StarDrive 2 StarDrive 2: Racial Trait Guide

Population

Slow breeders can be countered via cloning tanks or slavery.

High fertility helps a bit in early game to fill big planets.

This is an empire trait, affecting every planet regardless of race.

Farming

Avoid the negative penalty unless you are cybernetic or photosythethic. Aquatic are the only ones that should consider it (due to having +1 Food anyway).

This effectively doubles how much workers you will need in Farming per productve worker.

Bonus greatly reduces number of workers needed to feed population/get full surpluss.

Frees more workers for production/research on fertile worlds. Infertile worlds made farmable via buildings also become very interesting colonisation targets

Industry

On terran/gaian planets, often pollution is the real limiting factor. Bonuses only mean this frees up more workers for farming/research.

Penalty can result in 0 income per worker on poor planets, until buildings add bonsues!

Science

This is the area with some of the most money-effective flat bonus buildings (1 BC/+5). There is also the Galacta Net.

In order to use a bonus you actually need excess workers to make scientists, wich needs at least decent production/food.

Money

This affects both the passive tax from having population and any taxed production.

It does not affect trade, tribute and food surplus.

This is an empire trait, affecting every planet regardless of race

Ship Defense

A weak values can be countered via shields or lead to mass tatics.

Strong values only help if you actally go towards armor tanking

Ship Attack

Space combat is the core of this game, so this setting should be choosen carefully

Ground HP

A dump stat. The AI is not that smart on ground and you could always just zerg-rush them or go for mechs/mercenaries.

Espionage

The penalty pretty much forces you to only do Espionage defense. Even then the defense building is adviseable/nessesary.

The bonuses do help against AI players. But don't forge that spies are expensive and when detected have a relationship impact.

Becomes less usefull later as number of people to spy on become fewer.

Diplomacy

A penalty can mean that you might not even be able to make small trade agreements upon first meeting someone

A bonus can mean your peoples approval will be the bigger limit. If they think more of you then your people of them, consider not reacting to trade/tribute request to conserve your tollerancy.

Environmentalism

This can be a pretty bad dump-stat, regardless wich race you have!

First of all, pollution is directly substracted from your normal production output. So more pollution means directly less production. Only exception are asteroid belts.

Secondly terran worlds cannot take about 20 or more pollution for extended time or they start aquiring a food production debuff. So this will greatly affect how much production you can get done on your home planet (and other terran planets) if you need food too.

The bonus means more production per world all around the board and lower cost for pollution combating.

It is uncertain how exactly the approval bonus to Production interacts with pollution.

Religion

Sacrificers can work with slow breeders, if you get cloning tanks.

Foreign people can be aquired via cultural exchange, conquest or slavery. There is a quest that doubles the yield from your people if you sacrifice aliens.

Approval can have significant impact:

At 70%, 80% and 90% you get +10% production and research bonus (stacking for each tier).

Special Abilities

Cybernetic:

The most radical change of all racial traits. It basically transform your race into an android version of themself, including:

Ability to build recharge hub to completely remove food need. Also no income from food surplus. On small words Aerophonics farm more effective

No population growth. New citizen have to be build. All positive and negative modifiers are ignored (except for imported/conquered races).

A fixed approval of 60%, wich means it is impossible to get Approval bonus or penalty on production/research.

In case they are mixed in with non-Cybernetic races, they do not contribute to food surplus income, overcrowding penalty and "Racial Conflict"

Con: Really weak income wise due to lack of food surpluss sale. They need few, powerfull ships. Hence the opteris layouts. Really hard to get the first 1-2 colonies going.

Subterranea:

A double edged blade

Plus: More income from any fertile planet (higher tax and food surplus). Per worker bonues are becomming a lot more effective.

Con: Except for tiny worlds/asteroids, impossible to feed entire populaton with a Aerophonics farm. You need molo farm and farming bonus to get anywhere on those planets, otherwise even colonisation for strategic reasons a really bad idea. Higher overcrowding penalites/generally low approval.

Phtosynthethic:

A pure positive effect.

Halving the food per citizen means one Aerophonics farm can support 3 people while brining in it's maintenance via food surpluss sale or 6 people at a minor cost. That opens up a whole lot of larger infertile worlds for the taking.

Aquatic:

Ocean planets have 5 times population multiplier, grant +1 food/worker and +10% Approval

Terran and Gaia planets get a similar bonus: +1 population multiplier (on top of the existing x4 and x5 multiplier), +1 Food/worker and no approval

Fantastic Traders:

A big boon early game, due to much higher income. Use one sided treaty+bribe to maximise effect.

Looses power late game as people to trade with become rarer.

Adept Slavers:

This suffer all the normal penalties for slavery (-10% approval; -20% approval to other empires; Racial Conflict), just means you need less CP bound up in slave ships and get the tech for free.

Can be used against neutral worlds.

Rich Homeworld:

A considerable boon to starting production. But consider that pollution fully applies and the planet is a very tempting target for other empires.

Mostly frees up workers for Food and research

Poor Homeworld:

This means you need more people on home planet to get rolling production wise. Homeplanet is not suiteable to be longterm center of empire/production.

So pick your first colony carefully.

Resourcefull:

Since often one planet already has 2 sources of one resource, this makes exploitation bonues a piece of cake.

Not much use lategame when you can get all resource planets anyway, but early game you easily can get all the exploitation bonues.

Low G Homeworld:

This basically makes every normal G planet into a heavy G planet. And every heavy G planet into a even bigger penalty. Flat bonuses are not affected (only per worker income). Late game tech can remove it

High-G Homeworld:

Purely beneficial. A lot of the biggest, resource rich planets are high G. That gives you a lot more real estate options with good production.

The HP bonus on ground follows the rules under ground combat.

Creative:

The most expensive perk, but allows you to unlock every tech.

It does not work with exprimental/racial techs.

It does work with Future techs.

The tech gives you a lot of Diplomatic bargaining chips for other stuff.

Assimilators:

Stacks with research of the same name. Note that you can trick the enemy into taking one colony (leaving it defenseless), then recapture it.

You need to take planets via ground forces to trigger it.

Titan Quest:*

You start with titan tech, but can only build titan class ships. It is still a net positive trait. Early game steel armor with it's low production cost is very interesting.

Total War:*

This works best in really small galaxies, as the AI has less room to expand. Your only way to expand is to conquer planets of other races. And you only got one planet to spawn troops from or to supply ships with at start.

Stations can expand your fuel and sightrange considerably, otherwise conquer everything.

Newcommer:*

The AI get's a much better start. Wich makes the game harder.

* These traits are there to give the player a unique challenge. Do not expect them to affect the AI or the AI to be able to work with them.

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=425913929

StarDrive 2: Racial Trait Guide