[Lizard]

OK, a few Newbie thoughts...

a)Damn, this game is addictive.

b)Is it just me, or are fighters WAY too powerful? I had an unhappy encouter with some blue-skinned religious nuts to my south. Despite my gifts and overtures of peace, they launched attacks on my colonies. My first battles with them, I got creamed -- they had Capital Ship Missiles 4 and 5, and my ships were particle-cannon heavy -- I couldn't close before I was decimated. Mining the wormholes gave me some breathing room. I also found out that while my carriers were shredded by his missiles, the fighters they launched could destory his ships utterly, if they could close to firing range -- he had no anti-fighter weapons at all. Over time, I developed point-defense weapons and improved my fleet design. I started winning most battles, then pushed forward, and am now carrying the battle to my foe! Woohoo! My question, though, is why the AI didn't do what I did --- adapt to the enemies tactics. He used missiles;I researched point defense. I used mines, but he never developed minesweepers -- he kept throwing his ships at the wormhole until the mines were gone. (I spent a lot of time re-mining the wormholes)

BTW, do you even NEED carriers? It seems fighters can travel just fine on their own. I send out fighter Groups to meet whatever ships come through the wormhole and devestate them nicely. Is this a bug? Are fighters supposed to be independant?

In the inevitable 'features I'd like' department -- firing arcs to make tactical combat more intricate, and the ability to save ship designs to a file -- it would be nice to develop a standard 'fleet' and reload them as the tech becomes available. (If this feature exists already, I apologize, but the interface is pretty, uhm, complex and I know I haven't seen it all)

Lastly, is there any such thing as 'formation -- none' in tactical mode? Every time I move one ship, the rest do this silly little dance and screw up my tactics...