by DaCooGa
So something I've been thinking about more lately are the different trade rates across species. Every race has a 3 to 1 trade rate except for humans with a 2 to 1, orion with a 4 to 1, and rho indi with a 3 to 2 for money specifically, and octanis who can upgrade their trade rates. And Pyxis is essentially a race with a 1 to 1 trade rate, which is materialized through transmatter.Anyways, the reason for my post is that I wanted to discuss how valuable a different trade rate really is. Oftentimes when I show this game to newer players, there are often people who almost never use their trade rate the entire game or maybe just once or twice. And the thing is, in the most "optimal" game of Eclipse, if you're not playing Pyxis, the best possible scenario is that you wouldn't ever make a trade as that is a slightly less optimal distribution of resources. However, obviously the random nature of the game will call for a redistribution of resources occasionally (like for example perhaps you need to buy that cloaking device THIS round before someone takes it) and trading in those situations is obviously the best move. However, the frequency of such situations is definitely debatable and I have often wondered if trade rate really matters that much. For Pyxis' technical 1 to 1 and 3 to 2 trade rates, I can definitely see the value of it and how many more situations would arise that benefit from such trades. However, 3 to 1 and honestly perhaps even 2 to 1 trade rates, I feel are quite often not worth it at all in many situations and so I really wanted to see what the community thought of their value. Trading to maintain upkeep is something you really only do either in the end game or if you are behind earlier on. And I guess another thing is that I have played a lot of Orion and the 4 to 1 never bothered me like at all. It may have cost me an extra 1 or 2 resources like every other game maybe but how much does that really matter, right?
Anyways, this leads me to another topic as the value of what a better trade rate constitutes directly correlates to how good of a race humans are. It seems to be a popular opinion online that humans are by definition "worse" than the alien races as they are meant for just beginners. However, I witnessed the Eclipse Gen Con tournament that had a Human win the finals and it honestly changed my mind. The fact that humans could win in such a competitive setting made me believe that humans may be underrated and that their trade rate (and their move of 3) could be more valuable than previously thought (though to be fair, in a strict tournament setting, humans also have advantages "outside" of the game in that there are 7 copies of them and by picking human, you have a high chance of being able to "block" someone else's main race at the table from being played).
Would love to hear anyone's thoughts on how good trade rates are (and by corollary, the human race).