There are currently 5 native races, Scavenger, Enfi, Thresher, Tinker, and Gaiad. Right now all of them *except tinkers* are less then useful to have around. In MoO2 natives were something you wanted to get because they were specialists, not overly flexible, but useful for a specific task. Perhaps we could do something like that here. Some possibilities follow.

Scavenger (3 point race) .5 trade, 2 Industry, special ability diggers +1 metal per scav if mine is on planet (1 mine can support 4 scavengers), perhaps boost their environment tolerance to be equal to Yoral (rats in the walls)

Thresher (4 point race) 1 trade, 2 industry, special ability harvester +1 food per thresh if farm is on planet (1 farm can support 4 threshers)

Tinker (6 point race) 0 trade, 4 industry, 1 science (slight stat alteration, cant see them caring about trade according to their writup)

Gaiad (3 point race) 0 trade, 0 industry, 1.5 science (science stat boost), special ability planet whisperer if a gaiad is transported to a garden world the option to be terraformed to a paradise world is unlocked for that world, Gaiads would not be able to be transported from a world if the base Gaiad population is less then 5 mil

Enfi (4 point race) 1 trade, 2 industry, special ability boss is watching +1 industry each if outnumbered by boss race population (ie gremak)

Right now they are just another annoying event, but with a bit of tweaking they could be another resource that you need to protect.
Just an idea (and probably impossible to implement anyhow).

The diplomacy, events, morale and special resource systems that the minor races are meant to hook into aren't implemented yet, so right now they're just bonus colonists. In terms of resource output, low-tech natives should not be expected to compete with your high-tech native colonists (the exception here would be the Tinkers, who are an offshoot of another major faction). Some are meant to be useful, and some are meant to be a huge pain in the rear, but they won't reach their full potential until the missing systems are implemented.

If you're not an aquatic race, Threshers are extremely useful to have, since they can exploit habitats that your colonists can't and increase the population caps on worlds all throughout your empire. If you are an aquatic race, the Threshers are just low-tech natives. I do think it would be interesting if Threshers had an inherent food output per colonist (fishing in the wild, they don't need farms), though that might make them "too" good.

I keep wondering why robots (Tinkers) need food.

bjg wrote:I keep wondering why robots (Tinkers) need food.

They aren't robots; they're cyborgs. Cyborgs have a biological component that still requires nourishment.

Arioch wrote:
If you're not an aquatic race, Threshers are extremely useful to have, since they can exploit habitats that your colonists can't and increase the population caps on worlds all throughout your empire. If you are an aquatic race, the Threshers are just low-tech natives. I do think it would be interesting if Threshers had an inherent food output per colonist (fishing in the wild, they don't need farms), though that might make them "too" good.

Yep, I've found them quite useful in recent games playing as both Ashdar races. Threshers turn island worlds with low population limits for my primary colonists into good planets to focus farming/markets/research on. I've enjoyed using the various minor races to help with colonization efforts and I look forward to seeing what the morale system adds.

Arioch wrote:If you're not an aquatic race, Threshers are extremely useful to have, since they can exploit habitats that your colonists can't and increase the population caps on worlds all throughout your empire.

I prefer Phidi for that.

bjg wrote:

Arioch wrote:If you're not an aquatic race, Threshers are extremely useful to have, since they can exploit habitats that your colonists can't and increase the population caps on worlds all throughout your empire.

I prefer Phidi for that.

If you happen to have them on hand, yes.

Are there going to be more? I recall seeing art with lots of them.

Ashbery76 wrote:Are there going to be more? I recall seeing art with lots of them.

We have ideas for more, time and budget permitting. You can see some of the concepts here.

Perhaps the food required by natives should be lessened then. Enfi would not be given the same ration size as gremek. Scavengers would eat even marginal food. Thresher likely provide for themselves to an extent, and Gaiad likely would not trust anything offered to them in the 1st place. Tinkers are the only one I would see needing a full ration. Gaiads likely would supply themselves (needing no food), and the other 3 would get 1/2 for the reasons provided. This would also prevent me from starving them out...

Chasm wrote:Tinkers are the only one I would see needing a full ration.

As cyborgs they should be able to use any organic.

They are to a point a stronger build then most of the player races, not sure they should get more on top of that.