There's currently 6 different backgrounds to choose from which provide different choices, flavor text, and mechanics to one's playthrough. With that said, some provide more (and better) benefits than others. Present your opinion on how they stack against each other, and tell the why if you can! This can help the devs balance the backgrounds for the future (if they wish to do so) and may even help them provide insight in what mechanics are powerful and intrigue the players the most.
In making my tier list, I tried to make it as objective as possible. To do so, I tried to measure their utility in the hotel's operations (RD and valley) and the major story routes they provide.
Leader seems to be the indisputed best background for me. The major contributing factor would be the ability to get THE extra companion to stay (Pedro and Nikos). An extra companion is immensely useful in racking up points in RD and exploration. Moreover, this also provides much more plot/content. Getting the two biggest personalities to hunker down? OP!
Arts is ranked A-high for me because of a similar reason in Leader-- this lets you get an extra companion. Extra companion = extra points daily + more content. (Plus it has the best T-shirt)
Tech is also ranked high, but I'd rate it lower than Arts. This is because of the free tech point it gives you everyday. Over your playthrough and the length of the game, these tech points will stack up!
Humanities has a similar effect with Tech, but I think it's worse. This is because of the presence of Asterion, who is woefully stuck at RD while you're not hanging out with him. Our moo is good with contracts as he's been exposed to them in centuries, while his tech could use some work. Ask yourself, would you rather be helping him do contracts or covering for his tech? Try playing Math and see those accumulated contract points compared to tech and you will easily come up with the answer.
Math and the one below is significantly worse, I'd wager. Math makes you good at planning ahead-- which is kind of an almost useless skill in this game. Why? The metagame spits on the abilities of a numbers man. Want to know how many days you need to complete this route? Check the wiki. At least you know how many points you've saved up? This isn't actually that good of an info; it doesn't really matter until you need them and meet the requirements. Finally, the save-load system is what really wrecks it. Math can see which combinations it will need to get that upgrade at that day, but so can a time-traveling reloader. Incidentally, save-reloading also allows you to manipulate the chance to get double the materials found in the valley everyday, which is a blow to Math's privilege of gathering materials (during accounting?) with Themba.
Speedrunner is kind of the same place as Math for providing no benefit in obtaining points for upgrades. I haven't actually seen the event for speedrunner turning a danger event to its benefit, can anyone explain? If it's abusable, it may be better than Math in some respect.
In making this list, one can see that extra points reigns supreme in the rankings. This is because it makes you achieve goals quicker (by having more points). An extra companion is at the top because it's 3 to 4 extra points every day compared to no-benefit backgrounds. The passive 1 point per day of Tech and Humanitarian starts out earlier, but will be overtaken by the extra companion as the game drags on. This may change if the hotel will have more than 7 workers (because of the current 3 person/activity limit + hanging out), which will give a slight edge to the passive unconditional 1, as opposed to a wasted companion that stands idle not contributing points. At the bottom would be the backgrounds that have no access to these extra points at all. Each day that passes makes the gap that separates them even wider, leaving them in the dust.
But hey, this is just an attempt at an objective tier list for an optimized playthrough, which is to say nothing about the fun all of the backgrounds have! No doubt the devs would balance out enjoyment between all the routes beyond game mechanics, so rest easy. Anyone with their own list and thoughtd?
Based on what we know right now, I actually agree 100% with your list here on the backgrounds. They don't need perfect parity (like I think Art still can get an extra point of relationship with Asterion that others can't and that's fine), but I think it shows that Math and Humanities are lagging a bit so far (and Speedrunner is its own thing, but that's kinda the point anyway so whatever).
I did have the Speedrunner event fire by having I think Luke and Khenbish out exploring and it was nice having extra mats, but I then didn't have enough tech stat accruing in R&D to use them anyway, so it wasn't very exciting - not having Luke sitting in R&D being a nerd all day means your tech growth is way slow. Coupled with how the story goes with not being able to trick Argos locking you from the choice of recruiting him over P later (I think), I'm still fine putting it a tier below Math and Humanities who at least don't cause this.
Of course, as you said, this is all min-max optimizing, play what you like for your first playthrough! Expect probably speedrunner, save that for >2 like the devs recommen. :P
Math is the best one because of the transparency it gives for R&D and Exploration.
Tech is second because characters stats are a bit lacking in that.
Arts is third because it allows you to recruit one extra character, although it's still too close to the end of the build to really give an impact.
