Is there a concise list of the strengths and weaknesses of the various empires ie major races?
Yes.
http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... _Übersicht
This page does just that, and you look at that before choosing as you may make assumptions that are not true.
Also note that the people of those empres have expectations of what you will do as their leader. This shows how they expect you will lead. My old mentor had an expression. "Are you willing to break your leg in that ditch?" ie where is your line in the sand? What did you insist on as your ethos and what will you not deviate from under your leadership?
The people in your home sector, in your colonies, in the minor race's home sector all have a score based on what they think versus the morality of your people. Here is that score on levels.
value Section Stringtable.txt German text English text
175-194 [FANATIC] fanatical fanatic
155-174 [LOYAL] loyal loyal
131-154 [PLEASED] pleased pleased
100-130 [SATISFIED] satisfied satisfied
76-99 [APATHETIC] apathetic apathetic
50-75 [ANGRY] upset angry
30-49 [FURIOUS] upset furious
0 - 29 [REBELLIOUS] rebellious rebellious
Leaders wish they could please all the people, but this is impossible with not just the people on an entire planet, but the various people in an entire sector which can be 100 billion people, not 8.
And as leader, war is ugly. Bombing a planet makes some unhappy. Invading a entire sector of planets upsets moms and dads who sons and daughters are on that combat mission. A leader may order intelligence operatives and sleeper agents to perform espionage and be saboteurs.
But they also do research, feed the people, create infrastructure, protect their sectors with soldiers, etc. So all oif the leaders actions are measured and some minor alienrace's join your empire and they have a different cultural ethosthat may be radically different than your major alien race.
Think of the Roman Empire conquering away in what is now western civilization, but then all around the Mediterrean Sea, and they all had different culture and motivations. You can't please everyone and sometikes you as a leader will just be trying to go for a happy medium.