An early race tier list

Interesting ranking. What criteria are you judging them on, ease of play, ability to conquer, etc.?

It's just my perception of how powerful they are in a competent player's hands...I just wanted to start the discussion. I'm not ready to write an essay on each race.

Lol, I was going to reply to this post but then my thought was "if I cannot write a reasonable impression on playing each race, I really shouldn't be chiming in"  hah.

I would rank criteria something like this:

1. Outright faction strength.
2. Ease of execution/play.
3. Faction Nimbleness, ability to counterplay.
4. Fun.

A lot of what you listed fits this mold. Mimot just getting flat-out double ships is strong (1), easy to figure out how to take advantage of (2), doesn't present any real downsides (3), and makes you feel like you're breeding like rabbits (4).

Whereas Drengin (for which I am about to start a SP game) have 1 (they're assholes) & 2 (just build a lot of ships and start attacking ppl), but have definite weaknesses in that influence and diplo are pretty solid counters to their playstyle (3). But they are Fun (4).

Of note, I included "Fun" because if a player gets "into" playing a civ, and has a good time, it's more intuitive how to play to their strengths (and will also increase a player's subjective ranking of how "good" said civ is).  

My off the cuff observations is that the civs are similarly matched, but a couple could use some boosts.  Xeloxi and Iconians rank at the bottom of your list.  Xeloxi are underwelming to play (I wrote a longform observation on this (in so many words)) and never seem to do particularly well as an enemy AI.  And the Iconians (whom I have no yet played) never seem to be very successful as an AI.  So I agree that they're the lowest tier, just at face value.  Navigators just need some AI love.  Humans are exploiting their latient abilities like crazy, but the AI isn't good at exploiting them, at face value also.  

It'll be interesting to see how this list comes along.  I'd actually like to combine your question with another one: what is your favorite faction to play?  Because I feel like this is actually at least as (if not moreso) important.

League of Legends: 

Who is the strongest champ?: der... idk, LeBlanc?

Who is your favorite champ?: Teemo!   

I rest my case!

-tid242

edit: re-looking at your list.  In my last longform game, the Terran Resistance went toe-to-toe with the Mimot all game with a little free-tech-help from yours truely (the Yor) and kept them in check all game - so they're definitely not weak.  I'm no f***ing Terran player, but both Terran counter-play & balanced abilities are not to be underestimated.  Terrans will hard-run the game if they get a strong edge.

Similarly I started a MP game tonight as the Manti.  <50 turns in, they may seem like whiny bitches complaining about their lost eggs or whatever, but their recent buffs (every commander ship can survey!!!) are no joke, they hella' strong out of the gate.  Depending upon how far we get on our MP game I'll do a writeup of the 0.90 Manti, but I'm not disappointed early game by any stretch of the imagination.  MP isn't the best medium for assessing balance (since we cheat and trade each other free techs/stuff), but it should be enough to have an opinion.  My opinion already is that they're no pushovers or slouches.  My "go big or go home" is already that they're good, and should start with all enemy homeplanet locations and planet scanning should always cost a flat 1 prod. 

It's an interesting question for sure Slarj (sp? sorry I cannot for the life of me ever remember your damn screen name (also you need to get yourself on the GC discord!!!)), but the beta changes really moving too fast to have a good handle on your question/ranking...

edit2: Yor are S tier on 1 & 2, (4 is subjective (is building rather than "free" pop really fun??)), but are at serious risk to good counterplay (like the Drengin are), but primarily early-game counterplay, they're not as strong an S-tier candidate than the Mimot are (the Mimot SHOULD NOT BE NERFED, but rather are an example of just giving a good strong straightforward mechanic to that works well - they are a model for how civs should be constructed IMHO obviously).  My biggest question is: are any of the factions unplayable due to intrinsic crapiness?  I need to play the Iconians, but I'd potentially put Iconians, Xeloxi, and Torian on watch for this issue.

!!!

I would put the Baratak Grove much higher. The ability to make dead worlds into colonies is pretty big. I know it got nerfed a bit, but only a bit.

And I found the Xeloxi the hardest to play because you had a very small homeworld and no one likes you. Also bad command ships

I could easily move the Baratak up a level and Xeloxi down a level.

Corporate Sector. Cash is king. 

I don't think the Torians are that bad. Having good research cures many ills.

I'm not sure why insiders consider the Navigators difficult to play. Quick access to slipstreams is more than enough to put them middle-of-the-pack.

I'm still not keen on the Manti. Surveying is great and all but I'd rather have a strong command ship. Being able to settle oceanic worlds for free is too situational. You could go a whole game without finding a second one.

The Terran Resistance might be okay as an AI but under human control it just isn't that good. Being defensive is a losing strategy, but maybe they aren't as bad as the Xeloxi or Iconians.

so what's so bad about the Iconians?