Leader is fourth because like arts it will get an extra character on the next build, plus it's the most helpful for solving argos riddles. however, once you know the solution, it becomes obsolete.
Humanities is fifth as it doesn't really give anything of worth right now.
Speedrunner is last since it actually handicaps you at some points.
Speedrunner is S-Tier for the Moo necklace alone, let alone scaring the shit of Nikos by doing nothing. Also The Anthill and "No homo" on top of the fucking embarrassing shit you say if you choose Kota to tend the lounge. Incredible stuff.
I'd say Leader is the most lacking in this build. The benefit you mentioned isn't available yet, but it's certainly pointing to being top tier. In that sense, Art is S-Tier for this build. Not only do you get to pick between Wolf and Themba (because who isn't picking the dreamboat referred to as Khenbish?) but you get some insight into the inspiration behind Mino with his unique conversations about books Asterion wants to order.
Math(s) has Asterion at his horniest, which is hilarious to me.
Humanities has some of the most reassuring dialogue with Asterion. Their unique conversations about ethics and how the world has changed is incredibly sweet. For that alone, it's worth it.
It's why I chose Humanities for doing the Ruthless Master route. :)
Tech I care least about because all programmers know how to do is throw penis all over their code. Good ability, though.
S - Arts, Leader
A - This space intentionally left blank
B - Tech, Humanities
C - Math, Speedrunner
Arts: You get an extra staff member, a prettier check in desk, and some fluffy feel good stuff where you and Asterion connect over common interests. In the current build this is by far the best background, both crunch (extra stats in work & projects) and fluff.
Leader: I read somewhere something about Nikos' recruitment will be exclusive to leader in future builds. Having extra staff alone elevates leader to S rank; both for the fluff of extra interactions and the crunch of having more stats in work days. That its Nikos in particular elevates it further (god imagine Nikos in the drinking game hah!). Currently (version 0.5) I'd put leader in D rank. Having Argos wrapped around your finger early game is nice, but that seems to be the only current benefit so its almost like playing without a background. When I first played the game and read leader's description, I was under the impression it would help with smoothing over infighting. Like, if it allowed you to put kota and luke on the same team day 1 when they're fighting for example. However everyone gets along too well for that to be a relevant perk going forward unless some unforeseen drama boils up.
I left A rank blank to show the gulf in value between Arts and the rest.
Tech: Now I might be doing my math wrong, but I'm pretty sure the tech background is the only way to get the multitasking achievement. Tech is more valuable to invest in since there are currently two high-tech cost improvements, and only one low-contract cost improvement. Also since Asterion is likely to spend all his time in R&D (outside his obscenely long project), you'll have a lot of contract build up regardless of background. This puts tech above humanities in terms of crunchy value, however both are still very weak in that regard.
Humanities: Being able to subvert Argos early game is the only perk humanities has over its compliment, tech. However due to the points outlined in the tech summary, humanities is almost worthless crunch-wise. There'll need to be a lot more to spend contract points on in the future for this to become worth consideration over tech, let alone arts. If I may be so bold, I would suggest adding unique improvements for tech and humanities to make use of their bonus stats. That alone would elevate them both to A tier. Depending on how valuable or dynamic these bonus additions are, it may even elevate them to S tier. Another thing to consider is the dev's stated desire for this game to be impossible to 100% in any given playthrough. If its say, impossible to 100% tech improvements or 100% contract improvements by end game UNLESS you have tech or humanities respectively, that would also seriously improve their value.
Math: I'm not sure what the benefit of math is supposed to be. I probably missed something, but the only thing I saw beyond dialogue differences that all backgrounds have, math just lets you see what you've stockpiled in tech/contracts/etc so far. Which is convenient that its done automatically for you, but anyone can just keep count in their head or on scratch paper. I've tentatively put this in C tier because I feel like I've missed something. If all you get really is just the resource tracker in work days then this is untiered, aka useless.
Speedrunner: The narrator takes the piss out of the MC and the MC is in kind oblivious; very funny. I like how Argos is confused into submission, even at the cost of not being able to learn his secret. Although the idea of min/maxing dangerous parties for extra rewards sounds nice on paper, in practice I can't see myself bothering with it. Survey resource stockpiles pretty fast so long as you send anyone with a decent survey stat once in a while, so it's not a worthwhile risk to take currently. This background is less C tier and more meme tier, which seems to be the intended goal. I hope for more silliness in future builds. Maybe even 4-th wall sequence breaks that baffle and terrify the whole cast akin to Argos when he first met you.
