WIllythemailboy

So if you have to give 3 tech but receive 13 in return (some, like you say, very valuable to yourself) - how is that such a bad deal? I fail to see what you are complaining about besides the randomness factor. If the choice were left up to you, would you give any but the lowest valued techs? It is much more fair the way it is. Not at all. I can think of several situations where I would rather give up higher-RP techs to protect

What was the total habitable planet count? nine systems for the civs: two planets, except fot Thalia -->17 Dark Yor -->Only Dark Yor Homeworld 2 more systems-->one without any planets, one with one planet (normal) total: 19 planets+ my two planets = 21 There's your answer. Home system planets will never need tech, nor will a minor civ's home planet (although other planets in the system might). Th

Just played a medium rare galaxy - 9 opponents, 1 random (Dark Yor race). There was not a single extreme environment planet of any sort - is that a statistical oddity or a bug? How many systems were there? Nine starting civs will give you nine systems that can't have extreme planets. What was the total habitable planet count?

How many Constructors are you sending somewhere? Going with the hypothetical example, Slow constructor - 3 turn build, 10 turns to get there. Fast constructor - 6 turn build, 4 turns to get there. Slow - Fast First On scene Turn 13 - Turn 10 Break Even Point Turn 16 - 2 constructors either way. Now quick buying the first one: First On Scene Turn 10 - Turn 4 Break

Without seeing exactly how your ships are armed individually, we can't say for certain. My guess is that your bigger ship is defense-heavy, and your lighter ships are mostly attack. This would result in the Ranger targetting the small ships first, and blasting two of them in the first round. Then the survivors don't have enough firepower to get much damage past the Ranger's armor, so they don't do much damage in following rounds while the Ranger chews them up. On second thought, this is

drrider: Mainly I was responding to Jasamcar's reply #155 Sneak attacks can be detected without a war declaration. If you take a planet within one or two turns of a war declaration by either side, you have committed a sneak attack. A small rules change to hold allies responsible for the behavior of the war starter would handle issue two. All of the issues I brought up would be possible sneak attacks if this suggestion were to be followed

As mentioned in a thread I started, I want more diplo options as well! More interaction with the AI would be great! I'm going to have to 2nd this: it seems like there really aren't a whole lot of options short of giving money to a race/etc... One thing I don't understand is why I can't demand peace on another Races part w/out submitting my own peace treaty at the same time? don't understand that.. AND... why cannot I no

Can't help you with the population or white-screen issue, but you can simply hover on your treasury display on the main screen to see your total income, expenses, and profit/loss.

Sneak attacks can be detected without a war declaration. If you take a planet within one or two turns of a war declaration by either side, you have committed a sneak attack. A small rules change to hold allies responsible for the behavior of the war starter would handle issue two. I fight and destroy entire AIs in four or five turns...Anytime past the very start of a game I will generally be taking several planets by turn two of

That could still be worked around. I occasionally park ships covering transports right next to an enemy planet, then wait for them to declare war on me. It neatly avoids the diplomatic hits from declaring war, and you don't give up the surprise aspect at all. All you lose is some control on the timing, and your enemy suffers the diplomatic hit, not you. This also works if you have an ally. Bribe the comp to attack your ally, and they're generally too dumb to realize you will jump in. Ag

Click on the "options" button in the top left of the main screen, then the "interface" tab along the top (second from left IIRC). In the right column about mid-screen are two boxes, check "full battles" and uncheck "full battles only if both sides are fleets". Wording may not be exact, as I don't have it open in front of me. But that should be close enough for you to get there on your own.

Your espionage level builds up for each turn you have a spy on an enemy planet. Getting "low" espionage may only take 6 spy-turns (one spy for 6 turns, 6 spies for one turn, or anything in between) but higher levels will take longer. This is much improved from DL, as you can prevent your enemies from finding out all your data by killing off their spies as soon as they appear.

That is also true of things like wars between the AIs, treaties, espionage events, etc. The point is, you can go through those at will, rather than having it pop up while you're in the middle of something else.

Sure isn't, and putting it there rather than as a pop up would seem to be an easy fix. At least I'm not the only one annoyed by this.

Similar annoying issue - is anyone else frustrated at how planet menus pop up when they flip to your side from influence? It's a good idea that the game forces these planets to your attention, but IMO it would be better if they just came up with all the other end-of-turn news items, in a controllable manner.

The weapons and defenses you put on your starbases are for the starbase to defend itself. The mining starbase really should have the ring removed, as after the base is built it affects your entire empire, not just what's in the ring. The military starbase could potentially help you out, assuming you built the correct modules. Anything that gives a ship bonus will boost that aspect of each ship in the ring - ie if you build a beam assist module on your base, each ship in the ring will ha

It may already be on the list, I've seen it come up here before.

The feature by itself works fine, but the money display occasionally drops the last digit. For example, it will say 173 but the real cost is 1730. Once you know what to look for, it's pretty obvious and easily remedied. All you need to do is increase/decrease the ammount by 1, and the last digit will appear. Also, pay attention to the bar underneath the numeric display - the number may be off, but the bar (at least in my experience) always indicates the correct ammount.

Hi! I don't run into the economic problem you're having, or at least not to the same scale. do NOT put all factories on your homeworld... Instead, build a factory or two, two morale buildings, and economic buildings. I play on painful with maxed everything and 7 major races Just with these few sentences you told everything: 1) you don't

I apparently have a bizarre playing style, because I don't run into the economic problem you're having, or at least not to the same scale. I play a custom race, medium economic bonus, no morale bonus. Instead, my points went into tech, soldiering, population growth, and PQ. (IIRC, I don't have it open in front of me.) I also tend to specialize my planets far less than the norm. Nearly all planets will have factories, and all will have starports. As someone previously stated, do NOT put