Custom Race wizard
Stars! race design concepts | |
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PRTs | HE · SS · WM · CA · IS · SD · PP · IT · AR · JOAT |
LRTs | IFE · TT · ARM · ISB · GR · UR · MA · NRSE · CE · OBRM · NAS · LSP · BET · RS |
Other | HG · HP · -f · QS · 1WW / OWW · Immunities · Habitability · Economics · Technology · Abbreviations |
- View Race Help
- The View Race dialog is a read-only version of the Custom Race wizard. Both dialogs contain the same information and thus display the same help.
Here are the steps in creating your own player race. If you haven't defined a race before, finish reading this topic before you start clicking.
The 6-step Custom Race wizard allows you to tailor the race you play in Stars!. Here, you define a race's strengths and weaknesses. The trick lies in balancing advantages with disadvantages in order to achieve a mix that makes the best use of the stuff of creation -- units of primordial ooze called advantage points.
In each step, the box in the upper right corner of the dialog shows the current number of unused advantage points.
With each advantage selected, the number decreases. Advantage points go down a little for slight advantages, and a lot for juicy ones. Before you finish, the number of advantage points must be greater than or equal to zero. When the number becomes negative and turns red, your race has missed the boat to Creationville. To get back in the black, select a few disadvantages (one of the catches of playing God).
Use the Back and Next buttons to move between steps while trying to compensate for your greedy ambitions.
- Note: Choose your race attributes wisely. Once you begin the game, the race is yours for the duration. You can view your characteristics, but you won't be able to change them.
Step 1: Basic Definition
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Specify/view your race type, name and use of leftover advantage points:
<tooltip text="Race Name and Password">Race Name and Password
Name your race and if you wish, choose a password. The password chosen when a race is created is attached to the race file. While you may change the password during the game, that change applies only to the current game. Opening that race file for use in another game will require proper entry of the original password. Also in order to open or view the race file, you need the password. You may specify a race name only here in step 1.</tooltip>
<tooltip text="Predefined Races">Predefined Races
Selecting a predefined race automatically presets all of the options in steps 2 through 6. Choosing a predefined races doesn't prevent you from changing any option -- they are only provided as a time saver. Each predefined race has specific strengths and weaknesses you can use in determining your playing style and strategies.
Use the Custom Race wizard to learn about the pre-selected attributes for each predefined race and use a race as a starting point for one of your own:
1. Select a predefined race.
2. Use the Back and Next buttons to step through the wizard, noting the settings.
3. Go back to step 1 and select the predefined race that looked the best for your purposes.
4. Fine tune that race using as much of the wizard as necessary.</tooltip>
<tooltip text="Leftover Advantage Points -- Surface Minerals">Leftover Advantage Points -- Surface Minerals
You will get 10kT of surface minerals for each leftover advantage point. For example, if there are 20 unused points, you would receive a total of 200kT of minerals. Stars! weights the distribution in favor of the rarest minerals. These will be available immediately.</tooltip>
<tooltip text="Leftover Advantage Points -- Mines">Leftover Advantage Points -- Mines
You will get one additional mine for every two leftover advantage points. These will be available immediately.</tooltip>
<tooltip text="Leftover Advantage Points -- Factories">Leftover Advantage Points -- Factories
You will get one additional factory for every 5 leftover advantage points. These will be available immediately.</tooltip>
<tooltip text="Leftover Advantage Points -- Defenses">Leftover Advantage Points -- Defenses
You will get one additional defense installation for every 10 leftover advantage points. These will be available immediately.</tooltip>
<tooltip text="Leftover Advantage Points -- Mineral Concentration">Leftover Advantage Points – Mineral Concentration
The concentration of the mineral on your home world that would have been poorest is improved by 1% for every 3 leftover advantage points. Increasing the concentration increases the rate at which the mineral is mined (mining, of course, reducing the concentration over time).</tooltip>
<tooltip text="Race Emblem">Race Emblem
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Select a race emblem from the collection. This emblem identifies your fleets when they are displayed in the Selection Summary pane. In a multi-player game you may not get the emblem you select if another player chooses the same emblem.</tooltip>
Step 2: Primary Traits
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Choose the primary characteristics for your race. Each type gives you a specific and powerful set of strengths.
