The top 3 isn't a surprise when you consider the others (and assuming Mercs is excluded).  2 have terrible Steam ratings, which imo are fair and the third is quite niche.  As for the order I would have probably listed Precursor Worlds 1st and Snathi second, but not unhappy to see them up there.

My personal favourite would be either the Snathi or the Builder's Kit.  I was more excited for the Snathi, but I probably use the Builder's Kit more.  I wouldn't mind seeing a Snathi work up for some of the old races that aren't coming back via story.  Though I can already picture the Steam threads on that.  A new race would also be cool.

First the mandatory statement: Squirrel Power!

Would like Race/National based Space Heroes/Governors with personalities better than Mercenaries, but that is me. They feel more at home somehow. More races in general sounds good too. You can probably never have enough of them. Ever! Make some female space elf race, and watch the money roll in. Yeah, I'm being sarcastic now. That is so MoO II. Go for FemBots instead. Or Terran Jenna Casey 2.0.

Much as I love the Snathi and insist the game was incomplete without them, I have to say that the Precursor worlds and anomalies have provided the most "fun" to the overall experience.

I also like the Mercs.  If nothing else, the early scouting opportunities greatly improve that stage.  I don't find the combat Mercs very useful, but I think that is a matter of playstyle more than anything and I expect that others enjoy them.  The only drawback is that during cooperative multiplayer gameplay, there seems to be a bit of a divisive issue over who finds their local bazaar first and gets the really good Mercs.  

I really would appreciate a DLC that fleshes out some of the listed events things in the games, such as colonization events, anomalies, Mega Events, etc.  I really appreciate the recent colonization events mod as an example of such effort from the community.  But those lists all feel very finite and repeated, especially with larger galaxies and multiple games played.  I would also want the commercial quality art that would go with those expanded lists as well.  More eye candy please!  The Mega Event list feels seriously limited and repetitive over several games, and this prevents me from praising it as much as the Precursor DLC.  Otherwise, it would be my second favorite.

I have often felt it would be fun to make the Battle Viewer more interactive by making the free camera mode joystick-aware and allowing for recordings of spectacular views of spectacular battles.  Personally, I don't have the eye-hand coordination required, but several in my family do, and would love to pilot an invisible camera ship through my battles, controlling speed, angles, zoom, everything needed for full amateur cinematic production ready for posting.  They tend to drool at the concept.  I don't know if that could be the basis of a DLC, but it seems like something that could be popular.  Nothing shows off custom ship designs quite like seeing them in combat.  With close-ups.

I will put in a personal thank you for the ship parts DLC,  I think it addresses a very niche audience, but I am in that niche.    My ships "Daisy" and "Fleet Commandingeer" were enabled by and feature those parts.  Thanks to the ship designer designers!!

I played Eador: Masters of the Broken World a few years ago. The late game turn times were really long, around 30-40 seconds, so I used that time to do some pushups. It was great!

Just finished Rise of Terrans DLC, pretty good.  Got some more ideas for future DLC:

• Story scenarios are fun
• New races don't need new Tech trees - A new leader model + trait is flavorful enough.
• There should be a trait that allows you to research all tech specializations, but at a price - The last mission of the RoT campaign was a bit challenging because the starting tech tree had so many specialization choices I didn't like.  Made me think this was a fun domain for racial traits.  The disadvantage could be something as crazy as "tech costs for tech specializations are doubled".

I don't mind Mercs too much and am not sure it deserved quite as much hate as it's been given, but it could benefit from some depth.

I like trying to gobble up anomalies and getting paid 100bc every time I pick one up is always going to make me happy in the early game given that I manage my economy about as well as George Osborne.

I would like to see more, and more diverse, mercenary vessels either through further dev or modding. As the game goes on and you find and discover things and mega events happen would lend themselves to a bit of diversity among the hired guns.

