I want to try out the heavy defenses of Good, but ...

Morale boost + Neutrality Learning Centers + FREE AND INSTANT upgradable tiles ...

Well, it's just too good to pass up.

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....

Yea, I completely agree with this, been playing the highest level for sometime now and can not remember the last time I got one of those specials. All 3 r nice to have but the aphrodesiac is crucial, let an AI have it and they become very, very powerful. Try to conquer the planet it is on at some point.

i really don't care what you choose, being evil fits my style of play better, and i usually get the Terraforming tech before i research Good or Evil.

Good for u. As long as yr having fun, great. I was only pointing out some weaknesses in yr argument.

always do a quicksave just before you turn to an alignment. Then you can at least go back and see what would have happened if.. scenarios..

Good can be, well.... a good choice, I mean with the new beta, defences do matter now and it could even be better for a tech victory, and defanantly better for a diplo victory. You get a + with neutral and good civs for your ethical alignment. That added diplo can also keep those neutral and good civs off your back when going for tech victory, so all you have to worry about is how to pick apart the Yor Collective. Stupid robots.

I always play as good. At first it was to make the game more difficult, but now I've grown quite fond of the diplo bonuses so just love playing as good.

As I increase the difficulty of the games I play, I've found that the good bonuses aren't so good once diplomacy fails, but with the new combat system coming soon in 1.2, this should be just the balancing needed to make the 'good' choice (pardon the pun).

That's just a silly argument. 2 military resources are a massive bonus in any game.

And just think, you'd get double the bonus if you got the military resources AND the good defenses.

You could use the same argument against getting the evil weapons, or against the NLCs (obviously with resource mining instead of military mining).

Good gives you three techs that give slight increases in defenses, another that gives a slight increase in hit points, plus a galactic wonder that gives you a 20% defense increase. And that's about it. And you take several penalties during colonization just to get there.

Wow, you really don't know what you're talking about either.

Firstly, good also has the (alleged) higher chance of surrender. Races get on better with you, its an easier life. I've never been ganked as good. The defences are FAR better than the evil weapons. Expensive, irritating, worthless weapons which tend to get outdated quickly during an arms race. And since when do you need to take good choices to be good? It's what xeno ethics is for. If you can't afford 10k you NEED to look at your economy.

Neutral gets research, all tiles, and some trade routes. No zomg wtf amazing buildings no-one else can get. Just trade routes and research. It's very useful still, arguably the best, just I don't ever need anything it offers, apart from maybe the free morale boost.

Evil is awful. Free stuff yes, but I don't need money. I've already said how useless the weapons turn out in a full fledged supremacy race. And it'll need to be a supremacy race, because you won't have many friends. Why? It practically forces you to be militaristic for survival, and you're still likely to end up at war with too many people.

No zomg wtf amazing buildings no-one else can get.">

Neutrality Learning Centers. 22 tp research/turn as opposed to the 16 tp research/turn of a Discovery Sphere.

Tell me that this is not a "zomg wtf amazing building".

Boosted defenses simply aren't important enough to be the sole reason to choose a good alignment. It's been proven by experience and by number crunching that defense-heavy fleets don't do as well as firepower-heavy fleets

Um, try the 1.2 beta....you'll see. Defenses MATTER.

I enjoy playing all 3 alignments. I've probably played 5 games as Good, 10 as Evil and 20 as Neutral. If the game is about role play then I think you should stick with the one that suits what you're race is about. However if you are min-maxing for me (based on suicidal/no tech trading/conquest only/random map sizes) there is only one winner.

My observations are:


Evil
On tiny maps there is a tendency for quick conquest, in which case Evil bonuses are better than on large maps.
Evil's bonus are good at spending money. They have weapons that need a lot of mp's but a building that creates mps.
You just need a good economy to support evil's strategy. In general if you are going to win as Evil you probably need to win quick... or at least get into an unassailable position quick. I tend to go for invading homeworlds in the first couple of years if I can. The AI has a tendency to stick most of its development into its homeworld in the early years, so if you capture that you've completely neutered their development. Evil with its bonuses is great at going for that early rush.


Good
I only play conquest with no tech trading and so Good bonuses are nerfed. I can imagine if I was going to an Alliance win I might think very differently. On my settings the Good techs are uber expensive to put to use on ships but as the research also adds to all defence you can generate very high def numbers (especially if you play the Drath). There is another big thread about the whole defence vs attack debate. I personally think it is weaker than the other two alignments. The other bonuses often mentioned is "Good races attack you less". With a conquest strategy this can lead to you being able to focus on getting rid of the Dregnim, Korx and Yor early on then being able to pick off the others at your leisure. The problem I have with this is if I can conquer 3 races I'm generally over the hump in any case. All this is doing is buying me time from the other Goodies. However a strong military and the Spin Control centre has the same effect but for all races. So as I said I find Good the hardest (and sometimes therefore the most enjoyable) to play on my settings.


Neutral
For me the Neutral bonuses are huge.
I don't need to go anywhere near one brach of the tech tree. (Terraforming)
I don't need to lose the time building terraforming squares.
I am almost certain to be ahead in research due to NLC.
If I'm ahead on Tech I can get to the important wonders/trade goods first which in turn puts me further ahead.
I can get on OK with both Good and Evil civs which again buys me time to pick off opponents one by one.


If I'm truly min-maxing I would go for Drath... Choose all the evil planatary options I could (up to going Neutral)... Then choose Xeno Ethics with no cost. This seems to me to be the best race/options/alignment path by some distance.
However it is probably not the most fun to play

Um, try the 1.2 beta....you'll see. Defenses MATTER.

Yes, but they dont matter as much as everybody feared. Certainly not enough to align as Good for that one reason. Firepower and logistics still matter more than defenses.

How do you think you will most likely win?

Alliance Victory --> Good
Technology --> Neutral
Conquest --> Evil

I usually end up going neutral (I like big worlds), but I think all three are well balanced. Good has really great defenses (components, global bonuses, and diplomacy), neutral has the economy and research (PQ, NLC, Neutral Trade) and Evil has POWER (free upgrades, mean projects, and uberguns).

The ethical decisions are really irrelevant... just pick what you want (EVIL). When it comes time to pick alignment, just take the debt. The terms are usually pretty lenient, and would only strain the weakest of economies. If your evil choices will make you unpopular, just try to get to xeno ethics that much faster, and buy your pennance.

Speaking of debt, has anybody actually run NPV (Net Present Value.....compounding interest) on the debt terms offered for a rush-build? I've seen some 15% loans, and most seem to fluctuate between 4% and 8%, but I've seen loans with negative interest rates, That's right, down payment + (payments * number of payments) < Cash now. The game will in some cases charge you less to finance. If only I could find a ____ dealer with that philosophy.