Well our changes to both races was very specific to our home brew expansion called balance of power which was kind of our attempt to take all the things we where not happy about in "our" games and adjust some rules to make them more attune with out play style.  I quoted, highlight and underlined "our" because its really important to accept that my group dynamics are very different than most I have encountered on the forum and I have caught a lot of shit for it over the years.

With the Sardek N'orr what we wanted to do is maintain them as a military race, but simultanously give them a way to earn victory points through military actions.  As a whole we actually like the race thematically, a violant race of insects, whats not to love!  The problem for the N'orr is that war really doesn't help you earn victory points and because you need a strong military (building building building) you end up blowing all your resources and actions on developing that military which again does nothing to earn you points. 

These are all in addition to not replace for the Sardek N'orr ability.

Sardek N'orr
Conquest: Successfully invade all planets of another players home system. You must control the system and all planets in the system until the status phase of that round. Earn 2 Victory Points. You may do this only once for each homeworld you invade, invading the same players homeworld does not earn additional points.   This does not count as qualifying for objectives.
 

Improved Starting Conditions: In addition to the new ability the starting conditions for the Sardakk N’orr have been improved to ensure they aren’t as easy to eliminate from the game in early stages of the game. These starting conditions are in addition to everything the Sardakk N’orr already get.
 

1 Carrier
3 Fighters

With the Xxcha the idea was that with the balance of power expansion we created political card usage has been altered a great deal.  These abilities are in addition to all existing abilities of the Xxcha.  The goal here was to make them masters of politics as their theme suggests and in addition we gave them a skipping ability which we have found is amazing for them and has made them not only fun to play but one of the groups favorites.

Xxcha

Political Masters: As an action the Xxcha may pay 1 strategy allocation token to draw two political cards.
 

Improved Starting Conditions: In addition to the new ability the starting conditions for the Xxcha have been improved. These starting conditions are in addition to everything the Xxcha already get.
 

1 PDS

Now in order for the political masters ability to make sense you have to keep it in the context of our expansion changes to political cards which are as followed.

POLITICAL CARDS
Political Focus: Political cards cannot be exchanged for Trade Goods, instead they can be discarded for Influence. Political cards also have the following uses.

• Forced Agenda: A player can discard 4 political cards as an action and play a 5th political card from his hand. This maneuver requires 5 political cards in the players hand to complete. When the 5th card is played the agenda is immediately resolved without a vote, the player playing the political card gets to decide the result as if his votes are the only ones that count. The Xxcha ability to discard political cards works in this circumstance.

• Political Voting Power: Political cards count as one vote each for the purpose of resolving agendas. When counted as votes political cards are not discarded. A player may discard a political card to gain an additional vote for the discarded card (counting as two votes when discarded instead of one when kept).

• Master Of The Council: On their turn during the tactical phase (but not as an action) a player may discard 5 political cards to trigger a Voice Of The Council Vote. The five cards discarded do not counts as votes for this election.


 

Mentak for me.  I've played the Norr, Hacan, Yssiril, Saar, Xxacha, etc.  The Mentak just seem to fit with my playstyle the best, they are balanced...yet a force to be reckoned with if you let them warm up.  I don't find the Norr to be THAT underpowered, but the game we played was a 4-player on a 6-player preset map, so maybe it was just the fact I was left alone for a while. 

BigKahuna said:

I really like your way of beefing up the N'orr. I was thinking of giving a race ability called 'Kamikaze Pilots' where after the Destroyer Anti-Fighter Barrage they can designate any number of their fighter involved in the Space Battle as Kamikaze Pilots, roll one die for each designated fighter, all rolls of 6+ score an immediate hit that must be taken by a non-fighter ship. then destroy all the designated fighters.

As for the Xxcha I don't know what to think of your ammendments because I've never really played with or against them.

Your Political card system looks very interesting as well.

Thanx for posting them!

melkor977 said:

Well the problem with the Xxcha is the same as with the N'orr, they have abilities based on a theme that really isn't geared towards the games natural victory conditions.  There are other races that suffer from this to some extent as well like the Mentak but the issue witht he Xxcha and N'orr is that they have poor starting conditions to boot so in addition to racial abilities that don't really help you earn victory points they have a crap start. You could say the same thing about the Mentak racial abilties for example, their really isn't anything their that is going to help you earn points, but they have good starting conditions from which you can manage yourself into a strong position early on.  Its true about many of the races but most of them combine their racial abilities with good starting conditions to balance themselves out.

