[Mordante]

Hi chaps,

I've recently started playing my first se4 pbem game and a couple of the implications of my race choice are now coming home to roost (16-17 turns in).

How do people rate Crystal tech as a race speciality? - the shard cannons certainly don't look that good on paper, but does the armour-skipping make up for it? Also, are there any advanced crystal combos that make the technology a reasonable alternative to physic or Organic.

Troops-wise; my race has rubbish ground troops but is it possible to win out by pure weight of numbers? What happens when a landing is not opposed by enemy ground troops? How does the racial mod stat actually turn into combat points (does -40% take 40% from weapon damage or from some type of abstract combat total?)

Happiness; my race is peaceful (happiness through treaties and avoiding wars) what kind of balance is good? ie. 2 peaceful relations and 1 war; or does any war damage global happiness. Basically, can you offset the negative happiness factors of a particular war by cultivating lots of peaceful relations elsewhere?

Lastly, ship maintenance, I've noticed some old hands going for ultra low maintenance strats with their ships - is this likely to be some kind of win through superior ship points strategy without needing to fight? Also, is there any tech root to reducing maintenance within the game?

Any answers gratefully received,

Kind Regards

AndyC