FWIW, I'm into my first game with verison 1.19 (no mods). I'm early in the game and I just watched the 3rd place empire trash a whole system of the 2nd place empire with a fleet of 12 light cruisers. I have trade alliances with both and posted a scout there to watch the carnage. The attacking empire was ruthless and it was something that I never saw in verison 1.11.
It worried me enough that I think I'm going to take out the 3rd place empire first.
