The other thread on re-balancing the bonuses of political parties have lead to thoughts on the values of the various racial bonuses. We'll start with the core economy income:
Economics: This bonus seems to be the basic building block against which most other bonuses should be evaluated. A strong economy is the backbone upon which any strategy is built, and thus always useful. For our purposes, let us use the current value of 2 points per +10% bonus to economy. There should be no discount for taking a lot of this ability, as its use barely diminishes by having "too much". (A player can always use star bases to increase production or find other good uses for cash.)
Population: Population is one of three factors (along with Economy and Morale) that have a direct bearing on your race's income. As an additional bonus, it helps you attack and defend planets because it doubles as troops. A +10% increase in Population growth (unless the way it is calculated doesn't actually increase it by 10%) will result in a compounded 10% growth in your economy. Early on, this can be a stronger advantage than a basic Economics bonus, but in the long run this becomes worse than an economy bonus because your race can hit the population limit of the worlds that they are on. A canny player will expand to other worlds and build farms as their race grows, though. Thus, it seems like population growth should be more expensive (2 points per +10%) to keep it in line with the Economics bonus. Maybe slightly cheaper in large amounts because of the population ceiling effect.
Morale: Morale allows a race to operate with a higher tax rate, and thus to have a larger economy. If a 1% increase in taxes tends to result in about a 1% decrease in morale, it would initially look like +10% morale was about the same as +10% tax rate, which would be close to +10% economy. However, at certain break points (40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, etc.) moral takes a big hit (5-20%) from the increase in tax rate. This means that a Moral bonus is only about half as useful as an Economics bonus. Morale should cost 1 point per +10%.
Trade: Depending on the status of the game (technology, map size, number of wars) the value of trade income can vary greatly. It is often the difference between an economy running at a profit and running at a deficit. Generally, the value of trade is about 20-30% of the income of a race during most of the game. This means that a bonus to trade is only worth about a quarter of what a bonus to Economics is worth. This means that a +20% bonus to Trade should be worth about 1 point.
Trade Routes: Depending on the technology state of the game, 1 trade route represents between 33% and an11% increase in trade (a little less for a Neutral race with Neutral Shipping.) Extra trade routes also offer an advantage in the form of a relations bonus with the race that is being traded with. It seems safe to assume that a player who selects extra trade routes is probably pursuing a strategy which will heavily use Trade, and thus will probably be researching most of the Trade tree, as well as select bonuses to Trade (above). Thus, we should assume that the increased routes represent a smaller (more like 10%) increase in Trade than a larger one (30%). It seems a package of three extra trade routes (+30% or better Trade, and 3 chances for better relations) should go for about 3 points.
Planet Quality: This power is weak at the beginning of the game, but can have a strong impact as it continues. A 10% increase in planet quality generally constitutes a bonus that is greater than 10% of a specified type. Even with beginning buildings, this can be a 20% morale bonus or a 15% economy bonus. With later buildings, this can be huge bonuses of very large combined value. PQ now also increases population growth. This is like a slightly costly, customizable bonus for every single one of a race's planets. For 3 points (the equivalent of +15% economy) it seems like a pretty good deal. At 4 points, it might be a little on the costly side. The second point should cost the same as the first point, it doesn't get much more useful if you have more of it.
Now we will move on to economic output:
Research: We will compare a research bonus to a general Economic bonus. An Economic bonus of 20% will cost 4 points. This means that 100% of the economy of the race with the Economic bonus would be 120% of that of a standard race. A race with the Research special ability will probably Research at between 40 and 80% (we'll use an average for the sake of simplicity, at 60%.) A race with a 20% research bonus being applied to 60% of their economy would have on overall economy 112% the size of a standard race, and be receiving 6% of that in "free" production. This means the Research race's economy is getting a 6% boost in the same way Economics gives a boost, and an additional 6% production that they are having to pay for. Thus, a Research bonus is about a quarter as useful as Economics strictly to the economy, and carries probably an equal value in terms of production that research facilities are not required for. Thus, a bonus to Research should cost half that of Economy, or 1 point for +10%.
