Anyone enjoy playing as a bizarre looking species?

[Kryndude]

There are quite a lot of species that look too unrealistic for my taste. Wierd, complex facial structures along with random mix of colors as if they're all poisonous or whatever, don't convince me that they're something that might actually exist irl. It makes me wonder, how often do players play as these nasty looking creatures?

I for one only play as fair looking species: humans, elves, groots, foxians, and some others. I even find some "cutie" species to be unrealistic, especially the butterflies.

 

[Khevor]

I play plants, birds, or fungii. My fav bird, though, is one that doesn't look like a bird and has a face reminiscent of the Shadows from Babylon 5.

That said, too many sci-fi games/movies/t.v. shows/etc., make the mistake(?) of making all of their aliens recognizably humanoid. I find *that* to be unrealistic. Creatures are shaped by their environment and who's to say what a creature from an exotic (or even toxic (to us)) would look like in terms of colour, shape, or if they would even have recognizable features. A tropical planet species developed in a toxic environment may have no use for eyes or ears - or may have specialized eyes that see ranges of colour an order of magnitude higher than we can (ultravision). Their colours may not indicate poisonous but rather recognizable mating colours in the colour range their species can see in.

Personally, I find it highly unlikely that other life would be humanoid in appearance at all.

 

[Darustet]

I'd like to have more unique looking species. I understand the amount of animal looking aliens, since species on Earth are the only reference point we have and those are easy to design, but I can never take space foxes seriously. Rubber-forehead types are passable to a certain extenct.

 

[Milten]

I tend to play ugly aliens in xenocidal campaigns, but I still try to pick ones which look capable of building a spaceship. Not some floating bags without proper appendages.

 

[Scourgeclaw]

I've played as the Foxes since the game launched- largely because I've had an empire idea rolling around in my head for the game long before it launched and I've just enjoyed playing as them, even after 1000+ hours. On very rare occasions, I've dipped into some of the other species but I find it hard to care about a species I haven't invested time into the backstory of- I mean I made a 10+ page google doc detailing some of the background of my race so, playing as anything else just feels like a step backwards and I have a hard time getting invested.

I find myself better disposed towards the more humanoid species on those rare occasions though, largely due to identification and whatnot but I've never really shirked the other species; It's great they're there, as it gives a much greater variance to the species encountered throughout a game's playtime, while also giving variety to anyone who does actually want to play as something more exotic, but personally it's not something I enjoy doing.

I think it's safe to say though that if the Blorg stream hadn't used the portrait that it did, basically nobody would use that particular one.

 

[Elfwind]

I've played as the Foxes since the game launched- largely because I've had an empire idea rolling around in my head for the game long before it launched and I've just enjoyed playing as them, even after 1000+ hours. On very rare occasions, I've dipped into some of the other species but I find it hard to care about a species I haven't invested time into the backstory of- I mean I made a 10+ page google doc detailing some of the background of my race so, playing as anything else just feels like a step backwards and I have a hard time getting invested.

I find myself better disposed towards the more humanoid species on those rare occasions though, largely due to identification and whatnot but I've never really shirked the other species; It's great they're there, as it gives a much greater variance to the species encountered throughout a game's playtime, while also giving variety to anyone who does actually want to play as something more exotic, but personally it's not something I enjoy doing.

I think it's safe to say though that if the Blorg stream hadn't used the portrait that it did, basically nobody would use that particular one.

They should make a space wolf species so ppl can say, "I can't let you do that Star Fox." in multiplayer.

 

[Garfazz Steamfang]

I love "Strange" aliens. Like fungoids, some plants or arthropoids for exemple. They definitly look more "alien" to me than many others which just seems to be a copy from earth animals (foxes,frog,moth...) or really antropomorphic. For me aliens need to be strange coz there is a high chance that they have follow a different evolution than human. Because of environment for exemple. Many science fiction books/movies, like mass effect for exemple, make the mistake of having really antropomorphic aliens. I find this both unreal and uncreative.

I never play as human or humanoid too, definitly boring for me.

 

[Scourgeclaw]

They should make a space wolf species so ppl can say, "Can't let you do that Star Fox." in multiplayer.

" Just what I need to see: StarWolf."

and yeah, that'd be baller. Speaking as probably the biggest Starfox fan on the forum: it would never get old.

 

[Mitchz95]

My problem with the non-humanoids in Stellaris is this:

A general rule-of thumb in most sci-fi is that the less human-looking a species is, the less relatable its motives and culture are. Take Mass Effect: we have the asari, salarians, turians, etc who are humanoid aliens; their cultures are likewise understandable to us humans. Then we have the elcor, who are quadrupedal and extremely deliberate: comprehensible, but still far more alien and difficult to really relate to. And then there's the hanar, sapiant jellyfish who communicate through pulses of light and have a fairly bizarre (to us) culture.

The Tholians in Star Trek (hexapedal silicon-based arachnids) are one of the most mysterious species in the whole franchise: all we really know about them is that they're extremely xenophobic and have a fondness for precision.

What Stellaris does is treat every species like it has a human culture, regardless of its appearance. The more realistic approach (well, the most common sci-fi approach) would be to have culture vary wildly depending on how humanoid the alien is. That's why I tend to play humanoid: they all play like humans anyway, so it makes sense to dress the part for the sake of immersion.

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

I even find some "cutie" species to be unrealistic, especially the butterflies.

