This race is sort of an homage to the pulp SF magazines of the '30s and '40s. Not being an artist myself, I took all the images from pulp magazine cover scans [from mags like "Planet Stories," Startling Stories," and "Thrilling Wonder Stories"] which I found on the net and modified them to make them usable in SEIV. For this reason, the various ship graphics are less homogenous than those of other ship sets, but I still think there's a certain similarity in style due to them all belonging to a particular era in SF illustration. However, in the race description I did attempt to justify this graphic variation, by portraying the race as both rag-tag refugees from another galaxy and part of an extremely decentralized society. This seemed to fit the ideal of anarchic freedom which was so prevalent in pulp-era SF.
I based my AI files on the TDM Modpack files, with a lot of modifications to get the effects I wanted. My limited playtesting indicates that at least the 5k Version is competitive. I think it would work best in a large galaxy with not too many other empires, but, right now I'm testing it in a medium galaxy with eight other empires and 6 minors [TDM Modpack races], and the race is still hanging on after 350+ turns.
Anyone who is familiar with the SF of the pulp era will probably recognize where the names come from.
IGNORE THE LINK BELOW AND USE THE ONE IN THE POST ABOVE THIS TO GET THE CORRECTED ZIP
1054966558.zip
p.s. Thanks to Oleg for explaining how to upload the file.
[ June 07, 2003, 22:30: Message edited by: Hrothgar ]