The last map I played had both the Drengin and Yor and what you describe definitely happened. Drengin had only 3 planets and the Yor only had its original 2 when everyone else was in the 10-15 range (on a huge map). It's not epidemic though, as I've had games where both expand at the usual rate.

I have noticed this as well. It was all the races not expanding at all, until i deleted my prefs file (twice i might add). Now the evil races seem to just turtle. They seem to go after 50% or less of the amount of planets the others do.

I've noticed a lack of expansion as well. On the other hand, the Torians, Altarians, and Drath Iand the Krynn) see, to expand like gangbusters in my game--especially the Torians. The Drengin and Yor usually just have their home system and maybe one other planet and that's about it. I've noted this at the painful level and above.

profxyz, I don't think its your mod. Will stardock read this thread or should it be posted somewhere else? Thanks in advance

I have tried quite a few tests and real games. I always try to make sure they have a good position with regards to a cluster of stars to work with. They are not in a remote corner. Abundant does seem to help but not always. I still feel there is an issue here. Sorry if I am coming across wrong way but just trying to help. This is a great game.

Depends on the "Human Mind". Some of the minds I work with couldn't out think a toaster.

diddo

Piznit, they generally take the planets in their immediate sector, but not beyond that. Even the Arceans, with their speed penalty, will expand more quickly.

And they are building colony ships.

Here's a screenshot

Sorry it's small and fuzzy, but you can see that there are four Drengin colony ships parked on Drengi. And while their home system is in kind of a lonely spot, they have tons of scouts roaming around (as the AI always does) and have had ample time to secure some of the planets to the south and west.

The Yor have the same problem. Heck, they failed to colonize a planet one sector away before the Krynn beat them to it from six sectors away. How many colony ships orbiting their homeworld? Five.

Notice that even the Arceans, who truly are in a lonely corner of the galaxy and have their natural speed penalty, managed to secure some planets during the rush.

This has happened on three different Immense games. Abundant stars, common habitable planets, very slow tech. Always the Drengin and the Yor (I haven't played a game with Korath in ToA yet).

correction to my prev post... they only colonize near their own sector and I was hitting cntl-n not alt-n to gen the new maps. sorry

Mistralok,
I have had problems with system freezing up after using cntl-n too many times so I use it sparingly, quit then come back in fresh. But I will check to see if its impacting intelligence as this would not be what I want, thanks for the pointer. I did start a game with first map it generated and korath yor and drengin did very poorly on expansion. This can also be duplicated by simply starting a game and observing the race circles on the map while hitting turn key. The game is still fantastic and it just keeps getting better.

Maybe some real alpha testing should be done.

Guess I'll continue to wait to buy TA. I don't know why I keep hoping for better out of SD. It's a shame. Such an amazing game ruined by lack of discpline.

Hire a few real testers for Christ's sake. Actually test your changes before throwing them out to your paying customers.

OR at least immeadiately acknowledge a post like this.

thanks for that horrifying image which i will never get out of my head