[General Hawkwing]

The gap also drives expansion to more systems. You string your empire out to reach the breathable planets because unbreathable ones, while useful can not make you a super-power. Look at the neutral empires who colonized everything they can in their system but rarely(never) expand beyond it. They stay weak because they rarely have more than 2 planets that are breathable. Nonbreathable planets have value for specialized functions (resource generation, intel. or research centers, military/refueling Posts). They can also house your nonproduction facilities (spaceport,refuel,urban pacification,etc..) freeing up space on breathables to build the production booster facilities (robotic/computers).

[This message has been edited by General Hawkwing (edited 20 October 2000).]