Strive have a lot of races and some of them have more value than others, here is my tierlist for Vanilla races in mansion and combat group

Judging criteria:

base stats and total base stats - 6 anywhere helps 3 in agility/strenght or 2 in endurance is a problem, 5+ in base magic is good

substance produced during sex  - good for erlygame and alchemy, alvays bonus reward from sex (beastial essence is least valuable imo)

having fur/scales - enchantable with lab for +2 armour, slave can get it from mutation spell

having tail - modeable with mutation and lab, but very good in mana production from sex and sexual development

other bodyparts are useless (wings) or exist for all races

racial bonus - unique for each race, some of them are rl good others can be just pure debuff

Tier S:

Starting from absolute top of the mountain

Dragonkin: jack of all trades and master of one, rare, expensive, great for combat and some jobs alvays good to have

Strenght 6, Agility 4, Magic 5,  Endurance 5 total: 20

produce magic essence during sex

SCALES and TAIL

racial bonus: i dont find any data about bonus strenght/attack for dragonkin i asume 20total stats and 6strenght is already bonus

Drow: Dark race with great magic and decent everything else

Strenght: 4, Agility 5, Magic 6, Endurance 3 total 18

Substance from sex: magic essence

no fur/scales

no tail

Racial bonus: 20% more mana from sex - pretty usefull

Tier A:

Beastkin Cat: useable for starting servant/master race, very good in agility based jobs, good in combat, good in erlygame

Strenght 4, Agility 6, Magic 3, Endurance 3 total: 16

Substance from sex: beastial essence - better than nothing

Fur and tail

Racial bonus: enemy accuracy is multipled by 0.9 when targeting cat (basicly 10% debuff on top of speed rolls)

Note: after this 3 its hard to determine right order in powerlevel and useability of races

Beastkin Wolf: very solid combat race with useable stats out of combat (not best in any particular job, just pretty useable) - mostly that high bcs its useable race for vanilla storymode and Cali with her special perk is good erly companion

Stats: strenght 5, Agility 5, magic 2, endurance 4 total 16

Substance from sex: beastial essence - better than nothing

Fur and tail

Racial bonus: +3 attack in combat - one of the best racial bonuses in the game imo

Seraph: very rare race, harder to get than dragon, but avaible for the start in storymode - king of erlygame

Stats: Strenght 4, Agility 5, magic 3, endurance 3 total 15

Nothing from sex

No fur and no tail

Racial bonus: +4 speed in combat - arguably best bonus in the game goes on top pf all your speed

Tier B:

races who are good, but outclassed by some of the above or have small flaws/too weak bonuses that dont made it highter

Taurus: easy to find in erlygame, alvays useable - great stat for erly fights, good bonus for lategame farm, good endurance for some sexual jobs

Stats: strenght 5, agility 3, magic 2, endurance 6 total stats 16

nothing from sex

tail and no fur/scales

Racial bonus: +20% more milk when working in farm - farm milking is pretty good mid-endgame job

Fairy: easy to find pretty erly (if you know where to go) glass cannon mage

stats: Strenght 2!, Agility 5, Magic 6, endurance 2! total stats 15 - her high magic is alvays wanted for jobs, but i would say its pretty risky to use her for combat

Substance from sex: magic essence

no tail and no fur/scales

Racial bonus: end of the day stress reduction is doubled - good erly, but Strive provide you with so many ways to reduce stress and even trait: quick to do this

Orc: Dragonkin in erly access i would say, good erly find, fall behind better combat races and racial bonus dont give any job value lategame

stats: Strenght 6, Agility 3, magic 1, Endurance 5 total: 15 (Wolf  deal same damage in combat and +2 armour from enchanted fur made 4 base endurance all you need in combat, still great as lumberer, but there are better jobs)

Substance from sex: nothing

no fur and no tail

racial bonus: heal +15% of max hp daily

Centaur: good tank and looter elry, high stamina helps in some cases

stats: strenght 5, agility 5, magic 3, endurance 5 total 18

nothing from sex

tail and no fur/scales

Racial bonus: +40 max energy - synergized with campfire rest and invigorance spell good for chest hunting erly

Beastkin Fox: i decided to include this race here, very good money maker (not the best) useable in combat

stats: Strenght 4, Agility 5, magic 4, endurance 3

Beastial essence from sex

tail and fur

racial bonus +25% more gold from escort (stackable with geisha)

Scylla: here thanks to her high stats, no flaws, fluid substance from sex and unique  and hard to replace talent

Stats: Strenght 5, agility 4, magic 5, endurance 4 total 18

fluid substance from sex - pretty rare

tail and no scales/fur

noticeable problem: 5 tattoes slots (still can go for +2 magic or whatever you prefer, just saying)

Racial bonus: cooking is 10% more effective (replace 2 points in agility for this particular job - not very important bonus and cooking hausekeeper cat have same effectivness for cooking and clean a little bit better,)

Arachna:  best hunter in the game and very balanced race with no flaws, useable with magic

Stats: Strenght 4, Agility 4, magic 5, endurance 4 total 17

Substance from sex: tained essence

SCALES and tail

race bonus +30% food from hunting - made her best hunter in the game

note: Arachna tail is coded in races.gd as tail, but it dont works as normal tail and is not displayed in char info

Tier C:

When i was "building this piramid" i wanted to judge every race in the game based on my criterias and point good and weak points of each race, sadly now we are here.

