SmaugTheDragon wrote:Yoral have the nicest looking ships. Also strong production + large habitability range = win.

That is probably why they kick poor Orthin af Phidi in the back-fins when played by the AI...

The thing I found weird about playing the Ashdar Colonials is that they've got all this lore about having a fleet base... and then they don't start with a fleet base. I mean, I kinda get why - scrapping such a thing would give an overly-large boost to early-game metal stockpiles - but surely there ...

If the enemy is not putting enough pressure on you so that you can build enough ships to break the game, then the victory conditions should probably be kicking in.
Rights, and since this scenario should be a rare one it can be attended for like this. Should be not necessay to limit the overall ...

After having played all the races multiple times, I was wondering the above when starting the next run and for me the answer was clearly Gremak

The reason is simple: They have access to the most interesting toys (tech and mechanics) from the get-go:
- Slaves
- Cloaking
- Energy Torpedo
- Cruisers ...

I think that SiS actually does better than most at keeping small ships relevant. With their better speed and rate of turn they are effective at carrying close-range weapons in to their effective range, and their small footprint means they can negotiate the 'traffic jam' of fleet actions more ...

In general I agree that the game end-timing should better, but one advantage that an 'end game crisis' approach has as a game difficulty balancing mechanic is that it's somewhat asymmetric and it is harder for the player to prepare for. The other empires SHOULD provide a challenge, but a smart ...

Regarding planetary improvement building recommend either:
- A small icon next to each improvement type titled: "Focus". What this would do is auto-build the given improvement on all available slot and close the building queue with the corresponding project if researched. e.g.: Mines end with Mining ...

When attacking a planet recommend to first pop up the space battle result status screen before jumping over to planetary invasion screen so we can assess the losses if any

Stations and planetary defenses are my bane with their large crew numbers. Can't really touch their prime worlds due to defenses.
This is your chance to prove that Disruptiors are worht it!

Humans get a research bonus for energy weapons so you an get faster to the tech, and it should do double ...

In my Human game my mainline design is a destroyer with a boarding pod in the medium slot. Deviously effective and cheap to pump out from the single factory worlds. Right now my opponents all use beams so the small PD slots all ships come with are somewhat wasted.

My current human game can be ...

Smaller vessels are harder to hit especially from a distance. The also tend to have higher tactical speed which makes them ideal for close in weapon loadout

Also: all ship layouts are different, and thus each of them is suitable for different roles in the fleet: serving as Point Defence gunboats is ...

Suggest to have a magnifying glass icon next to each planet listed in the starvation report, so the player can focus on the location easily on large maps where a lot of war is going on

Workaround: selecting the planet via the hyperlink takes the player to the planet construction menu, but does not ...

Uncle_Joe wrote:I firmly believe that getting to that point (whether it be player or AI) should be a more difficult rode and not made more difficult simply by cranking up AI bonuses, but organically though the game mechanics which should provide some pushback/drag on runaway leaders.

Agreed

Another thing that might be useful is providing more reasons and chances for limited early wars. The minor NPC enemies are good for this but right now it's perfect peace or TOTAL WAR and no period of early skirmishing, border incidents or the like.
Interesting idea akin to that of EL and ES2: the ...

if you’ve spent a good chunk of the game allied with another race and provided them with food, metal, cash when asked etc, and then suddenly they turn on you, then I guarantee a lot of players will cry foul
This should not happen: allies of the player should not turn against the player due to the ...