I wonder if it would be possible to tie in the pirate mechanic from Sins to the mercenary section. Hire a fleet (from a choice of several 'mercenary groups'...different strengths and weaknesses allowing you to take advantage of the techs your enemy favours) to attack a particular enemy - it becomes a pirate type faction that spawns a fleet that will only attack that enemy for a number of turns and then will disappear. You can then coordinate your attacks with them, but you don't get to control them directly or keep them just to make it a bit less imba.

Precursor worlds and mega events are good though. Anything that adds diversity to the galaxy. I wonder if anything governs what 'special resource' you get on a planet, or what 'special tiles' you get. Nothing more frustrating than finding a world that promises a buff to research only to colonise it and it's full of stuff that improves influence or food...dammit I wanted a science world!!

Next DLC will have terror stars and faction political parties yes?

A little late to this discussion but here is my opinion. I care more about DLC that expands the sandbox mode, not about campaigns or cosmetic things. Though if you guys port over the campaigns of the previous GC games I won't complain.

DLC ranked by how much I enjoyed them

1. Mercenaries - it's great to see the Arceans and Torians again. The mercenaries are also interesting, although I feel there could be more of them. The campaign, really it's just one scenario, feels rather short, however I do like the events in it. I kinda feel 20$ is rather high for what if offers, maybe 15$ would have been better. Also the AI doesn't seem to purchase mercenaries that much. In my current game only one AI has hired a mercenary.

2. Revenge of the Snathi - I really like the Snathi because they bring something new to the game, their Scavenge ability. The scenario while rather short it was nice to have a different perspective other than the Terrans. I would like it if the Arnorian Wardens, I really like the design of their ships, were somehow added to sandbox mode.

3. Mega Events - I enjoy things that can shake up the status quo. Although I think this DLC had the misfortune of causing confusion because of its the name and people not realizing that several mega events were added to the base game in a patch.

4. Lost Treasures - new colonization events with interesting rewards. What's not to like?

5. Rise of the Terrans - this got to #5 because I'm not interested in making maps or designing ships. The "new" civilization is just a reskinned Terran Alliance, they even have the exact ship syle. The campaign was rather good, although I would have preferred if the Xendar and Stellar Guild would have at least gotten a face. I would also like it if the Stellar Guild and Xendar were added to the sandbox as minor civilizations.

6-7. Builders Kit & Map Pack - I'm just not interested in creating maps, since I prefer random games, or designing ships, I care more about what components they have than what they look like. Although I acknowledge that there are people who do enjoy these things.

Soundtrack - this isn't ranked since doesn't actually add anything to the game but I enjoy listening to the game's soundtrack.

One last thing I would like to state. It is my impression that Stardock believes what players want from DLC are new campaigns, this is based on several statements from Brad and what the next scheduled DLC are. At least in my case this is not true and I believe that the Snathi DLC is the best selling one because it adds a new major civilization with a new and interesting ability, new tech tree and a new ship style.

By far the best DLC is Gauntlet's Race Mod. It includes 20 new faction, with 18 new unique ship styles (they are beautiful), and 15 new minor races. It also includes other mods, but that right there makes it the best DLC ever. And it is free!

Seriously, I feel some of the (Stardock) DLC are weak, and opportunities to make them stronger were not taken. In fact, they have gone downhill. Precursor Worlds and Mega Events were excellent. More recently, Rise of the Terrans was a thin parts pack and a ship style, and Altarian Prophecy was another thin parts pack with two new ship styles. I really feel that both 'should' have included new playable factions (UE doesn't count, since it replaces the Terrans), at least for the money I paid. Snathi was a good middle ground (I would have preferred a serious faction to the tongue-in-cheek Snathi, though).

I love this game, I am very fond of Stardock, and I don't like being negative. However, compared to other games I play (Shogun, Civ5), there just isn't enough in the DLC. I've stopped buying them as gifts and I've stopped recommending them. I may stop buying them for myself if the current trend continues.

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