This is my first post ever. Though I played GC1, I never had the need to post questions. By the time I started playing GC1 the forum was pacted with information.

1) When you trade tech's with other civ's, the installment option seems to be gone. Is this the case?

2) I just started my first game on cakewalk to learn all the new features before playing a real game. Obviously the tech tree has been greatly expanded. I am assuming that trading techs is going to be even more important than before because on first glance, it looks like I will have no shot at being a tech giant. Is this the case?

3) Is it just me? It seems like it takes a colony ship a lot longer in this game to get anywhere. The default speed of hyperdrive stinks compared to GC1, thus researching propulsion is more important than before on a small map. My first ship design was to try to correct this. The speed went from 2 to 3. Wooppie!!! I am getting to the planets first but if I was not on cakewalk, I bet I would not have.

4) Another observation. With so many techs that have to researched before you can even field one decent warship, war does not happen for quite a while in this game. Is this the case?