing so bear with me.)





Edited:


5th Jan 2015.

Disharmony 1.1.51.

- Added Anomaly analysis.

- Added Science analysis







Anomaly


- Mutually exclusive with each other (You can only choose one)

- Due to the snowball nature of the game, can be extremely beneficial or detrimental (positive/negative respectively)



Positive





Dust Lode

Level 1/1

+3 dust per population on homeworld planet

4 points



-Not particularly useful except for first hero. Potentially useful early with Sheredyn Affinity, but dubious as dust production is so low compared to costs that even with the buyout bonus, it's not feasible to buy improvements. Good mid game though.



Huygens Rings

Level 1/1

+1 dust per population on homeworld planet

+2 science per population on homeworld planet

5 points



-Dust is not very useful early on except for your first hero. Having more science however, is. Getting key technologies and improvements will make sure that your early game is much smoother. Good mid game anomaly.



Metallic Waters

Level 1/1

+1 industry per population on homeworld planet

+10 approval on home system

4 points



-Mineral Rich: Lite. Arguably, the slightly lower cost and the approval benefit makes this talent better than Mineral Rich.



Mineral Rich

Level 1/1

+3 industry per population to homeworld planet

5 points



-Having more industry is most important for Sower Affinity, though any affinity can theoretically use this. Whilst not as explosive as Rich Soil, Mineral Rich is much better in the mid/late game.



Rich Soil

Level 1/1

+3 food per population on homeworld planet

5 points



-Food is always good. If you don't know what to choose, this one's for you. Less important for Sower Affinity though, as it is affected by the -50% food penalty. Consider taking Metallic Waters/Mineral Rich instead.



Terraformed Planet

Level 1/1

Adds a positive anomaly on homeworld planet

4 points



-Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?

Honestly, this isn't nearly as good as the others simply because you don't get to choose. This does let you have a chance of getting better anomalies such as Garden of Eden or Dust Ruins (strict upgrades to Rich Soil and Dust Lode respectively). Though not reliable, if you're playing single player only, you could restart until you get an insane anomaly, I guess.



Negative



Hellgourds

Level 1/1

+3 food per population on homeworld planet

-30 approval on home system

-2 points



- Strictly worse than Rich Soil, however if you can handle the negative approval, might be worth it. Optimist will do so, but may not be worth the 20 point investment and worse still, does not completely mitigate the negative approval. Sophon Affinity doesn't really care about approval early-mid game and onwards so long as dust production can keep up with a 0% tax rate.



Mineral Poor

Level 1/1

-1 industry per population on homeworld planet

-1 dust per population on homeworld planet

-10 approval on home system

-8 points



- Pretty rough all around. However, not particularly problematic very early on. Mid game, you might be hurting a little but with appropriate expansion, not too big of a deal. Requires Soil Revivification to remove.



Poor Soil

Level 1/1

-1 food per population on homeworld planet

-1 science per population on homeworld planet

-10 approval on home system

-8 points



- Even worse than Mineral Poor because this affects your food income, which in turn really hurts your ability to have a very good early game. Not too nasty for Sower Affinity because the ind => food conversion circumnavigates this. Requires Soil Revivification to remove.



Unlucky Colonists

Level 1/1

Adds a negative anomaly to homeworld planet

-10 points



- The worst roulette of them all. Requires Soil Revivification to remove. Therefore, your early game might be completely shot if you roll unluckily. Alternatively, just expand very quickly and try to ignore whatever anomaly you do end up with. However, as -approval is very common, this might not be very viable either.



Science

A mainstay "resource" of the game, having a technological advantage makes a huge difference in production, combat and diplomacy. Basically, everything you want to do in the game.



Positive



Kitchen Chemists

Level 1

+1 science per population per planet

20 points



- Amazing trait and well worth the exorbitant cost. Allows you to really skyrocket midgame with science production after you get multiple planets with good population on each.



Scientists

Level 1/3

+10% science on system

10 points



Level 2/3

+20% science on system

20 points



Level 3/3

+30% science on system

30 points



- Incredibly expensive but also very very good at all stages of the game

- Mutually exclusive with Space Cadets



Tolerant

Level 1/2

Colonizes all planets (-50% FIDS until tech known)



Harmony Affinity bonus: -8% growth per planet until tech known

Other Affinity bonus: -25% approval loss from planet until tech known



20 points



Level 2/2

Colonizes all planets (-25% FIDS until tech known)



Harmony Affinity bonus: -4% growth per planet until tech known

Other Affinity bonus: -50% approval loss from planet until tech known

30 points



- Note: The tooltip in-game is wrong. I pulled my numbers from experimentation.

- -50% approval loss means that if you colonise say, a gas giant, instead of -20 approval, it's -15 approval or 75% of original value. All values are rounded down. Therefore, for -5 approval planets such as Arid, that gets reduced to -4 approval.



Arguably very good early game, though limited by your approval modifiers and completely useless late game because you have the required techs. Allows you to get some blazing fast starts, but 20 or 30 points is a lot. Potentially very good with Pilgrims Affinity, however they do not have many slots to begin with after getting Legendary Heroes/Headhunter-Administrator, etc.



Negative



Space Cadets

Level 1

-10% science on system

-5 points



Level 2/3

-20% science on system

-10 points



Level 3/3

-30% science on system

-15 points



- As crippling as Scientists is good, this negative trait will make you lose the game if you don't have some way of negating it, either through combat or through trade (Trade is unaffected by this). For how crippling it is, the point reduction doesn't make it seem that way.

- Mutually exclusive with Scientists.