I mean firstly, calling my opinion on this matter wrong makes me not want to listen to your side of the argument. I would genuinely enjoy the game more, both in terms of RP and strategy, if the options were more in balance. Judging from this thread, I'm not the only one.

People won't really listen to your arguments if you shout "You're wrong" at the first sign of disagreement.

I'm fine with people enjoying empire playstyles that are sub-optimal and I'm fine with them being in the game. I'm just saying the core empire choices (i.e. Spiritualist Vs Materialist) shouldn't be as one-sided as they currently are. I too enjoy RP-ing a race with clear downsides, but when I play with friends it becomes less fun to RP when I'm not just sub-optimal, I'm laughably underpowered.

This is what people like me want; not to remove all downsides or ability to play an empire with clear negatives. I want Robots to not be laughably better than everything else and stuff like Spiritualists be drastically underpowered. That way people like me can RP without being crushed from the early game, which isn't fun.

Also, the strategy element of this game is clearly a large part. Not only do many users enjoy the strategy side of Stellaris, but the Devs have made multiple balance changes in order to cater to the strategy minded players.

It is totally possible to please both RPers and Strategists in a game like Stellaris.