Well I tried it out. Blockaded the first opponent I found. Blew up all his ships and beat him down to the point where I am sure he would surrender if I demanded it. Then I waited 12 turns and nothing. Every couple of turns he pumps out another ship which I promptly destroy. He did offer me a Trade treaty which I turned down. He is now pretty ticked at me and I am sure he's about to declare war. But still no unilateral surrender. I just don't think it is written in to the code IMHO.
Anybody see this happen in a game?
BTW, count me as a vote AGAINST forbidding demanding surrender for the purposes of the contest. I don't think it could be qualified as a "cheat". It's not like the no maint thing or mothballed ships still counting in your score which everyone might not know about. Anybody who has played the game a few times I would guess has tried demanding surrender.
At some point we have to pick a set of rules and ride with it. Otherwise those people who have already turned in scores, or have games they have been playing for days/weeks are penalized. 150 turns takes a LONG time with the ammount of micromanagment that this game requires. If you have to play a few turns a day like me, then that's quite an investment to start all over like I have had to several times now.
Ok, I'm done whining now.
[This message has been edited by geoschmo (edited 05 February 2001).]