I like adding my favorite sci-fi races to games like this so, after messing with the in-game custom race creator, I tried to go & do some advanced editing of the race I had just finished only to find that it had been saved in a .faction format which I couldn't figure out how to edit, so I have a feature suggestion for the in-game race creator, next to the "Save Race" button add an "Advanced Save Options" button that when clicked brings up a list of 2 advanced save option check boxes.

Check box 1, "Save in .xml" that, when checked, makes the game save the new race as .xml files when you click the "Save Race" button.

Check box 2, "Save in both .faction & .xml" that, when checked, makes the game save the new race as .faction & .xml files when you click the "Save Race" button.

This would make it simple for basic players to make a simple custom race like they can now & would give modders a much simpler way to create whole new races for the game by allowing them to create a simple custom race as a basic template, then preform advanced modification to its files.