The Lizards
They're green, they're big, they're nasty
This race of lizard creatures developed on a warm and marshy planet
thousands of years ago. Many millennia ago these creatures were little more than just
amphibious frog like creatures. As time passed and they evolved, they moved from the
swampy areas of their planets to the more rugged and warmer mountainous areas. As they
were moving into these warmer, rocky, areas they very closely resembled the iguanas of
Earth. Several thousand years ago a meteor struck the planet. This meteor apparently
contained many unstable radioactive elements that were released into the atmosphere of the
Lizard's homeworld.
These radioactive elements caused and amazing mutation in the genetic code of the
Lizards. The mutation caused this race to grow and change. Their cranial capacity enlarged
and their brains grew. They started to stand upright and developed an opposable thumb.
After several hundred years of unstable genetic code their DNA finally stabilized once
again and they now appear very humanoid. Though they had become very humanoid in manner
and appearance they still retained much of their amphibian and reptilian ancestry.
Although they walk upright like a human their bodies are covered with a tough scaly hide.
They average a height of seven feet. They are also enormously strong and durable. Even as
their bodies grew faster and larger, their intelligence grew at a proportional rate. They
became very intelligent and developed all the facets of government and science that they
needed to form a strong and advanced society. They even developed the technology they
needed to explore space and to protect their worlds. The one problem that this race has
yet to overcome is a horrible lisp that seems to plague all of their kind.
Race advantages
The Lizards are a very tough and hardy race. Because of this, any starship manned by a
Lizard crew is able to take 150% damage before being destroyed. This ability is not really
based on any special talent or skill the Lizard's possess but more the fact that they are
so tough that they can literally hold the starship together. When they are really in
trouble they can just shove a few crew members into the holes in the hull and plug the
leaks and the crew apparently suffers no ill effects from this maneuver.
The Lizards have a very powerful ground attack ability. When Lizard clans are
downloaded onto the planet (pg. 25, Table 2.3 ) they destroy thirty (30) enemy clans to
every Lizard clan. This 30:1 ratio is the HCONFIG.EXE default setting. It is recommended
that this remain at default because it is within game balance. The Lizards are able to
very easily take over enemy planets this way, and it seems to save on the wear and tear on
the starships. Be wary, as the number of defense outposts increase on an enemy planet, the
30:1 ratio decreases.
The massive strength and power of the Lizards makes them exceptional miners. The
Lizards are able to extract minerals at 200% of the normal rate.
Race disadvantages
The lizards, like many other races, lack a really big warship which will hold it's own in
battle. When it comes to fighting large carriers, the Lizards are forced to often
sacrifice two of their ships in order to kill a large enemy ship, or resort to clever
tactics.
Special mission
The Lizards have a special "HISSSSSSSSSS" mission. Lizard ships on this mission
will hover over planets, transmitting threatening radio and video messages to planetary
populations. The fear of big Lizards stomping on their planet tends to keep both native
and colonist populations "happy". Whether or not they are really happy or just
pretending to be happy has yet to be determined, but either way nobody seems to grow angry
while being hissed, even when taxed very heavily.
Battleships
The Lizards have a formidable and versatile fleet, ranging from small ships that have
cloaking devices to large battleships. Their most useful ships are the Lizard Class
Cruiser, used to transport Lizard groundtroops to enemy planets, the T-Rex, the Lizard's
biggest torpedo ship, and the Madonzilla - the Lizards' only carrier.
Special ships
The Lizards have stolen the plans to two special Federation ships, and can build them too.
The Eros Class Research Vessel will make a planet cooler until climate type 50 is reached,
which is a perfect temperature for the Lizards. The Loki Class Destroyer that can decloak
enemy ships within 10 lightyears.
Gameplay in short
With their 200% mining rate and HISS mission the Lizards are able to get a quicker start
than any other race. It is best to exploit this strength to the fullest, by being
aggressive early on. The strong Lizard groundtroops can take out most enemy planets, and
if push comes to shove the Lizard Class Cruiser can carry enough weaponry to take out most
enemy planets and smaller ships. The Lizards are likely to be able to build some T-Rexes
and Madonzillas before their neighbors get around to building their big battleships, which
allows the Lizards to threaten enemy homeworlds pretty early. Later on in the game the
Lizard will have to make sure he has sufficient ships to trade 2 to 1 against large enemy
carriers.
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