Hey, interesting mod so far, certainly looking forward to playing more with it. I noticed some typos, on multiple traits, so you might want to go over them. Balance wise, I think that the precision traits are a bit undertuned, as +5% specialist output, while nice, is not worth 4 points. I would recommend adding an additional effect.

Spores are very nice for roleplay, but they don't seem to have any effect on the pop while they are working as pops. Still, nice for a battle thrall species.

That explosion ability that adds 10 devastation per lost army is pretty crazy, that's going to get 100 devastation very quickly. Considering huge armies fighting for months won't even get 5 devastation, 10 devastation per lost army is out of scale with the rest of the game. I think armies should cause more devastation overall to make that mechanic matter, but 10 per lost army is excessive. That could be nerfed and then do something else on top.

Mayfly combines with Exotherm, is that intended? They don't die very quickly in that case. With unity based leaders, mayfly isn't really playable, but with Exotherm, that's actually a really solid combo so I'm not sure if it's intended.

That's all for now, I will have more to say after playing. Keep up the good work!

Hi there, i'm loving your mod the concept of it is amazing, the main thing I've noticed is that when i'm playing as parasitic host the species with out the parasitic host trait becomes a sub-species of the parasitic host I feel that it shouldn't be that way and they should instead be sub-species of whatever species they originally were to begin, so far its led to my main species becoming as a sub species but other then that I've got nothing to complain about

Originally posted by Darky:

Hey, interesting mod so far, certainly looking forward to playing more with it. I noticed some typos, on multiple traits, so you might want to go over them. Balance wise, I think that the precision traits are a bit undertuned, as +5% specialist output, while nice, is not worth 4 points. I would recommend adding an additional effect.

Spores are very nice for roleplay, but they don't seem to have any effect on the pop while they are working as pops. Still, nice for a battle thrall species.

That explosion ability that adds 10 devastation per lost army is pretty crazy, that's going to get 100 devastation very quickly. Considering huge armies fighting for months won't even get 5 devastation, 10 devastation per lost army is out of scale with the rest of the game. I think armies should cause more devastation overall to make that mechanic matter, but 10 per lost army is excessive. That could be nerfed and then do something else on top.

Mayfly combines with Exotherm, is that intended? They don't die very quickly in that case. With unity based leaders, mayfly isn't really playable, but with Exotherm, that's actually a really solid combo so I'm not sure if it's intended.

That's all for now, I will have more to say after playing. Keep up the good work!

Thanks! I will make some balance changes and gate off some traits from eachother to fix it. Some traits will have their costs reduced, Explosive Autothysis will do half the devastation, And Mayfly will get -60 instead of -70 leader lifespan. The typos are also going to be fixed.

Originally posted by InBread:

Hi there, i'm loving your mod the concept of it is amazing, the main thing I've noticed is that when i'm playing as parasitic host the species with out the parasitic host trait becomes a sub-species of the parasitic host I feel that it shouldn't be that way and they should instead be sub-species of whatever species they originally were to begin, so far its led to my main species becoming as a sub species but other then that I've got nothing to complain about

Parasitic host is meant to work like this as it shifts the definition of species from the visible species to the parasite that controlls it from the inside. I'm considering expanding on the types of parasites and even addint parasite specific traits in the near future but for now 3.6 is dawning at the horizon.

When it comes to your issue on your main species turning into a subspecies there is a solution. It is a dumb solution but it works. While trying to fix the issue, I found a potential solution. A dumb one. Because with the current script the deciding factor about what becomes the main species and what becomes a subspecies id dependant on ASCII sort order.
Basically the earlier in the alphabet the species shows up the more likely it is going to be considered the main species in a case of infection. At first look it kinda forces you to pick a species name with the letter "A" at the start. But if you want to keep the name you can always put a "space" in front of the proper species name and it will work even better.
In the meantime I will try to rewrite the script using a different method checking if it works better.

