[Saxon]

I remember reading an old David Drake book, where he compared being a general in the "modern", slightly futuristic universe with that in the days of the Romans. He said that anyone can run a battle when there is instant information and communication, but only the greatest generals could run a battle where you had to think of everything hours ahead of time and command your assistants appropriatly.

I agree, the tactical combat is great, but PBEM is the only way for me to tangle with other humans, so I try and think of myself as a Roman general, setting it all up ahead of time. I would never claim a game like this is realistic, but in the sense of managing an empire, it is. Bush doesn't fly the spy plane over China, he just tells some one else to do it and has to live with the results.

To play this way, you have to change everything. Weapon choice is a big one for me, the computer doesn't do anywhere as well with missles as I do. Similarly, I have to build more durable ships, as the computer tends to get them much more banged up than I do. Fortunatly, it does the same thing to my opponents...