Mephisto:
Well, I'm partway through one game with them out there. They have been steadily holding in the top 3 all game. The spread like the PLAGUE!

My gawd. 20 Colonies early in the game!
And they have a HORDE of Fighters. I mean a HORDE! But I didnt see too many regular ships. Usually at most they had 1 or 2 at a time. This could change over time. I'll let you know.
One thing I did notice was the 'scrapping' issue again. I saw that they had 2 bases early in the game and eventualy, 2 or 3 turns later it scrapped them both.
So far so good though. I'll keep you posted.
Talenn