Well shucks, thanks for the positive feedback! It's always appreciated 
I just want to say thanks to Mumblefratz for his direct, and indirect (via the TOE site), assistance in learning me up on how to not just win, but win with a decent point total. Frankly, it's a lot more work than I want to do to go build a starbase array with 17,000 ships in it, but I've been using all the rest of his advice as much as possible.
The one thing I know I do differently from Mumblegod is I purchase a lot of upgrades via the leasing system and I think it really helps on the score. I didn't lease anything for the longest time but I learned via Mr. Mumble that for scoring purposes it's not how much money you have, it's how much is coming in every month.That changed my thinking radically. Buying things early on lease can really help your score, because the earlier you get a ton of ships and upgrade those econ and military resources the more impact they have on your overall score. In the words of general Nathan Bedford Forrest, you gotta "get there the fustest with the mostest!". Besides, I like sticking it to Mitrosoft....sure their 20 year leases are ghastly expensive over the term of the lease, but who is going to take 20 years to win? I finish my games long before that, so on many improvements I actually pay less through Mitrosoft than if I had purchased it outright. As far as I can tell, it's speed, speed, and more speed that counts. Leper snot may also be important in the game, but so far I haven't been able to trade it for anythign useful to the alien cultures. Maybe we could swindle the Kzinti by telling them it's upgraded morale resource fluid?
