Name: Psionic Outlaws
Ethics Requirement - Individualist, Spiritualist, pacifist
Uniqueness: Influence Becomes main resource
Descripton: Your People have harnessed the technology of instantaneous neurological transmission amongst themselves. They can communicate across vast distances of space with no effort at all. You are a secluded people who keep to yourselves and only populate in key areas of interest.
Gameplay: Influence Gain is ramped up MASSIVELY. Upon obtaining psionic outlaw tech you gain access to many forms of edicts. When compared to other races, psionic outlaw's natural state is weaker in almost all aspects.

For Example:
- Mineral tile production in natural state is 30% of normal empires
- Energy tile production is 50%
- Weapon damage is 35%
- Weapon Firerate is 50%
- research is -50%
- Border Range is reduced by 80%
- Armor is massively increased at a base or 150
- Shields are 30% of normal
- Hull is 50% of normal
- Base influence gain of 2
- Influence multiplier of 30 times
- Sensor Range increased by 100%

Their Uniqueness comes in their massive selection of specialized edicts,

Some Examples are:

- Deep Scan - Mineral Production is increased by 170% (200% mineral production) (Cost 50 Influence)
- Psychic Energy - Energy Production is increased by 150% (Cost 50 Influence)
- Psionic Payload - Weapon damage is increased by 135% (Cost 150 Influence)
- Psionic Barrage - Weapon firerate is increased by 150% (Cost 150 Influence)
- Collective Mind - Research is boosted by a staggering 150% (Cost 50 Influence)
- Psionic Senses - Sensor Range is increased by 1000% (Cost 400 Influence)

With Some More Specialized Edicts in later tech being:

- Psionic dispersion - Increase armor by 300, increase hull by 500% (Cost 300 Influence Per Month)
- Psionic Barrier - Increase shields by 1000%, increase monthly regen by 15% (Cost 300 Influence Per Month)
- Surprise, ♥♥♥♥♥. - Increase firerate by 2500% (Cost 750 Influence Per Month)

Your Empire will be small but specific due to how many frontier outposts you can hold. Your range of strength will vary significantly and influence management will be key to prospering as an empire. Protectorates will be an important factor in keeping up with other empires lategame as it will provide extra influence.

Name: The Halcyon Dominion
Ethics Requirement - Militarist, Collectivist, Xenophile
Uniqueness - Influence becomes a major part of expansion and gameplay (not to the extent of psionic outlaw however)
Description - An Empire built on the foundations of collective effort towards specific goals one or two at a time. Your people forgoe all but their current goals pushing themselves to the limits in their current actions.
Gameplay - Influence is ramped up, you gain access to specialized edicts that reduce all but specific areas to maximize efficiency.
Combat - They are some of the best duelists in the galaxy but suffer from multiple fronts of enagement. They have a hard time handling economic and miilitary attacks at the same time as being forced to activate multiple edicts quickly reduces their overall combat effectiveness duration.

Some Unique modifires to Empire:

- Base Influence of 5
- Influence Multiplier of 10
- Border Range increased by 20%
- Sensor Range increased by 300%
- Natural states of ships have -50% firerate and weapon damage
- Natural states of ships have -25% hull, shield and armor multiplers
- Natural states of ships have a base of 50 armor.
- Frontier outpost upkeep multiplier increased by 5

Some examples of Edicts:

- Rage of the dominion - Lowers shields, hull, and armor multipliers by 50%. Increases weapon damage and firerate by 300% (Costs 250 influence)
- Focused Bulwark - Increases shields, hull, and armor multipliers by 1000%, Lowers weapon firerate by 300% and weapon damage by 300% (Cost 250 Influence)
- Focused Speed - Increases ship movement speed by 30 times. Decreases warp cooldown, hyperlane charge and wormhole jumps by 80% (Cost 250 influence)
- The Dominion's Might - Increases hull regen of ships to 100% per month, boosts weapon firerate by 1500%, reduces weapon damage by 80% (Cost 1000 Influence)

A more stable empire economically for a more vanilla playstyle while still being greatly affected and altered by edict and influence use. They have an easier time with expansion than most due to easy spread of frontier outposts.

Both of these sound very interesting. Im looking forward to seeing how you pull them both off.

I don't know about how detailed I can be, and sorry about not using your format above, but I wanted to see if you liked the concept first before I put more effort into this.

I was thinking something along the lines of an artificial race, one that spurns expansion but still wants to conquer the galaxy. They believe in a galaxy free of the corruption of illogical biological species, but isn't above using them to meet it's goals. It gathers races making them kind of permenant Vassels or protectorates, vicariously utilizing them to attack other races and gather them under it's massive empire.

I was thinking their ships would need to be more powerful than those of riftwalkers, able to stand up to large militaries, but with a lack of ability to claim additional planets they would need a change in how they determine the cost of ships or in how they gain recources.

Making single ships that are massively powerful allows them to have a stable defense of their single homeworld while still being able to go out and take down other empires in the name of increasing their over all size. I'm not sure if there is a way to increase income and naval capacity with vassal numbers, but it would be cool to see if that's a possibility. I was thinking they should only be allowed one ship type, forcing other types to be well above what their naval capacity can ever reach will allow greater control over the race in the end game.

This will make it easier to control how powerful they are as they progress through the galaxy and as they run accross ever more advanced empires they find themselves having to work harder to expand as they lack the ability to develope newer technologies in response to those around them. Since their ship numbers are limited by their vassal numbers they have an interest in making sure their vassals survive and thrive as empire's under their rule because they will need those empires ships to add to their own, be it as cannon fodder or as ships along side the AI's is the choice of the player.

They will also find that their lack of ability to increase their numbers above the naval capacity, which will be low, will make them have to focus their attentions in specific ways, and if a large enough coalition of enemy empires work against the AI's they will find themselves outgunned quickly if they aren't careful in how they take on each enemy as they move through the galaxy, always having to decide on which empire will be worth taking as a vassal and which will be better off dead and gone

To add difficulty I would try to find a way to make other empires hate them, all the time, never wanting to work with or trade but instead to instantly want war with them upon discovery. Maybe, I've not thought that part through yet in how it will effect the game play.

This would also idieally be a tech available immeadiately upon starting the game as an AI race of sorts. I'm probably asking for massive amounts of changes to be made but I figured I would put it out there and see what you thought before I spent more time actually delving into all the bonus's they should get. I was also thinking they would lose all research capabilities the second the tech is researched and if they don't research it then they would immeadiately find themselves unable to research it.

I was just putting it out there as an idea, If y'all like it I could try to come up with some stats and names and such but I have no idea if tying vassals to income and naval capacity is even possible.

So this was an idea I had while making a new race

Name: The Inquisition (or something else if you have a better name)

Ethos: Militarist, Xenophobe, Spiritualist

Uniqueness: Maybe something where they get a bonus with spiritualist pops of the primary species if that could be possible, or a bonus while purging xenos and/or non-spiritualists, or a bonus when at war with a non-spiritualist nation...idk whichever you like best I guess

Description: Can't really think of a good description to fit this, but the general idea is that the Inquisition purges non-believers and xenos

Gameplay: The Inquisition is based mostly on fighting non-spiritualists and get a bonus while fighting them, and even bigger bonuses for each level of materialism a race has.

Combat: Similar to the Rift Walkers, they employ few and powerful ships, but rather than bonuses to health and damage, they get bonuses to RoF and shields, and large bonuses to any psionic technology

Bonuses: I'm not sure how to keep it balanced, so I'll let you decide on this one