[Slick]

1 & 2) Aside from what Chronon said, the only way to see ally or enemy planet facilities (or building queues, etc) is using offensive intelligence projects against them. Read the descriptions of the different projects and choose the one(s) you want. That won't make the other guys happy.

3) Yes. Although some ship designs are easier than others. If I were to venture a guess, I would agree with Chronon and say you are using missile ships. They are very hard to capture planets with. The idea is that the AI will stop firing when the planet's defenses (Weapon Platforms) are gone. In the case of missile ships, even though the fleet stops firing, it may have many missiles already in the "air" and this glasses the planet. Try with beam weapon ships. The default "Capture Planet" strategy works pretty well unedited, but you can tweak it to optimize it for your fleet. Only way to do this is with some trial and error. Look at tweaking damage percentages and what you or do not attack.

Slick.

[ April 25, 2003, 16:19: Message edited by: Slick ]