Ascension Perk Elimination

[Hertzila]

This was a fun and interesting thread. I even learned a few things. Kudos to @Jmes Snowscoran for this.

I have to say, it moved very quickly at the end there. Not that it resulted in something unexpected, the results were pretty clear after the selection got to single digits, but the speed the megastructures got eliminated kind of shocked me. Then the next time I look at the thread and it's already over.

 

[Secret Master]

4. Bio Ascension probably suffers from disuse due to (perceived) micro requirements and hence not enough supporters that can help it survive in a game like this.

Yeah. That's how I view the outcome. Apparently, moving POPs to tiles to get rid of political dissidents and harvest tons of minerals with them is too much micro. Luckily, Megacorp should solve that problem.

1. Megastructures and "tall" play seems to have a lot of fans.

I'm not surprised after some threads around here recently. It seems clear that a lot of players like to do things other than conquer and enslave the entire galaxy. More Federation than Cardassian is our player base.

 

[Pointyearedgit]

I'm not surprised after some threads around here recently. It seems clear that a lot of players like to do things other than conquer and enslave the entire galaxy. More Federation than Cardassian is our player base.

There seems to be a lot of this:

1) Turtle up, maybe take a few systems in early wars
2) Spam habitats and megas
3) Get Colossus
4) ...
5) PROFIT

It *is* very fun, so I get why people like to do it (especially as spiritualist). It is not, however, the most powerful build (unless you are optimizing something like Inward Perfection).

Still, I think many experienced players can make multiple builds work because they know how to exploit the AI. This is fine, as I think this game's strength isn't in these super-optimized builds, but rather in the awesome RP you can do. However, some perks really need some attention, and if the past is any clue, perks will keep getting refined until they are all interesting choices. Hopefully threads like this and game telemetry can help us get there.

 

[Ur-Quan Lord 13]

5. It’s pretty easy to get level 10 leaders without TL. Since TL also doesn’t help you get them any faster it’s basically useless.

Basically, TL is for machine empires. They have immortal leaders from the beginning, and can only reach level 9 max if they use up a civic slot (other than governors of course). TL lets them hit 10 without using a civic, and they're the only ones really even capable of getting level 10 scientists and non-elected rulers before the game ends (unlike governors and admirals which are easy).

A tall empire is likely to concentrate into few enough systems that the extra five won't give them anything (And probably be pacifist which gives them more anyway),

I use imperial perogative for a very specific "wide/tall" playstyle. I spread as wide as possible/beneficial... But refuse to use sectors. Later in the game, when I conquer those juicy FE homeworlds, I start releasing some of my worse planets as vassals. But, I get high teens core systems, and then above 20 with repeatables.

Not "good" but fun

 

[Cry_Havok]

To me it seems like you could group all the Perks into a couple different categories

Bad: Nihilistic and other first perks gone
Conditional/Panic Buttons: Galactic Contender, Defender of the Galaxy, and Force Projection (I had to use Defender of the Galaxy in my latest game because the Peythoran arrived in my frontier while I was in the process of smashing in the Xenophobe FE, had to sue for peace so the pethorean didn't run wild and eat my Empire, and this was after having to get Force Projection to save myself from a Purifier)
Kinda Good/Conditional: Things like Colossus and Bio Assention that require specific Empire Types to utilize, but can be great when used right
Top Tier: The top 7, which are universally useful, and offer great benefits, Pick a path and take the rest (Best pops from Synth, Best leaders from Psi)

 

[y1kdcb5au9rqw]

I'm not surprised after some threads around here recently. It seems clear that a lot of players like to do things other than conquer and enslave the entire galaxy. More Federation than Cardassian is our player base.

And proud of it too!

 

[sortulv]

More Federation than Cardassian is our player base.

Or somewhere in between? Feudal vassals are the best