Social Production and Military Production: The same analysis that holds true for Research holds true for these two types of production. The only major difference is that Social production is possibly the weakest of the three, as it is most possible to run out of useful items to invest social production into. A player can always use more constructors, warships, and technology, but it is possible to hit the limit of what the player is allows to build socially.
I will now address the general subject of military bonuses:
Based on observing my own play, and the choices of many other players as posted on the forums, I think we as a group tend to avoid selecting military bonuses. The reason for this is that the effects of bonuses on economic input or output tend to compound obviously over time. A larger economy clearly results in more research and ships; more research results in technologies which result in faster research or more powerful ships; etc. I think the problem is that military bonuses don't clearly result in an advantage that compounds itself. Certainly, destroying enemy ships and taking worlds is substantial... but will a player who focuses their bonuses here necessarily achieve victory?
I'm going to propose that a race needs to have a fairly substantial advantage from choosing military bonuses if they are to compete with races that have economic or production advantages. It seems a race with +20% Economics will have 20% more ships/better ships (with technology) than a race that has simple military bonuses. I'm going to suggest that a race with military bonuses should get to buy +20% Hit Points, +20% Weapons, +20% Defense, and +20% Soldiering all for the same price as +20% Economy. That's right, each of these powers at +1 point each. The militarily oriented player can still lose out because the +Economics race can gain insurmountable surpluses of production and technology over time... but it is possible that the military race can gain technology through conquest/intimidation, and can win with slightly fewer resources available.
Moving on, other ship abilities:
Speed: 5 and 8 points for what amounts to an extra Hyperdrive or Impulse Drive in a ship seems to be harsh. Certainly, these abilities can offer an edge in an initial planet rush, especially on a small map. I'm going to claim that I don't have a full understanding of how useful this could be, but I will say that on most maps I've played, initial money and ship range have played more of a role in determining which planets I can colonize rather than 1 or 2 parsecs per turn. Only in a smaller game with few habitable planets is this power possibly offered at the correct cost. Generally, I would view this as being about as valuable as a +% miniaturization bonus, as space used for engines could be used for something else entirely. I feel like 1-4 points is a more correct range for these powers. Though, this is definitely a power useful only at the beginning of games, and becoming obsolete as the planet rush ends and better propulsion technologies are developed.
Sensors:: Honestly, I pretty much never put sensors on my ships and do alright. I might consider using racial points on Sensors only if the sight range bonus were substantial, like +5-+10 per point. We should be talking Eyes of the Universe caliber upgrades.
Now, the social abilities:
Diplomacy: This power can be very useful at the beginning of the game, in terms of arranging technology exchanges and keeping hostile races from attacking. Generally, the bonus can be dwarfed as the game continues by the Diplomacy bonuses generated by research. The value of this keeps changing as the rules for technology exchange keep getting tweaked. It can be stronger than an economic bonus at the beginning of the game, considering the very large number of BC that can change hands, and weaker than a research bonus as players accrue massive amounts of +10 Diplomacy bonuses from technology. As is, +10 Diplomacy seems to be worth about 1 point to me. (Sorry, I wish I could mathematically compare it to Economics, but that's pretty hard to do.) It could be increased in cost (to up to +10 Diplomacy costing 2 points) if the Diplomacy bonuses from technologies were cut in half (to keep more in line with the Influence bonuses from Influence research.)
Influence: I haven't played yet with the new Influence rules. However, in previous games I've found Influence to be a dreadfully slow way of acquiring territory, even after building several starbases generating +250% or more influence and researching the entire influence tree. It can certainly win a few worlds back and forth, but seems very situational. Opinions from people who know more about how this works would be great. I'd ballpark it in the range of 1 point for +10 Influence.
Others:
There are a myriad of little powers that affect the game in one way or the other. I think if the major abilities are costed with a consistent rational behind them, the other abilities should fall into place.
Edited to adjust Trade Routes value due to typo.
