[Alpha Kodiak]

I started a ten race game in a medium sized system, and I found a situation that can cause the Zorians a problem very early in the game. This would only be a problem if they started out in close proximity to a human player, I think. (As fate would have it, that is how this game started out.)

I had colonized a couple of outlying planets, when in pops a Zorian escort. I switched production on my homeworld to produce a frigate. The next turn, the Zorians declared war, and the escort glassed one of my outer planets near his warp point. It then headed out another warp point. At that point, I was thinking, "Ouch, I'm next door to an aggressive race, and this is going to be really tough!" By the time the escort returned to my system from its exploration, I had built a second frigate. I had my two frigates destroy the escort then jump into the Zorian home system, expecting trouble. However, the Zorians were busy colonizing, and had no more warships. I mopped up their perimeter worlds, then blockaded the homeworld until I built up enough points to force them to surrender.

I think that the problem is that you have them create a single attack ship first for scouting purposes, then start building colonizers. Unfortunately, since the race is aggressive, if the escort finds someone, the Zorians wind up in a war situation, while they are still trying to colonize their home system. It would probably be better to get at least a little colonization out of the way first, before building the escort to send out. Then,you should probably have them build more than one warship before going back to colonization.

I think this is only a problem early. If they have enough space to get established,then they probably get pretty tough.