Races from this tier have some limited unique talents thats are harder to use in practice or simply are too average to go highter

Beastkin Tanuki: this race define this tier, its hard for me to say anything about this race, its too mediocre

Stats Strenght 4, Agility 4, magic 4, endurance 4, total 16

Beastial essence from sex

Tail and fur

racial bonus: when working as mechant gain +25% bonus gold, i dont even know where to start:

merchant is rl garbage job, You need to have supplies for sale and you can sell up to 20 supplies for 5 gold each with 1 Tanuki-Trader

Supplies can be obtain from hunting in pretty good numbers, but market price is already 5 for each and they are useable resources

Harpy:  feathers and not mush else

Stats: strenght 4, Agility 5, magic 3, endurance 3

nothing from sex

tail and no fur/scales

Noticeable problem: 4 tattoes slots

Racial bonus: egg laying is 20% more effective - milking can pretty easily outclass egg laying, but egg laying is more effective without preparations, i would say its not worth to invest in this feature inside farm, investing same amouth of money should give you few milky ladies with 5 pairs of nipples ready to serve

Dryad: good magic race with acceptable stats

Stats: Strenght 3, Agility 4, Magic 5, Endurance 4

substance from sex: Nature essence - only race giving it from sex, still lootable during adventures

no tail and no fur/scales

racial bonus: forage is 40% more effective - problem is usualy same dryad and basicly any person with good agility or specialization for hunting get same amouth of food + supplies on top of that from hunting, when forage is not noticeably easier job

Nereid: having own fishgirl could be nice, lucky they have all sexual features in strive

Stats: strenght 3, agility 5, magic 5, endurance 3, total stats 16

fluid substance from sex

have tail and no scales/fur

Racial bonus: 25% more gold if working as publin entertaiment, pretty good bonus for one of the most profitable non-sexual and non-dangerous job

Demon: nothing like playing as Incubus or tame demon girls to obedience

Stats: Strenght 5, Agility 4 Magic 4, endurance 3

Substance from sex: tained essence

tail and no scales/fur

Racial bonus: lab modifications cost 30% less on demon - worst thing about lab mods are: they take time and some resources, having them 30% cheaper is nice, but they still need same days to complete

Lamia: good stats and its a Snakerace, strongest here

Stats: Strenght 4, Agility 5, Magic 4, endurance 4

Substance from sex: tained essence

Tail and Scales

Racial bonus: enlonged tongue - instead of real bonus  got cheapest lab upgrade (can be obtained in one day) for free

Dark elf: pretty good stat balance

Stats: strenght 4, agility 5, magic 3, endurance 4

no tail and no fur/scales

nothing from sex

Racial bonus: temporary effects from potions and spells last longer - never noticed any effects of this trait. entrancement and beuty potions are only temporary effect that could be extended, but i never noticed check for dark elf race in effects of this

Goblin: best race to breed all/wanted traits inside one person

stats: Strenght 3, Agility 5, magic 3, endurance 3

no fur/scales and no tail

nothing from sex

racial bonus: Pregnacy progress faster - good for vanilla breeding, but even with goblins you might lose patience when trying to create perfect species without moding files to made pregnacy faster

Gnome: i can't believe its not lower tier already, magic 5 is decent for jobs and Chloe exist, borderzone betwen D and C

Stats: strenght 3, agility 3, magic 5, endurance 3

nothing from sex

no tail and no fur/scales

racial bonus: studying is twice that effective - Studying in this game means you get learning points for this character if works in library

not apply to teach option in dates, still somehow useable.

Tier D

This is lowest tier for races in strive, races above tryed very hard to give something unique/usefull, this races was probably designed to be weak

Human: big presence and influence in the map, weak stats and weak bonus + game throwing humans as cannon fodder, 70% of all bandits 

stats: Strenght 5, Agility 3, magic 2, endurance 4 total stats 14

no tail and no fur/scales

nothing from sex

Racial bonus: +50% bonus fear and obedience from meetings - works only in dates

Elf: unlike Dark elf there we have not great stats balance and 5 agility, still strongest in this tier thanks to Ayneris and lab upgrades

Stats: strenght 3, agility 5, magic 4, endurance 3, total 15

nothing from sex

no tail and no fur/scales

racial bonus: when leading during sex obedience incrased by 3-6 - leading by youself gives you more mana than using it, you need high obedience to even use person as lead during sex

Beastkin bunny: i found good usage for  bunny as tamer-farm menager dont require anything (exacly what we have here) and can still use racial bonus to develop all sexuals without huge stress damage

stats: strenght 3, agility 5, magic 3, endurance 3, total 14

Beastial essence from sex

tail and fur

Racial bonus: 50% less stress from sexual jobs, unstackable with nympho and geisha - specializations that incrase money from sexual jobs...

