Race Rankings

[Alundis]

First, let me state that I am newcomer to Realms Beyond.

Long have I obsessed over how the MOO races fare against each other. While there exist many anecdotal rankings and commentaries on the strengths and weaknesses of each race, I would like to ask if anyone knows of a more objective listing based on actual game results. I was inspired by the listing here: http://www.garath.net/Sullla/MOO/MOOImpossible.txt

Here is a more concrete question I would like to ask this community. Let's assume the game is MOO v1.31 with the follwing settings: Medium Galaxy, Impossible difficulty level and 5 opponents. (The Official Strategy Guide claims this is the most difficult setup, and I have stuck with them since 1995.) What would your chances be of winning this game of MOO, broken down by your choice of starting race? Could you at least rank the races from best to worst? If you do not use certain tactics you consider exploitative, please mention this if you think it changes things.

I have only recently starting documenting my games, and I have only a small sample size so far. I suspect that the Silicoids may rank very high, simply because many of my losses are due to an early Galactic Council vote for the Silicoids. Selecting them yourself eliminates this possibility. Could they possibly rank higher than the Klackons? Is it possible they would eclipse even the Psilons?

I will venture this ranking and commentary based on my MOO experiences over the years. I suspect that most players would come up with a similar list. Top ten lists are always fun, right?

1. Psilon - I have nothing new to say about these guys.
2. Human - My current thinking is that their diplomacy bonus pushes them above even the Klackons
3. Klackon - Their bonus production always for rapid early expansion
4. Silicoid - all about the early council votes. Could they go higher?
5. Sakkra - occasionally, the AI runs away with the council vote after researching some planetology. The population growth bonus never seems to help me as much I expect.
6. Meklar - I believe their extra factories push them above the remaining races, who get no economic bonuses.
7. Alkari - Excellent propulsion bonus aids expansion, particularly if there are no inhabitable planets within 3 parsecs of your homeworld. Their defensive bonus allows for impressive fleets, even early on.
8. Darlok - mostly because of their poor starting racial relations. I used to think they rated higher, but I now attribute this to manipulating the diplomatic game by offering stolen techs as tribute.
9. Mrrshan - it's difficult to avoid early wars given their starting racial relations
10. Bulrathi - for whatever reason, I fare poorly with these guys, even worse than with the Mrrshan. Very occasionally you can rush a nearby AI with an early ground invasion before it puts up missile bases. Maybe it's the Poor Computer research penalty?

If I ever complete a large enough sample size, say a few dozen games with each race, I would love to compare the actual results to what I've posted here. I wonder if any surprised would be in store. However, this endeavour may take me months, or even years, to complete.

[Sullla]

My personal experience has largely matched the ranking list written by Sirian on his website many years ago. I would make the slight change of dividing a ranking list into the strength of races when used by the player and strength of race when played by the AI.

Player Races

1) Psilons: Most overpowered race in game.

2) Klackons: Incredible growth curve. This is vastly stronger in the player's hands.

3) Humans: Diplo bonus makes it much less likely you'll be attacked early when you are weakest.

4) Silicoids: Highest skill cap in game, very strong if played correctly.

5) Sakkra: Pop growth is a pretty meh ability, but they have no tech weaknesses and rated Excellent in Planetology. Somewhat dependent on how many racial enemies are in game.

6) Meklar: Difficult to use their extra factories early in game. Best race for turtling on small number of worlds and winning late. Their great racial ability is almost exactly counterbalanced by their weakness in Planetology.

7) Alkari: Direct combat abilities are weak in Master of Orion. They are penalized less than the other similar races, however. Poor diplomacy.

8) Bulrathi: Another combat ability that requires going to war to do anything, and war is not the path to success in MOO's early game. Their weakness in Computer tech is a huge problem.

9) Darloks: Everyone hates them. I have had so much trouble winning with these guys it's not even funny. Prepare to lose any Council vote that's even remotely close. (I consider a lost vote in Council to be a lost game. Darloks are one of the best at winning a Final War situation, for what that's worth.)

10) Mrrshans: Weakest race in the game by far. Almost as crippled diplomatically as Darloks with far weaker racial trait.

Things are generally similar when the AI is playing, with some key differences.

AI Races

1) Psilons: Most overpowered race in game, by far most likely to become a runaway power.

2) Silicoids: Their ability also makes them extremely likely to become a major power. Very dangerous at poaching your backline hostile planets. They are almost always a serious force in my games.

3) Humans: More likely to get an early game cheese victory than anyone else. If they are too small to get nominated in the Council, they are not much of a threat.

4) Meklar: Rarely do much expansion, but god help you if they ever become a runaway. Usually they have a small number of planets and a giant deathfleet to protect them. One of the worst races to have declare war on you.

5) Klackons: AI doesn't know how to use their growth bonus to proper effect. They are still a strong race, but much weaker in the hands of the AI. Average instead of overpowered.

6) Bulrathi: Very tough to invade, and they love to build Large ships. This makes them more dangerous than several other races. Easy (easier) to steal tech from than other races.

