forsooth

You know, I always did think the thalans looked tasty, kinda crunchy like.

Good tips. I just thought I'd mention one exception to some of your advice. You mention that it doesn't work too well to try to gain a system with 3-4 planets by influence. This is generally true, but I've had great luck when the planets are owned by multiple civilizations. Generally, the planet that has less influence will fall reasonably quickly and then the others follow suit. It's great fun to take 4 planets with two influence bases. I've also had success doing this to the planets

I think +'s to luck has to be a good thing if you're planning on being evil, the gremlin empire or something like that. I find I get a lot more planet specialization bonuses when I'm lucky (one game I believe I had about 90% of my planets have modifiers (playing Torian customized to be lucky)). Choosing the evil option pretty much always gives you a bonus and if you always select the evil option without compunction about forking over 2500 or 10000 bc to be good neutral or good, then you can get