[spoon]

Originally posted by Joachim:
I am only a newcomer to PBW but in two games it seems that ruins are having a particularly unbalancing effect.

For a more balanced PBW game, there are a few things you should probably do:

1) Disable ruins.
2) Disable Events.
3) Disable Surrender.

I also recommend:
4) Disallow the trading/gifting/etc of colony tech and breathers (though this requires an unenforcible House Rule, so its mileage varies with how much you can trust the other players)

5) Have someone make you a map to ensure even placement of starting positions

And if there are new players in the game, I would also:
6) Disable Intel.