Them's fighting words.

(I use the butterflies a LOT, usually but not always as parasites or hedonistic self-obsessed eusocial hive-dwellers of some sort.)

But yeah no I love a lot of the portraits... I think the only kind I avoid that much are the mammals? None of them appeal to me much. A lot of the birds are also way too ugly for me, a bird lover. I wish we had some Cutie-style birds... I'd love to have a bird portrait that's basically just a big flapping bird, ala the Butterfly portrait.

 

[Dalinski]

...sometimes.

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

I think it's safe to say though that if the Blorg stream hadn't used the portrait that it did, basically nobody would use that particular one.

I use them as magmoids/silicon beings. They also strike me as kind of Flood-like, so I could imagine using them for a Xenocide run.

 

[Tigey]

I find some of the plantoid options too silly for my personal taste. Particularly those that look exactly like humanoids, "but made of vines/leaves" - I don't really have issue with humanoid mammals/reptiles/molluscoids - but plants just stretches it a little too far for me.

One the other hand, the non-humanoid plant options are great and I often use them - particularly the one that retracts into itself. I just wish they had been more adventurous with the pack and made more non-humanoid options.

Speaking of the devil - the Blorg portrait is great - but I don't use it as they will ALWAYS be Blorg to me since the stream, and I can't accept them as anything but Blorg.

 

[Surimi]

A major issue is that a lot of the weird looking species don't have clothing options, so unless you go very xenophile it gets a bit samey.

Still, the preorder spiders are one of my most played species. The jellyfish aren't too far behind, and the weird bug/bat mammalians with the mandibles as well.. I also like the puffballs and the centipede-esque plantoids with the glowing appendages who like to hide in their own leaves.

My suspension of disbelief is pretty good for the most part so I don't really mind any of the portraits. The closest I get is actually the snailien (my avatar right now) which I still kind of love but is almost too cute.

 

[Milten]

A general rule-of thumb in most sci-fi is that the less human-looking a species is, the less relatable its motives and culture are.

Isn't that kinda... speciest? Why some nightmare material molluscoids can't have a cup of tea in the morning and space elfs be an ancient hive mind Obelisk worshippers?

 

[Mitchz95]

Isn't that kinda... speciest? Why some nightmare material molluscoids can't have a cup of tea in the morning and space elfs be an ancient hive mind Obelisk worshippers?

It's not "speciest", it's more about how a species evolves to think (see Blue and Orange Morality). Humans evolved to be social creatures who work together to solve problems, and base our cultures around that basic premise. A species of hive-mind insects, while sharing the same goal, would have no concept of individuality at all and are therefore unrelateable. Humanoid aliens in sci-fi tend to be more like us in terms of psychology ("rubber-forehead aliens"), although there are of course occasionally exceptions.

What I'm trying to say is that it's a bit weird for a species of sapient cochroaches to have the exact same psychology as humans. Look at the heptapods in "Arrival" -- they're as bizarre in behavior and motivation as they are in appearance. That's what I'd love to see in Stellaris.

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

It's not "speciest", it's more about how a species evolves to think (see Blue and Orange Morality). Humans evolved to be social creatures who work together to solve problems, and base our cultures around that basic premise. A species of hive-mind insects, while sharing the same goal, would have no concept of individuality at all and are therefore unrelateable. Humanoid aliens in sci-fi tend to be more like us in terms of psychology ("rubber-forehead aliens"), although there are of course occasionally exceptions.

What I'm trying to say is that it's a bit weird for a species of sapient cochroaches to have the exact same psychology as humans. Look at the heptapods in "Arrival" -- they're as bizarre in behavior and motivation as they are in appearance. That's what I'd love to see in Stellaris.

The inherent problem with truly "alien" aliens in Stellaris is that it'd invalidate the entire POP/Ethos system they use. All species need to have baseline human psychology because all species can coexist together under any form of government.

 

[Mitchz95]

The inherent problem with truly "alien" aliens in Stellaris is that it'd invalidate the entire POP/Ethos system they use. All species need to have baseline human psychology because all species can coexist together under any form of government.

I know, and I certainly don't fault Paradox for it. That's just my personal rationale for sticking with humanoids when I play.

 

[Radically Right Wing]

I play plants, birds, or fungii. My fav bird, though, is one that doesn't look like a bird and has a face reminiscent of the Shadows from Babylon 5.

That said, too many sci-fi games/movies/t.v. shows/etc., make the mistake(?) of making all of their aliens recognizably humanoid. I find *that* to be unrealistic. Creatures are shaped by their environment and who's to say what a creature from an exotic (or even toxic (to us)) would look like in terms of colour, shape, or if they would even have recognizable features. A tropical planet species developed in a toxic environment may have no use for eyes or ears - or may have specialized eyes that see ranges of colour an order of magnitude higher than we can (ultravision). Their colours may not indicate poisonous but rather recognizable mating colours in the colour range their species can see in.

Personally, I find it highly unlikely that other life would be humanoid in appearance at all.

For more on this, I highly recommend that everyone here watches the documentary "Alien Planet" they try to depict what alien life would really look like on a new world and none of it looks even remotely human at all.

 

[Kryndude]

Still, the preorder spiders are one of my most played species.

Shame there's no way to get preorder portraits yet. Those spiders look likea perfect option for a fanatic purifier game.