Birth of the Federation

Which minor race is your favorite and why? Are there certain neutral races that you go out of your way to recruit regardless of who you are playing as, or does is it always a question of the strategic strengthening of your empire/weakening of other empires?

On a somewhat related note, are there any minor races that you have particular trouble dealing with? One of the strategy guides refers to have a lot of trouble with Bajor, to the point of having to depopulate the entire planet and "start over from scratch" due to rebellions and territory.

For my part, I must admit to a certain a certain nostalgic fondness for the Children of Tama (Tamarians). "Darmok" is one of my favorite TNG episodes and the very concept of a race with a language composed of metaphorical imagery has fascinated me ever since I first saw it. As you can imagine, I was delighted by the inclusion of the Tamarians and more delighted still by the fact that their linguistic peculiarities were left intact!

On a more practical level, I tend to be fond of the Angosians who, in addition to being conceptually interesting in their own right (a pacifist society that compensates by producing nigh unstoppable supersoldiers), offer a boon to infantry combat which never fails to come in handy. My reasoning is strong ground forces not only make it easier to invade enemy planets but also make it that much more difficult for your enemies to gain a foothold on your own soil. If you can get your ground forces stats high enough, even if your enemy gets past your defenses in orbit they are faced with the Hobsin's Choice of subjecting your planet to a lengthy bombardment (wrecking havoc with the "resale value!") or producing (to the detriment of other areas of their war efforts) and bringing in massive numbers of troop transports (affectionately known the throughout the Alpha Quadrant as "big, slow, targets"). Contrawise, you can do more damage with fewer troop transports.

What's that you say? The Nausicans have a similar effect upon ground force combat values? But.... but...... they are never subjected to any withering philosophical scrutiny! I mean.... it just..... its just not the same, alright? In all seriousness, if possible I try to get the Nausicans and the Angosians if at all possible (for the reasons described above). I managed it once as the Cardassians and was left with ground pounders who could even give the Klingons a run for their money (Hall of Warriors or no).

I almost always play as the Federation in vanilla, and usually by the time war starts heading my way I'll have at least 6 or 7 minors as members. Generally, I'll go for the friendly/neutral ones, and leave problem ones like the Nausicans or Chalnoth or Antedeans for later on in the game when I have money to waste on bribes for 'em...

but I always go for the Vulcans and Betazoids. As Feds, those are automatic affiliations if not connected with other empires. The Vulcan research push is very handy to speed up Defiant productions, and we know the Feds don't have any intelligence bonuses (no Section 31 here). I also aim for the Zackdorn whenever I see them, they are worth the bribe investment...Ulians and Trill also rank pretty highly for me.

The Bajoran Jalenda forum is quite good for a morale booster.

Ktarians are quite fun too. you can get cloaked scouts from them. And the sabotage facilities are good too.

The Zakdorn because of their training ability, the Edo ans Bajorans for the morale boost, and the Vulcans for the research.

vulcan knowledge is power

Yeah, the Vulcans have the best research amplifier.

In approximate order, my favorite minor races in the game are usually the Vulcans, Edo, Zackdorn, Bajorans, and Trill. If I'm playing as the Ferengi, the Zackdorn go to the top of my list.

For me, this list applies to vanilla BOTF and the Balance of Power mod, although minors are generally more, well....balanced in BOP. Minors in UDM3 are similarly balanced, although they tend to be a bit more useful since they all have dilithium and a shipyard.

When playing as the romulans I always go for the vulcans and mintakins. The whole reunification drive I guess.

That's a good point, Sela. I do this as well when playing as the Romulans (who, incidentally, are my favorite empire in BOTF). It seems only natural to me to want to unite all "Vulcanoids" under the same flag.