[Puke]

umm, yeah.. i was very kidding below.

but as for a limited war, I think the whole "border" and "contested system" Idea is a great one, and a good step in that direction. I think that it may even be possible to implement the concept of limited warfare in seiv if there were a mechanism to exchange controll of a system (its a trade or gift option.. maybe trade a system for a non-aggression treaty?) and end a conflict. The AI might not go to war unless there are contested systems (or human aggressor), and might limit attacks to the contested system.

maybe WAR could be changed to 'border war' and 'total war' treaty status, and border war could be defined as war over any systems listed as contested. if the human player crosses the lines into a non contested system in a border war, maybe the AI would send a message or the game would pop-up a 'are you sure you want to enter that system' message, and the AI would be like: "you prick, now im going to call a total war on you, and your reputation with the other AIs is going to decrease. i hate you, and your little doggie too!"

or something like that. but even in a limited fashion, I think it is do-able if MM has the time or desire.