The distilled wisdom is neutral is best, most powerful. The neutrality learning centers and pq bonus r fantastic, with other extras on top, neutral is the way to go.

I would say evil is second best, with the excellent offensive weapons in a game that rewards 1st strike (may change in 1.2). Also u benefit early game by making all them evil moral choices.

Good is the worst. Its hard to be good and GC 2 lets u know this in no uncertain terms. The galaxy is stacked against u, planetary penaltys for choosing the good way, defensive bonuses in combat which rewards attack. Yep, in GC 2 no good deed goes unpenalised. Good sucks big time, no wonder those Altarians r so pissed with the galaxy and the torians r smoking something strange and the Iconians regret going good so much they just sit there and wait for someone to put them out of there misery (takes all the fun out of it for us drengins).

Good is good for diplomacy... Both Good and Neutral races like good races.

Though the neutrals have a bonus in that as well, since three extra trade routes can make you more popular.

I'm not the sort of person who tries to play for the absolute optimum though, but to try out different scenarios. If my race is good, I'll play good, even if it is not technically the best strategy.

Personally, I favor Neutral. Tech bonuses can help you pick and choose what advantages you want from both sides (working on better diplomacy, for instance, or focusng on weaponry). I always choose Neutral for any desicions.

Have to agree with Netural then Evil then Good.

But i suppose Good becomes important at the tougher levels when it's critical that you need the AI to like you?

Evil is better in the short run , but in the long run the power of NLC is going to finish you.

Neutral also gets a huge boost thanks to the free upgrade tiles. An often overlooked effect of this is you don't just get the tiles free without terraforming, but because your planet class improves after this, your population growth rates also jump like crazy!

Combine it with the planet quality bonus and/or population growth bonuses and you will have a crazy tax base.

I don't care which is best. I roleplay (not to the extreme) and I like to sometimes be the goody-two-shoes. Evil is fun too. I love to take those early evil bonuses.

However IMHO, Neutral is easiest to play.

Neutral is too good in my own opinion and i find myself going that route the majority of the time... good / evil are choices i MIGHT make depending on the situation... if im small compared to the other civs and have some big good neighbours i will probably go Good but if i get off to a good early start i do enjoy "roleplaying" an evil empire.. can make the early conquest/expansion easier and all the techs the neutrals are grabbing are soon mine anyways when i invade.

Personally i feel neutral civs should get a significant influence penalty ... strong cultures tend to have definite feelings and morals ect and i think it would balance the alignments a little more. Neutral civs should have a weakness because right now they are the ONLY choice good in every situation ; with no real choice to make between the 3.

I usually play on Gigantic maps.
I chose according to who my nearest neighbour is.
If I am next to the Dregin, then evil all the way. To keep them off my back in the early game.
If I am next to the Altarans, then it is good/neutral for the same reason.

Must say, evil is more fun.

Neutral is certainly the most rewarding alignment, since you can skip a whole research branch, grab three extra trade routes, AND you get the best research buildings in the game.

Evil is also fun, though; those psionic weapons do pack a major whallop, considering their location on the tech tree, and the money saved on starbase upgrades and trade route cash are not bad either. Everyone does tend to declare war on you, though, despite your never having provoked them.

I've never actually played as a good race, so I can't really pass judgement there.

First I thought neutral is a bit overpowered as well, but have another look at evil. Except the weapons (they aren't that good IMHO) you can build the Artificial Slave Center, which gives your manufacturing capital a real boost and you can build the Mind Control Center, which doubles your economy.
First I thought, the 100% economy boost would only apply to the planet it's built upon, but it applies to your whole economy (checked tonight), so maybe it is a bug, maybe it is intended, however it is an enormous bonus.
I also like the free starbase moduls as well as the free invasion tactics, so while neutral gives you the best research buildings early and terraforms your planets to their best at once, the evil bonus comes late, but then it comes mighty.

The only thing I'm missing are some special buildings/bonuses for the good alignment. It is by far the lousiest choice and while I like to be the "good guy", I sometimes get angry because there is nothing useful about this alignment (don't tell me about diplomatics as I'm playing with tech trading disabled). I would love to see some balancing, but as I think neutral and evil are nearly equal, maybe Stardock should leave them as they are and "pimp" the good alignment with some more specials.

Yes I agree. There need to be some balance for the good. They appear too week and usely get jacked up. But isn't that the way life works? A little too philolsophical of a question right before a long weekend.

Peace out.
Curt

Going Neutral may not require you to research Terraforming, but it is a good idea to anyway. Then you can get the Aphrodesiac trade good.

I always let the AI build the aphrodesiac then conquer the planet its on. Keeps the AI occupied well u do something else. An AI always trys to get it early game.

aphrodesiac is actually one of the good trade goods/ galactic achievements that the AI build. Another one is xanium hull plating. They also like to build diplomactic translators....

Maybe they are planning to release the equivalent of the Paladin in the expansion because that was the main benefit to playing Good in GCI. It was a Good-only ship that could take out a Dreadnought without dying (your own Dreadnoughts couldn't, because the computer always had better stats) and healed ships in the same sector. It was better cost/power than Dreadnoughts, Rangers, Phoenixes, and almost better than Avatars. Not having it made the late game tough.