Dolphinoid Empire/Shogunate

[Primarch Victus]

Hi, guys! I'm trying to make a shogunate/samurai-like empire based around the Here be Dragons Origin were the mere presence of the dragon molded an entire culture around it -- the dragon is worshipped as a Holy Guardian send by the gods (Lord Sun and Lady Moon) to protect their children (the Dolphinoids from the Aquatics Species Pack) from the Hungry Ones (an anciet alien culture that tried to exploit the Dolphinoid's homeworld in a very destructive and unrelenting way and was utterly destroyed by the dragon). Do you have any advice about what Traits and Civis would be the best for this build?

 

[Dragatus]

Ethics: authoritarian, militaristic, spiritualist
Civics: Masterful Crafters + Warrior Culture
Species traits: Aquatic, Strong, Traditional, Unruly

The ethics should be self-explanatory. Warrior Cultures is for the samurai and Masterful Crafters is for the stereotype of Japanese honing their craft to perfection. Strong and Traditional is again to reinforce the militaristic & spiritualistic aspect. Unruly because samurai were precisely that throughout much of Japanese history. You'll have 1 point left over to spend on whatever. You could also add a 1 point bad trait and pick up Intelligent or Rapid Breeders.

And of course, this is a RP focused suggestion and I wasn't paying much attention to mechanical aspects of the choises. That said, Masterful Crafters is a very nice civic that just makes the early game smoother in a number of ways. You need to worry a little less about CG, you save some minerals, a building slot opens up on your capital a little sooner, you engineering techs are a little bit faster, you have a little bit more energy. Nothing spectacular in the long run, but it just makes everything go smoother at the start, which you can then snowball from.

Warrior Culture and Strong are a bit bad because armies aren't very important in this game, but they are very much fitting for the theme.

Spiritual + Traditional isn't normally that great because research > Unity, but for Here Be Dragons you want to get 4 ascension perks ASAP, so it's good.

 

[Quinzal]

Warrior Culture...are a bit bad because armies aren't very important in this game, but they are very much fitting for the theme.

I disagree with this. Warrior Culture also unlocks Duelist jobs which are arguably better Entertainers (1 Alloy = 10 Amenities, 2 Unity, 2 Naval Cap, whereas Entertainers are 1 Consumer Goods = 10 Amenities, 1 Unity) and gives you a slot to found a Mercenary Enclave. I agree that the army bonus is meh but the other two bonuses more than make up for it.

Having the Mercenary Enclave is also somewhat historically accurate as wealthy people were known to hire samurai to protect their assets in the past.

 

[Dragatus]

The benefit of a Duelist over an Entertainer is +1 Unity and +2 Naval Capacity, with the downside of having 1 Alloy upkeep instead of 1 CG. Personally I consider the two jobs to be roughly on par, with the Duelist being slightly better, but not by enough to justify spending a civic (unless it's for RP and it doesn't matter how good the civic is).

The mercenary enclave I wasn't aware off though, so thank you for pointing it out.