2 point Aquatic trait kinda stinks.

[XCodes]

I mean, it's good. It's effective. It earns it's point cost. It's still apparently a rockstar in PvP. In single-player, though, it really hurts your primary species on the current "endgame" worlds -- Ecumenopoli, Ring Worlds, and Gaia Worlds. The fact that it's 2 points also genuinely makes it difficult to take fun or interesting species traits without kneecapping yourself later or pidgeonholing yourself into Genetic or Cybernetic Ascensions.

I think the Aquatic trait should just be adjusted so it's only +/- 10% Habitability instead of +/- 20% and get rid of the resource bonus altogether. Then we can make it 1 point again. Let's be real, PvPers kind of only care about Ingenious, anyway, and with 1 point Aquatic it's that much easier to also just take Ingenious.

You might say that it makes the trait bland, but I think a bland one-point trait is better than a fancy 2-point trait given that Anglers is a fun civic to mess around with and Ocean Paradise is just straight-up garbage when a 2-point Aquatic trait gets force-stapled onto it, and further I don't think there's a whole lot you can do to make it not garbage.

 

[GhostDanny]

Aquatic should get rid of all special benefits and be a habitability preference instead.

The special benefits should then be part of a separate trait, that can work on any preference but make all other biomes -20% habitability.

 

[XCodes]

Aquatic should get rid of all special benefits and be a habitability preference instead.

The special benefits should then be part of a separate trait, that can work on any preference but make all other biomes -20% habitability.

When I get an idea for a suggestion from another suggestion that is completely different from the original suggestion, I make my own thread.

 

[GhostDanny]

I'm talking about my solution of the aquatics trait.
We both still talk about aquatic fixes.

 

[The5lacker]

Honestly I'd prefer Aquatic to be 0 points and treat it like the Lithoid trait: A series of benefits and drawbacks that ultimately balance out perfectly. Picking a civic or origin shouldn't burn through *any* of my species's trait points under any circumstances.

 

[HFY]

I mean, it's good. It's effective. It earns it's point cost. It's still apparently a rockstar in PvP. In single-player, though, it really hurts your primary species on the current "endgame" worlds -- Ecumenopoli, Ring Worlds, and Gaia Worlds. The fact that it's 2 points also genuinely makes it difficult to take fun or interesting species traits without kneecapping yourself later or pidgeonholing yourself into Genetic or Cybernetic Ascensions.

It's also fine with Synth Ascension, because that removes all bio traits during a time when you have stopped caring about basic resource bonuses.

So you're "pigeonholed" into 3/4 of the available ascensions, which isn't bad.


IMHO the 2 point cost is fine in the early game, what bothers me is that Aquatic eventually becomes a flavor trait -- when you have +25% habitability from tech, more +% from an ascension, and then you get buildings and jobs which give more +%, and you get Terraforming or Nu-Baol or both... at some point the bonus becomes worthless but I want to keep the trait for RP, and at 2 points / 1 slot it's expensive for what it gives in the late game.

My preference would be to make the trait do less in the early game and do more in the mid-to-late game.

 

[XCodes]

You can say that about literally every trait. The research traits are way less impactful when you have 60% from techs, 30% from stability, etc. Even the growth traits dimish proportionally when you've got 20% from techs, nutritional plentitude, gene clinics, etc. The problem is that negative traits tend to not become irrelevant, and Aquatic becomes a big negative trait in so many situations later in the game, and at 2 points you lose a lot of flexibility with your species early to do what you want.