I did a thread on this pre release and now that everybody knows the game better I think its time for a redux. I think each should be rated based on early game and late game utility. Also, I'll use a 3 point scale. 1 for minimal to no utility. 2 for functional but not extraordinary utility. 3 for extraordinary utility.
I won't clog up the post with the description of every commander. If you need a reminder of what each does I suggest the wonderful Paradox Wiki article on them: https://survivingmars.paradoxwikis.com/Commander_Profile
Inventor
Autonomous Drone Hubs is worth a 3 in and of itself. Early game saving electronics maintenance is a huge deal. Late game you have enough drone hubs that the electronics maintenance savings stays relevant. Add on that your drones gradually become better as time passes and Inventor is a very powerful commander.
Oligarch
The bonus fuel production is nice but not game changing. Early its a great bonus to getting your rocket turnover a bit faster. Later it just translates into needing fewer fuel refineries. In the grand scheme fuel refineries are cheap so minimal utility.
Hydro Engineer
Doctor
The lowered birth comfort threshold is also good but not great. With the infirmary it gets the comfort threshold down to 35 which is the base comfort of the apartments. That is fine but if you are doing things right its not needed. Late game its very easy to have high comfort even in apartments. So Doctor is a functional early game pick with both its late game perks getting made obsolete in late game.
Psychologist
The extra sanity regain would be great if it worked. I am rating as if it were functional. The thing about sanity breaks is they aren't emphasized enough. The first time you get a notification. Then the breaks happen invisibly and they typically either recover with no downside or get a negative trait. The Psychologist bonus recovery would reduce the occurrence rate dramatically.
Politician
Futurist
Ecologist
Astrogeologist
Rocket Scientist
A second rocket when you only have 1 is a good quality of life improvement. However its honestly not so good as to call it exceptional. Early on with the hard sponsors you are limited by your fuel generation as much as your lack of rockets. You might not have the spare water to run extra fuel refineries. Your overall resources are already stretched thin enough its not always possible to pay the extra cost to make that 2nd rocket fully functional. Still it is very nice to have that extra rocket sitting back at earth if you realize you will be needing more resources soon. So its a solid 2. Definitely functional.
Starting with the Shuttle Hub tech is nice. It lets you expand to far flung locations sooner and saves on having to do the early game robotics rush to get the tech.
I won't clog up the post with the description of every commander. If you need a reminder of what each does I suggest the wonderful Paradox Wiki article on them: https://survivingmars.paradoxwikis.com/Commander_Profile
Inventor
Early game: 3
Late game: 3
Late game: 3
Autonomous Drone Hubs is worth a 3 in and of itself. Early game saving electronics maintenance is a huge deal. Late game you have enough drone hubs that the electronics maintenance savings stays relevant. Add on that your drones gradually become better as time passes and Inventor is a very powerful commander.
Oligarch
Early game: 3
Late game: 1
Arcology is a massively impactful building in small domes. The space savings from having an Arcology in your starting dome is a very big deal and makes things much easier. But its benefit doesn't end there. Its also high base comfort so its easy to start generating the master race...I mean martianborn. Obviously Arcology is a no utility late game bonus because you can research it eventually on everybody.Late game: 1
The bonus fuel production is nice but not game changing. Early its a great bonus to getting your rocket turnover a bit faster. Later it just translates into needing fewer fuel refineries. In the grand scheme fuel refineries are cheap so minimal utility.
Hydro Engineer
Early game: 2
Late game: 2
Assured water near you at start. Great, like it. Water savings on domes. A small starting bonus that grows dramatically the more domes you make. Do not underestimate how much water your domes are drinking up. The water spire is unfortunately a filler pick. It fits thematically but its a tier 1 tech that often lands in the 1000 cost bracket. Still for the water savings alone and starting water deposit it gets a solid 2 in both early and late.Late game: 2
Doctor
Early game: 2
Late game: 1
Starting with the longer life span is good. Not great though because its not something you'll feel for quite a while. Also its something you'll be researching eventually so no late game utility.Late game: 1
The lowered birth comfort threshold is also good but not great. With the infirmary it gets the comfort threshold down to 35 which is the base comfort of the apartments. That is fine but if you are doing things right its not needed. Late game its very easy to have high comfort even in apartments. So Doctor is a functional early game pick with both its late game perks getting made obsolete in late game.
Psychologist
Early game: 2
Late game: 2
Early on you need your people working. Not sitting in a Sanitorium. Still you tend to be able to free up your workers for self improvement before it becomes convenient to research the Sanitorium.Late game: 2
The extra sanity regain would be great if it worked. I am rating as if it were functional. The thing about sanity breaks is they aren't emphasized enough. The first time you get a notification. Then the breaks happen invisibly and they typically either recover with no downside or get a negative trait. The Psychologist bonus recovery would reduce the occurrence rate dramatically.
Politician
Early game: 3
Late game: 3
500M starting cash and 20% more cash from all gains. Money translates into almost anything you like and your colony survives in those early days on the money from its exports. Later having the ability to supplement whatever you want with a cargo rocket is no small thing.Late game: 3
Futurist
Early game: 1
Late game: 1
Futurist is famous for being the commander with the highest score bonus because it has the worst bonuses. Does it deserve this? Oh...yes. Autonomous sensors is a tier 1 tech. Its a high priority tier 1 tech but still just tier 1. As for the breakthrough research bonus its...there and it works. A little bit less time spent on research isn't going to be turning any heads. Though it does make some of the Mysteries much easier. *cough* Wildfire *cough* Still overall the weakest commander so if you want your commander to have the least impact possible this is the way to go.Late game: 1
Ecologist
Early game: 2
Late game: 1
The main benefit of Ecologist is having early access to the Hanging Garden. 30 more comfort in the entire dome is highly functional and useful. Brings apartments over the birth threshold and boosts morale which is an overall productivity increase. If you can swing the 2 water cost which is twice what a small dome drinks. The comfort bonus to decorations is ironically overshadowed by the Hanging Garden which performs the same role as decorations (meets the same interests) but is better at it.Late game: 1
Astrogeologist
Early game: 3
Late game: 2
10% better extractors stays good forever. You absolutely must build your first dome in range of rare metals so assured starting rare metals deposit is very good. Starting with deep scanning is my favorite of these bonuses though. Its not just a bonus to Blue Sun. There is a layer of anomalies in deep scanning. So your early game is boosted significantly by getting access to those anomalies.Late game: 2
Rocket Scientist
Early game: 2
Late game: 1
These ratings are for the hard sponsors. If you already have 6 rockets this sponsor is almost completely useless.Late game: 1
A second rocket when you only have 1 is a good quality of life improvement. However its honestly not so good as to call it exceptional. Early on with the hard sponsors you are limited by your fuel generation as much as your lack of rockets. You might not have the spare water to run extra fuel refineries. Your overall resources are already stretched thin enough its not always possible to pay the extra cost to make that 2nd rocket fully functional. Still it is very nice to have that extra rocket sitting back at earth if you realize you will be needing more resources soon. So its a solid 2. Definitely functional.
Starting with the Shuttle Hub tech is nice. It lets you expand to far flung locations sooner and saves on having to do the early game robotics rush to get the tech.
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