The first thing I noted when I fired up the game is that Big Huge Games seems completely serious about making the game's races distinct from one another. Everything in the game, from the artwork to strategic feel of the particular races, is built on the basic philosophy and mindset of that race. The Vinci, the first race I tried, are not just technologists, but like their Renaissance inspiration, they're also artists and craftsmen. That means that the entire philosophy of the Vinci is predicated on the creation of things that will stand the test of time (or, in the case of their military, a brutal pounding from their opponents.) Therefore, every element of the player's strategy needs to be predicated on the concept of building large, tough, expensive things.
This is amply demonstrated right from the beginning of play. Both sides share similar city building mechanics in that each will build specialized districts around a city hub that offer different bonuses and make different units or abilities available. The Vinci, however, have a unique building (the prototype factory) and a unique district (the industrial district). These two areas are tightly linked in that for every industrial city built, the player gets one free upgrade from the prototype factory. These start out with things like a robot miner or the ability to arm resource gatherers. For every new industrial district built, the player gets another trip to the factory for bigger bonuses that include things like soldier monocles that improve ranged attacks to an experimental transforming robot named "Zeke" that can change from a scoutbot to a siege engine.
The utility of this element is obvious. It gives players more flexible strategies to use at the start of every game. Depending on the size and type of map they're playing and their estimate of their opponent, they may judge that armed civilians are what's needed to stop a rush. On the other hand, perhaps they're in a resource-poor section of the map and need robot miners to ramp up their Timonium production.
Here's the rub, though. Every bonus unit or new ability granted by the prototype factory (or any of the Vinci development trees for that matter) shuts out the ability to take one of the other bonuses for that level and is also dependent upon building increasingly expensive additions onto cities. In fact, the cost for everything ramps up really quickly for the Vinci, meaning that players are going to have make some tough decisions about whether that 400 Timonium is better used for another military district or a few platoons of foot soldiers. Since even low-level military units are much more expensive than their cheap, disposable Alim counterparts, it's very easy for players who focus on building a large Vinci army to find themselves out-researched by an Alim opponent. Facing a Glass Dragon with just a few basic Clockwork Men isn't a Vinci's idea of a fun afternoon. On the other hand, focus too much on research and Vincis run the risk of being overwhelmed by sheer numbers and not having enough footsoldiers to storm and take over enemy cities.