This is a very odd post to see after all the "Thalans are too weak" type of posts during beta. They have their strengths, but others have seen them get crushed.

I mainly play on Tough with Medium maps and 9 opponents. The Thalans decimate their neighbors in these cramp quarters due to getting Embassies as their first building (and thus the Pink Blob of Doom effect). Others, playing on Large or bigger maps playing on Suicidal see them get destroyed. The cramp quarters allows them to expand via influence flips, spread them out and they take a while (too long on suicidal) to get moving forward.

I do agree with Insanetitan, the Terrans seem to be a juggernaut of late. I'm not sure if it's sue to my allocation of their points to speed/influence/diplo and the AI just enjoying that to it's fullest or what...I've actually removed them from recent games. The Torians do get moving well early on, but if you have tech trading & stealing off, they don't do well later in the game (as intended by tech tree).

With very few exceptions, I think you can find a setting where any race will be dominant. One of those is the Korx. They rely too much on Trade and from what people are saying on Trade income, it's in a sad state...thus crippling their economy.

I have Terrans with +Research +Econ +Mil in addition to their innates on Tough; I militarize too fast for them. To be fair, I have no love for the Terrans (!) and purposely avoided giving them additional +speed and +influence which I would if I were seeing how to maximize their abilities. The few games I've done with the Terran tech tree do feel well rounded

In my game, the Torians were the biggest, baddest at first. Then an influence-event that affected everybody but the Torians totally nerfed them out as planet-after-planet revolted. Now the Thalians are the biggest menace now. The Terrans are a distant 2nd. I am playing on an immense map. I just have a handful of systems but I produce a third of the entire galaxy in research. Everybody was allied up, but now the whole galaxy is falling apart into war.

the Drengin ate them my past game...lol for making this thread right before they got eaten.

I also agree the korx tend to stink...

my game right now they are on a roll and are in a great position... there military is unusually weak tho to a fault.

I actually think the Yor are one of the better races. The AI usually does well with them also.

They definately work very well with a colony rush playstyle. You only put down the minimal on colonies in the beginning (starport, r matrix, m grid, recruit cent, one collective, eff center). You should be able to colonize non stop at 80-100% production. Rushing the full economics tree and most of the pop growth tree is pretty key as well.

Not what I'm seeing! Currently, the Korx have some of the most advanced warships in the galaxy, and haven't been doing badly in conquest. Their main problem is only that they're being swamped culturally by the Krynn, and are sandwiched between every other race...

Are you playing with tech trading on? It makes a massive difference. Tech trees with massive holes big enough to drive a Terror Star through still work fine when you can plug them with somebody else's technology. Otherwise. . . I'd like to see how you're booming the Yor economy. Only way I ever manage it is with lots of empty tiles, and every world built up to 16-20 billion population. It's doable, but I usually end up in the "getting by" rather than "booming" economy bracket.

I played a Yor game and didn't build any market centers (stole xeno econ in an invasion, tech trading is off) and with max efficiency studies I'm doing fairly well economically. And yes, lots of empty tiles, but I don't mind empty tiles. Max econ studies is equivalent to max government +15% and you can push your tax rate up without worrying about elections - I normally hold my rate at 29% but with Yor it's 39%.

TBH I miss tidal disruption more than I miss econ buildings. Relying on info warfare is a pain.

Pretty much how I usually play the Yor - empty tiles, low tech factories, and robot zerg rush the very instant the colony rush is over. I still never manage to have what I'd consider a "booming" economy, but it's good enough to get by. Races with strong diplomacy are my bane - my economy is never good enough to survive a war on multiple fronts, which is what I always get if I am fenced in and forced to fight the Altarians, Drath, or Terrans. Anybody else I can manage against as my initial target, at least for now.

I kicked ass in my Yor game. Try them again. I had tech trading on, and used some production buildings I traded for to fill in any gaps in my manufacturing. And I was vicious with starbase mining bonus things. I will go nuts on someone for an econ bonus. I love those more than the war ones.

Yor are bloody scary if they get to the conquerin' fast enough. The pitiful organics will never know what hit 'em!

Especially scary if an early Creativity proc hands 'em Planetary Invasions in 3 turns. . . ouch!