Wow, I just had to gift Laser II (I had Laser V) to the massive Thalans (Painful level) because they didn't have the sense to research weapon techs and the Drengin, who have as much military as me, declared war on them. I can't afford to have the Drengins become too strong, even if it means that I have to my weapon tech to others.

This is getting a bit ridiculous now - they had almost as much research as me. This feature is a total disaster, IMO, no matter how well intentioned.

Also, the Creative ability seems to have been nerfed in the recent patches, because the only time it kicks in is when I am researching a 1-2 turn tech or am about to research a big tech next turn. It also kicks in a lot less than it did when I played my on friend's PC, when no patches were out, I think. Even when I traded a tech to get my creativity up to +35, there seemed to be not much improvement. That one point would probably be better spent on Luck.

As long as I am venting, what is the matter with the Korath economic buildings? They are so darn expensive that I prefer to buy Adv Trade Centre tech from the AI and not build the Korath buildings. The last one might be worth it though, with +20 Econ and +10 morale. No need for expensive agony and slaughter stuff.

The Korath green techs are awesome, though. I am still winning - I have small hulled 48 ATT, 8 Def ships running around when the "mighty" Drengins only have 8 ATT defenceless ships. Next game will be Crippling.