[seldon99]

I agree with the original poster, this game has everything except the most important element: competition.

There is so much to like about this game it is a really pity that the AI is so inept.

My first real game (I played the demo once) I made maximum difficulty for the computer (I guess I could give the CP advantages) and proceeded to play. Now being very unfamiliar with the technologies, and the mechanics I made a lot of mistakes.

However, by turn 90 I had almost 3x the points of the nearest computer player. Every turn all of the computer wanted to be my ally. I never attack a CP and they never attacked me.

I was getting very bored and was curious about the new tech. So I proceeded to build research center and for the next 60 turns I just simply clicked on the next button. I didn't move a single ship, at the end of the period. I was still beating the computer players by a wide margin. There were plenty of undefended colonies for the computer to attack and at least one empire had the same environment I had. You'd think that the AI would prioritize attacking a Huge
world with good resources and the right atmosphere. I don't think a 10 small satellites would stop a determined attack!