[dogscoff]

There's very little point researching other colonisation techs when they're _so_ easy to trade / steal / capture / conquer from your opponents. It does make a huge difference to your economy.

How about splitting the cost of each colonisation tech up into (say) 10 levels, with only the highest level giving you accss to the colony componenet? Then you'd have to trade/ capture and analyse 10 colony ships to get the component without research.

Might cause some game start problems though...


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"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"Uh, I think so, Brain, but balancing a family and a career ... oooh, it's all too much for me. "