Ok, trading with another Civ. You can trade star systems, but normally only low population planets far away from their sphere of influence. You can trade techs and trade goods, and they seem weird about how they value stuff, but hey, I get the gist here.

But! There are two other factors straight money and IP Points.

I can not figure what is going on with IP Points. The AI seem adamant not to give away even the smallest amount for the highest price. Likewise If you offer them your they seem to think they are worthless. The only time I have been able to buy a decent amount is from minor races.

So firstly what actually are they, and are there any tactics a GC3DA player would want to know about trading these points?