You can develop the most advanced techs, create the most powerful fleet – or you can try to elevate your population with the best available traits.
Whether you choose them at the beginning of the game or acquire them through gene editing, species traits are one of the most important variables determining who sits at the apex of the galactic hierarchy.
If you’ve just come out of a hard-fought playthrough and feel like getting revenge on a universe that rejected your rule, you can get ahead by choosing the right traits.
The following traits will make your species downright OP.
5. Modded Traits
If you’re looking for truly OP traits, you’ll have to abandon Ironman Mode and install some mods.
Infinite Species trait points, massive bonuses to army damage, absurdly efficient resource production – it’s all there!
Believe me when I tell you that Fallen Empires will seem pitiful next to your godlike pops.
4. Luxurious & Custom-Made
I’m sure you’re wondering how a negative trait can be OP.
The reason is simple: the two trait points it grants to be spent on something else.
Luxurious is a robotic trait that makes it 20% more expensive to fabricate Mechanical or Machine pops, but that cost can easily be bypassed by modifying pops you already have. Something similar happens with Custom-Made.
You can have two different templates, one with Mass-Produced or Recycled for fabrication and another for modification.
This grants you two free trait points to spend on other powerful traits like Logic Engines or Efficient Processors when modifying your robotic species.
3. Machine
Machine isn’t a trait you can just get on whatever pop.
It’s exclusive to Machine Intelligences – and that’s what makes it OP.
The trait itself gives you +200% habitability, which is pretty powerful by itself. It also makes your leaders immortal, which is definitely OP – but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Machine Intelligences also have the Gestalt Consciousness ethic, making it harder to crack their encryption, giving them more monthly influence, and lowering War Exhaustion.
The Machine Intelligence government type is probably the best part, as it grants more population per new colony, faster pop assembly, and 10% higher Mining Station output.
So the Machine species trait is a whole package, and it’s a mighty one.
2. Psionic
Acquired from the Transcendence ascension perk, the Psionic trait makes all of your pops psychic – allowing them to communicate telepathically and establish a more direct connection with the metaphysical forces of the universe.
The trait itself grants 10% higher Research and Energy production from jobs.
In addition, it makes your entire society 5% happier – at least the ones connected to the Psionic nexus.
That’s not what makes this trait overpowered, though. Instead, it’s the exclusive technologies and decisions.
You get better ship components, excellent buildings, and the best leaders in the game – including the Chosen One if you interact with the Shroud.
1. Hive-Minded
Like the Machine trait, Hive-Minded is a whole package intrinsically linked to the Gestalt Consciousness ethic and Hive-Mind authority that gives players a clear path to victory.
The trait itself focuses on giving your leaders a longer lifespan and starting their careers much younger. After all, they’re just appendages to a well-developed consciousness that needs no education.
In addition, you get the Gestalt Consciousness bonuses for encryption, influence, and war exhaustion.
You don’t have to worry about happiness either.
What I like the most is the Hive Mind authority, which allows your pops to multiply at a 25% faster rate – a lot more than any other bonus you can get from the start.
Hive-Minded empires are not impossible to overcome. But it’s hard to call them anything but OP.
If we take individual player skill out of the equation, Hive-Minded is by far the best trait.
Nelson Chitty is a Venezuelan expat living in Argentina. He’s a writer and translator passionate about history and foreign cultures. His ideal weekend is spent between leisurely playing games of Civilization VI and looking for the next seinen anime to marathon.