Hyper Expansion <tooltip text="(HE)">Hyper Expansion Starting Advantages ![]() ![]() ![]() Exclusive Hulls ![]() ![]() Exclusive Engines ![]() Exclusive Components ![]() Limitations ![]() ![]() Super Stealth <tooltip text="(SS)">Super Stealth War Monger <tooltip text="(WM)">War Monger Claim Adjuster <tooltip text="(CA)">Claim Adjuster Inner Strength <tooltip text="(IS)">Inner Strength |
Space Demolition <tooltip text="(SD)">Space Demolition Starting Advantages ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Exclusive Weapons ![]() ![]() ![]() Exclusive Hulls ![]() ![]() Exclusive Components ![]() Exclusive Abilities ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Packet Physics <tooltip text="(PP)">Packet Physics Interstellar Traveller <tooltip text="(IT)">Interstellar Traveller Alternate Reality <tooltip text="(AR)">Alternate Reality Jack Of All Trades <tooltip text="(JOAT)">Jack Of All Trades |
Step 3: Secondary Traits
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Specify/view the lesser traits for your race. You'll probably find several traits that won't affect your playing strategy. Each time you choose a trait that prevents you from developing something, you'll gain advantage points you'll be able to use elsewhere or, if you're in the hole, bring the balance closer to being above zero (you have to be above or at zero before you can click on Finish).
Select secondary traits that compliment the profile you chose in step 2:
Improved Fuel Efficiency <tooltip text="(IFE)">Improved Fuel Efficiency![]() ![]() ![]() Total Terraforming <tooltip text="(TT)">Total Terraforming Advanced Remote Mining <tooltip text="(ARM)">Advanced Remote Mining Improved Starbases <tooltip text="(ISB)">Improved Starbases Generalized Research <tooltip text="(GR)">Generalized Research Ultimate Recycling <tooltip text="(UR)">Ultimate Recycling Mineral Alchemy <tooltip text="(MA)">Mineral Alchemy |
No Ramscoop Engines <tooltip text="(NRSE)">No Ramscoop Engines![]() ![]() Cheap Engines <tooltip text="(CE)">Cheap Engines Only Basic Remote Mining <tooltip text="(OBRM)">Only Basic Remote Mining No Advanced Scanners <tooltip text="(NAS)">No Advanced Scanners Low Starting Population <tooltip text="(LSP)">Low Starting Population Bleeding Edge Technology <tooltip text="(BET)">Bleeding Edge Technology Regenerating Shields <tooltip text="(RS)">Regenerating Shields |
Step 4: Population Growth Factors
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Specify/view your race's habitable range and its growth rate under optimum conditions, using the following topics as guidelines:
Step 5: Population Efficiency
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Specify/view the efficiency of your colonists, mines and factories for all the planets you inhabit.
If you are confused about whether increasing or decreasing a value is providing an advantage, watch the advantage points box as you click on the controls. If the number of points decreases when you click on a control, you have given the race an advantage.
If you have a race with a high population growth, you may not care about being efficient with factories. In this case you would set the controls so colonists produce fewer and more expensive factories, thereby freeing up advantage points to use somewhere else.
If you plan on building a only low number of mines, or if you have extra advantage points, consider increasing the mining production rate. This will NOT affect the rate at which the mineral concentration is reduced on your planets. It only makes you more efficient at squeezing minerals out of the rock. This can give you a competitive advantage over a player who operates more mines but is less efficient--they'll decrease their mineral concentration faster than you. The rate at which mineral concentration decreases (always stopping at 1) is determined by the number of mines on a planet and the number of years they've been in existence.
Keep in mind that when the mineral concentrations on both your planets and your opponent's planets reaches 1, the player with more mines can do as well, and possibly better, than the player who is very efficient at extraction. If you're very good at production and are creating resources like crazy, you may find you can easily make up for low mineral concentrations with Mineral Alchemy.
These are only simple examples of possible strategies--make the choices that suit your game the best, keeping in mind the rules determining the rate at which mineral concentration is reduced.
If you choose the Alternate Reality primary trait most of these controls are disabled. Alternate Reality races can't build planetary installations.
Step 6: Research Costs
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Specify/view how efficiently your scientists use planetary resources in their research. Changes are reflected in the advantage points box in the upper-right corner of the dialog.
Selecting Costs 75% extra increases the available advantage points.
Selecting Costs 50% less decreases the available advantage points.
If you check All 'Costs 75% extra' research fields start at Tech 3, then it is to your advantage to have as many research fields 'Costs 75% extra' as makes sense, as this option costs a flat fee.
- If you have chosen the Jack-of-All-Trades primary trait, this is '...start at Tech 4'
Finish and Save
When you click on Finish, Stars! verifies that you have created a valid race, asks you to reenter your password (if you have specified one), and then opens the Save As dialog.
1. Type a file name (for example, gump).
2. Click OK.
The file name under which the race is stored can be different from the name you've given the race. However, you may wish to make some reference to the race name in the race filename to help you keep track of numerous saved races.