[President_Elect_Shang]

Right, I guess I had a mind blank, actually no, I was thinking of the chocolate covered cherries I was making at the time. I would prefer to see it introduced as a species trait. As the game stands now Intelligence is a species characteristic, but it is very generic. I see what you are saying though, that it should be split into categories (right) like intel-defense, intel-offense for example. I think this may (or may not) complicate things more. It is an idea worth exploring though.

Do enough of us here like both points that we can safely split into two paradigms and discuss the pros and cons?

Paradigm 1) Intelligence as a species characteristic.

Paradigm 2) Intelligence as a species trait.