Hi lost,

By no means am I a gun but here goes: Altarians and Iconians are both excellent research civs. Regards your strategy... I would say that everything flows from the economy. Therefore, focus on getting your populations up fast (low taxes to keep pop at maximum growth early) and invest in a little bit of diplomacy/military to keep the wolves from the door. Once the deterrents are adequate... say advanced dip, a trade route with obvious threats and a production line of defenders (doesnt have to be coca-cola...just one every several turns will do it), then turn your economy to research.

Having this foundation may mean your are slow out of the blocks regards research...but you will catch up and thrive in no time...research, although the game breaker, is still in many ways the luxury third of the game, and thus needs a solid foundation.

Good Luck then,

I hope this helps

The Torians are quite good for this kind of strategy owing to their Super Breeder ability. You can quickly grow your population, and thus your economy. This is useful as your research ability is ultimately dependent on your economy.

They're also very good at the colony rush phase of the game, so can help you gain a good cluster of colonies before you switch into development mode.

Just be sure to trade for the other races research structures, as the Torians' ones aren't that good.

As for your place on the power listings I've found that your military strength does seem to have a huge effect on this. But if your following a technology driven strategy you could always do lots of research on weapons, defenses and miniturization. With these three lines of research well developed you can build up a small but powerful fleet without too much trouble. That should boost up your military strength, and thus your ranking on the most powerful list.

I had it in my head that the bought point over-rode the default point systems rather than stacking with them? Is that incorrect?

Jonnan