I am looking forward to trying a few things.

One prediction I have is, less techs will make a stronger tech race. They will focus on what's critical to supplement their playstyle, and possibly gain a tech advantage as they'll be at later game techs while other races are in early eras. I think some of the dev comments are wrong about an AI not using one of the three weapon types will be disadvantaged, in large maps with multiple opponents they will have 33% (or more) bonus firepower all things being equal, as the enemy AI's ships will be matched to defend against the third weapon type that has been removed from the dual weapon race. This should make them more effective overall at expansion, vs anyone but the human player.

The exception to this rule about reducing techs is - More techs might make a stronger trading race, if they tech trade frequently.

In fact the main balancing factor, for me, will be custom techs people add for a race. It might be fun to have one or two super races that really have nasty tech but probably not as a general rule, you'll want it balanced for gameplay purposes. For instance I plan to build a race that for every tech they research they anger people, lose population or gain other negatives, while gaining great benefits too, so they become like a glass canon race. A race that is going to go extinct or spiral into wars on all fronts, with large advantages to balance that quick spurt of growth or endless war.

There is a lot you can do already if you put your mind to it, and we should see some interesting race designs.

 

Really, really, really hoping for being able to add custom dialogue too, pretty please stardock