I have always loved and been slightly annoyed by Minor Races in Galactic Civilizations. What are they really supposed to represent? At the moment they look basically like any other race, but with a set of rather artificial looking and never explained penalties. Why if you can build battleships can't you build colony ships? What is it that stands in their way?
Minor Races should have a unique tech tree that represents their development into a space-faring civilization. At the high end of the tree, all the remaining penalties for being a minor race are removed, so they can build colony ships and colonise worlds (if there are any left by that point). Initially all minor races have a -100% industry tech, which means they simply can't build anything, either buildings or ships, they must make do with their civilization capital and spaceport alone. Minor races cannot research any of the normal techs, unless they get to a certain level on the tech tree. The Tech Tree looks like this.
An Ancient and Powerful Civilization (starting tech)
We are an ancient and powerful civilization on our home world that had taken it's first steps into deep space and realised there was actually little out there for us. That is all we are.
Militery Production- -100%
Social Production- 100%
Soldiering- -50%
Population Growth- -50%
Economy- -50%
Purchase cost increase- 10000%
Hyperdive Production
Despite out handicaps, we have managed to pick up the alien signal transmitting the information about how to produce the hyperdrive. However the obstacles in our path are daunting enough, not only must our scientists actually manage wrack their brains around the concepts involved and then we must manage to work out how to manufacture the hyperdrive. Having done that, we still must manage to assemble a viable intersteller spacecraft and a crew, on our limited resources.
Militery Production- +100%
Planetery Unification
With our successful completion of the hyperdive, our supremacy over our neighbors is demonstrated, our ascending to heavans proves *our* right to rule this world. We must now unify our home-world, all who will not submit to our rule peacefully must be destroyed.
Social Production- +100%
Soldiering- +50%
Population Growth- +50%
Purchase Cost Reduction- 10000%
-25%- morale
Unlocks normal techs.
One-World Government
We may have 'unified' our homeworld, but the unity is superficial. Many continue to resist our rule, which is percieved as oppression. Before we can manage to organise a viable space colonisation program, we will need to create a central government that can rule over the entire world, to replace the present coalition of semi-independant powers under our nominal and resented authority.
Economy- +50%
Morale- +25%
Intersteller Colonisation
We must now determine how to move literally millions of people in massive ships through space. Not an easy task, but one must be achieved, since others have achieved it.
Allows the Minor Race to build colony ships.
Intersteller Civilization
The other races look down upon us as primitives due to our late arrival on the scene. We must now learn about their civilizations and take what we like from them, so that we can pursuade them that we are full Intersteller Civilization as they are.
Removes all remaining penalties (aside from not having a UP seat).
