i find minor races to easy there just cannon fodder i always conquer them first since they usually have over level 16 planets the ones i ever had a problem with were the snathi i cinquered two of there mining bases and planets but it did not wipe them out im guessing they have another planet tucked away somewhere they are the only minor race ive had expand though

Well, would you let live a minor race with a PQ 15 planet ?

So how about some minor races that can live on uninhabitable planets?

So so ...what i see in the game was for me not normal for a minor race they colonsiced they also conquere and they get resscures as well...and i am sure they can't realy see them...why they are able to do that when it make no sence?

I always make good trademans with them they are mostsly are able to get al lot information by technolocical esspionage..for that they want planets sometimes is realy ok sometimes the informations and new techs are not so far away from my standarts...but why are not able to buy or to get Starbase from them i allready can buy influencepoints...

..a minor race rise up to a mayor race is a intressting idear...and for that strategie is to react to situations they sometimes surprice you even you say "i take 4 opponents not less not more" but how can you now what is behind the next nebular nothing to do with realalistic but a good strategie-play has to be able to handle some unsuspectet situations or not?

For me it will be ok to give the minor race more possiblilyties but it is nessassary that the player can buy all the starbases (means influense economic millitary and ressurces)

So how about some minor races that can live on uninhabitable planets?

Another good suggestion, thinking outside the box . We can only hope a dev is listening!

This would help shift the perception of them being seen as fodder. Perhaps a specific invasion tech, even one specific to the minor race, would need to be developed before you could invade them.

There are some excellent ideas here. I might as well throw in my ideas too while everyone's at it.

Minor races as protectorates

Basically, when a minor race emerges, a race would be on to either invade and take their planet(evil) or to make them into a protectorate(good) in order to guide and nurture them to the status of major race. If someone does choose to make them into a protectorate there could be moral pop-ups like you normally get that let you detirmine what sort of race they become. As well as possibly sliders to influence them becoming good/evil, or how militaristic they become. It would require a lot of work and time to make them become a major race but when they do they are utterly loyal if you were nice to them, essentially making them a useful ally. Of course, if an evil race chooses to make them into a protectorate, the minor race could be turned into slaves to increase production on your planets. You'd have to watch out though, eventually they might revolt and if you have any ships guarding the planet they may just find a way to board the ships in a surprise attack, kill the crews, and take control of your ships.

Starting off as a minor race

What I'd really enjoy as well is if you could have the option of starting off as a minor race. You could have the option of customising who your protectorate is or just make it random. From there you'd have to foster good relations and somehow survive or deal with whatever your controlling race demands. If your protector was evil, you could try to negotiate the technology and arms from another race to help you rebel while still coping with constant population loss or economic strangulation. However, being controlled by an evil race affords one big advantage, since you're a good source of money and slaves, they will guard your planet jealously against invasion.

Alternatively, if your protector was a good race, you'd have to make them believe you share their beliefs and alignment, otherwise they may not be so interested in sending valuable military to defend you and if you really ticked them off, they may just invade and set up their own government, so your people are ruled "properly". The senate would be your best friend or your worst enemy in the case of good races, as having the senate not like you will cause that race to keep holding onto control of your people yet having the senate on your side would make them more likely to allow you to become independant.

Obviously this'd need some fine-tweaking, but I'd love to be able to go through that, it'd make my rise to power all the more satisfying.

I find it silly that when you conquer the last planet of a minor race, it says: "The existence of the Fundamentalist as an independant power has come to a end"...

While you annihiliate their WHOLE population! It would be best to say "The existence of the Fundamentalists has come to a end".

After all, with the GC's rules, you can never be the vassal of another power. You are either independant power, or destroyed.

even though I don't have the game just yet and only have the demo (I can create minor races through cheat in demo, but I only did that once to see what they were like and the icon for them was the same every time, no leader image), IMO, I might as well conquer the minor race if they are stragetically located or if thier world is a really high class world.

For my $0.02

i would like to see an option that would allow the minor races to expand. This could be an additional selection in the game setup screen. At present the choose minors on/off is fine but you could further customise the option to allow them to expand or stay sitting still. The minors expanding in GCI was part of the game i really enjoyed and it threw another angle into the game as just as you thought you had every angle covered a new minor would pop up I loved that part !!

Heck i would like to see the option to allow them to become as big as the majors, or at least be able to stand up for themselves, however as it has been said it is down to the Dev's!!

Brad (Frogboy) is there any chance of seeing this in the future please??