7) Sakkra: Average in almost every way in the hands of the AI. What you see is what you get.

8) Alkari: Tough in space combat but otherwise unremarkable. AI's love of building Small ships generally makes them easier to fight. Not always (if they design a small Antimatter Bomb ship you are in serious trouble) but usually they build masses of little ships with highly outdated weapons, easy for missile bases/shields to stop.

9) Darloks: The AI races all hate them too, so they are rarely a major power. I have almost never seen the Darloks as a council opponent. As irritating as their spying might be, they are almost never your top threat.

10) Mrrshans: Indisputably the weakest race in the game, even dumber in the hands of the AI. They fight wars they can't win and rarely get any economy going. I have never seen an AI Mrrshan win the Council vote in all my games, and they are almost never even nominated. They are clearly the weakest in the game.

A lot of this always depends on what game settings you're choosing. While exact spots might depend on the person playing, I think there's a fairly broad consensus of what races are strong and weak in this game.

[Catwalk]

In general, I'd say racial strength is not that big a factor. Starting conditions and location as well as tech tree can have huge implications, making a statistic assessment of racial strength very difficult to do. It's a big factor for the human player, of course. I like Mrrshans personally, although the presence of Alkari means it's difficult to find a reason to play them. If you play with beams, the Alkari bonus is strictly better. Mrrshan missile fleets can be fun to play with, but you don't usually need the targeting bonus when using missiles.

[toddestan]

It's hard to rank the races individually, but here's my version:

Player Races:
1. Klackon - I know it's going against the grain to rank anyone but the Psilons first, but my problem with the Psilons is that their only racial advantage really doesn't help you much when you're first starting out and are focused on expansion instead of research, whereas the Klackon's bonus is huge and it helps you from turn one and is a gift never stops giving. Probably the most "newbie friendly" race.

2. Psilons - Once established, once of the most overpowered races in the game. However, unlike the Klackons (or Sakkra, or Meklar) when you're first starting out you're no better than the "average" races for those first few turns so try to not get dragged into some early war while you're still on equal terms with your opponents in terms of tech. When I've lost a game playing the Psilons, it's always because of something that happens right away.

3. Humans - Their diplomacy bonus is substantial and as far as I can tell the only racial bonus in the game that can't be made irrelevant due to a tech gap which is a significant advantage.

4. Meklar - A powerful race, but requires more micro-management than most and their weaknesses can hamper expansion early on, but once established are pretty much unstoppable and along with the Psilons one of the strongest late-game races.

5. Silicoids - Their ability to grab all the good planets in the beginning is counterbalanced by an incredibly slow growth rate, which is counterbalanced again by the AI ignoring any colony they don't the tech to colonize (bug?), which gives you some crucial breathing room to make it to the middle game where the Silicoids shine. However, due to inherent holes in their tech tree they can fall behind in the late game if you don't manage to secure a winning position by then.

6. Sakkra - The most "average" race. No substantial racial bonus, but no real weaknesses either. Actually not a bad race to turtle with, as you can use your planetology bonus to build up the population of your worlds and go for a council win. One of my favorite races to play as they are well balanced, don't have any annoying weaknesses, and require less micromanagement.

7. Darlok - I've actually had some decent luck with these guys. Research computers heavily. Always, always choose computers when you have that choice when doing espionage, and strategically blame ether races when possible to break up alliances and to turn the other AI's against the strongest AI. If done right you won't have a huge tech gap and the AIs will be too busy fighting each other while you build up strength. The hard part is that this plan can often backfire and you end up in some hot wars with opponents you'd rather not have to fight.

8. Bulrathi - Their racial bonus only helps you when you're invading, and their weakness in computers can be brutal. Still can be an effective race when played right but your pretty dependent capturing planets to keep up in tech.

9. Alkari - Their combat racial bonus seemingly evaporates once your opponents get enough of a tech advantage (though in the beginning it's great for dealing with opponents trying to poach your planets), and their initial race relations means that I tend to get dragged into a war before I'd like to.

10. Mrrshans - As MOO tends to be a defensive game, the Mrrshan's offensive advantage seems to evaporate even quicker than the Alkari's, and their initial race relations practically guarantees an early war. About the only good thing I can say is that their weapons research bonus means that I don't have to worry about holes in my tech tree leaving with no effective way to bomb a planet, which comes up from time to time when playing other races.

Opponent (AI) Races:

1. Psilons - Easily the most deadly of the AI controlled races as they can easily get a commanding tech lead that's extremely difficult to close. The only saving grace is that they won't attack you right away, but if and when they do it's because they feel they have a winning position.

2. Silicoids - Their ability to grab gobs of territory early on and hold onto it makes them a formidable opponent and the AI seems to play them extremely well in the early and mid-game.

3. Meklar - They tend to not grab enough territory which is a problem for them in the later game, but in the mid game they are definitely a force to be reckoned with and their tendency and ability to throw stacks of huge ships your way cannot be underestimated. Also, their tendency to be erratic means that war is pretty much inevitable.

