Best Political Party

Actually, the sensor cap effectively eliminates the sensor bonus (and with high research it will happen sooner rather than later), so the only lasting bonus for Technologists is their research bonus, dropping them to 4 racial points of worth.

I think your logic is flawed. What gives you the best in game effect isn't always related to the amount of points you spend on something. I would argue that Economics, followed by Morale, followed by Population Growth would give you the best bang per point. Say what you will, but you can't run an empire without money. With money, you can buy stuff and maintain an empire with a budget. More of it allows you to afford more and better factories, labs, and ships.

That said, I try to avoid using any abilities that has a direct impact on the economy. I try high industry builds, strong military build, miscallaneous builds, etc... Whatever fits my mood.

The points IMO aren't that well balanced though, meaning such a ranking will be flawed. E.g. I rank universalists as no.1 due to the +25% luck (assuming I'm right in my understanding that weapon rolls are done randomly from (weapon attack*luck) to weapon attack, meaning 50% luck means I deal 50% damage more on average with 50% luck, not to mention the benefit of a reduced range decreasing the scope for a very poor attack. Universalists also have other nice benefits such as economics+pop growth bonus .

I tend to pick Universalists because they compliment my custom race's abilities really well. Generally, my race tends to be extremely lucky, with high diplomatic skills, good research skills, and decent soldiering/merchantile skills, among others. This allows me to adapt to most situations quickly while using other races as a Human(Arcean, Yor, Alterian, what have you) Shield to block bad things until I can get situated. The fact that it just happens to be the "best" party to pick is coincidence. *folds arms*

Yeah, from what I've heard luck does not affect combat rolls, just random events and occassionally critical hits. At one point it was bugged so that it didn't do anything. As for all of the combat skills, I don't think they're all that useful, since going for a better economy means you'll have more of everything (ships as well) And I'd rather go for pop growth and have more troops than go the soldiering route.

I still like the Federalists but I am all about economy and research in my abilities.

After party bonuses its something along the lines of
+1 creativity (for those research breakthroughs)
+50 economy
+20 moral (oh, how the people love to pay taxes!)
+20 research
and whatever else suits my fancy (usually soldering and diplomacy)

I find I can get an economy up and running that will support any route to vicotry I want very quickly

I take the industrialists almost every game. Combined with the thalians your production is unstoppable.

Part of the reason I like them so much is you can't mine production bonuses. Picking econ bonuses is good, but if you get just a single econ resource, it sort of becomes less important. (although i ussually take some bonus for morale and econ anyway)

For those that would say production just eats money, I say just turn down your spending. Remember it's the efficency that matters. Also with this strat you don't bother with getting better factories until your economy can handle it.

The best reason for production is how quickly you can develop your planets, without having to set the social slider over 20%. (just use focus)

I also find i don't need tech bonuses. Probably because it's easy to grab up tech resources, and power up the research planets with starbases.

Lastly I think taking the +40% pop bonus is pretty much always a good choice. (unless you're playing the torians)

Nah gallagher118, I'd prefer a production bonus over a tech bonus anyday for the reason it CAN be turned off. If nothing is being built, that production gets returned to cash. Research will continually each cash away...thus why people often tout the all-factory method more than the all-lab method, you have an 'off' switch.

Also, you can get a production boost in a way...asteroid fields. I understand though it's not as empire-wide as resources or abilities. It's something though.