more abilities options

Add fewer engines and more weapons.
What's the diff?

He means to exchange points for more power in a certain area.. No way to do it though..

Allowing negatives leads to some serious abuses that are really really difficult to control.

Lets see I take a -10 to soldiering, -50 to defence (which I wont use,) +50 to attack (got to make up for that crappy defence) -10 to militarcy contruction.

Use the points I got from the -20 to get the quick soldering techs that I need to counter. Hell take a -influence factor and never use it, so many ways to abuse in a game like this.

It is possible (I've done it and posted about it in the modding forum). It is a more entertaining way to play (IMHO)... balancing is an issue, but if you really don't want to abuse it, then don't abuse it... it's all up to you how you use a mod that does this. You could easily make a game extra hard by simply giving yourself only negatives, or you can make it easier by getting rid of the things you never use (as stated). I personally like it because you can make races that fit your concept better than before--and I think it makes the game more realistic, because being good at one thing should be a trade-off for another.

But again, it's all an opinion.

Yes, I know. And like I said, you can adjust all you like just by adding or removing components from the ship. No need at all to mod the abilities for something like that.

It really makes no sense at all, considering that you are responsible for the ratio's of these things with each ship you design. At any time you can change the ratio of engine to weapon to defense.

Since all the abilities are relative to zero, negatives don't make much sense either. An increase of anothers positive leaves you in the negative, relatively speaking. If you want the effect of a negative, set yours at zero and increase the others positive.

I'd enjoy seeing abilities that give both a positive and negative (they'd only have one option, on/off, rather then numerous levels of it, for the sake of sanity and convenience). I just always love those 'trade-off' options.

For example
Population planning: The race understands the need for good planning of it's cities and populations, which keeps everyone a bit happier. +5 to Morale, -5% population growth.
Tinkerers: The race in question loves to play around with technology, to try and improve it. Unfortunately this means it dislikes being involved in mass production of anything. +10 to research, -5 to millitary production, -5 to planetary production.
Up-close-and-personal: Your people love nothing more then to see an enemies fear in battle. They do dislike the impersonal nature of space combat, though. +10 to soldiering, -5 to defense, -5 to weapons.
Political animals: The backstabbing nature of politics comes natural to your people. Of course, this means they can't trust each other. +15 to diplomacy, -5 to morale.
Ruled by money: Your people have an almost insatiable lust for money. Unfortunately this means they have few morals when it comes to finding ways to acquire more. +10 to economics, -10 to loyalty.

Heh, even though it's very unlikely these ideas will be used, they were amusing to come up with.

thx sjlunchbox, that was the options i was meaning, a balanced option that, like all yours stated, gives some of a bonus, but also makes it harder to win, because you don't have, or have a negitive bonus in some areas.

ill reiterate on my original preposal right now, and thx to sj, call it warmonger: your race LOVES weapons, the more damage the better, so your race taps into your drive core to get more ooph out of the guns; +10% to weapons, -!)% to speed for each weapon/engin racio. i.e., 5 guns at a total of +50%, 1 engin that has -50% t speed.
said bonus could have multiple levels as well (10%/-10% up to +50%/-50%

Bookish: your ppl love to reaserch, but on the flip side, they don't like inergalactic politics;+ to reaserch= - on influence

the list could be huge!!!!

BUMP for more ideas!!!!!

bump, need more attention on the post