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Oleg,

I'm not sure to which "time paradox" you're referring--perhaps the small number of Posts compared to how long I've been registered. I guess I registered with Shrapnel a while ago, but because of a different game ["Horse & Musket"]. It's been less than a year since I discovered space 4x games. I used to focus strictly on historical wargames, e.g., Steel Panthers, the Great Battles series [I still think that these are fun and could be "great" with just a bit of modification to the system], the Battleground Civil War and Napoleonic Games, etc., but since around Last September, I've been spending most of my time on space 4x. "SEIV" is my favorite, and the one I've played most since I found it, but I also like "GalCiv," "Starships Unlimited:Divided Galaxies," and "Reach for the Stars" [yeah, I know, everybody else hated it, but I think it's pretty decent]. I got interested in space 4x by downloading the original "MOO" from http://www.the-underdogs.org/ [a fantastic site], which immediately got me hooked and started me hunting for similar games. Eventually, I found SEIV, which is my overall favorite--altho there are specific elements in other games which keep me interested in them.

But, since I'm still a relative newcomer to "SEIV," I don't post a lot, because I don't have much expertise to share. When I read thru the FAQ or the Strategy Articles, I'm always amazed at the insights expressed by many of the contributors, approaches which seem perfectly clear after reading them, but which hadn't even occurred to me. So, I basically read the Posts when I can, looking for things I can use, but I don't post much. Also, I was working on a Ph.D. at Georgetown, which was pretty time consuming, and then came the attacks on September 11, which, since I'm in the National Guard, have forced me to put my academic life on hold for various missions in connection with Bush's neverending war on terrorism. In the next few weeks I should be leaving for a long-term overseas mission. So, the military has also been taking a great deal of my time, leaving less for posting, or even playing. So, I guess I am sort of stuck on a sub-lightspeed trip to Alpha Centauri and back--at least it sometimes seems that way.