First of all is there anything good about them? They're defensive and they don't have any meaningful boosts to anything useful. They hate the Yor so you can't use the "plant a Yor" artifact on their worlds or you tank their approval. If I'm missing something, let's hear it.

Once again the Mimot prove themselves a great threat to galactic peace.

well they do get +50% research, free defending drones, and +25%hp while in their territory. they're naturally good defenders and good researchers.

and yes, war profiteering mimots will kill us all one day. unless diplomacy is improved and we can band together to fight them

OK, the research bonus is enough to move the Iconians to D-tier. The defending drones are worthless – they get immediately destroyed in any battle. At best they delay the inevitable by one turn. The defensive bonus is rarely enough to move the needle.

that 25% hp defense bonus is going to be a lot better now too with the higher hp for bigger ships, esp later in game.

oh, and might want to move onyx up now that 2x hp is a lot more for bigger hulls

I'm reluctant to move Onyx too high because they are so dependent on the RNG of promethion availability.

Until someone can prove that late game defense is a viable strategy, the Iconians and other defensive-minded races are staying at the bottom.

This makes me want to play all of the "bad" races (already played Xeloxi tho) and see what I think...

If the Onyx got a static (on planet, or in-system) prometheon supply, would this dramatically increase player's enjoyment of playing them? (I have not played Onyx (in 3 nor 4)).

ie would this one simple and reasonable adjustment bring them from low tier to decent tier?

actually they got one a few patches ago

I took into account the recent patch that gives Onyx Hive promethion on their home world. However, that is just a starter supply and not nearly enough to keep them happy. Duritanium and thulium are abundant in this game and antimatter is fairly abundant. Elerium and promethion are not. Even if your sector has a purple star or two, they will generally have only two promethion sources per star. Compare to duritanium and thulium which come from more common star types and usually have three sources per star.

But hey, B-tier is pretty high.

just so u know they specifically said that they wanted the growth rate for onyx to be lowest because with their massive ships they wanted the onyx tactic to be to attack early in order to counter the low growth rate. they wanted them to be "beasts." and with 2x hp with the new hp stats they are def going to have the strongest ships later in game with over 1k hp for a huge hull (without any buffs). and as long as they're effective in their early attacking the low growth rate won't matter that much. and the promethion repair can be better than regular repair if used right, and they have the promethion. they're early attack offensive beasts that have the strongest late game ships. cmon, that's gotta be at least A tier

These are fair points, but I still stand by my point that they are constrained by promethion availability.
Is there a domination-based race that I currently have A-tier that you think is too high?

well the A tier all looks pretty good, but due to the 1k base for huge hulls and the insta repair ability for those giant ships, as long as the onyx can successfully attack and take planets early on, it will counter the growth rate problem, so i would honestly put them in the top tier, because the top tier is max production, so it just begs the question of what's best... more ships, or stronger ships. but i think that's it's def up there now with hulls so big. in fact i would say onyx is about tied with yor, but mimots are in a class all their own because they have no downside to them. mimot have best growth and best ship production. smaller ships overall but at double the rate and with tons of weapons for each ship. just put them at tier M at the top

Quoting Basilisk83, reply 21

... but mimots are in a class all their own because they have no downside to them. mimot have best growth and best ship production. smaller ships overall but at double the rate and with tons of weapons for each ship. just put them at tier M at the top

End of Basilisk83's quote

EVERY civ needs an equally broken mechanic all their own...

I've already given my two cents on the civs I've played in my writeups...

• Xeloxi should induce an overwelming amount of pirates, and buff them (and pirates should spread xeloxi influence), and also push an overwelming amount of crime past their borders.
• Krynn should be able to culture-flip starbases
• Yor should get unlimited build-tall

Every kid deserves a trophy...

I guess we are talking about a prestige victory hence a defensive conquest victory should be difficult to achieve

I just won a prestige victory including 350 Galactic Achievement points. I did fight my competitors in my start sector but no farther expension needed. If you got a strong economy a defensive strategy seems to be valid. Talking about single player though.

I think that is overstating the case. I just want them all to have unique play styles and strategies more or less. Overpowered mechanics should be balanced through flaws. I think the Yor's lack of organic growth and the Onyx's dependence on promethium are adequate. The Mimot could probably use a nerf, maybe a steeper penalty for overpopulation. 

Yeah, it seems that establishing dominance over a single sector is really that cusp. I have snowballed every time I have done so. The AI is so prone to mutually assured destruction that as long as you can stay out of the fray, you're fine. You can cordon off a sector with military starbases and maintain a defensive perimeter against the more militant races.

However, I have not managed to peacefully coexist with a benign neighbor because as soon as you hit the invisible threshold, that knife will stab you in the back. If you are powerful enough to get that close, you're better off being the backstabber and conducting the war on your terms.

I don't have a powerful enough computer for a huge map so I've been playing with a few tiny sectors and 3-5 AI.