Hi! I really enjoy your mod so far (especially the mycorrhizal roots/hyphae pair) and have been able to get a very quick bio ascension with them, however I realized quickly a good portion of traits are phenotype locked (strobilation and electrosynthesis for example). Is there any possibility of adding new phenotype unlock techs so I can make the horrifying biological monstrosities of my dreams with aquatic, plantoid, lithoid, etc. traits? Also thanks for making this mod and hope you're doing well

Phenotype unlock techs are planned but will take time as advanced traits are seperate traits in gameplay terms and need their own code, localisation, icon and so on to look and work properly.

Currently I don't have much time to work on the mod beyond some some small changes here and there.

Can we get even more cyborg traits? Kinda more following the whole alpha centauri school of cyborgs, where cyborgs have biomachinery integrated at the cellular level, combining the best traits of man and machine.

If they can be implemented and aren't just copies of eachother then sure. Any specific ones?

Okay, so I have some in mind!

Biomechanical physiology: Integration of living metal in the body to create a truly biomechanical organism. +5% resources from jobs +20% habitability, +40 leader lifespan, 5% growth rate, -0.125 living metal, 3-4 species points.

Brain-Machine Interface: Standardized interface plug implants for cyborgs including access to the galactic internet. +1 code breaking, +5% happiness, +5% unity from jobs, 2 species points.

Poor security protocols: Poor firewalls in implants allow easy brainhacking. -2 security, +20 crime, -3 species points.

Cyberbrain: Replacing large chunks of the brain with nanomachine-assembled cybernetic analogues can boost intelligence, and reaction speeds. +20% research from researchers, +10% evasion chance, 1+ research alternatives, +5% army disengagement chance, -0.125 nanites, 4 species points.

I forgot to add that cyberbrain might be incompatible with intelligent.

Biomechanical physiology doesn't really fit at the moment as there already exists a trait using Living Metal for machines and anything biomechanical seems to fit more a hybrid ascention path.

Brain-Machine Interface can be said to have been implemented under a different name and
a somewhat different effect but a similar theme with Galactic Internet Access.

Poor security protocols would be fine as a ruler and governor trait, but it seems to be a mostly software issue in comparison to a hardware one. I think it might be added at some point but will most likely be present in some way shape or form.

Cyberbrain can be said to have been already implemented in regards of themes with Logic Engines from the base game and Nanite Enhancement from the mod. I just added Motoric Upgrades as it would cover trait. Research alternatives would apply only to the ruler and not scientists so it is kinda doesn't make sense for your ruler to be responsible for the research options and not the scientists themselves.

I see, I see, and I think I understand the place you're coming from! thanks for the fresh cyborg traits to play with!

I have a pretty juicy idea in mind for arthropoids, mainly cause I wanna do something with a ant-colony type thing

I was thinking of a trait called Eusocial, where the arthropoid species is caste-based and there are biological differences between castes

In terms of implimentation, I was thinking for every worker pop, there would be a +0.5% or +1% (whatever you think is best really) boost for specialist pops, and for every specialist a 2% bonus for workers. In the case of non-gestalt empires ruler pops could increase planetary build speed by 0.5% per worker and specialist each, along with a 1% increase to build speed per pop. for Hiveminds it could be 0.5% per complex drone. If this is too powerful maybe there can be an increase in food upkeep per pop, or whatever you think would be good for balance

That's not all, however, as any good colony has special infrastructure to support the greater whole. I was thinking bonuses based on certain districts could also be used with this trait, such as every city district increasing researcher and clerk/maintenance drone by 5%, with an increase in their upkeep by 2.5%. Every industrial district could increase alloy/consumer goods output by 5% (or just one on specialized worlds by 7.5%-10%) and increase their upkeep by 2.5% (or 5% on specialized worlds). Basic resource districts would increase their respective resource output by 2.5% for every district

Anyway that's as much as I've thought of for this. Maybe there could also be a machine equivalent or something, but idk. Thank you for the mod and hope you like the idea! :)

actually upon looking at the above comment it might be best to do either or, as both might be *very* powerful. Whatever you think is best

I think some of it could be implemented. With the major exception of it being an arthropoid exclusive trait. If anything, I would put it as a hivemind trait.

honestly smart, makes sense for hive minds. Also having it open for things like plantoids and having traits like ecotypic and budding could be huge with that so I like that idea. Thank you for reading my suggestion!