I think Xxcha and N'orr are universally accepted as the two weakest races for this reason which is kind of why I focused on them.  We also made a minor adjustment to the Mentak to their trade good stealing ability to make it actually serve a purpose in the game.

I have only played a few games, of which I was

1) Jol-Nar (4p)

2) Arborec (8p)

3) Sardakk N'orr (8p)

4) Hacan (6p)

I enjoyed the Hacan much more than any of the other races, but given another chance I'd play the Jol-Nar again. The Sardakk N'orr start off too weak early game and I had a terrible set up of 2 empty systems and a gravity rift surrounding me. I would like to play the Nekro Virus, Muatt, Mentak, or the Ghosts. I feel I played the Jol-Nar and the Arborec poorly due to my newness to the game, and it was my experience compared to the other players that let me win as the Hacan (No one attacked me until the very last round).

The Nekro seem fun because they don't have to buy any technology, but they also need to start wars without spreading themselves too thin, in my last game the Nekro was eliminated quickly due to attacking both of the players on his sides, and the L1z1x crushing him swiftly after.

I love playing as the Barony, as a) no one else plays them, so I'm uncontested in choice if it comes up, and b) because I enjoy being "the villain" at the table. Along with the Sardak N'orr, there needs to be more Evil frontin' up in this galactic hizzay  (maybe I've playing too much Galactic Civ 2?)

On the flip side, I also enjoy the  Xxchaa, also because they seem to be underrated. The "no touchie" aspect is hilarious alone, but if played with tact and subtlety they can lead to victory. My favourite win was with the Xxchaa, and I didn't roll a single battle dice! Winning with the "Threatening" secret objective was the icing on the cake ("Although it disagrees with us having to resort to this, but we must oversee this new Era of Peace for the greater good! Lockdown is now in effect. In time you will thank us for this..")

Conversely, I hate the Hacan, because they are good, too good. Maybe it's sour grapes but I think they're bigger pirates then the bloody Space Pirates themselves, holding the galaxy to ransom!

It really depends on the map and the players.

If the planets are high resource value and the players are not hostle, nothing beats Jol nar and Hacan.   Being a tech whore or a  trade good fiend is awesome!

Yssaril is unbelievably great if he gets good resource planets and decent AC's.

But if you are given crummy influence planets and a board full of hostle players, these races will not do well. 

L1Z1x, Barony and Muaat are almost automatic choices.  These races do well even with no high resource planets and a board full of hostle players.

Get a nonaggression pact on one border and you can conquer a good chunk of the board!   Once that is done, you just grab Bureaucracy and try to get those Public objectives that rewards spending resources or owning lots of planets.

Saar is one of the most interesting to play and the most dangerous.  One mistake, and you might lose your space docks.

But Saar's hidden potential in the game is amazing.  

Since races are picked last after the map is set up, L1Z1x is the favorite because L1Z1x can do well in just about in any homesystem spot.

Nothing is worse then starting a game with a race that does not fit well with your homesystem spot, no matter how interesting the race is

How many times you get a homesystem spot that would be great for a certain race but you have a race that does not fit well there?

Shadow, I do believe you are supposed to pick races first, then you construct the map (unless you all agreed on a pre-constructed map of course, or the host created the map to save time). This morphs the map based on races because some people know what you're capable of and will give you planets affecting you, since I'm less likely to give Jol-Nar players tech discount planets, more likely to give Nekro high influence planets (If I can't give myself them of course), and etc.

I also believe that the Hacan shine in a low resource galaxy, and will contend you there, since they can easily make up to 10 trade goods per trade strategy card, and even more if you're using Trade I. You could even use your councilor to inflate the amount of trade goods in the economy. In my last game I offered everyone who had at least 2 trade goods to give me them, and I'd give them back after the voting +1, we all won since I had played Councilor Garrus.

I also disagree with Muaat doing well in a low resource system and highly aggreesive players. If no one wants to support him, no trade good income, add to that low resource planets, and he has a hard time keeping up since his advantage is war suns and free fighters. The Muaat can easily be torn apart if his neighbors are aggressive, and I see no reason they shouldn't with the fear of a 3 movement, 10 cost war sun in the near future.

