Alright, I have Civ 4, played it. Got pretty good at it. Understood the mechanics and how culture was utilized. No problem.
Now, with this game, I put a lot of researching into Influence techs / Diplomacy research. Yet, it seems sheer population on planets seem to have more control on influence then influence techs/starbases themselves. Which really irks me.
In some ways its understandable. But while I have reached the max research on influence and diplomatic. The Computer always goes the military route. and yet, about 200 turns into the game, it feels like no matter how many starbases I put up, with influence upgrades. I feel like I am just not able to push back their "aura"
So the question is, does the military techs actually help with influence? The fact that you have a bunch of ships flying around (attack ships) also affect your influence aura?