4. Humans - Militarily usually not a big threat, but diplomatically a threat should they get nominated for galactic emperor, plus are pretty effective at getting the AIs to completely dogpile you.

5. Bulrathi - I have no idea why but these guys are often the #2 AI in a lot of my games they show up in, and occasionally the dominate one. Perhaps with their racial bonus they manage to snag planets away from other AIs in the expansion phase? Either that, or just random chance...

6. Klackons - For some reason, the AI never seems to play the Klackons effectively despite their substantial racial bonus and the fact that you really don't have to do anything special to use it effectively. They should be in the top three but are almost always a has-been in the games I've played.

7. Mrrshans - These guys are underrated. Sure, it's very, very rare for them to become powerful, but on the other hand starting out next to them almost always means an early war that causes me to expend strength dealing with them instead of expansion and research (this has backfired on them more than once though, when it was cheaper and easier for me to invade their worlds than it was to build colony ships ). It's rare for the Mrrshans to manage a winning position, but not exactly uncommon for them to be a major factor in me losing a game.

8. Darloks - Tend to not be a threating in and of them themselves, and while the damage they do spying on you is annoying, that's about all it is. Their biggest threat, however, is being a disruptive influence that can wreck your relations with other opponents and frame you into wars with the more powerful AIs.

9. Alkari - Usually a weak race but occasionally can take up a dominating position in the galaxy. Can be somewhat annoying in early wars when their racial bonus and tendency to build small ships means you can't hit their lousy Laser-equipped ships with your lousy Laser-equipped ships.

10. Sakkra - It's rare for them to be a factor in any games I've played. Despite their racial bonuses they never seem to really take expansion seriously, perhaps due to their pacifist nature. It's kind of a shame as they should be one of the stronger powers due to their ability to grab and grow planets. However, it seems they almost always grab some territory and sit on it doing very little until someone takes it away from them.

[Horist]

Silicoid is my #1. My fav race to play and I believe I have never lost a game with them.
Psilon is my #2 for obvious reasons.
Klackon same
Human same but i dont even like playing them
Meklar lots of fun to play
Darlok requires different strategies, but Im undefeated with these guys as well
Sakkra
Alkari
Bulrathi
Mrrshan

[Alundis]

My first list was for the human player, in case that wasn't clear. For AI races, I would say:

1. Silicoid - Most of my losses are to the Silicoid in the Council
2. Psilon - Especially dangerous with the Erratic personality
3. Sakkra - Their early planetology research bonus and growth rates give them a lot of votes early on
4. Human - You always have to worry if they're running against you in the council
5. Meklar - they can support an impressive fleet even if they're on only a few planets
6. Klackon - they can crank out an obscenely large fleet early in the game, but fade later on, becoming the "sick man" of the galaxy. However, it's the beginning that counts.
7. Bulrathi - Usually a significant force, but rarely dominant.
8. Darlok - I've been having trouble with them recently. They sometimes declare war immediately after first contact.
9. Alkari - big drop off here
10. Mrrshan - clearly the weakest AI. I don't know if they're every won in any of my games.

[Catwalk]

toddestan, I think the psilon bonus does help you very soon. You want a planetology and a propulsion tech in pretty short order, getting a research bonus on that is just as good as getting a production bonus (you'd be spending fewer resources on production otherwise). And it's effectively an 80% bonus, -20% costs in all fields and +50% research. And in the event that early warfare is likely, you will often want to crank out an early military tech to defend yourself (shield II lets you hold off any amount of laser ships with a single base, for example). So I'd still rank Psilons over Klackons for player race.

[toddestan]

I was thinking of the very first few turns, when I'm doing no research but instead cranking out colony ships as fast as I can to colonize all the habitable worlds within my reach. For this, the Klackons are king, but other races like the Sakkra and Meklars do have an advantage here too. The initial "land grab" is one of the critical stages of the game, and any leg up you get here can pay off big time. Of course, once I've managed to settle those worlds and it's time to move onto worlds with hostile environments and/or worlds outside of my range then the Psilon bonus kicks in. Granted, depending on the map this stage can come sooner than later.

[Catwalk]

If you build two colony ships without any research, you're already too late IMO. Planetology gives huge discounts on the cost of colony ships. I almost always get either IT+10 or IER before my first colony ship, I think your overall economy grows faster that way. You may get your first system a little later, but I think you'll get your third and fourth systems faster. If all I get is Controlled Barren Environment, I'll usually build the first 2 colony ships without it (unless I can only colonize crappy planets).

That's an idea for two future imperiums, btw. One game with psilons, one with klackons. Focus is on reaching a number of economic milestones as fast as possible. I will go flesh this out in the game idea thread. This would give us good comparisons of different approaches to the early game.

[toddestan]

That's a good point. I tend to not start researching until I need the research to get my next colony (either planetology or range tech). I can see the advantage of nabbing one of the cheap low level planetology tech fairly early on. Perhaps I should rethink that strategy. Though with the method I have uesd, playing as the Klackons would probably be a good plan .