So I wanted to take a moment and provide feedback on the current state of the culture choices, aka which choices I think are good ones and which one is "no choice at all". Adventure Stellar Nav vs Space Fervor (Balanced): I think Space Fervor is superior when there are planets to colonize but sometimes in your immediate space available planets are few, and the +2 nav is quite handy at all points of the game. Frontier Spirit vs Space Explorers (Balanced): I use both depending on circumstance. Space Socialites (Weak): Of the three branches I find this one the weakest of the "no choice" selections. Spending culture to get more culture is always a questionable proposition, and I don't find tourism worth so much money that this becomes a good tree. Emphatic Diplomats vs Xeno-Tolerance (Balanced): Just depends on your current playstyle. Legendary Leader vs Galaxy Quest (Balanced): I use G Quest most of the time, but if I push this tree early (like with a Nova culture rush)...then an early legendary leader can be very useful. United Federation: (Slightly Weak): I would say the weakest of the 3 branches for its end pick, but not so much I don't pick it. Overall (Slightly Weak): I find that the Adventure tree is overall the weakest of the 3 trees in most scenarios. Not so much that I never use it, but I think the other trees have more core, solid benefits. Wealth Overmining vs Space Rush (IMBALANCED - Space Rush): I want to pick overmining, I really do, it seems like a solid benefit. But Space rush is the most powerful culture pick in the game. First, it gives you an immediate jump start on securing early asteroid belt, which creates a tremendous snowball effect (early asteroid = more production = more ships). That would be solid enough, but the permanent -50% cost to output ships is too much...it saves you so much production in the long term that it completely overshadows overmining...even if you don't make that many outpost ships. Astro-Mining Guild vs Space Privateers (Leans Left): I think the production bonus tends to be more useful, as does the leader...so I think AM Guild is a better pick the vast majority of the time. But I do use S Privateers on occasions. MegaCorporations (Balanced): Does the job. Master Geologists vs Aggressive Terraforming (Balanced): Both of these are rock solid and fun. Interstellar Geology vs Planetary Prospectors (Balanced): Another very fun one. Trade Federation (Balanced): A great solid capstone Overall (Balanced): There's nothing in the wealth tree that's bad, I like every decision I make. Knowledge Astronomy Culture vs Deep Space Initiative (Leans Left): I imagine that DSI would be good on very large, very spread out maps. On the normal settings, I find Astronomy Culture superior, even if I'm in an isolated pocket. The problem with range is that I can't always get out there to take advantage of it, whereas finding new things in my backyard is something I can take immediate advantage of. Asteroid Archeology vs Cosmic Wisdom (Balanced): If you have a lot of little asteroid fields around, AA is a crazy good culture pick (it may be one of the strongest in the game). But if I don't have the right conditions, Cosmic Wisdom helps me find new exploitable plants quicker and that is always of benefit. Theory of Everything (Weak - Strong...random): I personally do not like the random element here, as nothing else you play with culture wise is this random. Sometimes the techs are amazing, sometimes it feels like a waste. I wish it was "choose 2 techs 1 level below you max level" or something of that nature. Eco-Sensibility vs Planetary Consciousness (Balanced): Both are good benefits. My only suggestion is maybe add something more to the tooltips...the two benefit names are so similar it can be hard for newer players to know what you mean. Xenoresearchers vs Universal Academia (balanced): Depends on playstyle, both can create extremely useful bonuses. Cosmic Society (Strong): Probably the best capstone of the 3 trees, the early breakthrough chance is immense when you picking up those late game techs. Overall: Balanced.... comparing it to Wealth...I like every choice in Wealth, in Knowledge some choices are think are meh but some are really good...so both come out good to me depending on what I'm going for.