Shadow said:

Huh?

According to the setup rules on page 6 of the base rulebook, Step 1 is race-assignment and galaxy creation isn't until step 9.

You are correct, races are picked first.   A slip up on my part. 

That is why I like L1Z1x.  No matter what type of homesystem spot you end up with, you should do ok.

Other races are more interesting then L1Z1x, but for those races to do well, they require a decent high resource double system to work with.

A great race like Yssaril does horrible if Dal Bootha system is his best double planet.

L1Z1x can still do ok even if they are stuck with Dal Bootha as his best double planet.

Barony also does ok if Dal Bootha is his best double planet.

I prefer races that can better handle a bad draw on planets to those races that have the best game winning chances.
 

I think Muaat can still do ok even when isolated because Muaat's tech is set up to do the pds grid to handle his defense needs.  Granted, Muaat may not get his second Warsun built but Muaat is still set up to do the large fighter fleet strategy to go on the offensive.

 I deffinately like trolling with The Yssaril Tribe the most. However most people find them a bit overpowered…

In my oppinion, Sol is also a really "good" (op?) race, but I think they are to easy/straight forward to play.

mostly i just like to play a race i haven't played recently… as long as it isn't the Necro virus… i hate the Necro virus…
they lack the ability to do anything fun…

1st Nekro

2nd Barony…

I like it when they know i'm coming for them..  And I like it when I crush their Home-System…

taking the Yssaril is like signing your own death-warrant in our group….

 In no particular order, I've played with:

-Jol-Nar: I had a shitty game with them, but that was because of the way the galaxy was set up. I still liked being them a lot. We didn't finish the game when I was them, however.

-Sol: Been them twice. Obviously, very good. Possibly the best post-expansions.

-Naalu: I enjoyed them, but I played them on my second time, so I didn't know a lot of the nuance of the game. Not great but not terrible.

-Yssaril: Definitely very good. Don't know if I'd call them my favorite, but good for obvious reasons. I used the hell out of that skip ability.

-Saar: They were okay. Honestly, I'd slightly dread it if I randomly drew them again. Just generally not crazy about races that get one particular focus (Muaat's War Suns, Creuss' wormholes, Saar's space docks, etc.)

-Yin: I liked them A LOT. I definitely wouldn't say they're objectively the best or anything, but I just really enjoyed them. I can pretty much sum up every race in one or two words, but them I cannot. I really enjoyed their ability to flip the resource and influence value on a planet for a round. Not a devastating power, but it came in definite handy.

Let it be noted, I've never won a game haha. I just play too slowly and deliberately, and next thing I know someone gets 3 victory points in one turn and only needs 9 to win for some reason (Precursor space station, Support of the Throne, etc.). In the end, I'd probably say it's a tie between Sol and Yin, though Jol-Nar and Yssaril get honorable mention lol.

I simply love the Nekro Virus,

They're so much fun!

The pure dread and indecision they create among other players is just wonderful.

It helps a real lot with a wormhole to the other end of space somewhere around their home, plus some divide to keep it uninteresting for neighbours to come over early, and have yourself an easy defense.

In some games with new players, I suggest them the Nekro Virus, since they're pretty straightforward, the new player does not need to know a real lot of everything going on in the game, for example learns about new technologies as they come, instead of having to get lost in the Tech Tree.

It also forces them to try out a little aggression, and takes the the fear of "oh no, don't harm anyone, we're all nice here-violations".

Being without vote might be a little disappointing, but there are still enough options to negotiate or otherwise convince players of casting their votes in specific ways.

Only Mentak can be bothersome, once they start hoarding Trade Goods from little Tech-Ninja-attacks. On the other hand: That can be a wonderful bargain for both sides.

Oh, and before I forget: SpeedUp-Mothership! :D

Creuss, Muaat, Mentak,N'orr and Xxcha are my next favourite choices. Although some of them are not as simple to start with, sometimes even dangerous, they can be devastating under the right circumstances (and of course a little luck on Space Domain Counters not killing you outright).

I'm still looking forward to playing Arborec myself. They were in every game I took part in, but never played by me :/

 Definitely the L1Z1X Mindnet. Hopefully, I'll get an opportunity to try out the Ghosts of Creuss.