Slime: i kind of like slime race, but arguably its weakest possible race in strive

Stats: strenght 4, agility 6, magic 3, endurance 3, total stats 16

Fluid substance from sex

no tail and no fur/scalles

racial bonus: Toxicity is set to 0 at the end of the day, cant use Laboratory  - bonus... nope even good basic stats and fluid substance cant help there, this race just lost access to all possibly good buffs from lab (agility and strenght, coverage armour, prelonged tongue, this buffs made huge differences for even strongest race)

Last notes even playing with weakest races you can be very strong and rich and fun is alvays most important in games

Human and Tanuki are not best races in tier D and C, they just quite accurate define said tiers in my opinion

Maybe its good idea to put small follow up:

Building perfect Master character:

Master like slaves can drop substances during sex, so taking one of races listed above as ones giving them might be good

Master character can get only sexual traits and cant mutate 

master dont have fear and stress and lust, cant work, 

Best choice would be Race with combat/passive bonus, Master will alvays be in your combat team

and Race with Fur or scales - they can be enchanted for +2 defence endgame and you cant get them

Can get tail and all nice lab upgrades

Best races for master:

1: BEASTKIN WOLF: +4awarness (worse part of agility) +3 damage in combat (better part of strenght) FUR (+2armor lategame) Beastial essence from sex sometimes (worth like 10 gold if you wanna sell it and usefull when crafting pots) Tail useable for additional mana from sex

2: BEASTKIN CAT: 10% chances for enemy to miss when targeting Cats, would call it being best bonus if you dont wanna put too mush points in agility, FUR (+2armor lategame) Beastial essence from sex and tail

3: SERAPH: +4 speed (better part of agility) and humanish or with a little dose of laboratory demonic look ^^

Honorable mentions:

ALL universal racial bonuses that works for master:

Centaur + 40 energy max master have 100 energy everyday so this +40 might be useable

Drow +20% mana from sex (only works for main character orgasms

Demon Cheaper lab upgrades 30% (master is usualy 1st person who gets this upgrades)

Goblin bonus apply, but well you cant get pregnant without vagina and mating partner

Slime - master toxicity is alvays 0 anyway, but "bonus" prevent you from using lab

All races with substances from sex, tail or fur/scales apply to master

Best Gender:

here Having a penis is kind of important (scenes and more mana from sex)

Futanari here is dominating for mana production and number of options that can be used at the same time

Best Specializations:

Slaver - tons of cash made quickly, fluid gear advancement and easier erlygame

Mage - better mana costs, in events and in spellcasting, more damage from spells - i would suggest using it with high magic affinity stats

Hunter - starts with normal dagger, better enemy detection (easier to avoid strong groups erly), better rewards from combat

Alchemist - can print infinite money after finishing storymode :D, cant do mush with bonus prebuild alchemy workshop

Building Stats:

i dont wanna tell you how you should most effectivly set your own ingame stats, its your own build and strenght of it is determined by how well you will be able to use it, but i ll try to explain what every single statistic brings to the table:

Strenght: every point gives +3 attack in combat and increase amouth of items(loot/provisions) you can have in combat team (maximum carry weight) +4

Agility: commonly known as strongest stat in the game, but it might be funnier to actually have it in reasonable numbers, every point gives +3 speed and awarness

speed works a little bit tricky once you reach 40+ you starting to feel powerfull

Magic: every spell (with few exceptions) have own calculations for magic: Heal, ming blast, sedation, fear, acid spit and so on

Endurance: every odd point gives you +1 action daily(+1 more date and +1 more sex) (in Version 0.524c+) also every point increase max/starting HP +50 each (*)

You might consider:

Starting with chestsize Average or bigger (if you wanna have hollow nipples lab upgrade you must have tits minimum in that size)

^it dosnt rl matter and nipplefuck is not good action, but its just something you can take for easier unlock later

My personal best:

Beastkin Wolf

Male (futanari is better for mana from sex, but i just dont rl like futas i dont even like furries, i just like being big bad and wild in bed and have this Warewolf vide when i play)

Mage (i have mana problems because i like casting spells)

Stats:

Strenght: 7 - big bad wolf (i wanna hit like a truck)

Agility 6 - i had to remove 1 point from somewhere and better be master of hard hitting than master of none

Magic 2 - spells i like the most dont need magic affinity as mush and i prefer to use melee combat and violence or totaly avoid conflicts

Endurance 3 - Enchanted Fur helps me here a lot in case of survival, its not wise to fight with low basic HP so i could not go lower and it was rl good to take that +1 for 1 more sex and 1 more date daily